Floozie's Lightbulb Diary

mooomin

Eek!

How good that you have your parents on hand to help you out through this time though. Does that mean they have paid off the highest APR debt? I'm assuming that The Bank Of Parents won't charge extortionate interest.

Have you posted a SOA before? Maybe there will be things that we can do to help trim things down if you aren't paying the monthly credit card payments?

Above all, hugs from me I hope things improve and your OH finds a job soon.

f_f

Intergalactic_Floozie

Thanks FF - no, they wont charge me any interest, and haven't given me a timescale to pay it back (although I really want to get it paid back as soon as I can, should it come to it). I've just done 5 hours at work, which should net me £50 extra in my June wage and I can also go in tomorrow too. It's just a case now of saving as much as I can

I'll do an SOA a bit later.

Intergalactic_Floozie

This week's cost cutting:

1. Turned central heating off. When I got my recent bill I am showing as still owing £464 for gas, and £96 for electric. I pay £100 for gas, and £48 for electric, and as we're in the summer months there's no reason why I can't manage without the central heating so hopefully by the time the end of summer reading is done, I will have caught up with the debt, and not have much outstanding.

2. I've worked 5 hours overtime yesterday, and 5 hours today which should be worth about £112. A colleague who is off sick was meant to be working the next bank holiday but I don't think she will be back, so I have volunteered to do it, which will net me £100, and a lovely colleague who was due to cover the bank holiday at the end of May has also offered to let me do it instead.

3. I have decided to go shopping daily rather than do a big shop and risk chucking in stuff I don't need. I wrote down all the bits we needed for today (came to £24) and I took my copper jar to the coin star machine and cashed in £7.99, so only spent £16 on the shopping. I got more frozen veg, a chicken, loo roll, pop, coffee, milk and all the stuff for the kids packed lunches.

4. Made a huge slow cooker full of corned beef hash yesterday (corned beef, cubed potatoes, frozen veg - cauli, sprouts, peas, sweetcorn, gravy and brown sauce). We got three bowlfuls out of it for tea (youngest had his tea next door), and leftover was four plastic tupperware dishes full which are perfect for child-size, or me taking for my lunch.

5. Evening meal for today (we don't do lunches, kids have a big, late breakfast and a big, early tea) is roast chicken, mashed potatoes, frozen veg, Yorkshire Puddings & gravy. The chicken was only just over £2.

I went to see mum & dad and they are still keen to pay my credit cards off. My dad, in fact, wanted to do it now, this instant! I did tell them I would pay back every penny and they (jokingly - not bitterly, or nastily) said if I didn't pay it back, it would just mean I would inherit less! (I would rather have my parents around with the money though).

I've had a real wake up call. I'm pleased cos the credit cards which have been a millstone around my neck will be clear and I'll just owe the bank of Mum & Dad but I wish I still had the security that I felt this time last week with husband's job. I'm terrified he'll be out of work for months and months. It's also forced me to stop non-essential spending through shock and guilt. I've still got over £800 'available' and 18 days left to payday..

Oh - and I have lost 2lbs this week following the redundancy shock diet. My appetite is only just coming back

mooomin

Intergalactic_Floozie wrote: »

2. I've worked 5 hours overtime yesterday, and 5 hours today which should be worth about £112. A colleague who is off sick was meant to be working the next bank holiday but I don't think she will be back, so I have volunteered to do it, which will net me £100, and a lovely colleague who was due to cover the bank holiday at the end of May has also offered to let me do it instead. Woo for overtime and lovely colleagues :T

3. I have decided to go shopping daily rather than do a big shop and risk chucking in stuff I don't need. I wrote down all the bits we needed for today (came to £24) and I took my copper jar to the coin star machine and cashed in £7.99, so only spent £16 on the shopping. I got more frozen veg, a chicken, loo roll, pop, coffee, milk and all the stuff for the kids packed lunches. When I first started being really MSE about life I did an inventory of all the stuff in the cupboards and freezer. I tried my best to use it all up before doing a big shop. I'm still working my way through the freezer and am going to be heading to Makro this weekend when the parents visit. I am making loads of stuff in the slow cooker with plenty extra - so if I am only cooking for me and t'other half I try and make enough for 4-6 people. That way we have cheap "ready meals" which can be put on the defrost setting in the microwave when I'm lazy and would otherwise go for takeaway!

