[talkingcars]

It is all very frustrating - my ex has never paid a penny in CSA despite 2 or more of our children living with me for the last 6 years because she is either "studying" or having another baby so she can't work and she has set up her disability benifits so that they are not included in any CSA calculation.

The month after the youngest 2 moved in with me she still tried to claim CSA for them and the CSA tried backing her up.

When we first split I agreed to pay an monthly alouwance (sp) to each of the children to cover clothes etc, this was all done by standing order so that their were clear records. After 18 months she turned around to the CSA and said that it was just pocket money (um, it paid for clothes, school equipment, school trips etc). I contacted my MP who in turn spoke to the head of the CSA and they both agreed that I had done the correct thing but because the ex said it was pocket money there was nothing they could do!

When the younger ones needed child care I struggled to get her to have them for more than the minimum time, now they are old enough to be at home in the holidays she has them for the whole holidays, nothing to do with them to be old enough to look after the younger kids she has!

And to top it all she has just moved from her council house into a brand new house bought with her latest new piggy bank husband.

And this is just scratching the surface.

Enough of my problems and to your problems.

Selling the car - you will get very little for the ZS and proberbly not enough to pay for a cheaper to run car in a similar condition, we struggled to find a Rover 100 for my daughter in decent condition for under £1000 last year, most similar cars are equally as expensive.

Do you rent or are you buying? If buying can you reduce mortgage payments by getting a better deal or increasing the term?

Is it worth using your current child care durring term time and looking at local council holiday schemes for holidays? This is what we did and I was lucky my employer allowed me to start late and finish early to get them to the council scheme.

Network - there is always freelance work out there although you may need to do it above board, my step son was working full time at Tescos and doing this with his film editing work for several years until he had enough film work to self employed.

Good luck.