Thursday 23rd July - What small debt free wannabee things will you do today?

twiggy86

FatVonD - I've never been asked about the payment method. Just simply handed the receipt and my clubcard over! Spoke to my mum at lunch - she wombled a receipt with 39 unclaimed points on that she's saving for me, plus an Asda receipt with £6.67 price match voucher!

allydowd

Afternoon DFW-Devotees,

Trying to tie up lots of odds and ends today and make some decisions:

Nillionaire Month Two:

:grinheart Cleaned and audited the detergent cupboard. Why do we have two tins of lighter fuel? We don't have anything that uses lighter fuel?! All we need to buy is fabric conditioner.


:grinheart Do Royal Mail Surveys. These are in fact, not surveys, but posting and receiving envelopes and/or recording how many pieces of junk mail you receive. If anyone lives near a post box and can spare 20 mins a week I would recommend doing these. They reward in postage stamps and High Street vouchers and they also send you sellotape and more blank labels and rubber bands than you need and the occasional piece of chocolate (?!) or magazine. And you get your first lots of stamps when you get your welcome pack. Thereafter you are automatically rewarded every few weeks with stamps and/or vouchers. Also you receive padded envelopes from other survey do-ers which you can then place a spare blank label on and re-use yourself if you sell things on eBay and you could always use the stamps they send you to post your eBay sellings or eBay the stamps to turn them into cash.


:grinheart Picked roses from the garden for indoors. Free flowers.


:grinheart Re-heat coffee I left to get cold.


:grinheart De-cluttered my keyring. There's so much junk on it it's damaging my pockets. However I'm keeping the spare split rings as I often need these for DIY projects. Wonder if Steptoe and Son would like to buy all the scrap metal I just took off it? ROFL.


:grinheart Cleaned and audited the freezer. We have lots of food including a lot of meat! Made lentil soup for lunch today and tomorrow from derelict veggies and scraps in the freezer. Whenever we have a 'leftover' we freeze it, even if it is only one sausage or half a chopped onion, then at a later date we use up these things for 'free' meals. I even chopped up some frozen celery and put it in the soup, OH hates celery, but won't notice it if I pulverise it!


:grinheart Get money off bread at Sainsbury's through Quidco ClickSnap. (Link)


:grinheart Print 25p off Tesco ice-cream voucher. (Link)


:grinheart Signed up for Shopitize App so we can get money back on next week's milk.


:grinheart Used Parcel2go.com to find out which company could deliver my parcel cheapest.


And this is just the tip of the iceberg of what we'd like to achieve today. I need to keep busy so I sleep tonight. Be back later...

...and here I am!

:grinheart Cleaned and audited the medicines drawer. Found 100 paracetamol and 200ml of moisturiser we'd forgotten about at the back and we have enough medicines to last us a couple of months and to cover most wee emergencies.


:grinheart Emptied my work bag of anything usable and stored it away.


:grinheart Made a small banana and apple cake using a brown banana and a few apple pieces from the freezer. Sugar was a couple of sachets wombled from the pub last week when we went in for a coffee. Only used a third of the recommended sugar for the sake of OH's health.


:grinheart Made free spearmint tea with leaves from the garden.


:grinheart Did iSay surveys.


:grinheart Found a small packet of tissues I'd forgotten I had.


:grinheart Cleared emails.


:grinheart Renewed our EHIC cards online for free. (Link)


:grinheart Ensured I have all my recent payslips and have checked how much money my former employer owes me and worked out when this will be paid. Still owed for about 120 hours.