4. Made a huge slow cooker full of corned beef hash yesterday (corned beef, cubed potatoes, frozen veg - cauli, sprouts, peas, sweetcorn, gravy and brown sauce). We got three bowlfuls out of it for tea (youngest had his tea next door), and leftover was four plastic tupperware dishes full which are perfect for child-size, or me taking for my lunch. Sounds yummy!

5. Evening meal for today (we don't do lunches, kids have a big, late breakfast and a big, early tea) is roast chicken, mashed potatoes, frozen veg, Yorkshire Puddings & gravy. The chicken was only just over £2. Hope you consulted the rubber chicken thread! I had chicken yesterday and have made chicken soup which will last for [strike]1000 years[/strike] quite a few portions and will have chicken sandwiches for work tomorrow too!

Hey there! A couple of extra ideas posted above for you - hope some of them help!

Intergalactic_Floozie

Went shopping again today for the seven items that I needed and spent £6.43.

Morrisons own brand bog cleaner was 30p cheaper than the harpic I used to buy, and I bought 3 x bags of frozen veg which should last for three meals. I'm secretly loving this new frugal me, lets hope I can keep it up!

Took a bag of Morrisons own-brand Quavers for my dinner (works out at 10p each) instead of the Kettle chips (works out at 21p each). I didn't drop dead from the shock and quite enjoyed the quavers. Got a few compliments that my lunch (left over corned beef hash) smelt nice.

Sent DH to the farm shop for a large sack of potatoes and he came back with 25kg for £4.99 - bargain! They're blooming massive potatoes too.

Evening meal today: Shepherds pie made with frozen value mince, sweetcorn, peas, carrots, onion and mushroom with gravy and brown sauce squirted in, and mashed potatoes. Made three large bowlfuls, and two tupperware dishes, one to take for lunch tomorrow and the other to freeze.

DH rang his personnel manager today to ask if she could schedule a meeting to sorrt out helping him with a CV and she gave him the impression that the directors might have accepted his offer of a pay cut rather than redundancy.....trouble is, we've kind of resigned ourselves to redundancy now, and don't want to have to make a decision to stay or go...

Intergalactic_Floozie

He's definitely redundant as of last Thursday.

They're giving him seven weeks notice, but they are not requiring him to work it. He'll get a full month's wage at the end of May, and then a wage of sorts at the end of June, plus 6 days holiday pay. He'll get a payment of 7 weeks redundancy money £2450 sometime in the next two weeks. Our loan payments come to £682 per month so I intend to put the redundancy to one side and just transfer £682 into the account each month, which will buy us roughly 8 months if he doesn't get employed straightaway. I'm terrified he'll be out of work for months and months.

This is my new SOA
My wage: £1149.05 (I can get overtime, which works out at roughly £8.50 per hour after tax time and half, and £12.12 per hour on a Sunday).
Child Tax Credit: £42.08
Child Benefit: £132.80
My income: £1323.93

Outgoings

Life Insurance: £21.32
House Insurance: £19.58
Sky: £37.50 (have Sky Sports with this, which is £18)
3 (my phone): £29.74 (runs out in June and I will cancel this).
Car Insurance: £34.46 (cheapest I could find)
Council Tax: £80.54 (over 12 months)
3 (husband's phone): £35.24 (he's under contract until November).
Interest: £8.00 on overdraft
Mortgage: £361.46 (repayment)
TV Licence: £11.95
Water: £36.60 (not on a meter, over 12 months)
Gas: £100
Electric: £48
Virgin: £37.50 (phone, broadband)
3 (eldest son) £11.74 (under contract until August 2010)

Grand total general household: £875.04

Income left over: £448.84

I am doing my best to stick to a budget of £220 per month.

Both my boys do football practice at £3 each per week, which is £24 per month.

This leaves me £200 for everything else, including the running costs of 2 x cars. We're using mine (Peugeot 107 - very small and cheap to run) as much as we can to save petrol costs for his car, but ideally I'd like to try and sell his but until he gets a job and knows where it is we don't know if we can manage on two cars.

Bank of Mum & Dad (BoM&D) have said I don't have to start paying them back until DH has got a job.

The loans:
1. Alliance & Leicester = £134.63 (12 x payments left)
2. Alliance & Leicester = £236.44 (30 x payments left)
3. Natwest = £172.89 (57 x payments left)
4. Natwest = £137.90 (38 x payments left).

