It was getting tough in 2006 and the workhouse still threatens us in 2011

elona

Grey Queen

I think the stash is "peanut butter!"

We get new kitchen appliances on Wednesday (fingers crossed) and the gas people will remove and replace the hob and oven on Thursday (again fingers crossed). We then hope to get the integral fridge freezer removed and replaced - it keeps making a loud "clunk" several times a day and scares me!!!!


So pleased I am not the only one that visualises a fancy American vehicle (even though I know it means ratty Virgo). He will be even rattier if Mardatha tells him;)

New curtains and thermal linings should be shortened and at front door by the weekend and then another set need to be shortened and placed at dining room french windows by following week.

I want to use up stuff in fridge and freezer so might be having weird meals. Tried to use up crispy pancakes I found in freezer last night (think dd might have bought them) but they were horrible :eek:

Might treat myself to a trip to York today, look at cheap bookshops, pound shop and get curtain heading tape and hand sew it to living room curtains to see if it improves the fit. If DH agrees to give me a lift to seamstress one day might get the full length living room curtains shortened so I can fold one pair behind radiator in winter.


Becky

Good luck with the job hunting.

Mrs_Chip

Re those beach pics - perhaps they crowds have just migrated south from here ?

I don't think crowded beaches are a very good indicator of population, more to do with the herding instinct most people seem to have. We visited the south coast the other year during a hot spell and the resort beaches were packed, but just a mile or so either side the beaches were practically empty (and it was not to do with access, the resorts were heaving with cars too).

I can't count the number of times I have found a nice quite place to sit on a beach, far away from the next 'taken' spot, only to have a family pitch up and sit within feet of me - on an otherwise empty beach:mad:. Why do people do that???

Do I sound like a Grumpy Old Woman? :rotfl:

GreyQueen

Becky_2 wrote: »

Morning everyone,

I am feeling a bit lost this morning. It's my first day as unemployed today and I am not used to having all this time to spare. Went for 2 job interviews last week so fingers crossed so should hear back from them early this week. Later today I will call Jobcentre Plus and apply for JSA, initially I was going to wait a while in case I find a new job in the next few weeks but thanks to your comments on this thread I have now decided to do it today. I didn't realise that it can take several weeks for JSA to start and also if I don't find a job quickly then I would have lost several weeks of JSA. Does anyone know if you get JSA does that mean you don't have to pay council tax and also can get help with the rent?

For the next two days or so I shall enjoy being off and rest and then I shall start looking for work again. Currently feeling shattered, the last few weeks has been really at work. I am also planning on popping into A*da and T*sco to see if there are any bargains, I haven't been there for several years.

By the way, have you all heard the news that the council tax will be frozen next year again. Wish they could do the same with gas and electricity! Imagine it would suddenly be so much easier to budget every month.

((Hugs)) Becky2 and I hope your jobsearch bears fruit soon.

Re getting Housing and Council Tax Benefit (standardly abbreviated to HB/CTB) these are the only benefits which come from your local authority (aka LA aka the council) rather than from DWP or HMRC.

You do have to claim them. What should happen is that as part of your interview with the JobCentre, they fill in a form and send it to your council. It is called an "LA Input Document". Your council will start your claim with this but will still require to see proofs of your bank accounts and your tenancy agreement (unless you are an LA tenant, in which case they'll access their own records).

Sometimes things can go a bit pete tong so I personally wouldn't rely on this. I'd like to suggest you call your council today and request a HB claim form (HB and CTB are claimed on the same form) and this will protect the start of your claim for them. Please do it today rather than tomorrow. You'll have a month to get it back to them.

You'll need to show proof of each and every bank account/ savings product/ premium bonds/ whatever, so you might want to start chasing these statements etc down. My LA accepts printouts of online bank accounts as "originals" for the purposes of proofs. HTH.

ETA Whoops, Ceridwen and me were cross-posting just now.

It isn't true that you get exempted from council tax for being unemployed; HB/CTB are means-tested; have more than £16k and you don't get them at all. If you are working age, you are allowed to keep £6k without losing any benefit. Between £6k and £16k, they have to assume that you are getting interest equivalent to £1 per week for every £250 (or part thereof) and will have to deduct that from your weekly entitlement.

Pensioner age peeps are treated more generously (the Gubment is scared to diss them as they are the sector of the population who do the majority of the voting). They get allowed to keep £10k capital and thereafter lose £1 per week in entitlement for every £500 (or part thereof).

If Becky2 rents privately she'll be under the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rules. If she's over 25 or in a couple, she'll be allowed to have the One Room Self Contained Rate. Under 25 and it'll be the One Room Shared (i.e. in a flatshare or houseshare) rate which is lower.

This is what they can give you, and may well not be what you are actually living in. Also, some rent charges aren't "benefit-able" which is one reason that they want your tenancy agreement (the other being to be sure that you do have a rent liablility in their area).

Your LA's website will almost certainly have the LHA rates for your area posted (they fluctuate month-on-month) so you might want to go looking for them. Probably be under A-Z, (H)- Housing Benefit- LHA or summat similar.

ceridwen

"Herding instinct" - what is this herding instinct of which you speak?:rotfl::rotfl: - obviously not programmed into the ceridwen DNA:rotfl:....errr...thank goodness...I theenk...(mine goes more like "See a crowd means Run Fast in the opposite direction").

********************************

BECKY

Sorry to hear you are unemployed and glad you took advice on here to ask for JSA immediately:D.

