Day 2 of this rain. I went as far as the wheely bin in the garden but never bothered to get dressed. Not much point putting on clean clothes to sit in the house.

Lots of flooding shown on social media. Feeling the loneliness today.

Nobody has made contact with me. I could try first contact with someone else, but I feel stuck for what to say without depressing them. Radiator downstairs is not heating up. It's constant repairs in this house. Can hear drips of rain come down the chimney. I am grateful for the reward for the extra I provided for this project. I only went and messed up wanting to spend it online.

I missed alerter out on my email. I filled in online form for help from love to shop and hope to hear soon.

I googled how to raise extra money. There are apps to do surveys and watch adverts for pennies. It's frustrating as I have no motivation. Feel spaced out and drowsy on these meds. Sitting waiting for HMRC to send a letter for tax credits to stop, to make a claim for U.C is anxiety provoking. Do they give you notice of a date?

I have been keeping a close eye on when the cost of living payment will be paid and when housing support will be paid as this will help with Christmas and the cost of gas/electricity.

I’ve planned as much as I can plan. Noted down what each month's bill amount should be, what children want for Christmas and cost of it all.

I feel like it has helped me as I know what I need and when I need it by. Rather than having panic.

Many low income families rely on government benefits. It will be very difficult if their benefits do not increase in line with inflation in April. Already we have cut lots of essential items in our household to survive. So, we urge the government to increase benefits in line with inflation in April.

Absolutely not. I’m finding now more than ever I’m really losing sleep over worrying about money. The price of everything is beyond a joke and it doesn’t seem to be getting any easier. I’ve just got my daughter a place in playgroup because it’s cheaper than ‘childcare’ to try and free up some hours for me to be able to get back to work, and I honestly don’t know how I’m going to manage. It’s £210 a month for only 12 hours a week. Jobs don’t even pay an hourly rate that’s enough to cover it. I don’t know how anyone is expected to live at the minute.

The start of the new school year is terrifying particularly as I now have 2 kids in high school, the uniform is extortionate, then there's the meals and on his first day back my son informed me they have a school trip I need to pay for in 2 weeks. Honestly have no clue how I'm going to do that with no expendable income or savings. I hope others are in a better position than I am.

Hiya all it was my son's first day of high-school yesterday I had to pay £10 for this week's bus fare, then have to pay £37 for a monthly pass, then it's £48.50 for school meals for the month, not including the £206 on uniform, branded shoes and branded coat, and If I didn't buy him branded there is a chance he could be bullied as this is a starting point – what a nightmare! The things we have to do to try and ensure your child doesn't get bullied, as this is my worst nightmare. He did enjoy it but only year 7 & 11 were allowed back yesterday, so waiting to see what today brings as all the years are back today, my anxiety is through the roof.

Money has always been hard. My husband has a gambling issue which started a few years ago and I didn’t know he didn’t pay the bills and blew 2 wages! It nearly destroyed us. And to this day still repaying back. It’s a struggle. Everything costs so much as it is and when I’m trying to pay something back they want a large amount that I just can’t do. I completely understand why people choose to ignore debts at times, as it feels you have no choice.

He still goes off the rails at times but luckily not as bad as it used to be. They say there is all this help out there but, for me, I’m not a confident person on the phone and I can’t understand what’s said to me. But pretty much everything you have to do over the phone. There needs to be other ways of doing these things for people that have anxiety issues.

4 years of not knowing how. Going through ups and downs of a breakdown of a marriage, shared parenting and downhill projection of what I would be financially capable of, and finally it was here - my first abroad holiday post divorce. Although I would have loved it with my kids, having that ‘Pray, Eat, Love’ movie moment was also necessary. I might not have had the endless pocket money to spend on things, putting presents to bring back for my kids the main priority, the experience of feeling refreshed was souvenir enough.

Finally what I wasn’t expecting, was that in Britain we might be complaining of the cost of living, but in the Mediterranean it is something they have come to terms with and just knuckle down and work as hard as they possibly can. Their restlessness inspires me that however my year will end, I will not give up on dreaming of getting to my end goal too and that is to be on the road back to work as well. Sometimes fresh inspiration is all you need to spark the innovative ways, in order to create your own opportunities in life. Cost of living will not continue to define the goals I haven’t achieved, anymore.

