Don't know where to go from here!

lisaandsaffi

My youngest daughter has stomach and bowel problems and is under a consultant and dietitian (thus I only returned to work last year after a year and a half off to care for her - yet another bump in the road). As she does not really eat I have been advised by the dietitian for her to have school dinners as it get's her used to eating proper meal with other children to encourage her to eat. Also she doesn't like any kind of sandwiches etc.

You will all be pleased to know I have also done some saving this weekend:

Cancellation of WW - £17.95 a month
Vodafone - Managed to cancel my daughters contract but they are not budging on mine as I only took it out in Jan. My husband is going to give them a ring to see if his can be lowered.
Magazine Subscription - Whilst looking through my direct debits on my bank account I noticed a magazine subscription that my husband had set up a while ago which was £21.99 every 3 months and due to be taken out so I cancelled that.
Sky - Managed to knock £8 off my bill per month.
Shopping - Managed to get my food shopping in at £47 this week!
Heating - Turned down to 2 from 5 but not really heating the water warm enough for a bath (all 4 of us have been using the same bath to save on water) so turned up to 3 but only leaving on for an hour to warm up instead of 2.

Also as Cahoot have recently changed to Sandtander I am unable to access my account on line any more (it's taken me about 2 months to find out why as I haven't had any corresepondence from them) so when I finally found a number where someone could help me they tell me I only have £7662 left instead of the £8000 I thought was left!

I also have a load of CDs and Wii games that are not used so I read about a site that buys them so going to check on there now!

stoocake

Congratulations on the above! Once you get the ball rolling it gets easier and easier. Just be prepared for weak moments - they will come, but they don't last long. A couple of minutes on here is usually enough to keep the motivation up. Best of luck

savingwannabe

Lisa well done. I am dropping a brand when i do my shopping and this has saved a lot of money and i didnt notice a difference in taste either.

Ebaying cds is a good idea too.

I am new, i can't think of anything else but well done. This is all positive and a move in the right direction.

Good luck,

:j

dancingfairy

Hi - a couple of thoughts from me:
1) have you got a carbon monoxide detector thing? They are not massively expenisve and with a dodgy boiler you might want to get one for reassurance.
2) Have a look for energy grants etc - maybe to get extra roof insulation and you some people can get help with the cost of a new boiler - I don't know how much it works out at - but you would need to factor in the cost of a new boiler and work out how much it would save you a month.
3) the mobiles - yours and OH's need to be downgraded as soon as possible - you need to ask them - start thinking 15-20 pounds a month for these.
df

dancingfairy

Also check out the redundancy cover - it might not cover you if you've been made redundant in the last x years or been in the job for less than a certain amount of time or in certain industries etc. It MAY be worth keeping but you need to check out all the exclusions.
df

lisaandsaffi

My husband was made redundant 2 years ago then got another job a month later then he got sacked before Christmas last year as he complained that he had £50 taken out of his pay. As they were looking to lay people off they sacked him on the spot for being aggressive (even though he wasn't and had many witness willing to speak for him and who did so in his appeal), he did appeal but the appeal decision was made by the person who accused him of doing so so it was turned down and as he worked there less than a year we couldn't pursue this. Then when our mortgage protection wrote to them they said that he was violent and they sacked him for gross misconduct. They have also done this to quite a few people who have worked there less than a year, so we weren't entitled to anything.

Yes I have 2 carbon monoxide alarms and I will certainly look into grants for a boiler as mine is nothing but trouble. My husband is going to downgrade his phone later but they only let you do it £5 a month at a time. As I took mine out in Jan this year they said I can't downgrade until September, which I shall do so as I don't even use all my minutes and texts.

Thanks

purpleheather2810

Hi Lisa

Well done for posting your SOA and the savings you have already made

Lots of good suggestions already made but I have a couple more....

I suggest your husband speaks to CSA and tries to get the amount he is paying reduced - if he explains the hardship that you are experiencing as a family I'm sure it could be reduced (although it might take a while, in my experience!!)

Could your daughter have packed lunches just once a week? Does not need to include sandwiches (lots of ideas on this site). Even this small change would save you money and she would still be getting the benefit of a cooked meal on the other days. Something to consider anyway.

Good luck and keep posting x

lisaandsaffi

Whilst he was not working the last time we started putting money away for his CSA. As they took 4 months to sort it out by this point we had started using the money, due to him being out of work, even though we shouldn't have! When he received a letter saying how much he had to pay he phoned them and explained that his arrears was not on the letter. They said they would sort it out. After many phone calls they never did. Then in November last year they finally did and said that he had a week to pay back £400 or they would take half his pay every week. He phoned them and asked if he could add it on to his payments as he was not trying to get out of paying but could not afford to pay outright or have half his pay taken due to also having 2 children living with us and that taking that much we would not be able to cover our mortgage. He was told that our mortgagte is not as high a priority debt as the CSA and that is not their problem he either pays it or they will take half his pay. In the end he had a loan from his mother for £400. Two weeks later he lost his job! He has always paid his CSA on time and, although we did spend the money, they took so long to sort it out it could have been cleared up much sooner, not a month before Christmas. It took me 8 years to get CSA from my ex for my eldest daughter and then when he was thousands in arrears let him pay back pittance a month. No wonder they are in such trouble. Also as his ex doesn't work (her partner does in a low paid job) and she has 2 other children , she is also struggling so it would be unfair to lower her income. We are currently not paying the CSA the money as they are still sorting it out yet again, but I am putting the money in a seperate account so that the same thing doesn't happen again.

I will have a look through the lunch ideas for future reference but they are very picky in the school and if you are having school dinners you have to have them for the whole term. But they could prove useful for after school instead of a big meal.

Thanks and well done for paying off your Next Directory!!!