It is a nervous time, and I can remember the first Christmas in our IVA was very sparse but by the time the second one came around, and I had been resourceful through the year and gathered odd gifts as and when I saw them, we were able to "give" a little more to our close relatives in year 2 !
We took the opportunity to cut back on what we gave as well and dropped off a few "friends and their kids" - we now only do immediate family and one set of close friends !
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
There is a solution for everyone .... Just need to stay positive !
Mike .. don't know if this will suit you ... but the adults in our immediate family had a get together and, without revealing we were in an IVA, we just talked about the general finacial situation ( pat cuts, redundancies, pay freezes, etc., etc.) and we agreed to only give each others kids token gifts, so we could concentrate our dwindling finances on our own offspring.
Who is your IP, by the way ?
My opinions are merely that .. opinions based on experience. Always seek professional advice.
IVA Completed 23rd July 2013 .... C.C. 10th January 2014
Hi, we have already said we are cutting back and have cut down the list of people we are giving to dramatically. Our main problem is we are just struggling in general. Common issue at the start I guess. Ta again everyone for the advice.
This will be my first Christmas with my IVA too. I have funded a lot of my presents through selling on ebay and Amazon, also my Tesco clubcard points have bought a couple of pressies too.
I WILL be better prepared next year. Have started doing the surveys with a view to using those vouchers next Christmas, and have started giving £10 a month to a Christmas savings club at work, so that'll be £100 for next year.
I'm fortunate that I have a very small family, and only buy presents for 2 friends, so perhaps not too bad.
It's nice to be important, but more important to be nice!
font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by MikeMoo1
Hi, we have already said we are cutting back and have cut down the list of people we are giving to dramatically. Our main problem is we are just struggling in general. Common issue at the start I guess. Ta again everyone for the advice.
IP is sorted through Freeman Jones.
Yes, it is a common issue at the start. we were all used to just flashing the plastic and the sudden need to drastically budget can come as something of a culture shock!
Once you get into it, however, you will find the challenge of living to a budget quite "the thing", some people actaully enjoy it.
I still get a smug feeling, standing in the supermarket check out queue, watching everybody paying with cards and knowing that all of my shop is paid for and won't be appearing on a bill next month!
My opinions are merely that .. opinions based on experience. Always seek professional advice.
IVA Completed 23rd July 2013 .... C.C. 10th January 2014
I think our issue is the I&E is not realistic but can we go back so early on and challenge?
Thanks for the Xmas tips everyone. Tough times ahead but reassuring (if that's the right word) to know we're not the first and certainly won't be the last to go through this.
It's a very tough time at Christmas. We have been cutting down for years and only entered into an IVA this year. It's miserable, but we don't buy presents for each other, we don't have children so that is ok, but we now only buy for a couple of relatives & my mum.
I would love to go crazy on presents but we've got used to it and having each other and family is more important. I know it sounds easy to say but it can be done on a budget. Good luck!
"It is never too late to be what you might have been"
Fiona
If it's way off, Mike, have a word with your IP and see what they are prepared to do to help. It's better to tackle a small problem now, than to risk the IVA if it becomes a bigger problem later on.
My opinions are merely that .. opinions based on experience. Always seek professional advice.
IVA Completed 23rd July 2013 .... C.C. 10th January 2014
Defo speak to your IP if your allowances aren't set right. Christmas is hard though - particularly as you haven't had time to prepare. Presents of homemade food are charming (and cost effective) for adults! I made jars of pickled onions but now can't bear to give them away...so the plan has pitfalls!
I'm a bit concerned that you say your I&E isn't realistic and you have only just started your IVA, we seem to be different to a lot on here, we took a few months juggling our I&E about to ensure we could live with it before we started our IVA and to be honest when we started, we have actually found that we are better off each month than we were before, before our IVA we cut back so much to ensure we could pay everything that our disposable income was extremely small and we lived like that for some time, sticking to a very tight budget so I could ensure we could pay everything, the main reason we entered the IVA was because I realised we were getting nowhere paying down the debt and as it turned out now with a realistic I&E we have more generous allowances than we gave ourselves before so budgeting has so far been easier in an IVA than it was for us before.
Biggest issue I think we will have is when and if something big goes wrong, previously we would have used credit to bail us out, not got that option this time!, oh and we only have provision for 1 payment break during the lifetime of our IVA so I HAVE to save for a contingency
Foggy - I was thinking about making gingerbread shapes but I've given up for this year after my disastrous attempt to stick royal icing stars on an iced/undecorated Christmas cake! I managed to spill gold glitter over the white icing and all attempts to wipe it off just made it worse. Best to stick to the very basics!
font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by Broke of London
Foggy - I was thinking about making gingerbread shapes but I've given up for this year after my disastrous attempt to stick royal icing stars on an iced/undecorated Christmas cake! I managed to spill gold glitter over the white icing and all attempts to wipe it off just made it worse. Best to stick to the very basics!
BOL - sorry but that made me chuckle. My hobby is cake decorating and have made numerous wedding, celebration and christmas cakes, so find the art of cake craft relatively easy (I now have Cake Dec qualifications too). I have for the past 6 or 7 years made Christmas Cakes as gifts for the relatives we only see once a year. This is because | can never think of anything to buy and they are now used to receiving cake. Not the cheapest present though as home-made Christmas Cake is not that cheap to make.
We understand that Christmas is tough for people on IVAs. The posts on here offer some great advice on how to budget so you can afford some treats. We appreciate that Christmas is less than a month away now.
In emergencies it is possible to take a payment holiday on an IVA. But I am afraid that Christmas doesn't really count as an emergency.
Obviously we are concerned that you feel your I&E isn't realistic. It is important that we talk this through. Please do give your Relationship Manager a call.
