It's STILL tough and not getting better - so how are we coping?

smileyt_2

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

SmileyT - Completely understand where you are coming from... they are a NIGHTMARE!!

I went there yesterday and the woman was so RUDE, about me being a mum... How dare I have the audacity to limit the hours I am willing to work because of childcare!!!

She looked at me and said ' What about your Husband, does he ACTUALLY work? '

I nearly punched her there and then!!

I could go on...........

I know, JG. I'm not surprised people kick off. Well done you for not batting her.

mardatha

Smiley, I would appeal just to make them spend time on you and acknowledge your existence!

smileyt_2

mardatha wrote: »

Smiley, I would appeal just to make them spend time on you and acknowledge your existence!

It would probably be about ten months before my appeal was heard and by then I'd probably be back on JSA for next year's summer break as there's no work in my field over the summer! Hopefully I'll be able to get a temp job instead of signing on again though; I really hate going to the Job Centre!

ceridwen

Well I'm just reminding myself not to stop "aiming for goals" - and I guess thats summat for us all to bear in mind. Guess we're all going to have different ones - me - one is I'm aiming for being best "natural" cook ever. A good friend of mine has had a lot of "positive reinforcement" from me over time (okay - lets call a spade a shovel as is my usual habit - and call it "downright nagging:D") and has gone from worse salary than I have (that aint easy to manage...:() to a reasonable salary/job they enjoy and their latest news to me is they are waiting to see if they have been successful at getting a job they will enjoy even more and that will bring them up to a 40% tax rate:D - so fingers crossed for them and I'll go off and remind myself to take encouragement from that and keep aiming for my own goals.:)

JulieGeorgiana

smileyt wrote: »

I know, JG. I'm not surprised people kick off. Well done you for not batting her.

Tell me about it... why do they assume we are all the same and tar us with the same brush???

a year ago my husband and I were just normal working middle class, two good jobs... now i've been made redundant twice in 11 months (due to office closures) and i'm now being treated as though I am one of those woman who works the system to milk as many benefits as possible, have 1 children in a 2 bed council house on £40k benefits a year demanding more money!!!

makes me sick, there are many hard working men and woman out there who are just not lucky enough to be in employment no matter how hard they try!

Last year it took 7 working days to get back into work.

Friday I told them I had a likely job to start this monday... 5 working days after I started my claim!!!

Oh BTW it's now confirmed, I have a temperaray job!

Kitcaboodle

Well, I tried the Hairy Bikers crumpet recipe, got it to rise properly but couldn't quite get the hang of cooking them this time around! I have an electric hob so getting the heat right is a PITA! I also made them a bit too thick at first. I also might follow a tip I read next time of adding a bit more bicarb to encourage the bubbles!

Still, it was easier than I thought & the main good thing is that I've learnt I can get dough to rise, so those dough based non bread-maker recipes are now within my grasp! I warmed the microwave by sterlizing my breastpump & baby bottles and then stuck the dough in the microwave and shut the door - it rose like a dream!

In other news, I've ordered a sleep suit pattern so I can make some sleep suits for DS http://www.habithat.co.uk/popup_image.php/pID/7984 - the animal print throws in Tesco are looking tempting to use for fabric!

bluebag

greent wrote: »

Sounds great, kezlou - well done on finding out about them and brilliant news that they're so cheap!! (or free for the dressmaking one!)



lol! A friend of mine bought here first house and found a surprise in the loft - it was covered entirely in black plastic sheeting and had a variety of toys, a blow up doll and some rope...!:eek:

OMG! I think I wouild put it straight back on the market, the black plastic sheeting is what they always use in all the murders on the telly. (shudder:eek:)
bb

narabanekeater

Bluebag did you read my post eariler about the sex toys?
Its amazing what people leave when they move house isnt it

seasalt_2

Years ago we moved into a rented flat - we knew it belonged to a photographer but only found out what sort of photographs he took from the pile of magazines and a few props left under the bed.

Change of tack, we had an almost free tea tonight. Was given an out of date loaf of cheesy bread (nothing wrong with it at all) and made "pizzas" with the very last of a jar of pesto (poured in a bit of olive oil and shook vigorously then brushed it onto toasted bread), sliced tomatos and onions out of the garden, a bit of grated cheese and shoved it under the grill - fancy cheese on toast really but I called it pizza so it sounded like a proper meal - DS did still say suspiciously -Where's the meat then, but I ignored him!

v1ckyt

wagglessmells wrote: »

re 0845 nos: i recently ramg wtax credits but as they were es[ecially busy their number connected and said that due to many call to call back and then disconnected me!!!! i therefore kept hitting redial until i finally got through!!!! when i received my phone bill it was in excess of £100!!!!! i rang virgin to ask what was going on and they said that all 410 calls i had made had been to wtcredits!!!! the call which had gotten through had been 22 mins long and had cost £2.50ish. i asked why the other call shad cost so much only to be told that: it costs 11p to be connected to an 0845 number and a further 8p per minute. each of my calls that had been disconnected had cost me 19p even though they only had a duration of approx 10seconds!!! because they didn't want to helpi asked to be put through to disconnections where the lady i was connected to completely understood as she had gone through the same thing previously and halved tyhe bill for me!!! was still not happy but at least they helped me out a bit!!!!

hope you are all well,
alex x

Bit cheeky this, but if you've got a package which includes 01 & 02 numbers, you can use this number to get through to tax credits on.

Quoted from HMRC website...
If you're calling from abroad please telephone:+44 2890 538 192

Remove the ++ and put a 0, so 02380... doesn't cst anything then no matter how many times youcall, assuming you have an inclusive package.

hope that helps someone,
Vicky