Panic time, OH JSA soon stops

epsilondraconis

Sorry to hear about your current situation. Yes, posting your SOA will hopefully give you additional advice on how to reduce your outgoings.

Regarding your OH, I'm just wondering if there is any reason he hasn't been particularly sucessful in his interviews. A couple of points I hope would be useful are:

1. Before the interview, ensure he researches the company as best he can. You obviously have internet access and so that is a good starting point. When researching, he should try to identify say 3 or 4 questions that he could ask them about the company / job. Also, perhaps he should have some other facts about the company up his sleeve - e.g. he has noticed that the company is expanding - he could ask the interviewer if he has much interaction with other sites etc.

2. Is he confident or does he suffer from nerves. If he does get very nervous, this could obviously hold him back significantly. Perhaps he could go on a course to help him build his confidence (are there any run by the job centre) or alternatively the two of you could practice interview situations to make him feel more comfortable.

3. Not sure how to phrase this one, but does he really want a new job. I don't want to be judgemental and so can only go on the info provided. I'm just wondering if he is deliberately not showing any interest when he arrives at interviews. Also, does he wear any ear-rings, have any visible tattoos and is he smartly dressed? Sorry, please don't take offence, I just wanted you to ask yourself the question.

I really do feel sorry for you and hope everything works out. The thing is, if he is able to get the interviews, it means that his CV is okay. It seems that he just needs to refine his interview skills.

Perhaps the interviewer / interviewee role-play at home would be useful. The next job for which he has an interview, perhaps you could play the role of interviewer and generate some questions that you could ask him. See what his responses are and perhaps you could give him some pointers etc.

Really hope it all works out okay. I know its easy to say, but try not to get too upset about it all. Hopefully in a couple of years you can look back on this and be proud of the way in which you both pulled together and how things have turned around.

Edit: When I've interviewed people I look for people who have four main attributes. These are confidence, inititive, enthusiasm and experience / understanding of the role for which the job relates. Perhaps your OH could ask himself the questions, how do I come across in interviews, what can I do to improve it, can I increase my confidence, inititive and enthusiasm in preparation for the next interview. Good luck once again...

barnaby-bear

continualdiamond wrote: »

His JSA runs out because at 1st everyone claims contribution based, which you get if you've paid enough national insurance, but you only get it for 6mths, then at which you'd have to apply for JSA income based, but i earn too much for him to get that.

I would not be unheard of for someone in your situation to get frustrated and 'kick' your partner out - perhaps he could live with his parents where your income would not be counted - when he finds a job and no longer needs to claim you could have a change of heart and reconcile... I appreciate this may be inappropriate and is not a nice suggestion but it's a common scenario...

continualdiamond

Fab about the new limit, we'd only be eligable for working tax credit though. Thanks sooo much for this :beer:

3. Not sure how to phrase this one, but does he really want a new job. I don't want to be judgemental and so can only go on the info provided. I'm just wondering if he is deliberately not showing any interest when he arrives at interviews. Also, does he wear any ear-rings, have any visible tattoos and is he smartly dressed? Sorry, please don't take offence, I just wanted you to ask yourself the question.

I wish this was the case in a way, cos then id know where it was going wrong. But in 6mths, he's had 1 proper interview and was spoken to horribly about how long he'd been unemployed for and bascially they told him they weren't interested in someone who had been out of work for so long. He's worked 1 day via a recruitment agency that was mean't to last 2 weeks and everything else he's applied for has either heard back from via email/letter in the post to say he was unsuccessful for an interview and most he hears nothing back from at all.

Will post an SOA shortly, but no offence to anyone, im kinda tired of putting one up as the limits are what they are, i stick to a very tight budget.

continualdiamond

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 900
Partners monthly income after tax....... 240
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 200 (from my OH's parents,sometimes it is lower, all depends what they can afford)
Total monthly income.................... 1340

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 439.04
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 5
Council tax............................. 105
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 30
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 33.12
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 5
TV Licence.............................. 12.5 (increased as already missed 1 mth payment)
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40 (includes TV,home phone and net)
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 220
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 130
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 50.38 (car ins £40, rest RAC cover)
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 5
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 6.27
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 10.11
Life assurance ......................... 10
Other insurance......................... 7.97
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1149.39

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 80000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 84000 (this is a guess, have no idea how much our house is worth, i put lower than what we purchased it for cos of the slump thats going on at the minute)