So, hopefully he will get a job within the next eight months before the money runs out.

mooomin

Intergalactic_Floozie wrote: »

This is my new SOA
My wage: £1149.05 (I can get overtime, which works out at roughly £8.50 per hour after tax time and half, and £12.12 per hour on a Sunday).
Child Tax Credit: £42.08
Child Benefit: £132.80
My income: £1323.93
Will you be able to add JobSeekers to this?
Outgoings

Life Insurance: £21.32 Can this be done cheaper? If this is mortgage cover, does it cover redundancy? Some of them do, might be worth checking.
House Insurance: £19.58
Sky: £37.50 (have Sky Sports with this, which is £18) Could FreeView be an option?
3 (my phone): £29.74 (runs out in June and I will cancel this). You might find it better to haggle with them - if you read back through my thread I got a deal with Orange at renewal time that reduced me to £15 per month, doubled my minutes/text allowance and they gave me £100 airtime credit, so although I renewed months ago I haven't paid then any money yet
Car Insurance: £34.46 (cheapest I could find) For both cars?
Council Tax: £80.54 (over 12 months)
3 (husband's phone): £35.24 (he's under contract until November).As above. Could he call them and explain he's redundant and see if there is a lower package?
Interest: £8.00 on overdraft
Mortgage: £361.46 (repayment) Check out cost of going interest-only for a year if he doesn't find a job right away.
TV Licence: £11.95
Water: £36.60 (not on a meter, over 12 months)
Gas: £100 Power use seems high, how big is your house?
Electric: £48 As above
Virgin: £37.50 (phone, broadband) If you both have mobiles can you cancel the home phone?
3 (eldest son) £11.74 (under contract until August 2010)

Grand total general household: £875.04

Income left over: £448.84 Will this be where groceries etc comes from?

I am doing my best to stick to a budget of £220 per month.

Both my boys do football practice at £3 each per week, which is £24 per month.

This leaves me £200 for everything else, including the running costs of 2 x cars. We're using mine (Peugeot 107 - very small and cheap to run) as much as we can to save petrol costs for his car, but ideally I'd like to try and sell his but until he gets a job and knows where it is we don't know if we can manage on two cars.

Bank of Mum & Dad (BoM&D) have said I don't have to start paying them back until DH has got a job.

The loans:
1. Alliance & Leicester = £134.63 (12 x payments left)
2. Alliance & Leicester = £236.44 (30 x payments left)
3. Natwest = £172.89 (57 x payments left)
4. Natwest = £137.90 (38 x payments left).

Morning Floozie



So sorry to hear that it's redundancy for your OH.

I have put some comments on the SOA above, hopefully they will be helpful. Your SOA looks pretty good TBH, my only other suggestion would be to try and reduce outgoings as much as possible now and put any savings into an account with your OHs redundancy money to try and stretch it as long as possible.

Hopefully he will get a job soon, but do overtime and all the other little moneymaking schemes now rather than before it becomes essential.

Extra hugs to you

f_f

moo2moo

Oooh Floozie that sucks!

I know its only £8 but even so £8 is £8 could you use OHs redundancy to clear the overdraft rather than stashing it in a savings account and allowing yourself so much each month. Theres no way it will earn £8 in interest each month.

I know short term selling OH car seems like a good option but when he gets a job could you buy something else for what you'd get for it without needing to find more money and more importantly could he get to interviews if you only have one car between you?

Verbatim

Sorry to hear your bad news Floozie.

Will your tax credits go up when your OH's pay stops? Although obviously the better outcome will be that he gets another equally or better paying job.

Intergalactic_Floozie

Hi, sorry I haven’t been on for some time, but DH is around all the time of late, hogging the computer or wanting my attention as he’s been cooped up in the house all day. I hate people reading over my shoulder so I haven’t been coming on as much, maybe for reading but not for posting.

I’ve had a bit of a down week this week with some disappointments and I’m feeling really anxious and worried that he wont find a job sometime soon.

He had a job interview this week with a really small firm who had had 365 applicants for 1 job. Obviously they hadn’t interviewed that many so he did well to get an interview, they said they would let him know by Friday if he’d been unsuccessful or not, but they haven’t.

Then there was an agency who more-or-less promised him three weeks work for holiday cover on a very good wage and they were going to get him a telephone interview for Friday, but they didn’t.

A lot of the IT jobs around want everything he can do, plus other things that he can’t do, so he’s not qualified to do a lot of them.

A lot of the jobs that he applied for, the closing dates aren’t until at least the back end of next week, so we’re just stuck in limbo at the moment just waiting.

