It's STILL tough and not getting better - so how are we coping?

v8monkeyboy · 15 July 2010 at 11:30PM

Hi all,

I lurked on the last thread, but as this is a nice shiny new thread I thought I'd join in (tried to read the last thread from start to finish:eek:, but never managed it) .

Things were ok for us for the first bit of this year, as there was regular money coming in every week. Then OH was offered the chance of going full-time army (he's TA), and we decided that as it was what he wanted, he should leave his job, and have a go.

All went really well, and he was meant to be going away for 6 months last Wednesday. Until his medical. He's been put back 6 months becuase he had an allergic reaction to something unknown for the first and last time in his life, for 4 days last year.

So now he's not fit to train or anything until they've carried out immunology tests on him.....

We're therefore in the position that he has no job, the army can only give him enough days to pay him £600 per month (he was bringing on £1600 before), and I'm about to go on my last nursing placement before qualifying. I also get a bursary of £560 per month, but we're about £600 per month short of our ideal minimal income. My friend, whose husband has always had work available for my OH, now has financial constraints himself and isn't in a position to employ him at present.

I can (and have applied for) get a part time job, but I'm unsure how I'll manage to keep it when I'm on placement, as I've got 2 hrs travelling, and will work 5 days per week on random 8 hour shifts.

Luckily, because I have squirrel in my blood

and I'm a avid reader of this forum we've managed to put away enough money to tide us over for 4 months with only OH's £600 coming in. But, it's not a pretty position to be in, and I'm quite worried.

OH can possibly go back to his old job, but due to the chemicals used there and the stress he was under, he's had alopecia for the last two years. When he left work, his hair came back immediately..

I hope we'll manage until I get my nursing pin and hopefully a job. I've been offered a job in Surrey, but I live in the Peak District, and my family and friends are here. OH wouldn't be coming with me and the thought of having to move on my own and live on my own in a strange place terrifies me!

Sorry for the long post - it's the first time I've voiced our situation and concerns to anyone but the OH.

T x

ginnyknit · 15 July 2010 at 11:30PM

Hey I found you all...what did I miss..... nice to see all the lurkers joining us, great to hear from 'new blood' :T:T:T

Just been on a mission to Mr T, well had to get out of the house as kids were driving me mad. Soap flakes no were to be found, but they had liquid soap flakes - HUH?? 2 pound odd, think I will wait till i find the real stuff. My new bread maker is grumbling away as we speak - yay! Cheered me up cos there were no bargains at Mr T

lots less value stuff,the cheapo loo rolls seem to be slowly disappearing - shelf only has about 20 packs and a big empty space - seems a bit odd, are they going to replace them soon, its been like that for a couple of weeks. Oh and I wore my new pith helmet - very smart look I found, got some admiring glances well people were actually bemused. :rotfl:

mardatha · 15 July 2010 at 11:38PM

V8, it's nice to have friends to share with. None of us are in this alone, we all holding each other above water

katholicos · 15 July 2010 at 11:52PM

dandy-candy wrote: »

I never posted on the old threads - I couldn't face reading through all the posts, but I will gladly jump on board now if thats alright! The title of "It's still tough and not getting better" tbh I'm not expecting it to improve for at least a year anyway and so i'm planning for a frugal future - if it improves quicker then it's a bonus
Has anyone had an increase in people knocking on their doors collecting for "charity"? I had one guy come 3 times in the last month, he seemed suspicious so I never gave him any money and after the last visit I Googled the charity he said he was from and it clearly says on their website that they don't do door-to-door collecting! It says they have a lot of reports of fraudulant collectors - that makes me mad :mad:

Never had anyone collecting for charity knocking on the door. I get lots of legit charities putting collection bags through and i am always happy to oblige, but would not give to people who just knock on the door requesting donations. Also, i have a sticker on my window that is visible to callers and it clearly states that this is a 'no cold calling zone'. Maybe you could make a sign or maybe contact your local Trading Standards as i think they have the stickers.

jexygirl · 15 July 2010 at 11:54PM

I have always read this thread anon! But smiley you made me laugh so much - I couldnt resist, were we seperated at birth!
Firefox has a new update, so after a restart it probs righted itself

nice to know someone is as pc illiterate as me! (no insult intended, I only know cause it made me restart and probably isnt your problem, when my keyboard goes mental its usually because it had a large brandy spilled into it!) it wanted me to install a new version of adobe, thats the only reason I noticed! I ignored it though!
V8 - go girl - I qualified in 95 but although I left after about 12 years and tried repping, then bought my own buisness, its a great career, and one I know I can always go back to as long as I keep up to date. They are crying out for nurses all over so dont go worrying that you have to move, just focus on what speciality you fancy and go for it! I was lucky, I loved theatre and recovery and no - one else was that mad, so i got a job straight away and never had a problem moving around as not many people want to work there, you have to be pretty special to want to work there and not in a good way, so wherever I moved too always seemed to have vacancies!!!! hope it all works out for you, all experience is good right

Love the thread, and am resisting typing my life story right now! (be truly oh so greatful!)
Jex

smileyt_2 · 16 July 2010 at 12:02AM

v8monkeyboy wrote: »

OH can possibly go back to his old job, but due to the chemicals used there and the stress he was under, he's had alopecia for the last two years. When he left work, his hair came back immediately..
T x

v8 that's terrible! Are those chemicals even legal if that's what they can do to people? I guess you have to weigh up how desperate you are for funds in this situation. I wish you well in your situation, though, and well done on squirrelling!

And welcome to all new lurkers. I was a lurker once and now I can't keep off this forum!

And now it is time for bed zzz zzz.

firesidemaid · 16 July 2010 at 12:07AM

kidcat wrote: »

The problem is that (this sounds awful I know) the bad back ist so bad, its just he had a week off and then in his mind decided he really doesnt want to bother. Its obvious from his range of movement, that it cleared up almost immediately and was probably only bad for a day or two. BUt he insists its bad, and wont hear if going back to work - I have explained that no wages coming in is killing us - but he has found out that I have managed to save towards the house deposit and says that we can always use that. Its driving me insane. :mad::mad:

in that case you need to make life difficult and restrictive money-wise which will hopefully encourage him back to work quicker if he is able;)

[Deleted User] · 16 July 2010 at 12:14AM

dubgirl wrote: »

I followed the other 'tough/tougher' threads and really enjoyed them and will carry on with this one. Last week I spent the week with my parents who live in Cornwall, as does the rest of my family. As pensioners, they would be I guess considered to be comfortable and my Mum tries to make their money go as far as possible. She has always had a store/stock cupboard (usually in the garage), however last week I noticed that this was virtually empty. I asked her if she was running it down and re-stocking, but she said no, she couldnt afford it. I was surprised and then it got me thinking about pensioners and the effect of all the cuts/recession (which i think is still going on) etc and in all the talk about the coming years being difficult, have we forgotten how hard it will be for many pensioners, as their pensions will be worth less and less.

I am a pensioner, and probably of my age, was brought up in an era of always having a little bit tucked away for a rainy day.I manage fairly well at the moment, but do watch all the time the prices of things .There are only so many things that one can 'downsize' to labelwise.I cook from scratch virtually all my food ,mainly because I'm not keen on processed food and like to know what I'm eating I suppose in my food bill the fresh fruit and veg is my biggest expense I can streeeetch meat to a good distance at times :rotfl:but fresh fruit is not stretchable.
I make my own cakes and I suppose the heating bills are probably the main worry for most pensioners.I talk each night to my DD's ma-in-law who lves in London and she tells me how her and her husband have had to cut back on lots of things over the past few months,but the utilities heat,light,phone are the things that are hard to economise on. We have just had a quite hard winter and I think we all dread another like it.I don't waste cash and am careful with what I buy.Being a pensioner means that you can't 'do overtime' or 'extra hours' If, like my friend Margaret, she has to think twice before she buys almost anything now.
I can live on what I have at the moment and don't go without much but then I have few overheads and don't have the expences that a lot of families have .My youngest DD has five children and both her and her husband woork to feed and clothe them I help out where I can and the children are very good and sensible and know that if mum says no its because there's no spare money for them. I do believe that things will get tougher and we haven't 'bottomed out' from this recession yet.With pensioners, any savings we have because of the poor rates of interest means their value has been eroded and often what you hoped to get at the end of the year in interest which maybe you thought would help pay for Christmas and extras for your family suddenly isn't there anymore.As I say at the moment I am o.k. and can live within my means but a big heating bill or a sudden unexpected expense could change it all around.Most pensioners live(or exist) on less than £9k per year There are those who have more, but the majority that I know some even have less so something like a new winter coat or some shoes could put a big hole in their budget.At Christmas for presents for my older friends I do buy things that I know will help their budget out during the coming months .I make lots of my presents and do small baskets of 'treats' of nice soap,shampoo,ect or home baked cakes or shortbread.A nice box of chocolates are nice to receive but a nicer jar of jam or marmalade is better and lasts longer.So if you have any older friends this year try to perhaps buy something that they wouldn't normally buy,in the past I have bought a tin of salmon and some small tins of peaches or apricots for my friends and they are appreciated far more than a tin of Roses believe me.:D

v8monkeyboy · 16 July 2010 at 12:18AM

Jexygirl - thank you. I'm qualifying as a mental health nurse, and what I would like to do is work with homeless/drug/alcohol or within military mental health. The job I've been offered is in the military sphere, and when I did an elective placement I absolutely loved it, but I'm not sure I can cope with doing it on my own, away from everyone, and no dog sitter (mum looks after her now).

I've been self employed as a biscuit baker (yes, really!) and it had me on my knees. I worked for myself from the age of 19 doing different things until I was 31, and I vowed 'never again'. At least in MH nursing you can't take the patients home with you (unless you're really unlucky and they follow :rotfl:)

Smileyt - It was a classic car garage, but they didn't have adequate ventilation in the bodyshop. It's caused a lot of problems for the guys working there, with the bodyshop foreman not being allowed to paint vehicles every again. We hardly use chemicals in our house, so that may also have had an effect on his reaction. To be honest, if it comes down to it, I would rather work 7 days per week than have his health ruined by going back there, even for 6 months.

Thanks everyone - I'll be back (promise, not a threat!)

T x

firesidemaid · 16 July 2010 at 12:20AM

'we' have managed well since the downturn - we even ended up with a super-low mortgage rate which has enabled us to overpay even quicker. i work in the nhs and my job was safe:o.......

cut to 2 years later and now there's the very strong possibility of job cuts in the nhs plus OH's long-term sickness benefits being assessed/stopped - we have recently discussed the likelihood of us having zero income so to speak.

fortunately we have been careful with money and we can be even more careful, but i fear we are soon to go through what many people have been facing and dealing with for ages now.

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It's STILL tough and not getting better - so how are we coping?

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