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 82000....(439.04)...0
Total secured debts........... 82000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Payplan........................23000.....11........0 (£1 token payments while OH outta work)
CCJ............................0.........10........0 (can't do anything about this, has to be kept up no matter what)
Car............................4000......166.......0 (would sell,but would owe too much money on it, only had it a year)
Total unsecured debts..........27000.....187.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,340
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,149.39
Available for debt repayments........... 190.61
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 187
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 3.61

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 84,000
Total Secured debt...................... -82,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -27,000
Net Assets.............................. -25,000

I'm a bit stuck really as i think we do alright for what money we have. Everything else is set at £0 cos i just cant budget for it, we don't go out anywhere, no one gets bday pressies off us, god help us if we need a precription. Everything is just at its max....

cantcope

Hello and well done for posting your SOA.
The thing that screams out to me is your grocery bill. It seems very high for 2 people. You could probably cut this to £150 and if you sign up to survey sites like pinecone (pays in luncheon vouchers or paypal) and pigsback you can get vouchers to help towards this. My grocery bill (for 1) comes to £80 a month and includes all non food items. Although you double up on food you wouldnt need to double up on cleaners, kitchen towell etc..

Check out the old style board for great recipe ideas.

Also, if you shop in tesco you can use your clubcard vouchers for RAC cover (approx £14 gets you a years cover) or look at going through a cashback site like quidco. I think there was a deal where it worked out at costing less than a tenner a year rather than your £10 a month.

Going through your SOA it would seem that you dont actually need the £200 from your inlaws as this isnt accounted for or is surplus to your outgoings.

i wish your partner luck in his job next week and in his search for a full time job.. has he thought about doing kleeneze? or something similar? or how about an avon round? these can then be continued when he does find a job.

Good luck x

edit: just reread your post and you say you spend £50 a week on food/petrol so i'm a little confused at the £220 grocery bill, etc...

continualdiamond

In terms of shopping, i don't know the budget if i am honest because i do not put money away per mth for food. What happens is i am paid on the 22nd each mth, all the big direct debts are the next few days after. So with what is left we work out for shopping, petrol and the smaller direct debts left over to pay. Our per weekly cost varies each week as some weeks we need everything, other weeks it just food. We do have 3 animals to feed as well, 2 cats and 1 dog.

Im afriad my OH is also an extremely fussy eater, even seen those shows, he could be on it, he hasn't eaten a proper meal since he was 4, hes 26 in Nov. He basically eats meat and potato, so 2 meals are cooked every night. (ex he'd have chicken, chips, tomato sauce and vingear, me id use the other breast of chicken with a jar of chicken tonight sauce and rice with it. It works out okay for me as i double mine up and then have leftovers for the next day). So i buy veg,pasta,rice,fruit all normal stuff for me, he has meat every single night. So its no wonder we spend more on food shopping.

But i put £220 as i divided it by 4.33 (i've been told this is a good way of working it out as some mths have 5 weeks) that gives me £50.80 per week for food. But some weeks thats all i have for food/petrol like i said above as my OH's parents cannot always give us £200 a mth, obviously as they have a budget for themselves of course.

I've a bit confused on why you say we don't need the £200 from his parents as yes the income - expenses = £190.61 left, but if you scroll down and then see our debt repayments (£11 to payplan + £10 for a CCJ + £166 for car repayment) that = £187. So per mth we have £3.61 spare.

Unfortunately i cannot alter RAC as where still in a 12mth contract, but i have lowered it from the top cover to the lowest now to save money.

My OH is working, sorta, he's doing betterware, which is stated in my original post, i put that he's doing catalogue dropping as he's desperate now.

G-G_4

What about your OH joining the forces? Or Police?

Miss~fit

Hi,
Have you had a look here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=536017

As you have the little room semi set up as an office it might be good for him.
Don't know if they're taking on right now as theres no way i have time to read it all, but might be worth asking the question on the thread.

Sorry, can't hep other than that.

Good luck

cantcope

Sorry i just looked at the top bit of SOA didnt notice the debt repayments at bottom.
Hopefully the betterware will take off for your OH.

continualdiamond

Well just helped him pick up his 1st lot of betterware catalogues he dropped off on Monday. Not bad at all, put out 115 and got back 90 of them and have a grant total of £60.85 worth of orders.

Means he'll get £12.17 cash from it, but i think thats pretty good for basically 2 hrs work, 1 hr dropping them on Monday, 1 hr picking them up. If he works really hard at it he could get quiet a bit.

Tues he couldn't do any as had probs with not getting his benefit, so had to hang about all day waiting for a phone call back from them. But he did another hr dropping off yesterday.

I have said he needs to be doing a few hrs in the morning, then a few hrs in the afternoon to make the most of it.