Working single parents first SOA (Desperately need HELP!!!!!!)

Horace

Hi Helen and welcome

I live on my own but occasionally have a very hungry person come and stay occasionally and I manage to spend £40 a month at most on food (less if friend isnt staying). It may sound like teaching granny to suck eggs but have you thought about taking a shopping list with you when you go shopping? Try changing where you shop too - try Lidl.

I get the following as an example:

24 pack of toilet rolls £9.49 (these last me at least 4 months)
Sliced granary loaf 89p
Lasagne 1Kg £2.40
Cold meats - usually about £1 or so
2 pack of Mozarella Pizza £1.99 (or thereabouts, I know its cheap).

In Tesco - I will buy one 3kg pack of washing powder which lasts me 12 months because I use a small scoop.

Meat is bought from my local butcher (the good ones have a queue outside) and my veg comes either from my local greengrocer or from the farm (or local market). I never buy them from the supermarket.

For a meal plan as an idea:

1 roasting chicken - roast it, slice bits off and have them for dinner.
Cold chicken used in sandwiches the next day
Put carcass in a pan of water with some herbs, seasoning, onions and carrots and simmer until all the meat has fallen off the bones - strain the bones out and this can be frozen and used as the basis for a soup or a rissotto.

The people on the moneysaving oldstyle board are helpful and if you say you have a few bits in your store cupboard and you are skint if you list what you have then they will tell you what you can make.

I make all my meals and batch cook and freeze so that I can spread my meals out as I choose.

HTH

barnaby-bear

KiKi wrote: »

That £20, though, only just covers what you pay into the lottery in a month. So unless you're winning this every month...! It's a game of chance. If you really are trying to find more cash, then you have £17 a month just sitting there, being spent on the possibility that you might one day gain from it. You were lucky this time...you might not be lucky for another two years!! Of course, it's your choice to give it up or not, but you were looking for ways to easily save money in the short term - this is the easiest thing you could do.

The food bill and meal plans can be found on the Moneysaving Old Style board - have a look on there, or start a thread explaining what you need. They're a very friendly bunch on there.

http://www.whatsthecost.com/lottery.aspx

I have fantasy lottery numbers - I'm something like 500 quid better off from not putting a quid on my numbers over the last 10 years, not even counting the interest on my 500 quid...

Personally I think the lottery is great a voluntary tax that means the government has a pot of money to waste on useless cr&p and vanity projects and keeps general taxation down.... so few taxes avoidable....

It's clever there are lots of 10 prizes so just as people give up they get a little something to encourage them but the general trend is to lose out...

Helen224488

You are all right, I probably should give up the lotto. The £3 per week is actually £1 work syndicate. There are about 20+ of us & we play the bonus ball. We all have 2 numbers each which we picked out of a hat. Whoever has the bonus ball number wins £20 so we don't actually place the money on the lotto. It means that every Sat one of us wins £20, I have won it once. Others have won it 4 or 5 times! There is £4 left over which we actually play on the main lotto game so we have 4 rows. We have won a few £10's on these 4 rows which we put into a pot & when it becomes a substantial sum we will share it out. The other £3 I play by myself. I have 1 row of 6 numbers on the main lotto (which are the Lost numbers, for all you Lost fans!!!!!!!!!!!! I know ridiculous because if the Lost numbers ever did come up I would be sharing the win with thousands of other nutters who have chosen these numbers )& I have 2 rows of 3 numbers, one is our ages (mine & the kids) & other row of 3 numbers is a lucky dip. If your 3 numbers come up out of the main 6 you win £500 instead of £10 but you have to have all 3. Last year I had our dates of birth 6, 22 & 30 & I won £500 which was really nice. I am not a greedy person that is why I play the hot picks 3 numbers. You can pick 4 which I think you get around £7000.

Anyway I have just returned from Paris (4 days euro disney & 3 days centre Paris. I spent £100 per day on food/drinks & transport for the 3 of us!!!!!!!!!!!!!Food is so expensive at Disney. Tomor I am starting my meal plans & going food shopping on a budget. i always take a list but this time I am making a list of 7 days meals for the 3 of us. I'm gonna cook from scratch & batch cook & freeze some.