I must remember to budget for this time of year next year - £70 on school shoes has meant compromises on the food shop for a few weeks. My son has very narrow feet (and one bigger than the other currently). I did purchase some from Lidl for £10 but they were a very poor fit and heavy so returned them. As he is in his school shoes from 7:30 till 5pm 5 days a week I made this a priority spend and got him fitted and kitted out at our local specialist children's shoe shop. As a compromise he is having to wear his old trousers, shorts and well worn sweatshirts. I've bought new polo shirts as his old ones were stained and faded. He will have to make do with his old school bag with a hole in. I'm trying to teach him to respect his belongings and not drag things across the floor but at age 6 it is easier said than done! I'm currently stalking the charity shops and facebook market place for a warm winter coat for him.

The beginning of the new school year means the end of the summer and the start of the cooler weather. How long can I hold off putting the heating on - a definite challenge living in the North East. I'm working less hours in order to focus on my final year of studies so this not only means less income but also the fact that I'm going to be home for an additional 2 days a week which means heating the house more often. I'm trying to stay focused on the light at the end of the tunnel and that once I'm qualified in Dec 2024 then, fingers crossed, my finances will improve. I'm in for a very tough ride until then. I'm well aware of the privilege I am in, many others who are struggling financially are trapped and lack hope of a better future.

Hi, I just wanted to share a lovely story about how it feels to be supported, and, what happens when you are given a break and the money to enjoy that break.

We have just returned from a week away at a friend's caravan in Wales.

The weather was mostly fantastic, that made such a difference! That, and the money my friend also gave us to go away with. It changed everything so noticeably that I had to share it here.

We set off after some really difficult days of unexpected expense, pet illness and an issue with my car that cost me more than it should have done. I really do struggle to work out why people overcharge for services. It seems where you don’t understand the workings of something there is always room for tradespeople to overcharge you after scaring you half to death about what will happen if you don’t pay them to fix it! Anyway, that’s another story!

Our break began with a very easy drive to the caravan and a day of torrential rain which almost led to us returning home. My son has additional needs which impact any transition if it is difficult or happy, so handling that first, we then managed to smooth things out and begin one of the best holidays we have ever had!

Not having to worry about money meant that we could do more or less what we wanted! That meant I wasn’t uptight and worried for the whole time, it was an astonishing difference! So much that my son even noticed it.

We walked on the beach daily, we went to the market, we bought the food we wanted, we laughed we hugged and we snuggled down watching tv and spending unfettered time together.

He played out with friends and was an unworried child for the week.

We are so so lucky to have the friends we do, without whom we really would be totally isolated. Not having supportive family has been exhausting and led to some very low times.

I can’t say that everything is fixed because of the break, but I can say that my son and my relationship was given space and it was so fulfilling. I feel rested, positive and as though I can face life with less stress for a bit.

I’m grateful, on every level, and especially uplifted because my boy and I got to experience what life is like when you don’t have to worry about money all of the time. It was beautiful and it made me realise just how impactful it is living hand to mouth with a child.

You. Hi. Just answering the question of the week. Thank you. I'm definitely worried about the cost implications of getting my son to his two separate three separate provisions and the necessary equipment that he needs. Especially as in the new year, my financial situation will really significantly change. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage it. And really, the worst part about it for me is continually trying to hide the concern from my son, and it doesn't work all the time. So they end up, whether we like it or not, I think that they end up with some of the concerns that we have and some of the anxiety that we have surrounding the extra expense. Not sure how you change that, because we're human beings at the end of the day, so we're not superheroes. Despite the fact that we try really hard, our children are affected, and that's just a continual issue. It's never ending. It.

My son's current school is a Catholic one, and he is therefore not allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms, but has to wear trousers instead.

He has recently had a massive growth spurt, and has put on quite a bit of weight around his stomach area, and as a result most of the trousers I buy for him from the shops are standardised for a specific age group, but not very adjustable in terms of size, which often means even when I buy him trousers for an older age than he is (because often the waist is that little bit larger) the legs of them are often way too long, and I have to pay even more money (sometimes more than what I paid for the actual trousers) just to get them altered at the Tailors!

I often feel that I can't win, and that (even though they also sell elasticated waisted trousers) they still don't cater for slightly larger children.

This is one of the biggest challenges I face at the start of almost every school year.