As The Workhouse Approaches....How To Do Everything To Avoid It, the Old Style Way

modern_millie_2

Must just speak up for my local Oxfam, where I volunteered until recently - will go back in Autumn when I'm less busy. They take children on Dof E scheme, job centre referrals and'regular' volunteers, no fee, free tea and coffee.
Almost all donations are acccepted, except obvious things like electricals. Don't know about larger items, but I would be surprised if they charged. With a change in management recently things were actually priced a little lower, and sales went up - not surprising from what people are saying. Can't see any sense in charging a fee for volunteering- smacks of 'internships' to me, ie people having to pay for unpaid (to them) work experience.

modern_millie_2

GQ, sorry to hear you are still having problems. Hope the council will shift sofa asap. Wishing for some heavy rain for you tonight - would serve dual purpose!
Rachbc, hope the car repairs are not too expensive - always seem to turn up at the worst time, don't they?
Well, off to work to earn a crust, hope everyone has a good day and gets the weather they want!

sammy_kaye18

Morning all

Im ill.
Holly is ill and possibly teething and has now affectionately been renamed as snot monster by her big brother :rotfl:

Am meant to be getting stuff ready as mother in law wants to go to focus today and asked if we fancied going with her so am hoping to pick up a bag or two of compost, some veg seeds and some pots relatively cheaply - oh and rhubarb - cant forget that! Fingers crossed there will still be a few bits there though! :eek:

Also had Owen talking about puppies. He has seen a few that he likes the look of and thinks bruno needs a playmate. :eek: which whilst I agree I want the house sorted first and get the budget under control as I havent paid any bills so far this month yet as Ive no idea what needs paying here at the minute or how much!

Virgin are messing em about at the minute. I had a letter yesterday saying my bill was £166. Then in the same pile had a letter saying because of a partial months use I was refunded £51 so it was £115 for two months (I now I forgot to pay last month in the madness of the house move) and this morning Ive had a bill saying my new bill for May has been calculated and I owe £163 with last months bill being £23.78
So I have emailed them now to try and find out what the fudgecake is going on! :mad:

Have hung washing out too. Need to get tidying up house.

Also had bombshell yesterday that my sister (yes the sister who got stuck in the US and lost custody of her 3 year old) - is pregnant again! :eek::mad::eek::mad::eek::mad: although she has already talked with the partner and has decided not to keep the baby but she has had the heartbeat scan done and they heard two heart beats but they have no idea how far she is as she had her op recently for cancer cells removal so it could be her heatbeat cancelling out/being louder than the babies heart beat, or there could be two (as twins run in our family) and they think she could have been pregnant before that! so she is ranging anywhere from 4 weeks to 4 months:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:.

Have honestly no idea how I feel about the situation - part of me thinks shes stupid but I know she wouldnt look after them - they would be palmed off on the father/my mother/boyfriedns family (who btw is in afghanistan at the minute - and there was a rumour flitting abotu so I was informed last night that the baby/babies could belong to 1 of 5 guys :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:) I really dont agree with abortions so am just keeping my mouth shut.

littlecal

Sammy,my heart goes out to you:A I know it's hard,families aint easy, but just concentrate on getting yourself sorted out first - new house AND tiny one AND you feeling ill isn't a nice combination.

Keep smiling hun.:)xx

bargainhunterss

just been listening to the radio and they were talking about pensions and provision for later life etc. I'm starting to think I've made a right pigs ear of my finances. I've previously been a student, and like most students I decided (at the age of 18 without 2 financial brain cells to rub together) that it would be a GREAT idea to max out my available overdraft, which then increased year on year, and then oh look! what a fabulous idea...a student credit card! well it was all just so easy and convenient! Now 3 years down the line I have over £3000 worth of overdraft debt and a £500 credit card, and the interest keeps on mounting! and we all know what graduate jobs/ wages are like these days....

ah well! I'm fully aware that this is all my own fault, and I'm not asking for sympathy (as I'm aware its not warranted!) just needed to vent as its getting me down a bit xxx

bargainhunterss

ps. i know those with wiser financial heads could make student overdrafts work FOR them, but I would say its silly to let any 18 year old who's never had more than £30/week wages before loose with a £1500 overdraft!

starsandmoon

Got lots of whoopsie bargains on Bank Hol. Popped in a Tesco Express for nutmeg as was making custard tarts and there were mega reductions! Tuna steaks, loads of fruit/veg, bread, choc bites and pasta salads. Spent £7 but would have cost about £30 full price. I was shocked at the full price of some of the items, no wonder people struggle with eating veg etc. 2 sweetcorn cobs were £1.80 and I paid 60p. How can they justify £1.80:mad:

Half term this week, up to now have done local library, today the pics with Orange Wednesday, tomorrow go to mums and help her with shopping, Fri swimming. So have managed a weeks entertainment very cheaply. Just checked bank account and its looking quite empty. Going to have to have a word with Ex OH as he hasnt been paying maintainence for our DD due to him losing his job but Im really missing the money and DD needs new school shoes.

Greyqueen - I lived in a flat similar to yours with all those problems. Used to get the local youth throwing stuff at the windows and being very anti social. I was on the 1st floor over the bin shed and heard a lot of kerfuffle so I opened the kitchen window and threw a jug of water down as used to get druggies in there. Well it wasnt druggies, it was the police:eek: obviously looking for god knows what. They werent impressed lol. I came home one day to find my allocated parking spot had a horse in it:rotfl:never a dull moment living there I can tell you. My worry with that sofa would be if someone set fire to it. Well now Ive worried you to death Il take myself off lol

prophecy_grrl

Sammy - What's a forever home fund? Just catching up on this thread and sneaking out of lurkdom as I'm intrigued by that in your sig x

Charis

Kimitatsu wrote: »

I find this astounding! I volunteer for two charities and neither of them ask for anything - in fact they pay my travel expenses and provide free tea and coffee!! I can only assume that they are trying to charge for the cost of the CRB and/or insurance but as volunteers the CRB checks are free so they need to go back to their accountant and think again.

I agree with you absolutely. I used to place volunteers and had to brush up on what is and is not acceptable. A charity should neither pay volunteers (can run into difficulties with the minimum pay legislation) nor should a volunteer be out of pocket for giving their services. HMRC allow the repayment of fares and/or a small allowance for mileage and they allow the volunteer to have tea and coffee. Even biscuits were debated for a while, as 'perks' can become 'wages' and are not allowed, but there are some charities that, for example offer volunteers and additional 10% off in charity shops, although strictly speaking they shouldn't.

Asking a volunteer to pay is outrageous and if that had happened to my volunteers I'd not have sent any more to that charity. Of course they are short of funds lately but this is not the way to fill the pot. If they paid the volunteer the minimum wage, they'd be even more short of funds. It gives the volunteer the message 'your time is of no real value'. These charities should be 'outed' to stop bad practice. Sad to see the Scouts being so thoughtless, and as for the furniture shop, that is nothing short of sharp practice. I wonder how many donors feel too embarrassed to complain?

RAS

oldtractor wrote: »

all the more reason to grow our own. Did you see Chelsea last week? Apparently theres only 4 days of food supply in London. if transport stopped [volcanic ash anyone?] then food would run out in under a week. SO ,grow what you can, lettuce in a window box,herbs in pots,sprouts in the front garden. Grow Grow Grow.

Which explains why the Government got into such a panic during the truck-drivers' blockade immediately after meeting the supermarket chiefs.

I understand that one fairly large city had a mere 1 day's shop supply within the boundary at the time.