Hi all, great site! I'm a 1st time post-er & would just like some help on expenditure guidelines. Sorry it's long. It doesn't help that my IVA has gone to a new company last month so I don't know new company at all.
I'm just doing my 2nd year review. Our income has gone up a bit but we took quite a drop in our allowed expenses to get the iva through on things like clothing and never had an allowance for hobbies, etc. We have always maintained payments which has been tough at times.
Can anyone help advice what is acceptable for family 2 adults & 5 kids for clothing, school uniform (for 4 kids), housekeeping, hairdressing (around £65 for everyone), hobbies, pets (1 dog, 2 cats) dentist & optician (2 adults) and contingency? At the moment we get £50 contingency which has to include dentist, optician, hairdressing, windows, etc! I don't want to pay less than we are but I don't think we can survive another 3 years like this! I don't mind going without but when the kids bring home a school reward trip letter that we have to pay for then it gets tough! Is there any allowance for school music lessons too? My kids are gifted & talented at main stream schools and 2 have music lessons @ £3.50 per week each. At the moment I struggling off the housekeeping.
Also, what does everyone do about mortgage repayments- mine has dropped by about £60 per month with the economic climate but I'm sure that will start to go back up. I've put down the current lower amount.
Thanks in advance
Expenditure allowances should be largely based on your own individual set of circumstances and not on what someone tells you is allowable, however this has to be within reason. The clothing allowance used by CCCS for 2 adults and five children (to include school uniforms) is a maximum of £104 per month, housekeeping would be £708, hairdressing £43, social £76, pets £21, dentist etc £14. So only having a £50 contingency fund does appear to be low.
There are also allowances for school trips etc of £5 per month per child, and sundries and emergencies of £71 per month - but you have to remember that these are guideline figures and that this does not mean that you can claim all allowances. Base your figures on what you actually have spent over the last year and see if they are acceptable to your IP.
If mortgage rates drop you can expect your IVA payments to increase at the same rate in view of the financial saving you have made. When rates go back up this can be adjusted again.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
Base your figures on what you actually have spent over the last year and see if they are acceptable to your IP.
Thanks Melanie & Hi to everyone!
That info is really useful- half of it is knowing what to put in which box. It's just hard trying to work out what you average spend on things like clothing is when there's 7 of us! It's surprising how it adds up (got 2 new sets of school uniforms to buy....). We are determined to make IVA work so I know we will be way under guidelines anyway to continue existing payments & I'm too paranoid to declare anything but the actual figures- just don't tell my teenage daughter the haircutting guide!
I wish I had found your site along time ago I have been soo stressing [:)]
Many Thanks
PS sorry if I duplicate any messages, still finding feet
Just use the forum as your sounding board and we will all try to help. Your bank statements over the last few months ought to reveal some of your expenditure, and at the end of the day you could use the Tesco website to budget a normal week's shopping and the family clothing budget. Time spent now will be well worth it, and you will have the information to hand if anything is challenged by your IP.
I'm a newbie here too, everyone is wonderful and so supportive, I have yet to see a single even slightly nasty post which is wonderful to see [:D]
I hope everything works out for you and your family, you're on the right path now, and in the grand scheme of things its a short one with a nice big party at the end [;)]
Nyu xx
Everyone makes mistakes, thats why they put erasers on pencils
