Freezing and poor - advice invited

rosered1963

Hi all.

I'm rather new here, so please forgive any errors.

I posted on Benefits Board -HB advice on 6/2/09 - "Housing Benefit - calling all experts" and got some great guidance. I am posting here for advice or opinion of any kind about our dire situation. No offence will taken, so give it to me straight

I am married, no kids. Until recently, we both worked F/T. I was the big earner. My temp employment contract isn't going to be renewed so I am unemployed as from 27.1.09. I have worked worked various contracts for this e/r for 12 years. I have claimed contribution based JSA and waiting to hear.

My husband earns £16,080 per year (£1075 take home). Our rent is £550 per month and council tax is band C - £22 per week. Oil £150 pm electricity £90 pm. Essential monthly bills before food and transport exceed our income.

I can't make ends meet and paying rent with my credit card. My Limit will come at the end of this month.

We are going under. I have ascertained, with the help from people on Benefits board, that once I get cont based Jsa, (which I think I will, as have worked f/t for 25 years) we won't get any HB, CTB or working tax credits.

Ok Then - Here it is - we can't survive. You can imagine. with debts of £9.000 from our wedding last year, we can't get by. I am a good cook and the threads have helped here. My health is suffering with the cold and damp - double pneumonia, shingles , and inability to sleep. My poor young husband is now walking 6 miles each way to work - poor chuffer. I feel, what has happened to my life? I have been homeless before in my twenties and relied on the help of strangers (honestly - its true)who pulled me up. Here we go again with you great people. What on earth can we do to keep warm in this rural old house? How can our relationship survive when my young husb married a happy, healthy, well paid girl last year, and now I have pneumonia from the cold in the house, shingles, and am worrying too much to sleep? And I am now unemployed? I feel worried he isn't getting what he signed up for when we married last year. Its not just being in debt, its the isolation and the fear of homelessness. Terror! Sorry for ramble - Come on - hit me!

skintchick

IF you post your SOA ( details of finances) on the Debt-free Wannabe board they will help you cut costs where possible, and offer helpful advice.

Good luck

rosered1963

skintchick wrote: »

IF you post your SOA ( details of finances) on the Debt-free Wannabe board they will help you cut costs where possible, and offer helpful advice.

Good luck

Thank you Skintchick

fernliebee

So sorry to hear you have hit hard times. Just to say- you will get through it, we're stronger than we think!!

As far as the pneumonia and cold/ damp go, if you are in an old house then thick curtains! On all windows and doors. Get on freecycle and try and get as many as poss. Also I would concentrate on keeping one or two rooms properly warm and dry rather than the whole house, maybe living room/ bedroom?? Draft excluders at the bottom of doors (rolled up towels even!) anything to keep the chill out and the heat in. Lot's of layers, and fleecey blankets! I used to live in a victorian terrace and it was so draughty and ice on the inside of windows- brrrr! I got given thick lined velvet curtains and these really helped the situation. I also lived in PJ's with clothes over the top, and thick wooly socks and slippers! I used to think it was ridiculous to need so many layers indoors but we only had a small woodburner to heat whole house!

As far as spending and MSE I agree about posting on DFW board. They are helpful over there and can give you some tips.

Keep your chin up! It's hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel but you will get there! Maybe just taking a slightly different path than you imagined.

lisa*_5

What kind of tenancy agreement do you have? Are you in a position to hand in notice? Do you have friends and family who could put you up in the mean time, until you can find somewhere more affordable?

rachel_m1

when you get JSA you can apply for grants of up to 2,700 for insulation and cavity wall insulation. This helped us through our cold years in student digs, through the governments warm front scheme ran by eaga. Many of our landlords got us to have it in our names just to get new boilers/ and or insulate their properties for free.

rosered1963

fernliebee wrote: »

So sorry to hear you have hit hard times. Just to say- you will get through it, we're stronger than we think!!

