Am i allowed a rant?

RAS

schumie

get the mortgage on interest only; there is no point paying off capital when he gets half of it.

Can you take a lodger or two. TAx free up to aboutb £370 per month.

Then see sbout selling up, rather than hanging on in and losing more money when he gets his share of the equity.

And read all the meters and advise the utilities so the bills in his name remain that way. Put them into your name from now on.

Bitsy_Beans

Sorry to hear this news Schumie hugs from me x

some good advice esp the lodger suggestion. Hope things work out for you.

suseb_99

Hi Schumie,
Big ((((Hugs)))) from me.
I agree with all of the above,
I would also add that if it was me I would sell anything and everything that your ex left behind on E-bay.. you may not get much but every bit helps, plus the satisfaction would be priceless!! x

smileyt_2

Of course it's getting on top of you sometimes - you're in a rotten situation at the moment. You wouldn't be human if it didn't get on top of you!

I think the advice you've had on here is good and I can't add anything to it, but have a hug. ((Hug)). It may all turn out for the best in the long run, although it probably won't feel that way now.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

And if EDF get snippy with you, tell them if they even consider putting the DD up, you switch suppliers. If they still refuse, then do it.

The MIL switched to a key meter when FIL died (only 63 but had been ill for a few months, still a big shock though) just so she could have absolute control over what was or wasn't spent on the electricity/gas. It cost her more per unit, but she said it gave her the psychological freedom from worrying about direct debits (FIL needed the heating on quite high in his final months, so they wanted to quadruple her DDs after his death).

She also cancelled everything they weren't tied into a contract on, again, this also stopped her receiving bills addressed to her husband.

She then realised that there were quite a few things she didn't need to spend on any more and her finances got under control far more quickly than she had ever anticipated.

It takes time, but you will cope.

xxx

The_Thrilla

One great big Philippino hug.

EDF. Tell them that their hike is unjustified. Cancel the DD, and do everything you can to cut down on fuel. They won't like that. Go through their complaints procedure. Be as unreasonable as you like. Don't give an inch. If they have not withdrawn the £30 hike, take them to the energy ombudsman. Correct me if I am wrong, but it will cost them a lot more than £30 to have the case adjudicated, and they will probably be on the phone to you with an offer. When writing to them, write to the CEO, and mark the envelope PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL. Remember, the higher the rank of the person who is dealing with your case, the more it costs them.

meanmarie

schumie...have a big hug from me...can't offer any advice but would feel that the advice that others have given will be sound.

Marie

boultdj

:grouphug:Got nothing to add but Big Hug.

foxgloves

Agree with the previous post who says to deal with the energy hike by reducing your consumption. That's exactly what we did. Npower put our payments up for electricity & gas and I didn't bother switching....I've switched about 4 times & it hasn't really saved me any money in the long term......instead, we started reducing our energy consumption....low-energy bulbs, not leaving stuff on standby, turning off lights when we didn't need them, not having 2 lamps on a night if only one (or none!) would do, running washing machine, breadmaker, etc, on timer so as only to pay night-time rates (if you are on dual tariff), not sitting around in a tee-shirt with the heating on, but fetching a jumper, etc, and the next time I received a statement from them, they'd not only reduced our payments for electricty & gas right back down again, there was a cheque for a refund as they now owed US money! I feel like that was good revenge & we are still sticking to it.

zippychick

Hi Schumie

as this had dropped down the board, I have moved it to the Gas and electricity forum, to see if you can get other input and suggestion.
Perhaps banking and budgeting may be of help, or you could post a state of affairs on the Debt free wannabe board?

Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

thanks
Zip