Herbie

I am a lone parent with 2 kids on UC, and I am in full-time work. I know I am luckier than some. What I have to do to plan is daily budgeting.

The biggest change for me was when someone suggested using cash for my food shopping. I always thought paying by card kept everything accounted for and so was the easiest way to budget.

But I've been using a cash budget for my food since the beginning of this year and I don't go over. I really don't know how this happens, but at the end of the week I find I have £1-£2 left. Not much, but I haven't gone over.

However, that doesn't help with the long term planning, which I cannot do. I set myself a plan 3yrs ago to get out of debt. This was when petrol was low, and the energy and food interest-rates hadn't hit so high. I learnt to cook really good, cheap meals. Or I'd have cereal as a main meal. It was doable and I could pay-off more debt than the interest.

Or so I thought. Uniform, school trips, living up to supporting my daughters as much as their mother (who is on a much higher wage than me) have left me, 3yrs later, with the same amount of debt. I'm not swimming anywhere I am just treading water. It's not the worst, but it is getting harder and I feel more and more deflated each week.