I wonder if anyone can help I am currently going through the process of putting an IVA in place and have some queries on what budget you are allowed for what.
We are a family of 4, have 2 dogs and we have been allocated a weekly budget of £109 for food including dog food. My children are still in nappies (twins) so I have to buy nappies, wet wipes, creams etc. We have only been allocated £8 per week for all of us for food for work (80p for me and my husband and snacks for the children). If this is the total amount allowed then we will need to work within this but my advisor doesn't seem very switched on so I wanted to check.
Does anyone else know what they allocate for home maintenance and is any allowance made for presents or is this a no, no at Christmas and birthdays (for the children).
I hope I don't sound ungrateful as I will be very relieved to get this into place as we have had a lot of bad luck - hence why we are in this position. I have been reveiewing this site and those who have said their IVAs have failed or failing often quote unacceptable budgets for food and petrol etc.[:)]
You do not sound ungrateful at all & i completely understand your concerns.
At the start of our IVA when my children where just 3&5 we had a household budget of 295 per month - which was very unrealistic & were & still buying nappies/night pants - which are very expensive.
There should be a seperate allowance for the dogs & there are guidlines set by the CCCS - but they are ONLY guidlines - everyone & every IVA is different in their needs, there are no set rules or allowances.
You need to speak to your IP or account manager of your IVA.
Im only speaking from knowing of being in a IVA & having the expense of nappies at a low budget - never mind having pets & food usually means household goods too.
Last edited by MrsKnight on Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Final IVA payment made in April 2013, never ever thought we could do it or get through it but we did! X
An IVA.co.uk Mentor is someone sharing from their experiences of dealing with debt
Sorry, - creditors dont really see allowances for childrens birthdays, xmas pressys etc.
An IVA life is not ment to be easy but for you to learn to budget from your allowances & learn to budget again - wthin your budget.
Xmas & Birthdays - Its very hard when you have little one, santa pressies to buy & wanting to keep up with everyone - but you do learn to adapt - I start my santa shopping at least 8 months b4 xmas. You search hard & find the best deals & think alot more before you buy - just in general.
Petrol - goes down on how many miles you do in a week to work, shopping etc.
Hope this helps - but do not agree to an IVA that seems unaffordable to you.
We have only got this far because of wage increases being allowed to be swallowed up due to being set on such low expenditures which have been allowed to be increased - which all IVA companies do understand x
Final IVA payment made in April 2013, never ever thought we could do it or get through it but we did! X
An IVA.co.uk Mentor is someone sharing from their experiences of dealing with debt
It looks to me as if the CCCS guidelines are being applied to your case, which are an industry set of figures generally believed the represent the average level of expenditure in the categories you mention.
Clearly with two young children, you are probably spending more, so it is for you tell your IP firm what you are actually spending, and them to put those figures in front of creditors with the appropriate justification. Creditors will decide whether your expenditure is reasonable or not, but I can tell you that I regularly put forward such arguements and they are generally accepted.
If your advisor is being unhelpful, or they refuse to listen to you, then I would look elsewhere for a more realistic IP.
I am not sure that that is correct LadyH. I doubt that there are any IPs who would get away with a birthday/Xmas expenditure allowance - and if so I want to know who they are as they would be clearly getting preferential treatment from creditors and their voting representatives.
We are afamily of 5 and are allowed £525 per month for food.We do not get a lot of allowances that are mentioned on the forum ie school dinners,dental and hairdressing but realistically if we did get them all we wouldnt have had any D.I. therefore no iva.I cant say it has been easy but we are now 18 months in and have had a 21st birthday,on our 2nd christmas and all the other birthdays and occasions in between.I am an expert at being frugal and will always grab a bargain.at the moment we are living on pepsi and pringles-buy one get two free at morrisons,LOL.It does get a bit easier the more you get used to saying no.
Pet allowances are set at £21 by the CCCS regardless of how many animals you have, but birthday allowances are not and they have to be met from housekeeping or sundry allowances.