Good news my boss called me into office & I am getting a pay rise!!!!!!!!!!!! Yipee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I have to save for U.S.A trip in November (best friends wedding, she lives in Philladelphia)

Bye for now.

lilly81

Hi Helen,

Do you/can you get any maintanance from your X?
Or pester the CSA (although this hasnt worked for me yet!)
What about paying off housing benefit areas at a smaller rate?
Also telling them about your higher rate?
is your son entitle to £30 EMA?

Hope this helps, also have you tried the feebies board?
If you go to moveme.com you can request a free box containing a few household essentials.

lilly

TeetersOnHeels

Think from what I remember maintainence is a non starter, one dad being in Oz and the other is no longer with us...I also have a child who's dad lives in Oz, and Helen's right, the authorites/CSA just don't want to know - I don't even have an address or phone number, so they just aren't interested.
Helen - Glad you enjoyed your holiday, and good luck with the shopping tomorrow...try to go on your own then everyone won't be chucking all sorts in the trolley!!!

tyllwyd

One thing that might make your SOA look a little better - you pay £40 per week childcare in termtime. Is that three 10 week terms = £1200 per year = £100 per week instead of £130?

Helen224488

My childcare is £40 per week term time only which is 39 weeks out of 52. So I actually pay £30 per week all year round = £130 per month which is what I stated in my SOA., so I am not over estimating my childcare.

My son is not entitled to EMA he just turned 15 in July & is in last year of school (YR 11)

I tried to claim child support off of fathers but one is dead & other lives in Australia & CSA would not proceed with Australia case (they do not claim for persons living outside of U.K)

I am off to asda in a bit to do food shop. I have 7 meals planned & will try my best to stick with my list. Wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bloke_with_a_simple_life

Hello there Helen,

Good luck with your quest to make ends meet!

Looking at the CAS site, although they cannot help you immediately, there does seem to be advice on the steps you need to follow. The links and documents are here:
http://www.csa.gov.uk/en/case/remo.asp

But an extract from that page does seem encouraging:

How to apply

A UK resident who wishes to apply to obtain maintenance from a person overseas should approach

• their local magistrates' court (or county court where the order was made) if they have an existing court order for maintenance; or
• their local magistrates' court if there is no existing order

They may apply for their order to be enforced in the country where the payer resides. Procedures also exist to enable an applicant to ask the foreign authorities to create an order for maintenance on their behalf. There is no need for the applicant to engage a solicitor. Court staff will help the applicant and will forward the application to the relevant authority. The authority will check that the application is in order and send it to the foreign authority or court for registration and enforcement against the person living there.
The role of the REMO Section in England and Wales

The REMO Section of the Official Solicitor & Public Trustee is the authority in England & Wales for transmitting and receiving applications for maintenance enforcement if the absent parent lives abroad. It also takes the lead in REMO policy matters for the UK as a whole, in consultation with colleagues at the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Court Service

Helen224488

Thats interesting news re: the CSA & claiming from a person overseas. To be honest my son is 15 & unless they backdate it 15 yrs by the time the father is located & gone thro courts etc. I expect my son will be 21!!!!!!!!!!

Good news is I managed to spend £39 in Asda yesterday, I am so amazed. I have planned 7 great eve meals & packed lunches for kids (school) & sandwich & apple for me (at work) as well as toast & porridge for our breakfasts. I usually spend £75 a week so I am thrilled. I did forget the loo rolls!!!!!!!!! Not exactly a luxury more of an essential item so I may have to buy some as I only have 1/4 of roll left. I did see a wife swop programme on T.V once where this wife swoped with another wife & she was very "green" she didn't use loo roll because of the environment, she didn't flush toilet either. Her moto was "if it's yellow let it mellow, If it's brown flush it down" she had a bucket with a rag in it next to toilet which the whole family had to share!!!!!!!!!! I am all about saving money & the environment but I don't think I'm quite up for this challenge yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

phantom9999

Do the kids schools have hardship funds? If so your son could apply for some funds to buy stuff for his art GCSE - they can only say no at worst and if they say yes he'll have saved a few quid.

P