www.iva.co.uk

Just over a year in and feel like I am drowning, I am constantly planning ahead and thinking about money ! Am driving myself mad, the people around me too!! This month I have car MOT, sons birthday and car tax. Not sure I can go on like this for another 4 years, even though I know I have no choice. I knew it would be hard but I am struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Anyone else feel the same? [:)]

Hi Austin. Hopefully your emotions will settle down. I know I, and many others, started to actually enjoy planning and bargain hunting. I have been out of my IVA for 7 months and still plan and watch the pennies

4 years sounds long looking ahead, but will soon pass.

Thankyou for your reply. I don't actually mind being careful and bargain hunting as I always have done but I just feel me and the kids don't have a life, we live hand to mouth and can't do anything. Life could be worse, so I will stop whinging and get on with it!! lol Thank you [:D]

No worries Austin. Naturally I don't know your circumstances -- but I found, although life in an IVA was no luxury, that I was better off. If only a quid in the bank at the end of the month that was still more than I used to have before the IVA !

I also discovered the local park and kid's playgrounds -- well, little Foggy did the discovering

I agree with Foggy in that although we certainly don't live in the lap of luxury, we also don't live "hand to mouth" or feel that we have no life. I don't think our kids are even aware that we have been in an IVA for just over a year (they are 10 and and they don't suffer in any way really. You should be given allowances to put money aside for car tax and car maintenance etc - we certainly are - so I save a bit each month towards these things, as well as household emergencies - so that these costs are covered. We have now made 15 payments and are waiting for the results of our first review and have found it much less stressful than our life before the IVA. I'm not trying to run your nose in it but merely say that maybe you should speak to your IP to make sure that your income and expenditure is set correctly so that you don't feel like you're drowning all the time. Good luck.

If you need a whinge, or to vent your spleen, go ahead -- it is better than bottling things up and everybody here can empathise.

I have just looked at my plan on line (Payplan) and it says available surplus 208.00 and I am paying 269.00!? It was 317.00 and was dropped the 15% due to my gas and electric rising ! No wonder I am not coping!

Where do they get the figure of £208 from as a matter of interest? Are you in an IVA or a DMP?

I am in an IVA. It says on my plan on the website that the difference between my expenditure and income is £208.00

Then if they have that information to hand, I struggle to understand how you are affording to pay £269. Where are you finding the additional £61 pounds from?

I am going to call them today. I know they will have to go to the creditors to get them to agree. But that extra £60 per month would mean that I was not without any money for one week a month. Fingers crossed they will drop the payment.

I hope you manage to get this resolved, it's hard enough as it is without being made to pay over the odds

Take it from me you be amazed how quick the time goes, our last payment was last fiday, just waiting for the last hurdle, but got so used to payments, it will hit home end of month with no payment

I feel for you as for the rest of our working life we will have to be careful (I was medically retired during our IVA). I know how hard it is.

The main thing to remember is - how were you coping before the IVA? You weren't - you were relying on credit. So well done for tackling the problem.

The next thing - sit down and actually write down a budget. Try and put a little (even £1) a week away towards birthdays, save towards your car tax etc. Look to save on shopping if you can (I found by doing an on-line Asda shop it saved me a bit even with the delivery charge as I wasn't tempted.

If you or anyone else in the house has the time, try some on-line surveys. They soon mount up (although some seem tedious!) and you can get gift vouchers to put away so you can use them for birthdays etc.

I hope you manage to get the discrepancy sorted with your IP - even if they have to go back to creditors to ask for a reduction of your expected dividend.

Look forward - it's just like a 5 year loan and I had loads of those. It was the only way I could accept the IVA and alleviate some of the guilt of being in so much debt.

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by kazzafunk

I feel for you as for the rest of our working life we will have to be careful (I was medically retired during our IVA). I know how hard it is.

The main thing to remember is - how were you coping before the IVA? You weren't - you were relying on credit. So well done for tackling the problem.

The next thing - sit down and actually write down a budget. Try and put a little (even £1) a week away towards birthdays, save towards your car tax etc. Look to save on shopping if you can (I found by doing an on-line Asda shop it saved me a bit even with the delivery charge as I wasn't tempted.

If you or anyone else in the house has the time, try some on-line surveys. They soon mount up (although some seem tedious!) and you can get gift vouchers to put away so you can use them for birthdays etc.

I hope you manage to get the discrepancy sorted with your IP - even if they have to go back to creditors to ask for a reduction of your expected dividend.

Look forward - it's just like a 5 year loan and I had loads of those. It was the only way I could accept the IVA and alleviate some of the guilt of being in so much debt.

Good advice kazzafunk
For me it also helped to have a couple of current accounts and a savings account (obviously created before the IVA starts) so that I could setup standing orders into savings or my wifes CA to cater for monthly, quarterly and yearly expenses.
For us this was half the battle, managing per month was one thing, but making sure that there was money in the bank for the irregular bills was a much bigger challenge.

Most of all austint36, know that while there may be some days where your IVA makes you feel like a second class citizen, when you reach the end you will have achieved something special. 5 years ago if someone asked me if I could manage my life without a credit card I would have laughed, but here I am.
Plan your year ahead, divide your quarterly bills by three, your annuals by twelve and put the money aside until its due. After doing this if you cant make your payments please speak to you IP, they can instigate a variation rather than let the IVA fail.