It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

Pont

Defo your husband should record EVERY hour he works. I work as a tutor for the LEA and only recorded the face-to-face hours worked, but (silly me) I should have also submitted the time it takes me to prepare, mark, exam entries etc., I didn't claim the full amount for years! Still, I feel my boat's come in with the extra £700!

Pont

JillD, I firmly believe the people who are responsible, proactive etc will come out of this mess - there are 'sinkers' or 'swimmers'. Get your sewing machine out - to up my income I'm making and selling (it helps big time). Those who do will - those who don't won't.
Good luck - you'll find a way.

JillD_2

Thanks Pont. Ill mention the tax credit thing to hubby and ask him to give them a call. From an income point of view he is an employee not self employed, not sure what the difference is to HMRC, but anyhow theoretically his extra hours should count the way yours did I guess.
Fingers crossed and thanks

chrisbethany

Well done JillD. Once I gave up any sense of misplaced pride ("Why should I? ...") I found loads of ways to be more OS and it became a positive challenge. DH still out of work after 4mths but he did get 2 weeks temp work recently. Persuaded him to use part of it to install cavity wall insulation. Absolute bargain at the moment (£149 ) so, since we weren't expecting his wage, reckon it's sensible in the long run. I just thank God I've got a job - with no dependant children we're not entitled to anything other than his JSA (£60 odd per week)- we'd have lot the house by now :eek: . It's amazing how you can stretch things in the kitchen, and improvise/make the most of what you've got.

Further uses for milk bottles - I cut off the bottoms and push them (upside down) into compost next to tom plants - makes watering a heck of a lot easier. Also recycle polystyrene cups from work to transplant seedlings. Plant runner beans in loo roll insides - must remember to soak them first before putting them in the ground, so they break down easier this year.

Looking forward to turning over more of the garden to veg, and getting chooks soon

Keep smiling All - Spring's on its way!

Love, Chris

cw18

JillD wrote: »

Thanks Pont. Ill mention the tax credit thing to hubby and ask him to give them a call. From an income point of view he is an employee not self employed, not sure what the difference is to HMRC, but anyhow theoretically his extra hours should count the way yours did I guess.
Fingers crossed and thanks

They're not that interested in the exact number of hours worked, just which of 3 brackets you come into (and this, in your case, is combined hours as a couple)

under 16 hours
at least 16. but no more than 30
over 30 hours

so if your DH has already declared over 30 hours (which I'm sure he will have), then any increase won't actually make a difference to your claim

NoahsPennilessMummy

I would refuse to pay them the money back if it was their mistake that you were overpaid.
I had this last year.......my OH moved in with me and we told them every change as it happened and kept them up to date. I even asked them if it would make any difference to our payments and was told no,
In Aug we got a letter saying we had been overpaid by £1600:mad: and our payments had been stopped so we were suddenly £440 worse off a month.
I appealed against this and it took about 6 months to hear anything from them but in Jan we got aletter saying they had listened to all the phone calls and investigated it and it had been their mistake so we no longer owed them the money:beer:

So don`t give up hope anyone appealing at the mo

ceridwen

mardatha wrote: »

Ceridwenor anybody else -- there was a link somewhere on a website about a man in California who was turning his garden into a mini farm. He was quite famous, I saw this a while ago and lost the link. Can anybody find it ? It was just an ordinary back yard or two and he grew everything they ate plus more that he sold. His kids helped him.

http://www.pathtofreedom.com/

there yer goes....you knew I'd know it....;)

ceridwen

Prudent wrote: »

What area of Scotalnd are you moving too?

I live in Central Scotland and the weather isn't too bad here. I can usually keep my heating thermostate at 15 and have it on for about 3 hours twice a day.

Hi

Thanks for that ...but 'twas my jokey way of replying to Mardatha's comments re Council Tax position in Scotland...so I'm not booking the removal van just yet.....

ceridwen

...and thinking of that there back garden foodfarm - ie that the Dervaes family have done - they have done a little mini-video on YouTube about it (about 9 minutes worth):

http://www.youtube.com/

and put "Homegrown revolution - radical change taking root"
in the search box. I've tried to give the direct link but for some reason it didnt work - so had to get up the You Tube site and put in "Path to Freedom" - which brought up that video and one other by them.


He is one very inspiring man - fortunately he operates on a more farsighted viewpoint than the vast majority of people do.

(How can you tell that I'm currently contemplating how people seem to divide into three groups as to where their "focus" lies - ie the Past (ie a lot of older people), the Present (ie most people) and the Future. Most people's definition of thinking/planning for the Future extends to a 5 year timespan I reckon.). No prizes for guessing I'm Future-focused....thank goodness...or should I say "thank you my Daddy":D

[Deleted User]

Lovely and inspiring post and poster Jilld. You are doing fantastically well

I would agree with all the comments re curtains, you will be surprised at how much warmth gets generated by body heat and the curtains will keep it in the room. If push comes to shove and time disappears, then use tacking low down and pins higher up where little ones can`t reach. You can always do a pristine job in the summer

I find that energy saving is fairly easily accomplished by a few simple tweaks: preparing one pot meals for two days. Saving fridge energy by defrosting everything in the fridge. In the evenings, keep the living room/tv room door shut, our wireless thermostat cuts the heating off pretty quickly if in that room and it stays at 19 or so all evening. Use
http://www.imeasure.org.uk/ as it will give you advance warning re your usage