Still I’m trying to look on the bright side, he is healthy and will be able to work doing anything if the opportunity arises…

I’m still a nervous wreck though. Out of my wage I will have £448 left after outgoings, and the loans (that his redundancy will have to cover) are £682 per month. We’ve miscalculated his redundancy so it looks like he’ll be getting around £5900, which “buys” us 8 months (from the end of May), so that’s the first month gone already.

He went to the dole office (or whatever you call it) on Thursday and they said he should be entitled to Jobseeker’s allowance of £64.30 per week (or however much it is) and would write to him within two weeks. So I don’t know when the first payment will be, or even how frequently it is, or how long he can claim it for even? Does anyone know? I suppose if he can claim for at least 13 weeks that will ‘buy’ us another month of loans. One of the loans is due to be paid off at the end of March next year, but it’s only £135 per month that one.

One of his ex-colleagues put him onto a friend who has set up his own IT Consultancy, but when DH rang him yesterday the guy more or less said he only had enough work for himself full time however it didn’t give him any time to tout for new business if he did the work himself. DH has a meeting with him on Monday but I don’t know what will come of that, as it doesn’t sound like he’d be able to pay him much at all if anything. Are you allowed to earn any extra money whilst on the dole?

So – onto my SOA.

Life Insurance – this was the cheapest that I could find at the time. I suppose I could shop around, I’ll put that on my list of things to do. It doesn’t have redundancy cover either.

Sky – if I cancel sky and don’t pay them anything, can I still get freeview through the box? The only thing is, I’m loathe to cancel it because if we can’t afford to go out, then watching TV is about the only thing we can do…And Sky Sports does get watched an awful lot in a houseful of men.

3 – No, I am definitely going to cancel this, and use the £11.74 option that I renewed for my eldest son. He hardly ever uses the phone anyway so he shouldn’t miss it.

Car Insurance – no, that’s just for my car. DH’s is paid for up until the end of March (by credit card, of course). But yes, I do need to start thinking about how to pay for his.

3 – (husband) – I know from past experience that they wont put him onto a lower tarrif.

Mortgage – haven’t looked into this one yet. Is switching to interest only as easy as it sounds, or do they put blocks in the way?

Gas – yep, power use is high, I like to be warm! However heating has now been switched off. As of my last bill, I had £463 outstanding for the gas, so they definitely wont reduce my monthly payments. My ‘year’ with them will be up in November, so I had May, June, July, August, September & October to reduce the £463 outstanding, plus have paid enough to cover has useage for those months, which I hope I will be able to do.

Electric. I’m trying my best not to leave lights on, stuff on standby etc..but useage is still high. I had £94 outstanding with them for the electric when my bill came in April, so again, I just have to do my best to pay off the debt and cover the next 6 months useage.

Virgin – If I cancel the home phone, how can I get internet access? The phone part of it is only about £13 per month, which most of it is line rental. I rarely ring landlines on it, and mostly the bills are 0845 or 0870 numbers that aren’t free from mobiles. Even my doctors is an 0844 number!

Yes – the groceries will come out of the £448, which is leftover from my wage. I’ve got overtime to come in my may wage next week (only £65 but better than nothing) and quite a bit in my June wage (about £300) and possibly at least £200 in my July wage.

As for the overdraft, I think it’s about £1100 now, so when I do get DH’s redundancy I will store £1100 of it in the current account so I wont have to pay the £8 interest, but obviously if it gets to six months time with no job, then I will have to use it and go overdrawn again. It was £1634 o/d when I got paid last month, but I transferred £284 savings back into the current account (making is £1350 o/d) and I estimate it will be £1100 by the time I get paid next Friday so I’ve paid £250 off it this month.

Also – another idea I have had. The loan that has a year left to run, I think I will owe about £1480 on it (DH will ring for a settlement figure later this morning). If he gets £5900 redundancy/notice. This will leave him £4420. The loans repayment will be down to £547 per month, which divided up still leaves 8 months cover, so do you think this is a sensible option?

As for the car, I have a car out of convenience rather than need. I can quite easily use the bus or walk, and eldest DH usually gets taken to and collected from school so he could go by bus, but then I’d be looking at £18 per week for a bus pass for me, and £8 for him so that would be £100 per month on bus fares whereas my own little car only uses £40 petrol per month. So it’d make more sense to use my car, and off-road DH’s.