Christmas Present

My Money explores how people across the UK manage their spending in a typical week.

As prices rise, Bbc News has been hearing about their ways of cutting costs and the financial choices they have to make.

Alannah is a 27-year-old blogger from north-east Scotland. She rents a two-bedroom house with her husband Jaimie, a delivery driver.

Alannah has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic illness that causes chronic pain. The couple's monthly income is about £2,000 from Jaimie's wages and their benefits. They have a baby son, Odin.

The House was freezing when I got up This Morning . Outside it was about -4°C.

The heating was on, plus an electric heater in the Living Room . We're either in debt and warm, or freezing cold and still in debt. So I'd rather just have heat.

My television license came out at £13. 25, I hadn't expected it to come out today.

Another payment of £4. 16 went to LayBuy, a buy now pay later company.

We're trying to move to somewhere without stairs, because it's hard for me to keep using them and my legs are covered in bruises. But we know moving will bring more financial stress.

In total £17. 41 went out today, but I received £21. 80 in Child Benefit.

I stayed At Home with my son today. Costcutter vouchers worth £10 arrived in The Post from a local community fund group for families.

They're helpful for things like baby wipes but you don't get a lot from them as Costcutter is so expensive.

I'm in nearly £1,600 of energy debt and there's nothing I can do. That's on top of about £4,000 of other debt including credit card, rent and council tax arrears.

A charity called helped me pay off about half because it was about £8,000 in 2020. That felt amazing, but now I feel like I've taken 10 steps back with my energy debt.

There's a fund my energy supplier could use to Help Me pay it off, so we'll see if I qualify. I've also applied for the.

Today our spending was £0.

I received a refund of £15. 98 for a flimsy phone case. I need one because Odin grabs my phone and drops it.

Jaimie also sent me £40 and he refuelled The Car for £11. 01.

A £7. 99 Google Play subscription went out, plus payments to Clearpay and LayBuy, they're buy now pay later companies. First £6. 69, then £9. 75, £6. 12 and £2. 66.

Most of these instalments are for special shampoo and conditioner.

Having a stoma bag means sometimes tablets don't absorb, they literally come straight back out. So it doesn't matter how many vitamins I take, my hair struggles.

People don't realise Jaimie and I rely on certain items to help manage our health conditions, and The Price of these going up has had an impact.

These include sanitary pads, sports drinks and clothes that fit over a stoma bag. I scour charity shops for affordable items but it's not always possible to find them.

Next, £24. 83 was paid to Klarna for Odin's Christmas Present , a little Electric Car .

I made some TikTok content too, I try keeping us afloat with freelance blogging but it's inconsistent work.

Today's total spending was £69. 05 and £55. 98 came into my account.

We've had so much snow. When we went to The Doctor 's This Morning I struggled walking up The Hill .

Later we had spaghetti bolognese for supper, then it was bath night for Odin.

£3. 60 was spent in Costcutters and Prime video came out at £3. 99. I've got £3 left until Jaimie is paid Next Friday , so it's stressful.

The Fridge is getting empty. I make sure Odin eats first And Then see if there's anything left.

In total I spent £7. 59 today.

I didn't sleep Last Night . In The Morning , Jaimie got up with Odin and I stayed in bed until later.

We spent the afternoon at his grandparents' house.

I reheated the spaghetti bolognese from Last Night for supper, then took a bath and went to bed.

There were no outgoings today.

I spent £14 on some fruit and pouches of yoghurt for Odin using our Best Start card, a prepaid card from the Scottish Government which lets us buy healthy food.

I have a slow cooker which is very handy, especially if you can't stand up long to cook, so I made Beef Stew for supper. Then we got ready for bed.

Today a total of £14 was spent using our Best Start card.

Sunday is housework and Family Day for us. There was no spending and we cooked.

Jaimie did Odin sausage rolls for lunch, so I had some of those and a coffee.

He also baked cinnamon rolls, so The House smelled lush.

Our total week's spending was £108. 04 and I have 25p left in my bank account.

I'm panicking because I don't know how we'll Get Out of debt now, we're going to really struggle.

What keeps me positive is talking about debt, my illnesses and being a mum on Social Media because it helps others.

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Source of news: bbc.com