Your in a IVA or DMP & there is no allowance for santa?!?!?! I know hes not real etc for for many children to know fault of their own have parents stuggling - to meet santas needs. Yes you get pressies from friends n family - but if it was not on santas list.
I work hard from around July to start my santa sack of bargains & it can be done.
But the one thing I can not believe is creditors not having understanding for a small allowance for santa pressies for under 10s - they have or have had children surely?!?!?!? Even grandkids?!?!?!?
Final IVA payment made in April 2013, never ever thought we could do it or get through it but we did! X
An IVA.co.uk Mentor is someone sharing from their experiences of dealing with debt
mel i must say that we have 8 cats and 1 dog, we can feed all of them on £30 per mth, that is the exact cost give or take a few pence, and thats asda food, its the cheapest in our area, but the worm and flea products cost around £80 mth,and we get only £20mth with the iva, which doesnt come close, but now after some advise on here i can get it on line at www.vet.uk for less that £50, what a saving, but by gum they fleas have been a huge problem this yr, which is quite unusual, as we normaly buy the products 3 times a yr, but this yr we had to buy them 3 times in as row, and are waiting for wages to come in and buy another lot, they are true demons.
cj I hear what you are saying, maybe one can prune back but imo you shouldn't have to prune anything back to live a half decent life. I read another post today in which an IP told a client that creditors are simply number crunchers and don't care about the people behind the proposals. I hope that isn't the case but maybe it is.
7 year IVA completed in December 2016 - there is light at the end of that tunnel
Your in a IVA or DMP & there is no allowance for santa?!?!?! I know hes not real etc for for many children to know fault of their own have parents stuggling - to meet santas needs. Yes you get pressies from friends n family - but if it was not on santas list.
I work hard from around July to start my santa sack of bargains & it can be done.
But the one thing I can not believe is creditors not having understanding for a small allowance for santa pressies for under 10s - they have or have had children surely?!?!?!? Even grandkids?!?!?!?
we are thinking of selling our playstation, as we have no money for pressies or some nice food, i think that its unfair, but i'd rather sell something than let my children go with nothing, yes sure they wont get much, but a couple of items of santas list will bring a smile, its ok for somne to say your family and friends will buy them, but everyone is struggling this yr, and all our family are just purchasing for their own, which i think everyone should do,
moneypenny wrote:
mel i must say that we have 8 cats and 1 dog, we can feed all of them on £30 per mth, that is the exact cost give or take a few pence, and thats asda food, its the cheapest in our area, but the worm and flea products cost around £80 mth,and we get only £20mth with the iva, which doesnt come close, but now after some advise on here i can get it on line at www.vet.uk for less that £50, what a saving,
Hi Moneypenny
If you mean the site I recommended in your post the other day it's actually www.vetuk.co.uk (www.vet.co.uk doesn't exist) I've been using them for years now and would highly recommend them.
We have the same budget for food and housekeeping and are finding we can live pretty well on that, budgeting has taken some getting used to but we're getting there. I started my christmas shopping in may, buying something each month from our food/housekeeping allowances, so then we don't have loads of money to find at christmas (our oldest daughters birthday is 1 month before christmas and the youngest 2 months after, so everything is all together). We also got an Asda christmas savings card and put so much on each month, so that come christmas we can afford to buy any last minute presents, food etc, without having to worry about the kids getting nothing (luckily ours are at an age where it won't bother them not getting much, i think it'd bother me more tbh).
I think our allowance for home maintenance is £20 - £30 per month. From what i've read some people get an allowance for birthdays / xmas in bankruptcy, but not in IVA's.
You do need to be happy with your allowances though, as don't want to be struggling.
Good luck with everything and let us know how it all goes
We are a family of four (with 2 young children) and have £595 for groceries and laundry costs. We have no pets.
I use the Park Christmas savings scheme and put a bit out of our monthly budget each month on to it to pay for Christmas and birthday pressies (I have a lot of people with November birthdays and the vouchers come out in time for me to get birthday presents for these too).
It is all about the budgeting!
