New Life Situation-Death of Gran.

Wonderful_Girl

My gran died on 8th Dec, so far so simple......

I had lived with her since 15th May 2009 when the recession forced me to look for a new job, happily gran was having her shoulders replaced so it suited us both and we ticked along quite happily as she got older and more frail before leaving to join grandad.

The executors of her will (Uncle/Grans son and Grans solicitor) are quite happy for me to continue living in the house until it is sold, at which point I shall find a place to rent before buying somewhere with my share of the house sale.

My uncle set up a bank account for the "estate of..." to make sure that when she died the bills would get paid, unfortunately gran took us a bit by surprise. In January uncle plans to sit down and work out how much he and I should put into the account (rough estimate £150 each).

I earn minimum wage and uncle was made redundant in November so has no income, so I was wondering if any of you had any tips to keep the cost of living manageable. I have got my TV license sorted, am cutting back on my social life, doing packed lunches, turning off lights when not in the room, etc. Happily I did enough food shopping when gran was alive to keep me supplied until I get paid in January, but prices keep going up and gran wouldn't hear of me paying rent so I only paid for my broadband, phone contract, vet plan for the cat, hp for the car and car insurance.

All help gratefully received.

getmore4less

Council tax will be the big one change to single person.

Mojisola

Wonderful_Girl wrote: »

I earn minimum wage and uncle was made redundant in November so has no income, so I was wondering if any of you had any tips to keep the cost of living manageable.

Put a post on the Old Style Board -
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=33

There's lots of people experienced at managing on very little money.

RAS

Second the Old Style forum.

Someone posted a perfectly good roast Christmas dinner with trimmings for 79p per head and then some-one pointed out an even cheaper source of chicken.

Wonderful_Girl

getmore4less wrote: »

Council tax will be the big one change to single person.

Thank you, it's a 3 bed detached house so hopefully the discount will be visible.

Wonderful_Girl

Mojisola wrote: »

Put a post on the Old Style Board -


There's lots of people experienced at managing on very little money.

Will do, looks like I will be trying to stretch £40 to feed me for the week again, I have done it before but prices were cheaper 10 years ago and sell by/best before dates meant next to nothing so I could feed myself for the week on reduced to clear food.

meer53

£40 should be more than enough to feed one person for a week ? I only spend about £50 for 2 adults and a teenager.

Mojisola

Wonderful_Girl wrote: »

Will do, looks like I will be trying to stretch £40 to feed me for the week again, I have done it before but prices were cheaper 10 years ago and sell by/best before dates meant next to nothing so I could feed myself for the week on reduced to clear food.

Spend some time browsing here -
http://agirlcalledjack.com/

McKneff

I am maybe missing something here, but why is Uncle putting £150 into the account.


You should be paying all the bills.....

ljonski

3 bedroom house- one person- sounds like a tenant required!

Tuesday_Tenor

Did Gran not have any other assets: cash in bank accounts etc?

If the only asset in the estate is the house, which is to be sold, then the utility companies are usually happy to wait until the house is sold, and then be paid all outstanding debt.

I doubt they will do this if you are continuing to live there and use the utilities on a normal basis, though, but it would be worth asking.

If you were staying longer-term, a lodger would be ideal for some extra income, but not sure how you could manage this with such an uncertain timescale. Are there any language schools near you, who require accommodation for overseas students for 4-8 weeks at a time? Or hospitals which have visiting students on placement for 4-12 weeks?