Room for a little one with a massive debt?!

ramblingtree

I wish I could have done that, I have been desperately trying to scrape some savings together, but hasn't happened. I'm not far enough into my MSE journey yet.

savingholmes

ramblingtree wrote: »

I wish I could have done that, I have been desperately trying to scrape some savings together, but hasn't happened. I'm not far enough into my MSE journey yet.

Fair enough

So you have an even bigger incentive than me to a) find that next job quickly and or b) take things like the Make £10 a day challenge seriously to get in more money - poss use that to create your emergency fund or to support your living costs if your contract does end. Hypno has made up to £30K a year just doing things like that I think..... Perhaps ask her for more details.... It would involve lodgers and all sorts tho which is not everyone's cup of tea.

As a minimum I think you need to work out an emergency budget.... How could you manage if you had to live on OH's money for a bit and about £240 from the government!! Start living like that now - create some emergency cash! Hope that doesn't sound too harsh!

ramblingtree

Doesn't sound harsh at all! Any advice is welcome. The truth is, we could not afford to live off OH wage and JSA. I still have my second job and might be able to up hours a bit. We have a lodger who moved in two months ago. We needed his money at first for home repairs, but from now on will stash it away for when my salary stops.

I've started to up the daily free scratchcards etc. I have started to read through the make £10 a day thread for more ideas.

Currently I make approx £250 a month from my 2nd job and £50 from my third job. The lodger pays £240 a month. So thats £540 a month.

If the worst happened and I couldn't find anything at all, not even a filler job, then we would sell the car, which would provide us with 2 months money and save about £100 a month on running it.

Its not much of a plan, but a start. Any other ideas will be gratefully received.

savingholmes

Hi RT

£240 for 3 months = £720 emergency funds which is a great start

if you succeeded on making £10 a day which I do most months so it is possible then that would be £300 x 3 = £900

£1620

If you then found some things to sell on top - great if not so be it

If you were unemployed you could perhaps do mystery shops, surveys etc on top. Sign up now and then hopefully by the time your contract ends - they would have started alerting you to assignments etc.

For me - when there is a big problem to face it is all about taking the fear out of it. Having an emergency plan meant I was less freaked out about losing my job than others would be...

Sadly I currently have less than 1 month's salary in emergency savings so if my job ended again right now - that would be a problem. However I know I could make that stretch 2 months at least and because we continued paying off our debts while I was out of work out of the savings - our overall debt level has gone down so minimum payments are dropping....

In_my_dreams

Hope you've had a good weekend RT

ramblingtree

Hey hey,
Thanks IMD - I did have a good weekend! OH work paryt on Friday night. Very MSE. Cost me £5.50 on the train there, then free meal, free bar, free room for the night! Lots of fun was had, lots of wine was drank but I didn't embarass myself

Saturday night was not very MSE - went out to dinner with OH and a friend. They live quite a distance from us, so we met in a pub half way. Was reasonably priced, but eating out is still spending money we shouldn't. Just had one drink each though. And it was lovely to catch up, in a village pub on the moor, open fires, good food, all cosy and warm.

Sunday I got up early and went to the gym, then worked my 2nd job all afternoon. But came home to dinner on the table and the place all tidy and clean

Now back at work, well, pretending to work whilst catchin up on here! Maybe I'll write a things to do this week list and post it, then I have to do them!

Hope everyone had a nice weekend.
xx

In_my_dreams

Where's you list then..........:p

savingholmes

glad you had a nice weekend

ramblingtree

Yesterday was very busy! No time for lists. But here it is, things I need to do this week...
[STRIKE]1.) Write a complaint letter to my head of dept. There was a big !!!! up and my boss wants me to complain to try and get me a couple of months extra funding. This would be a big help, although also can't wait to get the fog out of here. [/STRIKE]done, but will need rewriting after Boss has seen it...
[STRIKE]2.) Send my CV to a friend of a friend who works for an agency that specialises in my field [/STRIKE]done!
3.) Send CV to a local consultancy whose work I find really interesting
4.) Finish christmas shopping for. Need to buy for:
[STRIKE]Nephew 1: small toy cars (£2.99) [/STRIKE]done!
[STRIKE]Niece 1: Hannah Montana nail varnish set [/STRIKE](£2.99) done!
[STRIKE]Niece 2: cuddly bacteria (£5.99)[/STRIKE] done!
[STRIKE]
Niece 3: cuddly penicillin (5.99) [/STRIKE] [STRIKE]done![/STRIKE]
Niece 4:
Nephew 2:
[STRIKE]5.) Buy secret santa gift for work party (£5)[/STRIKE] done!
6.) Write list of food needed to Christmas for shop this weekend
[STRIKE]7.) Make gift labels for chutney [/STRIKE]done!
8.) Clean oven as is horrid
[STRIKE]9.) Send of everyones menu choices for work lunch [/STRIKE]done!
10.) List dress on ebay

OK, think thats it for now. May need to add more as I remember.
Now that I have a list, best I get on with some of it! Although, do need to do some actual work around it all...

ramblingtree

I've also updated my signature. The last few weeks have been really hard work and money wise, so I really just want to look forward. We've got just enough to scrape through to the new year, so everything is paid for and we can start 2010 with more positivity. I'll add in more challenges as I figure out which ones are best for us.