Expenditure - Misc/Clothes/Contingency

[Sully]

Sorry, a few more for you!

Contingency Fund
We asked about a Contingency fund of even as little as £10.00 per month and was told this could come out of the Miscellaneous budget which is obviously a joke! Our washer only has another year’s warranty left and in we end up calling them out about twice a year (£100 call out) – how are we supposed to pay for it when the warranty finishes???

Medical/Dental
I regularly get wisdom tooth and ear infections which costs me £7.00 per time on a prescription. I also then have to buy expensive mouth washes recommended by my dentist. I am in line for my wisdom tooth to be removed but I need to go to a different specialist and there is a long wait (well over a year) and even then apparently you can still get wisdom tooth infections, plus I had such a bad experience having my first one removed I am in no rush to have this done again. I wonder therefore if this can be added to my expenditure, perhaps in the Medical/Dental section as it currently comes out of Miscellaneous to which this budget is already spent. £7.00 may not seem a lot but it feels like over a hundred pounds a time when you are on such a tight budget! Also, when I go to the dentist and put my claim in it takes over a week to come through.

Hair cuts
I can’t remember the last time either of us had a hair cut – but again this wasn’t budgeted for at all! I won’t even comment about my dark brown hair going grey at only 27 years old!

Coverplans/warranties
We have various coverplans and warranties for all out white goods etc that come to over £10.00 per month – but again there is no budget for this and again the misc budget would need to be tripled for everything my IP says to put in this category.

And finally for this one is:
Clothes
Our clothes budget was £40.00 per month which we thought was sufficient as we rarely went out and bought new clothes so this money actually went on other stuff, however, my partner has a new job and has to wear suits. We did a trip to places like Matalan, Asda and Tesco to name but a few but because of his height and size we couldn’t get anything cheap, and whenever we did they didn’t have the suits in his height so we had to have them taken up which cost just as much as buying an expensive suit in the first place. We once went to Marks and Spencer as they had these new smart suits at about £50.00 – brilliant we said, but the ones in large were double the price. I also have to wear uniform, but the trousers can only come from specialist shops and come in at over £30.00 a time and the boots are also expensive, so I have been putting this off.

Well that's the lot on this section just two more sections to go! I am very very grateful for all of your comments!

[MelanieGiles]

The contingnecy fund is the miscellaneous budget! I usually encourage £30 per month for household maintenance on top of this - but again it is based upon clients individual circumstances.

The rest of your expenditure allowances ought to be based on what you actually spend rather than what someone tells you you can spend - unless of course these are creditors who are voting on your IVA. I do not believe in benchmark expenditure, but sadly I am in an extreme minority!

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[Oliver]

I think that a Contingency fund of £50 / month plus a Medical, optical and dental contingency fund of £50 / month is reasonable.

You could then use your contingency fund one month for haircuts etc.

Clothing is a difficult one and I tend to agree with Mel that you have to be subjective and look at the merits of the case. I do however, think that there needs to be some guidelines so things are applied fairly across the board.

I'm sure there are other people on the forum with large Partners who could give you some hints and tips on where to shop for cheap suits.





Best Regards
Oliver

Thomas Charles and Co Ltd.
Experts in personal debt solutions.
Read customer feedback at: www.thomascharles.com/about_us.asp

[redhead]

Hello Sully
My Ip allowed me £40 contingnecy fund also they allowed me to have a catalogue to purchase clothes etc of £30 per month although i didnt use the catalogue that often.

I can just see in the far distance the light at the end of the tunnel hurray!!!!

[MelanieGiles]

Interesting - an IP allowing ongoing credit during an IVA!!!!!

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[Angelus]

For me, the light at the end of the tunnel is just the mechanic who has just fixed my car with a torch bringing me the bill!![:D]

[kitkat44444]

Hi Sully, being a curvier figure myself I find it impossible to buy affordable clothes (I am only talking about 1 or 2 items per year!!). I have had some real bargains on Ebay so it could be worth looking on there for suits.

Best wishes

Kitkat44444