About to be struggling really badly

Barbeduk

If you're in the South West your bill is probably right. Mine's £72 a month for a family of 4 and I am constantly yelling at everyone not to let the water run!

sistafromanothermista

Barbeduk wrote: »

If you're in the South West your bill is probably right. Mine's £72 a month for a family of 4 and I am constantly yelling at everyone not to let the water run!

Same here and me too :rotfl: in fact a few days ago when one of them left the tap running ALL DAY!!:wall:

Johnhowell

room512 wrote: »

If you're not on a water meter then as far as I'm aware then you pay a fixed cost regardless of how much water you use. We can't switch to a meter as we rent and the landlord doesn't want us to have a meter.

May be post this in the House Buying/renting forum. I am sure having a meter is actually to the benefit of the tenant as well as the Landlord. I can not see any additional problem to the LL. Actually, I can see a benefit is when T leaves the water is dealt with exactly the same as gas and electric.
It may be against some Water/House act law to obstruct you having a meter.
Reading the OFT guidelines on LL/T agreements it could be said that the LL must not "unrealistically" refuse T requests.
Good luck,
John

chevalier

Even if the debt is in your name, surely he has benefitted from what the debt was spent on, food, things for the house etc. So surely he would WANT to help out.

I find it very sad that a family can have children together and yet find financial matters so difficult to talk about.

I wish you the very best on your financial journey, but I do think you are going to have to really lay your finances down in black and white to him. Otherwise he can unthinkingly increase your stress levels, by buying things that YOUR FAMILY UNIT can't now afford
chev

bogusdruid

I agree with you that it's sad, but I'm treading a fine line here. He's been extremely supportive during my illness, and the aftermath, which is still happening. He's also been very supportive about the fact that my job has gone. It's more my fault that I feel I can't burden him further - we've had a really crap year in terms of stress and health issues, and it's got to both of us. Part of the problem is that we need some time to sit down without the pressures of work, house or the kids - a luxury that we haven't actually had for 12 months. In my eyes, this might just be the final straw - it certainly feels like it to me. I wasn't expecting to be in the position that I am, and what makes me angry is that it's all avoidable - the debt, the illness which nearly killed me, the crap at work that meant leaving was the only answer to keep me and my family together. Given the time again, saving money that we were gifted instead of making a nicer home, not requesting an operation.

There's a lot we're not talking about at the moment, and it's not just money unfortunately. I don't think it's making us weaker as a group, it's just that there's too much to be said from both sides when we haven't got the time to deal with the aftermath adequately.

I'm going to sit down in the next week with a revised statement of affairs for us to both fill in, and start the talking. Wish me luck

bogusdruid

Well, things have got more settled here. I have had several job interviews and they have all been positive - now to convince someone that paying for experience is a good thing. Another interview on Thursday coming up and another three applications in the pipeline.

Apparently I should be getting my payout any day soon, so that'll make life easier in the short term, and I'm hopeful about a temporary job. My parents gifted us some money to finish off work in the house (there were conditions as to what it should be spent on, so we have to stick to that)

I've taken more control of the shopping and am pleasantly surprised that aldi seems to more than meet our needs for food - perhaps the kids being fussy about brands has been in my head more than anything else. We now are shopping off a list and are throwing away less food as we have a sort of meal plan going - it's still a little ad hoc but it's a start.

Managed to bring the household fuel bill down by £20 per month, so that helps. Cats insurance has been reduced by £7 a month. Can't seem to do much about the water bill without it being paid twice a year, and personally I'd prefer not to have a bill that can easily be forgotten!

I am still doing things a little bit at a time, I haven't disappeared totally. it's taking some time to break some habits - buying clothes has stopped but the desire to spend is still there. Mind you, feeling rather chuffed today - needed new underwear and saved £51 on three bras, so impressed with myself. Also haven't used my next account for a month or bought the new pjs that I saw while having to replace some of the kids clothes. Saved £12 on curtains for my little boys room by making some out of two half price duvets - will be using the rest of the fabric to make a shirt for him and a blouse for my little girl. I'm also making my husband more aware of money that we spend together, which is a good thing

afoolandhermoney

Congratulations on your progress so far. Re: water bill being twice a year and easily forgotten, you might want to try "piggy banking" where you save a set amount each month for these sorts of bills (take last years bill and divide by 12 to start with and put it in an easy access account at the start of each month). I've been doing this with the water bill for 5 years now and it takes the stress out of it for me, I know roughly how much the bill will be each time - we're on a meter and our usage doesn't change much - and that the money is there to cover it.

asparagus1968

ah,you sound a lot happier,and positive.
hope your payout comes soon,and you and OH become closer.
sounds like you had your share of bad stuff!
but good stuff too-2 lovely kids,new house extension,chance to re-asses your life.
good luck to you

bogusdruid

At last, some positives. I have a temporary job from September to Christmas (I'm a teacher, so that works), an interview lined up for next week for a permanent position in a post 16 college (although they may want a september start, and I've already accepted the other post). I received my payout from my job - not huge amounts, but enough to get us through the summer and beyond if we are careful.

Still not used my next card (for those that know me, this is a huge leap forward), and will be looking to pay this off first - I know it's not the biggest debt, but it is the one that spirals out of control when feeling stressed. We've all managed on clothes that are either from cheaper shops or that have been made at home.

Some of my money saving ideas haven't really helped - changing to a cheaper brand of washing powder has aggravated my son's excema so we have changed back; changing to a slightly more expensive washing up liquid as none of us can stand the smell of the cheaper variety. But, the cheap beans stay, the cheap cearel, the cheap ham (in fact, the kids complained about some of the more expensive stuff when we ran out the other day!)

savageHK

:T well done and glad things are looking up.

bogusdruid wrote: »

changing to a cheaper brand of washing powder has aggravated my son's excema so we have changed back;

Have you looked at SoapNuts? They are mild and shouldn't trigger eczema, and you can use them over and over. The initial cost seems quite high but it's possible they are cheaper per wash. I have some but haven't worked out the cost saving unfortunately.