Good luck with your Devotions, Devotees.

foxgloves

Ally - I freeze loads of little odds & ends too, as I can't bear food waste. I have an ice cream container for breadcrumbs, another for odds & ends of veg to go in things like slow cooker stews & often a freezer bag of bits for stock-making too. Two chicken carcasses in one slow cooker stock makes it much more concentrated so you need less of it & you've only used the slow cooker once. I'll freeze oddments of wine (on the rare occasions I can't finish a 2nd glass) to put in stews or onion gravy & I'm obsessive about slicing the tops off peppers & chopping into little pots & freezing for pizza-toppings, before using the rest of the pepper for its intended purpose. When I've cooked a ham hock in the slow cooker, I freeze the jellied ham stock in small pots for adding to lentil soups, & I often have little containers of lemon or lime juice in there rescued when the fruit has started to develop the first stages of mankyness. Actually, I often think I'm slacking, but that's quite hardcore, isn't it? Think I'll put the kettle on & smugly treat myself to a cup of tea. I won't re-use the bag, but I will add it to the worm composter unit so will still eventually get something free out of it.
You sound as though you are doing well with planning for the next couple of months. When the going gets tough, the tough PLAN!
f x

determined_new_ms

I posted a thread over on the benefits board but not getting any response... What do you guys think?

I lost my job a month ago and applied for JSA while looking for work. Went to 2 appts with the adviser. Then I received a letter saying I wasn't entitled to (contributions based) JSA as I hadn't paid enough NI.

This was confusing in itself as I was earning decent wages over the last few years, but I did have 5 weeks between jobs in 2013.

I emailed the adviser for advice over this, and called but didn't get a response. My mother literally died on the day I was dismissed (didn't pass my probation and was called unexpectedly to a meeting to be told to leave) so I really haven't had the energy to follow it up and decided I would just cope until I got another job.

Then today I have received a letter and a payment into my bank saying they are closing my claim.

So now I don't know what to do? The implication is either I am entitled to JSA and haven't gone to appts (and therefore would probably be sanctioned?) or they have paid me by mistake and if so I can ill afford to pay it back.

I'm not sure what to do?"

foxgloves

DNMS - This sounds really odd to me. Wonder if Ally has any ideas, I know she's had some interesting times with the Job Centre in the past. My own feeling is that demoralising, depressing & timewasting though it is, especially when you don't get a response (poor customer service in itself), it may make sense to phone them or even to try & go in to see someone, because if they decide you shouldn't have had the money, then paying it back when you are having to be so careful with pennies, will be difficult. Either way, they have screwed up here. They have either told you wrongly that you are not entitled to JSA, then paid it to you & blacklisted you or sanctioned or whatever it's called these days because you haven't turned up to sign on (why would you when they said you weren't entitled?) or you really aren't entitled & someone has made a mistake in paying you the money. Either way, I can't see that you have done anything wrong. Added to that the occasions you have tried to contact the advisor & had no response. As utterly dispiriting as it would be, especially with you having had such a difficult time lately, do you think it might be worth trying to go & see an advisor face to face? These agencies do seem to have a track record of announcing they've overpaid & wanting their money back. I do feel for you, it's just another piece of crap.
f x

Bobarella

Hi All

Back again.

Dawn - Amazing weight loss. 2 stone is incredible. Im surprised you have any more to lose running after DgD! How fab to find £20 you didnt know about either. Love those sorts of situation.

Determined -Good luck with your interview prep for Monday. I claimed JSA when I was made redundant in Jan 2011. They let me have a period to find the sort of work I'd been made redundant from. That was 10 weeks. As its not an area they have any idea about they sort of left me alone to job hunt. Although as I was setting up my business at the time I wasnt job hunting in reality. But I've paid into the system for 10 years plus so why not. However, one of my full timers from the cafe had the same answer as you when she tried to claim, and she'd worked full time for me, and before that for another cafe for several years were she'd have been paying NI so it seems odd that this is becoming a common rebuff. Keep going, they are a nightmare.

Kayannie - Glad your bike repair was not expensive, & how lovely to find wild cherries.

Twiggy - How is your foot now?

Ziggy - nice one on selling the free anyway Telly! Thats a great side line

Foxgloves - I hate food waste too and freeze anything that I can, whether here or at work. Thanks for the good wishes too re insurer.

