I have literally no money!

Annie021063

Do you know what BIW??!! there are many threads on here that really hit hard, yours is one of them, but out of all of them yours is the one I am so glad to see becoming positive. Keep going, your path WILL lead to joy.

QueenBeruthiel

This is great news, BIW.

Some solicitors have free "surgeries" of half an hour or so. If you could locate one - they may be able to advise on the landlady situation.

faithless

brokeinwales wrote: »

I have to see the doctor one day next week, so I'm considering taking a half day off and visiting citizens advice about my landlady the same morning/ afternoon. Do you think it's worth it?

Definately check your local CABx opening times and whether you can book an appt - e.g. when I volunteered there we were open 10-1pm but some days if you weren't there by 9.45 we turned you away because wouldn't get in. And now some only do 'Gateways', where you see someone quickly, they diagnose what specialist you need to see - or other organisation, and give you an appointment.

As CAB is often hard to get into, alternatives are:

Community Legal Services http://www.communitylegaladvice.org.uk/en/feedback/index.jsp

Get free, confidential legal advice

Call 0845 345 4 345Mon - Fri 9am - 8:00pm
Sat 9am - 12:30pm
Calls from 4p/min - or get us to call you back

OR

Shelter - the one by me gives advice to anyone who needs it on housing issues, they run a surgery from some Council Offices where I am (South Wales, and I know the local guy does advocacy on behalf of people, not just advice. If you can speak to Shelter, these would be best placed to help you as they're housing law specialists, I personally would try them first.
http://www.shelter.org.uk/

brokeinwales

faithless wrote: »

Definately check your local CABx opening times and whether you can book an appt - e.g. when I volunteered there we were open 10-1pm but some days if you weren't there by 9.45 we turned you away because wouldn't get in. And now some only do 'Gateways', where you see someone quickly, they diagnose what specialist you need to see - or other organisation, and give you an appointment.

As CAB is often hard to get into, alternatives are:

Community Legal Services http://www.communitylegaladvice.org.uk/en/feedback/index.jsp

OR

Shelter - the one by me gives advice to anyone who needs it on housing issues, they run a surgery from some Council Offices where I am (South Wales, and I know the local guy does advocacy on behalf of people, not just advice. If you can speak to Shelter, these would be best placed to help you as they're housing law specialists, I personally would try them first.
http://www.shelter.org.uk/

that's really useful, thank you

ms_london

I haven't read this from start to finish, but even the few pages I've read have made me feel like there are some decent people out there! Sometimes it doesn't feel like it in 'real life'. SOOO kind of people to send you little care packages!

It sounds like you are making great progress BIW - and it is great listening to your views and ideas! Don't give yourself too much of a hard time, I guess even people who appear to have it all, may not, and if they are not happy with it all, what is the point?!

I've done a full circle on the debt front. At my highest my debt was £19,000, I paid it off pretty fast (2 jobs and a lot of sacrifices, no magic answers I'm afraid!), and became debt free in 2005. I continued to save at the rate I had paid off my debt and left to go travelling with around £10,000 saved. Spent a wonderful 2 years travelling (with some work thrown in of course!), and returned to the UK last Sep with £1000 saved..... Unfortunately I hit the recession head on and have spent 6 months of the past year unemployed and as a result am back in debt. :eek::eek: It's so hard to admit it, especially on here, but I've learnt to accept that sometimes life throws at us things that are out of our control. I was adament I would never be in debt again, would never get a credit card, and unfortunately was probably a bit cocky about it. Serves me right. :rolleyes: However, I still give myself a hard time about it, and just want to be debt free again. (I owe about £3.5K so nothing in comparison to what I did, but still enough!).

See becoming debt free as a challenge, try and get as many things for free (or cheaper than they should be) as you can. Take part in all of the challenges on here and it will soon be fun! I wouldn't have been able to do it the first time without MSE, so you are definately in the right place, although I am sure you know that by now.

Since I keep seeing 'cous cous' over and over again, I have 3 packs (so 6 sachets) of a well known brand of cous cous. Would you like me to send it to you? May be able to throw in a couple of magazines too? I really won't eat it and there's no point it sitting in my cupboard gathering dust. PM me

Reading this thread has motivated me to become MSE again, I really have been slacking in a lot of ways lately!

xx

Verbatim

Hi Ms London,

Great to see you on here again! SS made a rare appearance on a dfw thread a few weeks ago and we were reminiscing about how it was like old times and I wondered where you and Kathfisch (sp?) were.

how is the job search going? Hope you find something good soon.

brummiebabe

Ms London - yours was one of the 1st threads I started to follow when I joined - I remember the magazine article too - when you became DF!!:rotfl:

Sorry that you're back in debt...but these things happen. I'm sure you'll sort it!!

