Centrepay confusion...

I've moved into department of housing. I applied to have my rent come out of my FTB payments, as they are higher than my carers payment. They deducted it from my carers & have been trying to change it since.

I found out yesterday that there is no other option. I can't change it from my carers payment, because of state government regulations... (pretty much only WA)

I don't understand why though? To me, I feel more secure in my FTB than I do my carers payment.

Is there anything I can do to change this? Or am I just going to have to learn to manage my money to live with it. On the week my rent comes out I'm left with $315... on the once a month my insurance & phone bill come out that leaves me with $100... and if I happen to run out of gas that week, I'm screwed :( Plus DD's & I do winter sports. Away games are around $50 in petrol usually & our last bye has changed away games to fall on my carers week :(

So is there anyone, anywhere, I can maybe talk to about this? Local member for parliament? Housing authority? :dunno: My last house was community housing & I had no worries choosing when it came out.

Wonder if they'd accept bank transfers/bpay?

Why cant you budget extra and put it aside and use it on the week that you are short, maybe put it in a separate bank account.

Also leave a little aside every week to cover your direct debits.

Maybe see if they will take some out if each payment I stead of all out of one. If they won't, as has been mentioned, you might just have to chane the way you budget. Put money in a seperate bank account to cover the expenses or set up centre pay from your ftb for things like phone and electricity if available. It really should only be a problem once. You put the money aside from your ftb the following week which then has the money to cover you the next week when your payments are due. Then you out it aside again. You just have to resist the temptation to over spend because the money is there...

I pay as much as possible via centre pay simply because I know dh struggles to not spend if money is there. So I get where you are coming from. You just have to learn to be strong and maybe move it to a second account that you don't have ATM access to if need be.

Good suggestions already.

Otherwise, I'd ask the landlord if next fortnight you could pay 1 week, and the following week pay 2 weeks and pay on the pay week from then on.

Sorry I just re-read my post above and I dont mean it to sound as directory as it does.

I struggle with budgeting as like BG,s husband if there is money there I just want to spend it. The only way around this for me was the separate account and I do a yearly budget and work out what I need to put away each fortnight to pay my bills. That way I, theoretically, should have enough when they ate due :)

Can you scrap Centrepay and set up your own direct debit to come out on your FTB pay day?

That's what I was thinking of doing Tinks.

Peanutter, not an option. I pay via centrepay to government housing. They'll only allow the payment from that pay. State government won't allow it to come from my other payment.

I can definitely work it all out & rebudget, but I've always made my money around even by splitting my payments between the weeks so after so many years, it will take some getting used too. Its just not in my comfort zone ITMS. I've always made sure I didn't have to struggle between fortnights.

My power & all other bills are either direct debit or centrepay & all out of my FTB or weekly. Phone bill I should probably see if I can pay $20 a week off, then not have the huge end of month bill, but that's about the only thing I can change.

Will ask them about the direct debit, but otherwise I'll just have to manage.

Maybe change the weekly stuff to fortnightly out of ftb so you are moving even a little to other week....

The only thing weekly is my $21 for radio rentals. That's why I didn't bother. But I forgot about my $20 I pay by DD off my power a week. That's $40. Those are the only 2, but a difference! I finish paying RR next month too I think.

:) better than nothing.

Yeah it's hard to think what can be moved around, but worth it to wriggle things a bit. I have set up a spreadsheet with everything on it (even down to the little things like prescription medication costs) - and we love to that budget and I know exactly what comes out where

And if we overspend one week, I can show dh why he has to be a reeeeeeally good boy the following week to make up for it :)

TBH, its the fortnightly shopping I'm a little more nervous about. Have never had to do it fortnightly before. Worried about not having enough to last, but at least I'm not left with nothing between fortnights. I've had my supplememt payments coming in, so haven't had to survive yet, but once I get my tyres done & car serviced, we'll be back to normal :lol:
My dad has scored me a chest freezer, so will be stocking up while I've got some extra $$ :)

If you don't so it already, meal plan. Buy everything "big" in the week you have the moolah. Meat etc. make it so you only have to get staples like bread and milk on the small week. Factor your petrol out of the bigger week. Work out before you get paid whether you have anything that involves additional travel and put fuel in the car.

I rejigged our budget last night, and on our small week, once bills wtf are paid, we have less than $50. Yes we have wriggle room if I don't pay a bill in advance, but like you I prefer to get it all paid. I say and worked it out and if we so our "real" shop when we have money to do so, bread and milk and maybe drag salad is doable for that. Dh is struggling with it - he's used to having ready cash all the time - but I'm sick if playing catch up with bills and thins so I've factored in everything to be paid, and he will just need to get used to the budget lifestyle (he doesn't realise I've been inofficiallu doing this for months and we've survived!)