As far as the pneumonia and cold/ damp go, if you are in an old house then thick curtains! On all windows and doors. Get on freecycle and try and get as many as poss. Also I would concentrate on keeping one or two rooms properly warm and dry rather than the whole house, maybe living room/ bedroom?? Draft excluders at the bottom of doors (rolled up towels even!) anything to keep the chill out and the heat in. Lot's of layers, and fleecey blankets! I used to live in a victorian terrace and it was so draughty and ice on the inside of windows- brrrr! I got given thick lined velvet curtains and these really helped the situation. I also lived in PJ's with clothes over the top, and thick wooly socks and slippers! I used to think it was ridiculous to need so many layers indoors but we only had a small woodburner to heat whole house!

Hi Fernilebee -and thanks for the tips - we live in a massive old tumbledown farmhouse and because we can't afford the oil to heat it now, black mound is growing everywhere.

so I will concentrate on heatiing one room and get some better curtains as the windows are massive - the ice is thick on the inside now. I will get OH to help me move bed to living room as its warmer there. Will take all your advice and thanks so much for taking time to post

rosered1963

lisa* wrote: »

What kind of tenancy agreement do you have? Are you in a position to hand in notice? Do you have friends and family who could put you up in the mean time, until you can find somewhere more affordable?

Hi Lisa - Yes, my parents 100 miles north of us (we are in York) have offered to put us up and always say they would like us to be there. Problem is, the travelling for OH would be impossible and we would both have to find new jobs up there and jobs are very hard to come by there (Durham/Weardale) but , the time has come for me to consider this, thanks to you pointing it out.

My young husb loves my folks and they love him too, so maybe it would work. We only have to give 1 month's notice on our tenancy - we have been here for 4 years. I love my darling 85 year old landlord and would be loathe to leave him andhis farm as we have become like family, but of-course, here in York, he would soon snap up good tenants. Thanks for making me think wider on this. RR:)

rosered1963

rachel_m1 wrote: »

when you get JSA you can apply for grants of up to 2,700 for insulation and cavity wall insulation. This helped us through our cold years in student digs, through the governments warm front scheme ran by eaga. Many of our landlords got us to have it in our names just to get new boilers/ and or insulate their properties for free.

Hi Rachel - thanks for this information - I didn't know any of that, and I'm sure it would help us, and our 85 year old landlord would be so pleased as he can't afford to update our 1971 boiler - God love him. I will look into it - tha nks so much for your post

Gingernutmeg

Maybe moving might be a good idea, although without work it will be hard to find rented accommodation. But, you're spending £240 alone a month on oil and electricity, and you're not able to stay warm enough to keep healthy - in my 'ordinary' house, the combined quarterly bills don't come anywhere near that so you could male a significant saving there by moving. Whilst it might be a great house, it's costing you a fortune and you can't afford to live there - and I mean live in the widest sense, not just surviving. But, you've got to consider the costs of moving etc, and be realistic about the fact that renting with no jobs is nigh on impossible (been there, done - or rather couldn't do - that). If you've got family willing to let you stay for a few months then it might be wise to take them up on their offer. It's not easy going back to living with family but it can be a great way to get yourself back on your feet. There's also the point that it's better to jump rather than be pushed. If you leave your current tenancy now, you'll still be able to get a decent reference. If you leave it to get to a point where you can't pay the rent, it's not going to be pleasant and at the moment, it doesn't sound like your health can take the extra stress.

The alternative is to see whether your landlord is willing to reduce the rent. Whilst he might find more tenants, it's going to cost him - he'll need an energy certificate (and presumably the house isn't going to get a great rating which might put potential tenants off ...) and, if there is a mould/damp problem, he's going to have to get that sorted before anyone moves in. It also sounds like a fairly unusual property (the heating bills alone would put me off) and there's a lot of rental property about at the moment. Like others have mentioned, it might be worth looking into whether you can get help with insulation etc, and see if mentioning that can sway him. Always worth a try.

pink_numbers

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but if you can buy cheap fleece blankets and put them between your curtain and windows, it make a HUGE difference. I bought some from IKEA, although there are probably even cheaper places. Fortunately, we have curtain rails that allow us to just throw the blankets over the rail. We thought it'd look horrible, but actually, it looks rather nice if you can get fringed ones. We've gone from having three storage heaters on in the house to just one.

There's a really good thread on the old style board about how to save on heating/electricity bills, full of ideas.