Please help me sort out my short term situation

olivia84

sorry - i don't have many other suggestions other than what's been suggested here but - and i know this is an absolute last resort and many won't agree - would you consider not paying your mortgage until your house sells then paying the arrears off with the profits? (if there will be that much) it would help you out in the short term and your credit rating will already be affected with your other debts. i suppose the only problem is that it is joint with your dad. if your house sells and you still haven't had your council housing sorted could you move in with your parents until it has?

do your pets eat a specialised diet or like a kinda expensive brand like royal canin etc - or are they happy with tesco's own and stuff?? in saying that i feed my cats royal canin for indoor cats but it actually works out just as cheap - around £25 for a 4k bag which can last me nearly a couple of months - and pets at homoe and the like sometimes do 3 for 2 deals.

defo call virgin and i'm sure you could reducve the food budget - you seem to have did this already so well done - i'm sure things will work out.

xx

happysinglemum

Jariya wrote: »

Wooohooo!! Look at you!!

Well done!

When do we come for dinner? Hehe!

It IS quite exciting, now that I'm actually 'doing' something, instead of just worrying about it! You're welcome for dinner anytime (as long as I've included it in my meal plan !

I've bought a few things from charity shops over the past year, so will start to just go to them for the foreseeable future.

olivia - I'd prefer to continue paying my mortgage for as long as I can, but I'm not sure how much longer that will be. My parents have said we can move in with them as a temporary measure if we need to - they only have 2 bedrooms, so sharing a room with my almost teenage son wouldn't be ideal for the longer term, but is certainly a stop gap possibility.

Mum and I bulk buy food for her dog and mine online, so we always check the best deals for that. My cat eats Tescos own cat food - it's all he likes!

Thanks for all the encouragement! I'm feeling so much more positive already!

xxx

merlin68

Shopping list
Tea £1.72
Milk 3 for £3
value squash .28
value oats .75
value ketchup .22
value eggs .69
value grated cheddar 2.08
Value bacon .75
value ham .65 x 2
sugar .82
value lard .39
value corned beef 1.55
value mince 1.50
value sausages .48
value potatoes 1.95
value carrots .76
value tomatoes .78
value tinned peas .14
value diced beef 2.81
value wipes .36
toilet rolls 1.99
tesco bread flour .68
tesco yeast .64
value butter 1.19

Meals: breakfast, porridge or toast.
lunch: Leftovers or sandwiches and homemade cakes and biscuits.
Tea: corned beef loaf, shepherds pie, pasta and tomato dish, bacon pie, vegetable stew with dumplings. sausages in blankets and steak pudding.
I don't buy many fruit and veg as between mine and mothers garden, I usually have plenty.
Use any money left over for these and cleaning products. This comes to £26.83 in tesco.

MrsTUS

merlin68 wrote: »

Shopping list
Tea £1.72
Milk 3 for £3
value squash .28
value oats .75
value ketchup .22
value eggs .69
value grated cheddar 2.08
Value bacon .75
value ham .65 x 2
sugar .82
value lard .39
value corned beef 1.55
value mince 1.50
value sausages .48
value potatoes 1.95
value carrots .76
value tomatoes .78
value tinned peas .14
value diced beef 2.81
value wipes .36
toilet rolls 1.99
tesco bread flour .68
tesco yeast .64
value butter 1.19

Meals: breakfast, porridge or toast.
lunch: Leftovers or sandwiches and homemade cakes and biscuits.
Tea: corned beef loaf, shepherds pie, pasta and tomato dish, bacon pie, vegetable stew with dumplings. sausages in blankets and steak pudding.
I don't buy many fruit and veg as between mine and mothers garden, I usually have plenty.
Use any money left over for these and cleaning products. This comes to £26.83 in tesco.

