www.iva.co.uk

Hello. Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas.

I'm three payments into my IVA and I'm just wondering how people in their IVAs manage to build up contingency funds in and around their IVA regulations?

Any help would be fantastic! Thank you.

Hi s_murphy_pop. I took the liberty of editing the font on your post, as all caps is considered shouting on forums ( Lord knows what they make of Bold Caps!! )

In my allowances I had £25 per month built in as a contingency, which I saved. I also saved my share of overtime and bonus payments ( I was lucky enough to have a good first year in that regards).

Some save from selling surplus household stuff on ebay.

As well as the contingency fund, I used to save up my Tesco Clubcard vouchers ( to use either as payment at Christmas, or, during the year I doubled them up to buy little Foggy's school uniform ).

Thanks for that on both counts haha! I will see how it goes with this, my wages are pretty tight to even have £25 extra a month! Well, we will see how that goes. Was Christmas a bad time of year then? I'm wondering how I will get through the next four... This one was very frugal and a bit sad...

We tend to just put anything to one side that we have left each month, some monthbs it is only a couple of pounds others it can be as much as £30 depending on it being a 4 or 5 week month and time of year, (we have lots of birthdays July to Sept). It soon adds up to a nice little pot at you then have something there if something breaks.
You do have to be quite disciplined though as when you see the amount build up it can be quite tempting to go blow it on a treat. LOL

I cater for Christmas using the Tesco Clubcard vouchers towards food and such, and I use high street vouchers from Shop n Scan for pressies. It's not a King's Ransom, but, between the two, I save around £150 -- which is "money" I never had, so to speak.

.....oh ... and now is the time to buy wrapping, tags, cards and decorations for next Christmas ( just don't do what I always do and forget where you stash them!)

Already done that Foggy, went out yesterday and bought them. Got all the 'special cards' for only £3.09 and that was for 6 of them. Just need to find some Christmas crackers for next year now, we always but those in Jan as well.
Last years was the best bargain 12 good quality crackers for 50p. Just cant remember where we got them from LOL.

All good tips and I agree some months you can put by more than others but it does all add up. I also used to always pop any change from the housekeeping in a pot and once I had got £15.00 I used to treat hubby and I to a 2 for a tenner meal at a local pub and there was enough for one drink. It wasn't every month but it kept us going and was our little treat. x

Thank you all for your tips. I will keep them in mind, and Peejayel, ASDA are doing the cheap crackers now!

Withdraw your food and fuel money each month...break into a weekly amounts and after each week put the balance into a tin and only count it after twelve months .... We used this for xmas presents !

We also took the decision to cut down on gifts to non family members ....explaining it by the economic situation and everyone must be feeling the pinch ! Never looked back...

Car boot sales, ebay and local sites ... Sold loads of bits that in my eyes were rubbish !

Got the recipe books out and cooked special teas once a month with a bottle of wine ( or two ) ....sat at the table with background music and got the nieces in to play waitresses !

My husband always moans at me for being far too organised when it comes to things like Christmas. I tend to leave buying presents for my Son until October/November, when as others suggested I use my Tesco clubcard vouchers to buy them all, as they do a double up scheme where £10 of vouchers is worth £20. This year I managed to buy everything he wanted by only adding and extra £27 [:)] Plus kids are always changing their mind about what they want!

For other people in the family, i.e. My Husband, Nieces etc, I try to buy a little something each month that is in the sales and stash it away. It is easier to buy in stages over a number of months instead of it hitting you all in one go. Books off Amazon can be as cheap as 99p, and dept stores always have sales on throughout the year to buy smellies and makeup etc.

I am terrible at bargain hunting, and by that I mean I am terrible at not trying to hunt out a great deal. I don't think I ever pay full price for anything unless I absolutely have to, and learning to save £££ is very addictive [:D]

We do try to save the contingency but having lived for 5 years now on a budget, things are breaking - kettle, iron, bed, fridge, doors etc that take the money. We complete online surveys and get paid in boots vouchers that helps when they have gift sets on 3-4-2 offers etc. Club card points are used for clothes when they double up. My Y reg car is giving up the ghost at the moment and becoming very temperamental but as we have no central heating at the moment, it is way down the list!! Have asked clear debt for a payment break today to replace the boiler. Not happy at having to extend a couple of months but cannot live without heating.

That all said, I do not regret the IVA in any way, I DREAD to think where we would be without the help of clear debt and this forum.

I sell things on Ebay throughout the year, I have 4 children so I sell a lot of clothes in bundles, shoes and toys - I can make £100 per month but it can be time consuming with posting etc.

I also double up on my Tesco club card vouchers which I collect when I buy petrol.

I have already started my next years Christmas shopping for stocking fillers in the sales!

So I am allowed to sell things on ebay then? And in terms of withdrawing my food and fuel money, do I have to show receipts for the usage? My fuel is quite high, about £200-£250 per month due to where I work (I travel on a moped as it is my only form of transport and it uses a lot of fuel!) So if I was to withdraw it in one go, would I have to justify every penny with a receipt? Thanks again!

Once your expenses are agreed they are yours to do with what you will and are not scrutinized further, unless there is some issue.