Keeping up appearances.......

basketcase

HappyNow wrote: »

What a bunch
Good job I'm here, flying the flag for all that is worthy.


Get the budget back on track Spent £13.11 at Tessies on mainly healthy stuff and £3 on the office lottery (I know, I know, but what if......!)
Eat healthily According to my fitbit I ate 1722 calories yesterday (mostly healthy apart from a glass of wine and a Fry's Chocolate Cream) and burnt 1789. That'll do.
Spend seven hours in bed Managed 6 hrs 41 mins in bed, of which 27 mins were spent awake or restless. Fitbit nerdiness at its best!
Neat feet They still don't look any different. Maybe I just have naturally hideous plates. I am going to persevere. Keeping the E45 next to the bed is definitely the answer.

Show off! :rotfl:

Statistics for the past week as follows:

Update Quicken 6/7
Work on the Week's FLYzone. 3/7 But I’ve got till the 28th to catch up on this Zone…
Eat a minimum of 3 F&V per day. 4/7
Floss my teeth after lunch. (This is where that veil to draw across things would come in handy… 2/7)
Bed by 2230h Sunday to Thursday 3/5
15 NSDs 14/15

HappyNow

Just as I was logging in here for the daily update, my phone rang. It was Mr Happy, telling me the company he works for has gone into liquidation and as of 4 pm today he is officially redundant.


:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:


April REALLY REALLY REALLY has not been my month..............
(May's probably not going to be that great either)

Honey_Bear

Wow, Happy. That's horrendous news, really shocking. Very sorry to hear that. As usual, nothing I can say is going to make it better, but I couldn't read and just run without saying anything. (((Hugs))) in the hope that a hug will help.

joeyjimbles

Oh heck. Like Honey says, there is nothing I can say other than I am so very sorry.
Hugs and sincere hopes for a positive resolution.

Dolphin1

Aww, I'm really sorry, that is terrible news HappyNow. This happened to us several years ago and I still remember how much of a massive shock it was at the time.

Will he be getting all of the money he is owed? I seem to remember that my OH didn't get any salary for the last month but there was a government fund that we could claim some money from instead. I will see if I can find the details if you need them?

Also, is it possible that you can just pay token payments to your debts for the time being under the circumstances? If you are going to struggle, maybe give St3pchange or National D3btline a call for advice on how to go about this or if you just need some general advice.

Finally, can I just say that this is something that you will survive so try not to panic too much. Yes, it's a shock but hopefully Mr HappyNow won't be out of work for long and then you will be able to get back on track.

Lots of hugs from me :grouphug:.

basketcase

Oh Happy what awful news! Another blow...

As the others have said, there's not a lot we can say or do. But you know we're all rooting for you.

Do you know what the redundancy payment situation is yet? As above, the government does have a scheme in place for this sort of thing.

I hope May's better than you think it's going to be.

I'm trying to give you a dodgy hug but my phone won't let me!!

Honey_Bear

I imagine you're still reeling, Happy. Just wanted to let you know I'm sending *posi-vibes* for you, in the hope that something really unexpectedly lovely happens over the bank holiday weekend for the whole family, and that Happy Pops perks up, too.

HappyNow

Thank you all so much for the 'posi-vibes', which have come in very handy!

It seems the company he works for has limped along through the recession by borrowing money and now they can't pay it back. There's a meeting for all staff on Tuesday when they'll find out about their entitlements etc, so we'll know more then.

Through Google, we think he'll get redundancy pay of about £13750 plus wages in lieu of notice. If he can't get a job, he will be entitled to contribution-based JSA of £73 pw for six months. We're not entitled to any means-tested benefits.

If he is lucky with a job, it could all actually be a blessing in disguise - but of course he is 59 with a dodgy shoulder and an even dodgier knee! And the immediate problem is that he is due his wage on 15th May and there won't be one!! Having said that, he has managed to find work helping a friend this weekend and he will get £150 for that - if he can pick up jobs like that we will at least eat!

Thanks Dolphin for the suggestion of Stepchange/National Dbtlne/offering minimum payments, and it is reassuring to know the options are there. For now though, we will see if we can manage alone, because it's a shame to spoil our credit rating at this stage in the game! Our minimum debt payments are about £480 per month, and about £95 of this is interest. That's quite a lot, but YNAB thinks I can juuuuust do it provided nothing goes even teensy slightly wrong!

Now the shock is wearing off, I am feeling up for the challenge and ready to make this a positive life-change. He hated the job, found it physically too demanding and it was a 34 mile commute each day. Bring it on

chevalier

Sometimes a life changing event like this, can be very positive. Even if nerve wracking at the time.

I really hope that Mr HappyNow manages to get something soon. That he likes. That would be awesome.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you
chev

Honey_Bear

Thank you so much for letting us know how things are looking, Happy. It's the strangest thing - people I've never met, won't ever meet, wouldn't recognise if I passed on the street, live hundreds of miles apart - really matter to me.

I suspect there are quite a few of us who lived through the nightmare of losing our permanent job one way or another. It's always shocking at the time and makes life feel very unstable for a while. Then things start to fall into place and within a few months most people realise that, looking back on it, it was a blessing in disguise. The absolutely crucial thing is to get through financially while things are at their most chaotic, so if you've got a pile of stuff that you've been thinking about or meaning to Ebay, now's the time. It brings in a few squids, and it's something positive to do that completely banishes the helpless feeling.

I'd just like to add that - entirely thanks to you, this thread and making myself do something for the microbusiness in January as one of my goals - yesterday I despatched the biggest single order I've ever had. I'm super-excited about it because completely by accident I contacted a distritbutor who can reach markets I wouldn't have been able to. As I say, all thanks to you.