www.iva.co.uk

hi all....

some people i have noticed are literally scrimping and saving, down to the point of being excited over havin 5 pound left at end of the month for a pasty at greggs....

is this how an iva works? or is there possibility of having a meal out to the pub? or a drink for a friends birthday?...

just trying to gather info on how much we are going to have to go without!!
eg my girls are only 1 and 4 so need to buy clothes reguarly, i only go to asda etc so not expensive but they are constantly growing. i worry im not even going to be able to do that!!

Hi, all disposable income is paid into an IVA hence why some us are excited by a little bit left at the end of the month. You will have a clothing allowance for your daughters and hopefully they'll never go without.

I go for a meal say every 6 weeks in a pub, 2 for a tenner with drinks around £15 and find this enough to keep me going and I fund this through having money over from my food allowance.

Most of my clients still manage to have a modest social life - indeed there is a small budget for sports, hobbies and entertainment.

The IVA can work as well as you can make it - a couple of weeks of economising on the shopping, can pay for a Chinese meal every couple of weeks if you like - or a few beers in the pub.

I find e-bay is brillint for clothing - get a lot of my own stuff on there, and like you say Asda and Tesco for kids stuff is really good. The IVA proposals will take a couple of months to prepare, so in the meantime instigate that budget straight away and if, by the time you get to the final review stage, you feel that you cannot live in that manner, I would look to other options.

No IP will want you to enter into an IVA that you cannot afford, but unfortunately creditors make up the rules for us in terms of expenditure allowances.

does anyone know a 'top of my head' average for each allowance?... eg food for family of 4? clothes? etc x

yeah i totally understand what your saying. having lived a do as we wish lifestyle a few years ago its hard to come into a new one but i will try and live like life in an iva for the next few months. just need to know my budget per allowance. then i know to live on only that and see how it goes xx

They would have been the figures your IP's representative agreed with you on the telephone - unless your circumstances differed and you actually spent less or more.

Food = £471 maximum per month
Clothing - £68 maximum per month

that for a family of 4 melanie?...

i havent arranged anything yet just trying to see if its best for me first.

after all bills have left each month were left with about 4-500 for any food, petrol, clothes etc etc so seems it would be about the same??

melanie, if you dont mind me asking, or if your even allowed to voice, whats your opinion of cleardebt??..

i have looked reviews online and they seem ok but theres that many to look at its tiring lol i just want someone to say come with us were great!!!

I don't think any IP is allowed to do that on the forum Vicki but our professional posters do come highly recommended and can be contacted by the experts link. Have a chat with 2 or 3 and you'll get the feel of who you're comfie with and get some all important impartial advice. x

Your petrol allowance is on top of the food budget and will be based on what you actually spend. The £471 covers food, toiletries and cleaning materials - I usually refer to it as the "trolley shop"!

It would be unfair of me to comment about a competitor firm to mine on this forum - and indeed the IPs that post on this forum are not allowed to use it to solicit business, so I will let other forum posters deal with that particular point if you don't mind!

lol i totally understand! and thanks for all advice. x

Mel isn't allowed to comment on other companies.

However, give one or two of the experts who post on here a ring. They all come highly recommended.

As to clothes, charity shops are an option, as is Ebay.

If you can save money from your allowances (as I know Lesley does) then you can afford the odd meal out at a pub.

Hi there,
I found alot of clothes for my children - even myself from charity shops. As for school uniforms, as Mel has said Asda and Tescos do these quite cheap. With my shopping i made up a list and have used that same list now for 5 years - on saying that dont forget with these big stores there are lots of buy ones get ones free etc too. Another thing we did was when our birthdays, easter and anniversary came around instead of having presents we asked for gift vouchers which we kept back and used for the children at christmas. The first year in the IVA we found the hardest but from then on it does get easier and the budgeting gets much easier too.

We are with Cleardebt and would not change them at all. Yes being in an IVA can be tough, but after the first year we are use to the constraints of the IVA. Overall, i would say that we maintain a good standard of living and have learn't to keep the spending under control.try to keep some money over each week and then treat yourself once a month. It gives you something to look forward to.

IVA life is hard at times and getting used to saying no can be hard. But the feeling at the end of each month, knowing that everything is paid for by your own money and that you may have even managed to save some certainly outways the bad for us. Our children aren't aware of the situation being 4 & 9 and havn't noticed anything different and we are still managing a holiday later this year. Good luck with your path you choose xx