This thread is an inspiration & really shows what thoughtful, caring 'huggies' the DFWs are!!

To broke in wales - what a huge achievement!! To have money in the bank, food etc and all your bills paid - WELL DONE!!:T Keep posting though....we all want to know how you're doing!!!

Pagg

BiW it's fabulous to see you getting back in control - aren't the people on here wonderful? You ask about time out to see the CAB and doctor, would work sanction enough time for both?

Arwen

brokeinwales wrote: »

Well - payday happened again!
And I had a pleasant surprise on Sunday when I got around to doing my shopping at Morrisons. As I'd run my cupboards down to virtually nothing again, I was thinking I'd have to spend a fortune to get a month's shopping in. As it turned out, I ended up spending just over £30, and I think I've stocked up on pretty much everything I need.
I was pleased to see all the autumn-y fruit and veg is in now - things like pumpkins and carrots and potatoes and squashes and apples always seem to last much longer than the summery salady stuff, and are a bit cheaper too. I bought a big pumpkin to turn into lots of soup!
I have totally changed my shopping technique now. Rather than walking up and down the aisles just putting things in the trolley, I'm actually thinking about what I'm going to do with the ingredients and whether there's a cheaper possibility. Rather than a box of muesli, I bought a bag of porridge oats (at least £2.50 cheaper). Rather than buting jars of pesto, I bought extra tinned tomatoes and some soft cheese to make my own quick sauce. I also bought bar soap, instead of facial wash. Also stocked up on 9p noodles for emergency work lunches, so I should save money on sandwiches.
This is all good.

Thing I have at the head at the moment is getting myself a sewing machine - I feel the need to make myself feel better about myself and do something creative that I'm actually good at - I've been feeling so bl**dy useless and pathetic over the past few months, and beign the shallow type (!) if there's one thing I do have some interest and skill in it's things like fashion and make up and generally looking good - so I thought maybe it'd be good to give making my own clothes a go.

I need to try and find a really cheap or free machine... (freecycle won't let me ask for anything unless I post something to give first, and I don't have anything!).

So actually, I'm feeling quite positive right now.
I do feel soooo nervous it'll all come to nothing though - I'm being good now, but it'll all fall apart at some point. I'll get lazy and everything will run out of control again. How do I know this isn't all just a quick fix? I have it in my head that leopards never change their spots, that I'm detined to always be skint (I find it impossible to even imagine myself not struggling with money I'm so used to it now) . It's a constant worry.

BIW-stay focussed. We all fall by the wayside now and again,especially when emergencies happen. But Xmas is coming up, why don't you ask anyone who wants to buy you something to give you Argos vouchers, as they have quite cheap sewing machines in there?

I got mine from Lidl's last year.I am very naughty as mine hasn't been out the box yet.However as I have to do DD's room (aged 17) up on the cheap, she wants to get her own material for soft furnishings out of her part time wages, and we plan to do the sewing thing. She has also asked for a mannequin/tailors dummy for Christmas so she can do her own clothes.

I have had my best meals being skint, as you need to think carefully about what you buy, and you get creative with your cooking.

Tonight for dinner, we had chicken breasts that I bought on BOGOF, stirred some pasta sauce that DD1 had brought home from Uni, and mixed it with onions and a cheap bag of pasta, and my very fussy DD3 stated it was the best meal she had ever had in ages.:rotfl::rotfl:

helen0378

when we're stoney broke myself and then boyfriend used to take toilet paper from work, not huge rolls just enough folded into a pocket so if anyone questioned it we could say we had a runny nose. For shampoo etc if you aren't wanting to ask out directly for help for fear of questioning go to a friends or relatives or even neighbours quite late on at night and ask for a bit as you have run out and hadn't had time to get any from supermarket but need to shower now. Most ppl have a bottle they've been meaning to throwaway with a bit in the bottom. Or ask for soap not great for hair but will do everything. Also check out old gift sets (ones you've been bought but forgot about maybe?) that might be stored in a drawer or on top of a wardrobe. Hope this helps x