Scuba's Second try - Sink or Swim!

scubaangel

Just had a fairly big transaction go to payable on topcashback so have requested payment in to my bank account of just under £17, not alot in the big scheme but it as always helps. Means I have just under £200 in my miscellaneous bank account at the moment, which means only another £100 so I know the total rent is covered next month without my needing to dip in to my 'car savings' esp as my car insurance is due towards the end of July, but once I've paid that (and quotes I've found are coming in at around £300 again) whats left in that account will be funneled in to rent and bills.

I have what seems to be a small mountain of paperwork to take with me to the council tomorrow, so hopefully I can get my claim under way - a sticking point might be that the ex's name is still on the tenancy agreement but I've contacted the L.A to find out what I need to do to get him off it, suspect I'll end up signing a new one but hopefully retain the current end date.

Giving some serious thought to what I ought to do next, partly prompted by having seen a job advert which would be fabulous for me and back up north again. The salary is roughly double what I'm on now, the area is massively cheaper to live in, and its less than an hour from my family might take myself to the library while I'm in town tomorrow and see if I can fiddle with my CV and write a decent cover letter while I think about if I should apply or not.

In the meantime this is a reminder - post the OU WIKI data before tomorrow night......

scubaangel

Right since I'm pretty bored and starting to think I need to do a proper SOA here is the current version. There are somethings missing like the water rates as I really really dont feel like moving off the sofa right now and some are guesstimates while others I've left totally blank like groceries as I tend to buy what I need with whatever cash I have on me.

The salary is a fairly rough guess too - I cannot recall the last time I only worked my contracted hours which would give me a significantly lower pay but I reckon on average £900 is about right.

Things like the CT is at the full rate paid over 10 months, and I need to dig up the paperwork for the gas and electric to check but am sure we put it on a 12 month fixed payment of £100 when we moved in - but will take meter readings and try to get an up to date view of how that stands.

I've also not added the credit card since given the deficit already I decided it would depress me too much - and for now I needed to know the absolute essentials so I'm prepared.

Once I apply for my next OU course I should have that mostly funded too, and if I remember right from last time I looked in to it there is a chance I'll qualify for a grant towards my 'computing costs' aka internet access since I don't need to buy a computer or computing equipment.

I have also just been reminded that I'm meant to be going north a week on sunday, no chance I can get the time off so will have to go during the week which actually is quite a good thing as if I can take the monday off work I can get the techy person to come and install my internet/tv/phone stuff then head north where I can pick up my teeny tiny tv from Dad's house so I don't have to go buy a new one just yet -I think its a mere 19" flat screen so will look titchy after the 32" that used to be in here but it will be a form of entertainment and this is a good thing.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 900
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 900

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 850
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 138
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 13.9
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 10
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 0
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 45
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1236.9


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 900
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,236.9
Available for debt repayments........... -336.9
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount short for making debt repayments. -336.9

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 0

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

scubaangel

I think I have managed to get the appropriate form submitted to the council to kick off an application for LHA. The local rate is £72 a week for shared as thats all I'd be able to claim due to my age so am hoping I'll qualify for the full rate as that would make a huge dent in the SOA deficit, as will when I get the council tax reduced to the single person rate - am quite hopeful that I'll be able to get that back dated to when he deployed too since he was meant to sort that out before he left but couldnt be bothered and 25% of £138 each month again is a nice chunk of extra cash out of the deficit.

All the mystery shops I've done over the last couple of days are fully written up too just need some of the payments to start coming back in again so I can see how much cash is in the bank accounts when it comes to rent and bills days.

scubaangel

After realising I can't get the morning off work that I was planning to get I've rearranged the installation of my tv/internet/phoneline to a date 5 days earlier than originally planned which will be good since I'm finding not being able to hammer things like SBTV for the points and opting out of graphics and video heavy surveys is massively impacting my earnings at the moment.

Tomorrow before work I have to write up this evenings mystery shop and check up on who the house's utilities are with to start getting those moved in to my sole name.

Then at some point I need to go to the bank and look at getting the cash out of the joint account after this months bills are all paid, I think I might leave that as a job for next Tuesday when I can say that all the bills coming out of it ought to be the final ones before they're moved to dd's from my account.

scubaangel

Need to make a trip to the bank tomorrow before my o/t shift as I've just recieved the cheque from globaltestmarket for my payment - its £31.45 which is a little less than the last one I got because of currency fluctuations, still it reminds me why it's worth sticking with them when I eventually get to redemption and the money comes in.

clippy_girl

hi scuba, sorry not caught up in a while and lots has changed! what did you decide to do about the job up north?

scubaangel

I'm still thinking about it, need to spend a fair while sitting and writing the application as if I do decide to go for it then I *want* it as it really could be a perfect job for me (related to diving, the natural world, decent salary and back home). But the last couple of days I've just not had time to sit and think about it, need to make sure am secure here first.

This morning I've achieved !!!!!! all really, over slept, but have at least got the ms written up, all being well that one will be paid early next month so I can get it paid off the credit card before my next statement. The CC is currently up todate as far as making sure ms payments are covered aside from last nights visit, so have moved all the 'float' money in to my temporary household bills account, once my salary is paid I ought to have enough in there to cover next month regardless of if the LHA claim comes through on time.

But I've got copies of paper work from the utility companies, but as they're all set up online it could be a challenge getting in to the accounts as the ex and I set them up together and we didnt use a common password for everything.

Next month I think I'll be visiting my Santander branch to see about opening the 123 account and the credit card for household stuff, to keep it away from my other accounts as I really do find it easier to cope when I have very specific 'pots' for all my expenses.

scubaangel

Got the cheque and a big pile of bagged coins to take with me to the bank before work this afternoon, I might see if the boss will let me swop the rest at work to save me from needing to visit the bank another 4 or 5 times thanks to their stupid limits on the number of bags you can pay in at any one time.

Knitting_Nora

Hi Sweetie

Was swinging by, and wanted to say just how awesome I think you are.

Doesn't matter how it happens, the end of a relationship is life-changing - and yours more than many. I doubt it's as easy as you make it sound, and you're really sorting everything so well....

All power to your elbow on the possible job - don't be scared to take the leap...you've been so incredibly brave already.

Nora.xx

scubaangel

You know it really has been this easy....and that utterly terrifies me, because I know it shouldn't be!

But I guess I'm so used to being in the house on my own that despite having been waiting for him to get back to make the decision it really isn't that much of a change now I have made the decision - other than the frankly petrifying sets of numbers flying around making it look almost impossible to keep living here right now, but once I hear from the council am sure it'll start looking more reasonable.

In the meantime I have to find £220 to cover referencing my dad to be a guarantor on the house and the rewrite of the tenancy agreement....I think I might just phone up on monday to see if I can negotiate that down somewhat as it seems awfully steep to just reprint and sign a document!

Have decided to go for the job, so am planning to spend the 5 hours between shifts tomorrow working on my CV and a cover letter. As I also have a night out planned I'm going to treat myself to a wash and blow dry at the hair dresser on camp since she'll do it for free if shes not busy and I don't see much point in wasting petrol driving to and from work when I can stay and at least do something productive like the job application where there are fewer distractions.

And another email just landed in my inbox, so I have another £30 in paypal to transfer in to the bank when I log in on the lappy.