Student, pregnant, sinking and in need of help :( *update*

ABetterLife

Got paid and all the extra shifts I done while signed off from placement was well worth it :-) I got paid £773! On top of that, my boss gave me £100 cash for the baby. I put £40 of it in the hospital bag for the cab/emergencies and the rest is stashed away. I get my bursary payment on the 17th and I need to write a letter to SFE asking them to pay my last loan instalment (missed it by about a month). Just need to apply for my MA now, and some things after bubs is born.

Looking like I might survive

ABetterLife

teabody wrote: »

Wow!!! Just found your thread and I am amazed at your maturity and determination. At 31 , I indeed find trying to juggle a home, children, husband, college, and so on a real struggle. I can see you are a real fighter and your little girl is a lucky girl indeed to have a mom like you. I believe you will look back on this period in your life and be proud of what you have achieved! As everyone has said go to surestart and you will find a support network there with activities and so on for baby and you to enjoy. I found them to be really supportive.
Shame that some 'adults' are unable to give good advice where needed....those people should be ashamed. It is obvious that you are not a 'silly girl' but indeed a mature young lady who was mindful to ask for help in a place you would expect to find it. I will be watching your progress with interest....remember slowly but surely. Life is not always easy but ' failure is the failure to try' . Despite not knowing you I am proud of your efforts and the manner in which you carry yourself. Good luck x

That is so lovely of you, thank you! I really appreciate your kind words and support

xx

ABetterLife

Oh, and about to pay my gas bill now so up to date there.

Archi_Bald

LuSiVe wrote: »

(also gave up on matched betting when the sums involved began to scare me - just do regular gambling now which isn't very money saving!).

Regular gambling! You could as well burn your money.

Shame you got scared by matched betting. It is one of the most lucrative ways of making a bit of extra money.

LuSiVe wrote: »

I would steer clear of matched betting. You need to have a fair amount of available cash in order to do it properly, and a single mistake can completely wipe you out (and it doesn't always have to be your mistake). I would say it's not worth the risk in your position.

Have you considered not leaving the house? A single mistake, and you could get run over by a bus.

Of course you need to take care but it isn't hard to check things properly, and there is lots of help on the MB board.

LuSiVe

Not to derail the thread but as far as regular gambling goes, I only do it for a bit of fun, count it as a spend rather than an investment (a fiver accumulator a week aint gonna kill me), and I'm in profit over the football season anyway.

The money I was using for matched betting was my house deposit which I could not afford to make mistakes with.

All I'm saying is in ABetterLife's position - struggling already without tons of free cash, possibly tired at the end of the day, she could make a mistake (or not notice a bookie's mistake) and end up completely screwed. If she goes into it with that knowledge (and reads the mistakes threads) then that's fine, but know the consequences.

NHS_worker_bee

ABetterLife wrote: »

Looking like I might survive

I've just read your thread, your story is inspirational and you are obviously working very hard for a better future in challenging circumstances. Wishing you the best of luck with everything and I hope you can enjoy your new baby and also manage to complete your nursing course at some point so you can both have an easier future free of these money worries, you deserve it. Good luck (from a fellow nhs worker)

MoneyMakesMoney

Wow, just sat and read every post in the thread, very good read indeed.

You look to be on the right track, I don't really need to wish you good luck because you don't need it, just keep on doing what you are doing and luck will not be involved, dedication and common sense is all is needed and that is what you now have.

Well done girl.

Dazedandconfused

Brilliant you are really getting there. How long til the baby arrives?

Hope the broadband is cheap. I've just switched to talk talk as I realised it would save me £178 a year

ABetterLife

Spoke to my bank about opening an ISA today. Just waiting for their decision now..

Trying to apply for my maternity allowance. Headache! I'm still waiting for my SMP1 form and final payslip, grrr. They take 4-6 weeks to pay the MA so I need this sorted ASAP. So will be ringing work tomorrow.

Ordered my tax credits form.

Paid off gas and electric for this quarter, paid enough rent to last me until my next batch of money, T-mobile bill is paid for, Vodafone bill will be due again soon, not sure when my broadband will be due as they don't appear to have given me a date yet. Maybe it's a month from when I took out the contract? I'll have to ring them.

Currently trying to register as self employed because of the Roamler/Field Agent etc. Really annoying and confusing, as well as so much extra hassle but don't want to risk getting in trouble and fined!

Broadband was installed today, which is GREAT. Feels so much better to not be worrying about my data usage and it's nice and fast! Next step is to pay off the iPad and terminate the contract.

After my current listings are done, I think I'm done with eBay. It's so much hassle and can actually COST you money. I sold a dress for 50p + £2.50 postage. I only sold the dress for 50p because it was clean but had stains on it. Somebody bought it last week, I sent it off within my stated dispatch time and then, yesterday, I receive an email saying a case had been opened.

She opened a INR case *sigh*. Nice of her to do that without contacting me first, especially as I stated in the message that I send after my auctions end to contact me first in the case of any problems and I will try to resolve it. That being said, I know eBay's contact system is a bit dodgy whereby you can end up opening a case when all you were trying to do was contact the seller. That being said, when I accidentally opened a case I had the grace to email the seller apologising after I realised what I'd done.

Anyway, so I sold the dress for 50p. 25p fvf were taken by eBay. Then Paypal took their cut. Then postage cost me £3, but I only charged the buyer £2.50.

I've refunded her in full, but of course, I'm out of pocket now. What a fricking waste of my time. I might as well have given it away on Freecycle. I have a feeling that she bidded without looking at the item properly or reading the description, has received it, seen the stains and is regretting her purchase.

Added her to my blocked buyers list now anyway. Really hacked off! But, eh, I just have to deal with it I guess.

ABetterLife

Dazedandconfused wrote: »

Brilliant you are really getting there. How long til the baby arrives?

Hope the broadband is cheap. I've just switched to talk talk as I realised it would save me £178 a year

Thank you! She's due next Monday. Hoping she actually does put in an appearance, lol, I'm getting really impatient! Plus I'm in pain with SPD

I'm happy with the price of it, yeah. It's not cheap, cheap, but it's the only deal that doesn't foist line rental on me and it's 50mb fibre broadband.

It's £20 for the first 3 months, then £25 thereafter. 12 month contract = £285. Not bad at all! Especially when I consider that my iPhone contract is going to cost me £1,368 for the 24 months *ouch*

Who were you with before?