I just remembered this thread. It's all just come around to bite me on the bum.

I haven't worked since before Christmas. I managed, because I always had a bit of extra cash on the off week. 4 months of not having that & I'm struggling. I'm getting by, but I'm so sick of putting people off :(

I can give this much today, coz I owe from a few weeks ago... no more til next fortnight. Oh hang on, next fortnight I need to do dd1's birthday & Easter! And my phone & insurance come out by then... How about you wait a month for me to pay you for the bottle of gas I just asked you to deliver with no cash up front... Coz we kind of need to cook & have hot water. I could cancel the kids school camp. How fair is that :(

I'm very grateful to have such understanding people around me , but I'm struggling with this right now in myself. I'll get ahead again, I almost am. I just hate owing money & having to drag it out over weeks. A little bit every week feels more productive than a chunk every fortnight.
And I've tried fortnightly food shopping. Lol I gotta have my bills caught up first to have that money spare, then I gotta stop the kids eating it all!

I can't wait to be back on top! Get DD's birthday out of the way & it'll all work out :)

If you are really struggling with not shopping weekly, put half your shopping money in another account and don't touch it til the opposite week. It takes self control, but it can be done. It's not really the centrepay arrangement that is causing the grief, even though it feels like that is an easy target to blame that.
Maybe it's worth talking to a financial counsellor. Unfortunately, it sounds like this is your life for the foreseeable future, and you need help to learn to make it work for you. You should be able to speak to centrelink to get advice on what organisations can help you with something like this local to yourself. I know the service is often available through local charitable organisations. If you don't get help and make changes, you are going to be living from advance to advance to sort yourself out, hanging for the supplements to get yourself out of strife, instead of having these as bonuses of sorts, to allow you to have a bit of a splurge kwim?

There are no charity organisations near me. Though maybe they help over the phone?

Nah, I'm just a bit behind at the moment. Like I said, I'll get there.

I've had 3 school camps to pay for, my PO box was due, I ordered the kids a sports club bag each that took 6 months to turn up, we have school photos coming up, we have our regular bills, ds's birthday was 3 weeks ago & dd1's birthday is 3 weeks away, plus Easter. And I didn't get around to paying my basketball subs 3 months ago when I should've :doh:

It's just because that has all come in at once, then I needed gas as well. All in the last 4 weeks & money only goes so far.

These aren't regular expenses, they're once a year things that just have bad timing.

It's not really the fortnight thing that's the problem. It's me feeling I should be making payments more than every fortnight. But like I said, these people understand & accept that.

There are things that come in on the wrong week & I've already used money I could've held onto for whatever it is. Or we'll get invited by friends/family to go somewhere on that week, and it's usually not go, or they offer the funds to do it. I hate that :(

Right now I have money on that off week for shopping & fuel. My ftb week is all bills, school stuff etc. At the moment, til I catch up, there is nothing left over to hold onto. That's what's hard. Taking care of everything then something little comes up from the school, but the money is already gone IYKWIM.

I've been without work for 4 months. It's only the last month this all hit at the same time that I've felt like I've lost a bit of control. But I'm getting there. These things aren't things charity organisations could help with either. They're not necessities.

And I have a feeling I'd be expected to drive 2 hours away to the nearest major town... But I don't know. I've not tried to find out here TBH.

I just needed to vent about it, coz stressing won't fix it ;)

Some of the organisations will help over the phone. I was speaking to my electricity company to change centre pay stuff only yesterday's nd they offered connection to a financial counsellor. So they are available all over the place. Definitely contact centrelink. Post office isn't an unforeseen expense so given it's come up and you weren't prepared for that expense, you may benefit from help kwim?

I'm not having a go at your organisation skills - just offering help to get you to a position where this stuff doesn't knock your budget around so much when it comes up

I know. I'm just not real good for asking for, or accepting help. I was referred to a financial counsellor a little over a year ago for my power, but I managed to get on top myself.

The last time I contacted a charity organisation was back when ex was in our lives. When there were times that there was no food, and no birthday/Christmas presents. Because his 'needs' came first. Scraping the bottom of the barrel.

I have nothing to complain about. I have absolutely no reason to be in this position. I can afford to live. We've never been in a better position since I've been on my own. I think it's a bit of pride. I got us here, I've done well so far. I don't want to feel like I've gone backwards...

No harm in calling I guess, is there. See what they say.

Did you get student assistance for the kids school camps? I know in NSW we have a fund at each schools to help families pay for camps/uniforms/extras.