Council Tax is not payable by those on JSA.

Rent - well the short story is that it IS covered whilst on JSA. The longer story is that whether it will ALL be covered whilst on this benefit boils down to several different factors:

- how much the rent is (you would need to check out Local Housing Allowance level for the area you live in - as it varies from area to area as to the amount that will be). That should be on your local Council's website somewhere I would imagine.

- how old you are (I'm hoping you are 25 or over. As from the end of the year I am hoping you will be 35 or over).

- how big your accommodation is (ie whether they say your accommodation is too big for you). A single person would only be covered for a one bedroom flat or, if under 35 then, as from the end of this year, they would only be covered for a room in a shared house.

GreyQueen could tell you the "ins and outs" much better than me on this - 'tis her job to know this.

Good luck in job hunting.

EDIT: Cross-posted with Grey Queen. Told ya' she's your woman..

greent

GreyQueen wrote: »

:j Thank you, greent, I was thinking I was weird and I am glad to bow down and fold my hand on the soap bar round of Non-Food Poker (copyright Softstuff). You win!

Nualabuala I haven't bought any tinned tomatoes for about 5 months and the under-bed inventory, plus the accessible ones in my kitchen, is down to a mere 65 tins. I know; the shame of this paltry inventory, I could cringe at it. Am I still the Tomato Queen or have I been out-shopped?

Rach, I'm racking my brains as to what these jars of "pnb" in your cellar might be (and going green with envy at the mere thought of having a cellar). Whatever are you storing down there?

Morning GQ - I think pnb = peanut butter?

And in my defence re the soap: a- there are 6 of us - so you'd definitely win on a bars per person game and b- I used to make 'natural' soap (the sort selling for £3- £4/ bar at farmers markets) so had some stock and raw ingredients to process into bars when I finished. Nowadays I just do some for gifts - so Xmas'll see me doing lemongrass/ lavender/ honey and oatmeal/ cinnamon, clove & orange and sandalwood & orange


ETA: Becky = good luck on the job hunting front and I'd definitely agree with everyone saying to get any claims for monies in asap...



Just got back from school run to find my mum had left me a carrier bag full of tomatoes - mainly green but an awful lot will ripen fully in the next couple of days. She's off on hols on Weds morning for 3 weeks, so has stripped her tom plants (she goes away this time every year) and I get the benefits. Will chutney the remaining green ones come the weekend (gorgeous recipe for red and green tom chutney I made last year - loved it) She also left me 5 bananas and the remaining runner beans from her plants - I'll freeze some and the tougher ones will be g-pig fodder

Mrs_Chip

Ceredwin - Oh, me too, I am oft seem stomping off muttering profanities because someone has had the audacity to visit my favorite isolated place AT THE SAME TIME AS ME!!! The cheek of it!.

mardatha

Quite sad now that I haven't got a fancy American Recreational Vehicle
maybe I should rename him the GVG...
Cold and windy here cannot even envisage sitting outside or onna beach !
GQ I have gone a few spells without getting to a shop but canny remember how long they were exactly - it was during the last two winters. That was when I started a thread called "Really Old Style" in here somewhere cos I was asking for advice. Dono where that thread went but I got tons of pages of great advice. It was always silly things that were my downfall. Once, years ago when we still had a "Post Office" (a lean-to hovel stuck on the side of a big house) I trekked a mile down the main road that was closed with snow because I was desperate for some sweeties - and a mile back eating a Mars Bar Other times it was stuff like no salt/no cat food/no yeast. Wee things that you never think of.

Rowan9

Becky (((hugs))) to you feeling lost. It's understandable and I really hope it passes quickly for you. You've had lots of good advice from Grey Queen. Apart from the phone call, take some time to 'regroup' your thoughts. You'll soon get your energy back. Te$co has a deal of mature Cheddar which is 3 for the price of 1. I usually buy cheese from the cheese counter as you can buy it cheaper than the BOGOF deals but I think this is a good one.
I enjoy the positive side of this thread, this little family, where people help each other and give advice, hugs, healing thoughts, light candles etc. I don't enjoy the daily mail gloomy over-crowding etc. I prefer to work on what I can do for our family and usually have a positive attitude. Just my thoughts this morning:). I know everyone is different. I've also stopped reading the links and realise I may miss out on some good positive stuff but, well, I'll take the risk:).
On another note, I sooo understand the soap stash. However, I've got mine down to 3 bars!! My pasta stash is quote good, at 6 bags, but that doesn't come anyweher near you ladies:p.
Off out with dogs - I've had on a meditation CD and they are flat out and in the zone so this will wake them up:rotfl:.
Have a good day folks
W

rachbc

GreyQueen wrote: »

Rach, I'm racking my brains as to what these jars of "pnb" in your cellar might be (and going green with envy at the mere thought of having a cellar). Whatever are you storing down there?

PeaNut Butter! I love my cellar - it is maily full of pinball machines :cool: and diy stuff but I have a small allocation of one wooden shelving unit for food - large sacks of rice and bags of pasta go there along with all the hm preserves and any additional tins/ jars/ dry good bought on offer etc. We have the original stone keeping shelves too so if the power failed we could keep stuff cool for a wee while (after we'd moved all the tins of paint!). Their is a range down there too so if its real end of the world time we could live down there :rotfl:

Becky_2

Grey Queen and Ceridwen, many thanks for your helpful advice. I will definetely call the council today as well. I shall let you know how I get on.
Elona, thanks for wishing me well with the job hunting.