Wean needs your help

Hi. I don't know everything there is to know about money saving, budgeting, and frugal living. The only way I know how to get out of debt is to not get into it in the first place, but if you do find yourself backed into a corner, then then my simple solution would be to cut back on all but the essential spending. Mortgage/rent has to be paid. Council tax has to be paid. Utilities need to be paid, but savings can be made there. Food has to be bought, again savings can be made. Transport to work needs to be taken into consideration, distance, cost, can a bicycle be used rather than a car. Medication needs to be paid for if needed, or can you claim for it if you are unemployed. Everything else can be cut back.

That's the way I see it. It's a balancing act. Household expenditure can be itemized, income can be logged. Money in and money out can be tracked and checked against each other. I suggest anyone in dire straights could check that they are getting all the benefits they are entitled to. 

Wean poses a question, perhaps you can help. Copied, edited, and pasted from her recent comment.

Don't you just love these videos that tell you how to manage your money, create a budget and get out of debt ?
How do you do that when you have more going out than coming in ? I'm not talking about cable TV, new or expensive car, holidays, hairdressers, nail extensions or even tattoos if that's what you like, I'm talking about after your rent is paid and a couple of other non-negotiable bills, there is literally nothing left ? how do you budget with that ? how do you save from that ? Don't say 'yellow stickers' I am the yellow sticker Queen of the Midlands, but the point is, you cant save what you haven't got, you can't cut back any more, there's just nothing left.
Work is not an option, in your mid 70's no one will employ you. Sell stuff on Ebay - that should be rephrased as 'put stuff on Ebay' there's no guarantee it will sell. It's becoming increasingly difficult to sell on Ebay. Etsy is the same.
So while these 'help yourself out of debt' videos can be helpful in some small way, I find the people that put them out extremely smug and would like their opinion on how to save from nothing, cut back on nothing, and get out of debt

I don't have all the answers, so maybe as a collective I could ask that you savvy people out there all chip in with your ideas. Of course we don't have any more background to Wean's story, so replies should be generalized to cover a situation where someone/anyone feels they are at the end of the road and can't do any more to change their situation. She is in the UK I should mention.

Thank you Wean for your questions, let's see what ideas our readers come up with.

Thanks for popping in, the weekend starts here, enjoy. I'm off to the council tip now because I have got some real rubbish I want to get rid of. We'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip