My "Hard Times" Diary.

scrooge2008

Hi,

Could you negotiate with your employer for a bit more time. Re-locating the elderly folks will take some time I would imagine. I would check with ACAS to make sure that everything your employer is doing in this redundancy situation is correct. There are very strict rules, which could mean you claiming unfair dismissal if they are violated. Two weeks sounds a bit mean.

Could any of the elderly folk be wanting to go back to their own homes. You could set up an agency with other members of staff to support them at home. Might be worth chatting with their relatives.

I would contact the benefits agency to see whether you would be entitled to job seekers allowance on redundancy, and claim if entitled.

Also check to see if you have any mortgage insurance, PPI etc that could be claimed on if necessary.

Caring for an elderly person in your own home for breaks, or fostering might also be an option. Worth ringing Social Services.

All the best. Keep positive. I'm sure things will work out.

Bambywamby

Hello all. :hello:

Thank you for all your comments and suggestions...I am feeling a bit more chipper today.

After working last night I went straight on to a job interview at another local care home. I have been offered the job (on the proviso of references and enhanced police check) which is fabulous. Only 30 hours a week but it starts in 6 weeks time, so I will only be without wages for a month - hopefully we will not have to take a mortgage break as the penalties seem to be quite costly.

I have decided to start Ebaying to get some money together towards a new boiler.
I started the assault in my sons room, I sorted through all his old clothes and I can't believe all the brand name clothing I have bought him over the years that he has hardly worn.
So I have two washing machines full of clothes to wash and iron for Ebay and a black bin liner full that is going to the local charity shop.
My son is a bit of a hoarder and after going down the clothing he said "You can't get rid of this stuff mum, I might wear it again."
When I pointed out that most of the clothing was too small for him...he then said "But they have sentimental value...like those jeans, I wore them the first time I pulled a lass."
He soon changed his tune however when I said they were going on Ebay and he could have a portion of the proceeds. :rotfl:

My plan for the next two days is to dig a veggie patch in the back garden.
I refuse to pay 90 pence for caulis and and lettuces any longer.
I already have the seeds (which I bought six months ago with the intenton of doing a veggie patch but never got around to it.)


Tonight we are having roast chicken for tea. I am hoping to get four meals out of the chicken.
The plan is: Roast chicken and yorkshire puds tonight, chicken stir fry tomorrow (I want to use up my rubber carrots and gettin past it cabbage too), chicken curry on Thursday and then I shall knock up a chicken and veggie soup with the carcass.
I have an Asda order coming next Monday and I am not buying any food (except organic milk) until then, so I have to make do and stretch the foods that we do have.
I am quite looking forward to the challenge.

My friend who is a Corgi registered plumber is going to get us a deal on a boiler and installation but we are still looking at around £800 that we don't have...I better get myself down to the local dock and start advertising "favours for sailors" lol.
I am soooooo glad it's summer, I would be miserable if it was winter and we had no heating.

Thanks again y'all for your input.

Have a great day

Bams x x

scrooge2008

Great news. Your chicken week sounds extremely enterprising, and tasty. Good luck on the gardening initiative.

I was very impressed with your positive and pro-active approach when facing an extremely stressful situation. It has certainly paid off!

Bambywamby

Thank you Scrooge .
I have to keep pro-active about the whole matter or I would be a mass of anxiety and worries...and nothing would get done except a whole load of comfort eating.
As long as I am chipping away at our cash flow problems I feel there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Bams x

Merlot

Bambywamby wrote: »

OUR MONTHLY S>O>A.


My family consists of two adults, one teenage son and three labradors.


Incoming:
O/Hs salary £ 1800
Was my salary £ 800
Fam Cred &
Child Benefit £ 80

---

Total £ 2680


Outgoing:
Mortgage £1019 (fixed until May 09)
Council Tax £ 124
Water £ 25
Pet Insurance £ 28 (needed as one of labradors has a medical conditon)
House Insurance £ 26 (obtained through Quidco)
TV Lcense £ 12
ASLEF £24 (Other halfs union) - This is high for a union subscription, is this correct?
RSPCA £ 3 - I'm sorry but this has to go for a while
Electric & Gas £ 116 (fixed price until 2011)
Car Insur £23 (obtained through Quidco)
Sky £38 (I know,it's gotta go) - Yep, its gotta to go
Personal Loan £180 (5 years left )
Internet £29 (Live in the East Riding of Yorks and cannot use a different provider
have to use local one...total rip off but not optional.) - Kingston are cr*p, I too live in the East riding, but not in the Hull area so I have the option of another broadband provider, is this the best package you can have with them?
Car Loan £214 (4 years left )
Telephone £25 (again cannot use any provider other than local one) - It may be Kingston, but surely you are using this for calls too, and you have no need if you have mobiles with "free minutes"
Mobile #1 £25 18 month contract - u need to lower the tariff, you can usually do so at 9 months
Mobile #2 £45 12 month contract - as above
Groceries £240
Entertainment £50
Clothing, Dentist, Prescriptions £40
Xmas, birthdays etc £25
Dog Food £30 (can't vary this due to special diet of one dog.) - Take a look online and see if you can get it cheaper than £30 per month.

Credit Card & Catalogue payments:

Cap one - £1222 I pay £100 per month
MBNA One - £2760 I pay £100 per month
MBNA Two - £783 I pay £50 per month
Kays - £1746 I pay £50 per month

Total £2670


Leaves us a tenner a month


However that was before I lost my job, so until I get another job we will be short of
£790 per month, so I need to cut back big style.
Any ideas lovely peeps?

I have added a couple of comments in above. Your debts are not too high thankfully, what are the minimum payments on them, you are going to have to repay them just the min this month and until you get your first new job salary.

What is your credit rating like? Can you balance transfer some of the cards onto a low APR card? (Use quidco, if looking for a new card, you'll get cashback too).

Merlot.x.

Merlot

I've just checked on Kingston, they do a Karoo Mid Package, 10GB download limit, for £12.99 per month, can you phone and ask to change to that package? It would save you £12 per month.

lucielle

Well done regarding the job. Hope the boiler arrives quickly and everything goes ok.
L

FunBrum

Great news regarding your job offer, and well done for not going to pieces.:T

The Old Style board is full of helpful hints on cutting back and make-do-and-mend. Thanks to them our grocery bill in the last 7 months has not exceeded £30pw. Quite often it is only £15. That is for 2 adults and a 15yr old with hollow legs!:D

Have you tried to transfer you credit cards to 0% one's? It might tie you over for a few months whilst you concentrate on making sure your mortgage is paid.

The summer...if it stops raining long enough.....is great for car-boot sales. I make between £80-£100 on a good day and £30 on a bad day. It's fun and I am getting rid of all my rubbish...erm...unwanted goods!:rotfl: Also by clearing your clutter you feel so free and your head becomes uncluttered. Works for me.;)

You are doing so well, so keep it up!:T

Bambywamby

Merlot - Our credit rating is currently good and two of our cards are on 0% interest as is the catalogue. I shall shop around to get the last card on a 0% later in the week - thank you I had forgotten about that.
Regrading the Karoo internet package, with the cheaper packages you get a lot less gigs of download and my O/H assures me it would cost us a lot more to do a cheaper package and pay the excess for extra used as we use the P.C to download that often.

Cheer Lucielle- I hope we can get it installed soon but at the moment we are looking at a week.
Our friend the plumber has given us 6 weeks to pay the £800 bill which is good of him...so I will be scrimping, saving and earning like a maniac to get it paid for by then.

FunBrum - WOW@ £30 pound per week sometimes only £15. Do you have a menu plan you could share? I have planned to spend £40 a week but that is without pet food and any treats (crisps, soda, sweets, cakes etc). That would be a saving of £20 a week.
I quite fancy car booting, however I am put off at the thought of people haggling over everything. I am such a soft touch I would probably end up giving stuff away.

Bambywamby

Today has been really productive - I have washed two lots of washing on a 30 degree wash and managed to get it all line dried.
I listed 22 items on Ebay, hopefully most will sell and I can put the proceeds towards our boiler. The items include a Lillput Lane house, some costume jewellery and a couple of pairs of skinny jeans that my sister gave me.

I cleaned, dusted and hoovered ALL of downstairs (didn't clean the oven though...ewww least favourite job.) I must have burnt quite a few calories with all that rubbng, hoovering, scrubbing and polishing.

I checked our bank accounts and am pleased to say have received Quidco payments of £102 this month - so thats's only £698 we have to find for the boiler. Yay! :T

I have filled in a couple of online surveys, photographed my son's old clothing for Ebay tomorrow, checked the job centre online for another part time job and made a chicken curry from yesterdays left over chicken and had it with oven chips and toasted pitta bread (rather than nan bread as it's cheaper ...and lower fat.)