I'm at such a meltdown give up moment.
My partner and i are in our early 20s, we have two kids eldest from previous relationship. I'm a stay at home mum and partner is a second year apprentice. Money is so tight. We have a house over our heads and a meal each night, but apart from the necessities we have no money. Living pay day to pay day. We each have multiple debt collectors chasing after us for relatively small amounts. How do you pay these when there is literally no money to do so!? I know alot is going to say "mum needs to go out and get a job". To approach this in advance, it's not that simple, I was a teen parent and have nothing behind me, experience education, none of that. So trying to find somewhere is almost impossible. Not to mention travel to her my 5 month old looked after. I'm just not sure it would be worth it at this stage. Working from home would be perfect but not sure how to go about that. I receive benefits which im so greatful for but they just are not enough. We already budget and rarely do anything. I guess im just after ideas how to get on top, I hate that I'm so young and already in this situation. I just can't see the out.
when there is no money
when there is no money
Posted in:
Life Lessons, Relationships & Marriage, Parenthood Guilt, Health & Wellbeing, Money
9 Replies
Try to find different, flexible ways to bring in some extra $$. Could you offer babysitting from your home to family and.friends for a small fee? Is there anything that you could make yourself that you could maybe sell at a market? I know it's hard and I sympathise with you 100%. I am in a similar situation where money is just so tight that there is literally nothing left after necessities are paid for. Its hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel but keep faith that it is there and in the meantime, get creative! :)
Honestly, it sounds like I've been in your exact situation but worse (much, much more debt by the sounds of it though). I'm married with two children (one on the way) and the past couple of years have been so incredibly stressful, constantly lying to creditors to give us more time, living day to day, not being able to do anything for ourselves, not paying bills so we could have a couple of presents to give our children on christmas day. It's been hard. It drains you.
We've recently declared bankruptcy. We researched the hell out of it, talked to our accountant and a financial advisor who specialises in bankruptcy. And can I just say it's not as bad as people think it is and we have more money now than we've had in years. You can earn up to a certain level depending on the number of dependants you have before you have to start paying back your debts, but for the most part after 3 years, your debts will be wiped (with the exception of a few things). I'm absolutely not saying go bankrupt - you need to look at your own situation, how it will affect you, talk to people who specialise in it to get their opinion etc. But for us, it was such a relief. No more No ID callers. Having money we can put aside every fortnight as SAVINGS while still having a generous food budget (again something we haven't had in a long time) and being able to pay our general living bill with no stress.
I say all of this because I know the toll this kind of stress can take on you and your relationship. We tried everything - cutting back bills, cutting back on things we could do without, buying as cheaply as possible when doing the groceries, going on hardship plans with creditors, I worked for Tupperware (disaster) and tried creating a business of my own (fail - both failed, I believe, because I don't have the friend networks to spread the word) and everything else you can think of. But it got to a point where we needed to think about our health more than our credit rating.
Good luck, it's just another perspective - if you do decide to go down this path make sure you get proper advice first!
I'm sorry but telling someone to go bankrupt at such a young age with little debt is the worst possible advice someone could give you...
Please do not even consider this an option right now.
Yes it's hard. I've been there and it sucks...
There are things you can do from home to make money, offering to do peoples laundry, babysitting. I've done these small things and sometimes made a few extra hundred dollars a week!
There are jobs out there you could get that you don't need an education for, even been a nanny, waitress, retail assistant. try and look for work that's at night or on weekends when your partner can watch the kids.
No offence but I was showing her there are lots of options out there - you don't know the full situation, just as you don't know what mine was. Bankruptcy is an OPTION and one I made very clear she should get professional advice on. I'm early 20's, does that mean I made the worst mistake of my life? Give your own advice but don't make out that my advice was worthless. Every situation is different and everyone should always know what options are available to them.
Employment is worth it. You could get a job in a supermarket, lots of places hire people without experience. You'll probably get really cheap childcare too. You don't have to work fulltime. Or you can get a job doing night fill or similar so you don't need childcare.
It will be a huge boost to your confidence. These jobs don't require experience. Even 15 hours a week would make a big difference to easing the pressure.
Maybe either contact your creditors and arrange payment arrangements or contact a debt assistance agency and see if you can do a government debt agreement. Also, possibly look at employment at night, you won't need much experience or qualifications for some of the jobs out there such as night fill positions, basic waitressing etc. Worth keeping in mind. Good luck, it doesn't get you anywhere hiding from debt collectors, it's just a very stressful situation which will continue to worsen if you don't take some action xx
Call lifeline, 13 11 14, they can help you with budgeting, food packs and get the debt collectors off your back. Call them now.
If your worried about the debt collectors try getting onto credit repairs ( check the net) as they have helped us out with out debt. We were paying like $900 a fortnight for debt and now we only pay $300 which is great I would recommend them to anyone with debt trouble. We are a family of five, I'm a stay at home and my partner works as a supervisor on the local council and we live fortnight to fortnight as that's when he gets paid. I'm also receiveing ftb part a and b which helps a lot. If you want to pm me that's fine. I hope the little bit of info can help you out
I know you've already dismissed the working idea but trust me it is so worth it!
I was a single mum and couldn't stand to put my son in day care full time when he was so little but luckily I had the help of my parents at night time (I'm sure your partner could help out at night). I got a cleaning job and yes it was quite exhausting but the extra pay made such a difference. I used to work from 5pm until about midnight and my boss was very flexible so I could do either 3 nights or 6 nights a week. I also signed up to do a business course through TAFE (Centrelink helped with some hours for daycare as I was studying). By the time my son turned 3, I had completed my business certificate and he was happy at daycare so I put him in full time and got a full time admin job. Just keep thinking ahead - when your partner has finished his apprenticeship things should get much easier! Keep at it and things will get better!!!