That's a great list Merlin68, however, the only thing I would urge anyone to do is consider using something other than lard in ANY recipe - it's one of the worst types of fat you can add to your diet and there are many healthier and equally as cheap alternatives you can use such as an oil or margerine... Some of the meals on https://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk use lard in meals such as making a roux for sauces etc. It's very heavy and very bad for you... I would NOT willingly feed this to my children unless I literally had no other options... We manage to feed a family of 5 on £220 per month including everything from bleach to nappies for the babies.

merlin68

Believe it or not lard is healthier than veg oil and cheaper. Look it up.

MrsTUS

merlin68 wrote: »

Believe it or not lard is healthier than veg oil and cheaper. Look it up.

Thanks, but we use sunflower oil - though which is technically a vegetable oil since it's derived from sunflower seeds, but these are the stats per 100g:

Sunflower Oil
Total Fat 100g
Saturated Fat 11g
Monounsaturated Fat 20g
Polyunsaturated Fat 69g

Vegetable Oil
Total Fat 71g
Saturated Fat 23g
Monounsaturated Fat 8g
Polyunsaturated Fat 37g

Lard
Total Fat 100g
Saturated Fat 39g
Monounsaturated Fat 45g
Polyunsaturated Fat 11g

Lard may be marginally better in terms of monounsaturated fats, however, I feel it's cancelled out by the ratio of saturated fat it contains and the low polyunsaturated fats.

Sunflower oil FTW

phoenix2b

Hi-here are a few suggestions-as I am not sure where you live , so they may not be suitable-but every little helps-
can you take in a lodger/student/overseas student?
can you invent or actually do something under the self employed banner?-that way for 10 hrs work-that may or may not produce an income-you would be entitled to claim Working Tax credit-
or if your JSA is contribution based-rather then income based- you will lose 1/6 of the JSA for every day you work-so better to do 1 day, so long as you do not earn more then the JSA in that week-they will pay you 5/6.
If on JSA income based- you keep £25-then lose the rest.
Can you babysit?
Can you offer online tution?
Are there elderly people near you-where you can offer to do their shopping for a fee? or collect several shopping orders, get them delivered to your house for 1 deliver charge and then take them to the neighbours-assuming you have internet & they dont?
Could you become an Avon rep?
Could you offer dog walking, garden cleaning, car washing , house cleaning, elderly person care/companionship?
Do you have anything you could sell on either Ebay or Gumtree?
You mentioned you have a teen-could they get a Saturday job?
Does he/she see the father-if so, see if the teen's expenses could be met-absent father often dont like giving the wife money-but you must ask for maintenance and tell him, if you go through the system he will get Scre**ed big time, as a Court would expect him to cover your mortgage for the sake of the child-regardless of who owns the property.
wishing you all the best from a single parent thats made it!

mel12

Would you be better off setting up as a private tutor (alongside the newsagents job), and claiming tax credits rather than JSA?

You can earn considerably more before they start reducing your tax credits amount than you can with Jobseekers, so you might well be better off even if you don't find many (any?) customers at first

(and as a self-employed person you can count time spent promoting your tutoring business, preparing lessons etc etc towards your working hours as well as time actually sat with a student)

Logie143

HSM, what is it you teach?

As a few people have said, private tutoring is a great idea. Get yourself out there- make some posters up, go to newsagents, all that sort of thing. should be a nice steady stream of income.

happysinglemum

Thanks guys, I'm a primary teacher, but I'm researching tutoring now too!

My DS is almost a teen and has a paper round already lined up for as soon as he hits 13, bless him! (All done off his own back too, cos he wants to help - proud Mum alert! :T). Obviously, I won't actually be taking his pay from him, but he'll feel he's helping by being able to buy his own comics, sweets, etc.

Ds's father became unemployed when I said if he didn't start paying I'd go to CSA. I've contacted CSA anyway, but it's a long process... I've never heard of an ex husband covering the ex-wife's mortgage for the sake of the kids before... ?

Thanks again everyone! It's really boosted me, getting so much encouragement and new ideas from you all!

xxx