Serious trouble

Lexxi

I'll send you a PM with some details on

Horace

Lightspeedpanel do surveys and you get paid in points but points can be converted into vouchers - 790 points gets you a £5 voucher, I get john lewis vouchers as they can be used in waitrose (not that I shop there yet).

Pigsback is good, Toluna is not so good these days. We have them all listed.

If you go onto the Make £10 a day challenge they often give tips on there especially when one particular company starts advertising (we are not allowed to mention their name but its p1necone) - they pay you for surveys and will give you books of luncheon vouchers totalling £3.

Even if your course is affiliated to the University, you would still be able to use the student union one would have thought (thats what Birmingham University used to do if they had a course run on their establishment by another Uni). Student unions can be helpful.

Re the cards - sell them to local shops if you can (try the independent ones or even florists), also see if you can get a stall at a craft fair.

Another place for mystery shops is abaresearch.co.uk - they have panels for surveys that dont seem to pay but they claim that you can win, and you can sign up for mystery shops athlough with them you have to do your normal shopping and they will pay you £10 cash after you have completed the feedback.

Have you tried contacting shelter as they may be able to help you find some accommodation away from your grandpa's brother (he sounds like a right moany old g*t).

Good luck.

Rubyshoes_3

I remember joining Pigsback a long time ago (for the free squeezy stresspig !), but I thought they were just for if you're ordering online so you can get cashback ordering through them or something ? I don't really understand it.
I was wondering about that, how come you're not allowed to mention PC ?
I was going to contact little newsagents/post offices. On the bus route between my house and my boyfriend's there are lots of tiny little villages each with a village store/post office, they were the ones I was thinking of asking, as well as the canteen at college, because they sell greeting cards, but I need to find out who decides what they stock there.

Have you tried contacting shelter as they may be able to help you find some accommodation away from your grandpa's brother (he sounds like a right moany old g*t).

Yes, I think I've contacted everyone under the sun about the housing situation ! He (my great uncle) is wanting to renovate their house soon and when he gets round to doing the bedrooms I'll be out. I've written to the council a couple of times and still I have no extra priority and am in general needs (which means I can apply every week and still be offered nothing in years), and a few weeks ago I contacted all the housing associations in the area (13 of them), plus Shelter and a help place for young people called The Marketplace, and Shelter said my options, if I can't find anywhere to live, are to squat, or sleep on the streets, neither of which I see as an option for anyone !

Lexxi

When your great uncle wants to renovate and have you move out get them to put it in writing as early as possible and take it to all the housing places you are registered with. as it will make you a little more of a priority due to them making you homeless, whereas if you walked out and said to the housing you were homeless you would be making yourself intentionally so and they don't have the same duty towards you.

Rubyshoes_3

My concern with the council is that if I tell them I'm homeless (and with proof), they might try to have me go into a hostel knowing I can't afford to be fussy. If you refuse anything they offer then they won't offer anything else and have no more duty to rehouse you.

Lexxi

They will argue that you can't be homeless if you are able to refuse accomadation. Has your uncle said when he wants to start renovation, perhaps you could get in writing that you are on notice?

Lucyxx

Hi Ruby,

Honestly hang in there, you'll get lots of good advice in here.

A survey site that pays in cash is www.onepoll.com you need to log in to see if they have any surveys (they usually do approx 10p each) they are so quick to do. Payout is at £40, which does take you a while, but a nice easy bonus for you when you reach payout. I've been paid by them once and am nearly at my second payout. I check daily to see if there are any new ones. They are a good reputable company aswell.

Also are you able to fit in any other work in the evenings? Supermarkets often have people stacking shelves at night, and while it may not be the best paid or most exciting job it could help you up your income to tackle your debts for a bit. It might be a bit knackering aswell, but it would get you out of the house, which would also be a bonus. Might be worth ringing and asking.

HTH

Luc xx

TCM_3

Hi Ruby

What type of cards do you make? I have a shop and i could maybe take some of them if you have any that are animal related (would fit in with what i have already).

I don't know what way things work in England, in NI we have "council houses" that are owned by the Housing Exec. There is housing benefit available to those on a low income thus reducing rent. The situation you are living in will not be helping with the depression. i know its easy for me to sit here and say you should do x, y and z but it is not that easy when the road seems to be blocked for you. Or is there student accommodation available through the college? Or some students to share with?

Maybe if you could get away from Mr Grumpy Boots it would make life a little less stressfull. I don't know.

T

RAS

Ruby

Can you go down to Metro (the main office is near the rail station so walkable at lunch-time) and ask about a Metro card. I pay for travel by bus and train throughout West Yorkshire and it costs less per month than you are paying just for your daily journey. Not a lot of help with the Harrogate bus but unless you are travelling onwards in Harrogate, there is a reduction. I think it was £3.90 from the border last time I used it.

If you have a student card (which you have if you use the library) then the cost of the pass is about half mine.

I assume that you did a CRB check when you started the course and have done fire, health and safety and lifting and handling certificates?

Go round and sign up with the care agencies and chase them up. You might well be able to get a weekend shift at about £6.30 per hour for that. if you are good at caring for animals, then you may find people OK too?

I know the Dental School is away from the main campus building but the Student Union is walkable - near the main entrance on the Otley road (Woodhouse Lane). They have student welfare Officer, who can and will help you. They will have loads of experience helping students in debt.

You may not be eligible for the standard student hardship support but they will be able to push your own tutors who sound a little less than helpful. Do the tutors know anything about the circumstances in your family? Amongst other things, if they ask the University's main contact for the Department of Health contract, they can put in a special plea for hardship support for you directly with the Strategic Health Authority. Even if that only sorts out the library fine it would be useful.

I do not know what sort of hours you have to do to get your professional registration, but can you ask your tutor to get this information and let you see the records of how many hours you have actually done? I am very surprised that you study and practice components do not allow you to take time off to see the doctor.

The other things are -

Was the deposit on your rental protected by the new law on deposits?

Did you take a meter reading when you left?

The Student Union can also help regarding accomodation.

RAS

Ruby

This thread list a whole host of ways of getting small amounts of money from clicks, surveys and mystery shopping.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/protect/make-money