Bumbling along to be Mortgage Free

gratefulforhelp_2

Let's not hijack Michelle's diary. You are doing really really well, Michelle we only manage £20 per month into CTFs and we are both working.

greent

Hard one. We have 4 children and the only benefit we get is child benefit - no tax credits etc. When OH was made redundant for a 2nd time last year all we were entitled to was JSA of £64.30 a week for the 12 weeks that he was without a job - and that was taxed! That REALLY doesn't go far for anyone - but for a family of 6? - laughable! I DO think that a lot of people have children (planned) without thinking of the costs - and it does annoy me. OH's cousin is a single parent has never worked (and no intention of working) - gets housing benefit, free prescriptions, free school meals, council tax benefit, child benefit (obv) and whatever benefit normal living would be. Oh, and her college course (in cake decorating) was free too.....

Scary - we are a lot worse off than we were - DH is now self employed and his contract runs out in a month.... there's jobs but not many (and he has applied for lower paid jobs but people really will not employ him because they take the attitude that he would leave if a better paid one came up - which he would have to!)

LittleBit_2

GreenNinja wrote: »

No but we are paying into the pot so that you can have them. Maybe the question should be, should you have had them in the first place? Playing devils advocate I know but its a valid point.

I agree with what you're saying about paying into the pot, but I don't know what I would suggest as an alternative.
Ideally the money we get for tax credits and child benefit would be put to one side as extra so that if we lost them we wouldn't 'need' it. The reality however is that is gets eaten up in our every day living expenses.

katsu

Michelle,
How did you get into Zopa lending? Last night DH was talking about looking at different ways of investing. I know nothing about Zopa so wondered about your experiences.

Valli

Michelle

If you're buying to sell on e bay Morrison's have Fusion Gamer Razors (Limted edition England ones) for £2.00 instead of £7.99 and they'd be light to post. They don't appear to be World Cup specific IYSWIM, just have a small England Flag logo on the handle. I bought 5 - one for DS then the rest because the blades are £8.99 for a pack of 4 so I saved 99p. Mind you DD might give her dad one for Father's day! They're about that price on Amazon (£7 + too)

SAHMto2boys

How did the injections go? Just been on facebook and have be laughing at your DS's comment - how funny. Your DH is a lucky boy tonight;):rotfl:

LittleBit_2

SAHMto2boys wrote: »

How did the injections go? Just been on facebook and have be laughing at your DS's comment - how funny. Your DH is a lucky boy tonight;):rotfl:

I read that too! PMSL :rotfl:

evab_2

Hope you have a peaceful day after your action packed one yesterday x

SAHMto2boys

Oh, your poor little DS2. Hope he's okay as that doesn't sound pleasant, hopefully the anti-b's will clear it up quick.

Glad you got paid for the MS. That is an amazing water bill - how do you manage to keep it so low? Do you use a water butt in the garden, do you have a DW?

Hope you get a good nights sleep as sounds like you need it, I'm shocking on broken sleep when the boys are waking all night xx

juliejim

Hugs Michelle - keep your chin up. It's hard when you've got 2 little ones and DH is out of the house a lot. Don't be so hard on yourself - you're doing great.

Jue