Onwards and upwards....

Coxy11

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking on here for quite a while and have decided to start my own diary as life has changed significantly for us over the last few months.

I am 42, married with three children, 12, 10 and 7. I last had a 'proper' job in 2001 - banking - but gave it all up to be a SAHM. Since then I've worked part-time, mainly weekends, at a variety of different jobs (checkout chick, bakery assistant) to name but a few. My husband has always had a very good, steady salary, which has meant whatever extra money I bought home was used for treats etc. I am not currently working.

In September, my husband left his job due to harrassment and bullying. He literally had had enough and was suffering with his health. I totally support his decision, and stand by what he has done. He gets paid for the final time this coming Friday (had to give 3 months notice) and after that we are going to be into our overdraft. The light at the end of the tunnel is that he is taking the company through a grievance process which may, hopefully, result in a payout, which will see us through until he gets another job.

In the meantime, I have applied for two office-based, full time jobs which I am waiting to hear from. DH is signing on tomorrow and will hopefully be able to start job-hunting in the new year as he has been unable to do so being still under contract with his old job.

Our biggest debt is our mortgage - currently £290k (yes I know....) but other than that we have a cc that we pay back each month (mainly used for food and petrol as it gives us cashback) and no other loans. Our Barclays o/d is due to paying legal fees due to the grievance process.

We have no savings as we extended our house this year (hence the large mortgage) and had only just finished paying the builders etc. when OH left his job. I reiterate tho', he was having very dark thoughts due to the stress, and I would rather have an unemployed DH than no DH iyswim.

So there you have it. Not so much of a DF diary, but one where I can dump my thoughts and track our journey.

Lula-Hula

Welcome Coxy11,

no job is worth having 'dark' thoughts over; no job in the world, so well done your OH for realising that, & lucky him for having such a caring & supportive you, with such teamwork you have a great foundation to start your journey.

Wishing you lots of luck & I'll be popping by to see how you're getting on

Lula
xx

Coxy11

Thank you Lula-Hula for your kind words.

DH has gone to the job centre today to sign-on, or at least find out what he needs to do to get his stamp paid. We have never claimed benefit before, only Child Benefit, so I have to say we are totally clueless about whether we are entitled to anything, being as he resigned, rather than got made redundant.

Going to call the child tax credit helpline today to see whether we are entitled to anything (our payments stopped years ago when DH's wages went up).

I popped to 'fat club' this morning, 2lbs on, which isn't bad considering it's Christmas.

Going to join the grocery challenge for January to keep a rein on our spending. Usually spend £600 on food for the 5 of us, which includes milkman, school dinners etc. Younger 2 children would like to be packed lunch this term, which is fine, except that I will have to buy snacky bits, which I may well end up eating

Will update again, once DH has returned.

Coxy11

So......DH has some forms to fill in and has to go back to the job centre next Thursday. They are going to assess his claim which will take about two weeks.

Phoned HMRC helpline re: Child Tax Credit and we are not eligible for anything as DH has earned too much from April 2011 to date.

Final payslip arrived today and included some holiday pay, so we are a little better off for January than we thought

Have signed up to the grocery challenge to keep a rein on our spending. Have cancelled the milkman. Also going to ring Sky to see whether we can reduce our monthly outlay. Thinking of going down the freesat route - does anyone out there have any advice on this?

Coxy11

Not much to report on the JSA front. Still getting various forms to fill in with details needed, despite taking a load of paperwork to the appointment :mad:. Don't know how others get their benefits so easily, it makes my blood boil.

January GC going great guns. Have also joined the flylady thread this week to give myself another challenge. Sick of having a blitz every so often. Think it's better to stick to little and often with the housework, particularly as there are now two of us at home

Have applied for a job, part time, school term time. Will be dropping the application off tomorrow by hand. Fingers-crossed I get an interview at least.....

Onwards.........!