Journey to happy skinflintedness

saraih

Hiya, no we don't qualify for anything beyond WTC/CTC and the lower DLA. The college and LA have pretty strict criteria for any funds, as it should be.

OH makes nearly a thousand over the local consideration for a low wage, and that costs us over £5000 a year :rotfl: we'd be way better off on benefits only but that's life. September is always a harsh month and at least we're not getting school uniform this year

saraih

Picked up another four hours cleaning. Two separate places but very near each other. Then walked back home so that I could stick my postcards in the health centre and library.

Nothing is going to happen quickly and I need to get over it. Finally being debt free doesn't doesn't magic away the effects of it straight away, there are some things that will have to happen gradually.

Some bills are monthly when they should be paid up front, but if I saved that amount every month it could happen next year (Prescriptions, Contents Insurance) but I'm not saving for that yet. Other things are taking up whole months worth of money when I should have saved for them (bus ticket, birthdays, Christmas).

A year sounds way too hopeful, I really don't see how to get that amount of cash together by then while I'm still paying big chunks to catch up.

The only real achievement is my son's savings. I know it probably isn't even sensible while we have no emergency fund to speak of but it feels good and stops me worrying so much and I've kind of clung to it in hard times and don't want to give it up :rotfl:

The bulb went in the fridge so I found one on ebay, but now there's £4.28 in the bank again. That's fine but it triggered a general malaise that this diary could probably have done without

Good - going to give myself a break and say it will take a couple of years to get over being in so much debt.

Good - I haven't been even slightly tempted to open any credit 'just in case'.

Good - the house looks nice, we have everything we need, the rent is paid and we're insured for disasters for the house and the cat. This is an amazing change from last year.

Good - I'm going to join a couple of agencies. If I tell them my hours they might be able to find me temp work at short notice. I'd only need £100 a week to get off WTC and CTC altogether and then not have to worry about declaring hours and losing anything I make. I'd have to suck up the travel costs but it would be worth it. No idea if that's a realistic amount agencies might be able to provide. I'm completely unavailable 4.30-9am and 2-5pm and 9-12pm.

We will see. Onwards and onwards

saraih

Productive morning. Set up an interview with an agency tomorrow that is based in town, so walkable. I have some interview clothes, very old but hardly worn and presentable enough. I'll do my walking in comfy shoes and change them in town.

My brother in law had a disaster so I had to let him have my new Amazon vouchers to buy his son a birthday present. Lucky I had them, because there's no money in the bank even to get a tenner out. This wasn't his fault though and it reminded me about the birthday so we're probably even

Righty-o. Time for some serious deep cleaning of the kitchen and practicing my interview skills. Now why do I want to be a manual worker for crappy wages again? [STRIKE]for the money[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]for the hours[/STRIKE] because it is my lifelong ambition to clean up after total strangers, naturally :rotfl:

saraih

The agency interview was just to explain how it all worked and talk about what sort of work I was suited to, so I explained about the hours and they didn't seem to think it would be too much of a problem. We'll see!

Made an appointment for the cat's injection and teeth check, had to stick some washing in the tumble dryer because it's raining again

We've finished all the good shopping and now I'm back to soaking kidney beans for a veg chili and rice, but everyone likes that so it's okay. There's all kinds of dry stuff in the cupboards until Saturday.

OH has yet another appointment this afternoon but we're going to use the wheelchair instead of a taxi and see how we get on. The doctors is one mile one way, the MS nurse and health centre is one mile the other way so walking could save a small fortune.

I found half a bag of blueberries in the freezer so will make muffins for the BIL's birthday boy. Have a stash of cards so that's okay. No gift but it's just the way it is this time round, sometimes I manage it and sometimes I don't.

saraih

Exam results before payday next week! I'm very tempted not to do a grocery shop and live out of the cupboards this week so there will be money left over for celebrating.

I'd have to restock on the dried and tinned goods next week but it is important to be able to celebrate the son & heir and we haven't done much together this summer.

Really hope he's got what he wanted but either way it's the end of one era and the start of a new one for him.

No money news today. Just need to get through the rest of the month and not be in the red by next Friday, then a fresh start can be had. Fingers crossed.

saraih

Went through the cupboards to see if it would be possible not to do any shopping until next Saturday. It is but I might be cooking some weird recipes by Wednesday :rotfl:

One giant pan of potato and leek soup is split up in the freezer and one of lentil and carrot is on the bubble, the bread is split up in there so I won't need to buy from the corner shop. I've chopped and frozen the remaining bits of veg and there's onions that will last at least a week longer.

The milk and cereal will have to run out when it runs out.

There's £105 in the bank and £103 of bills to come out. I've moved the shopping money out so it can be ringfenced for results day.

Spaghetti and a courgette-y, mushroomy tomato sauce for tea.

in_need_of_direction

Isn't it odd that in my house we cook leek and potato soup while you cook potato and leek.

saraih

:rotfl: I must think of it in terms of proportionally how much of what goes in... there were only two leeks left!

saraih

Poached egg for breakfast, baked fish & couscous for dinner later. No-one has noticed so far that we're on a poverty week.

Spent all morning out in the garden, mentally shopping for veg and herbs and putting them all over the place Next year, next year. In the meantime weeding definitely gives a free workout.

Hopefully son & heir will deign to join us later for some marathon film watching. If it blows the world up or has zombies we'll all be happy.

jodles16

Hello! Well done on the agency work, fingers crossed you will get plenty of suitable hours to keep you going! How did you get your potatoes growing? Looking at growing next year, makes me excited!!

Sounds like the wheelchair is a great investment, will make a huge difference to days out and the time after!

Jodles