FVD - I've never been asked anything when adding wombles on. Most CS staff do not care! Really hope your son gets the Mr S position. Fingers crossed. Boo missing out on a £5er though.

Maria - Well done on your restraint Its been so long since we had a holiday I've sort of gone past it. Maybe one day

Ally - Wow to your list, you are on fire today!


So today was a weird one for me. Quite a few customers, but literally everyone just buying 1 coffee. It was like they'd all got together to decide today would be 1 coffee day. I did have my lovely old 92 year old customer come in the afternoon for tea and cake though, bless her shes a real sweetie. And she insisted on leaving a 55p tip for my little boy to have a treat. Hope tommorow will be better. The rest of the week has been pretty solid.

Off for a soak.

Bob

allydowd

determined_new_ms wrote: »

I lost my job a month ago and applied for JSA while looking for work. Went to 2 appts with the adviser. Then I received a letter saying I wasn't entitled to (contributions based) JSA as I hadn't paid enough NI.

Hi DNM,

If you can't get contributions-based JSA you'll get income-based JSA instead, my friend. Fret not. Sometimes you'll get a couple of weeks of one type of JSA and then be paid the other type going forward.

If you are being sanctioned the letter would clearly state this. I therefore think you are not being sanctioned. I think this is about your Class 1 NI contributions.

So what type of JSA should you get?


*You will usually get Income-Based JSA if you were paid less than £153 per week on average when you were employed over the last 2 years.

*"You usually get contribution-based JSA if you’ve paid enough Class 1 National Insurance contributions (NICs) in the 2 tax years before the benefit year you’re claiming in. A benefit year runs from the first Sunday in January to the Saturday before the first Sunday in January of the next year.
That means you must have:

• worked for 26 weeks in one of these years earning at least the lower earnings limit for that tax year and
• paid class 1 contributions or received National Insurance credits in both of those tax years that amount to 50 times the lower earnings limit. The limit is about £110." (From www.gov.uk)

This is what I would do. This is just my personal opinion; you may disagree! My training in benefits advice is years out of date, but from what I've looked up on the government website this seems about right.

(1) Run this calculator. It will tell you if you can get Contributions-Based or Income-Based JSA. (Link) This will take ten minutes.

(2) Run this calculator for a second opinion! (Link) This will take ten minutes.

(3) Now you should check your "National Insurance Contributions record". You can do this online or by phone. Here's the details of how to do it. (Link)

(4) Now you have your ammunition! Call the number on the top of your letter and give them the details of your National Insurance Contributions record. Tell them to re-consider your claim for Contributions-Based JSA. At the same time ask them to put in an application for Income-Based JSA so that you have applied for this in the event of not being eligible for Contributions-Based JSA.

One thing to bear in mind is that the amount of money you get on these two different JSA benefits is the same. (Link)

If you're need support to fix this contact Citizens Advice (Link) or similar in your area.

Hope this helps.

allydowd

foxgloves wrote: »

You sound as though you are doing well with planning for the next couple of months. When the going gets tough, the tough PLAN!
f x

Thanks for the praise. I needed that compliment.

That is so true about planning. My OH is qualified as a stress management coach and says that planning is the key to surviving every problem known to humankind.

"Fail to plan and you plan to fail."

allydowd

Bobarella wrote: »

Ally - Wow to your list, you are on fire today!

I have to do something with all the surplus adrenalin this charade has generated. :rotfl:

determined_new_ms

allydowd wrote: »

Hi DNM,

If you can't get contributions-based JSA you'll get income-based JSA instead, my friend. Fret not. Sometimes you'll get a couple of weeks of one type of JSA and then be paid the other type going forward.

If you are being sanctioned the letter would clearly state this. I therefore think you are not being sanctioned. I think this is about your Class 1 NI contributions.

So what type of JSA should you get?


*You will usually get Income-Based JSA if you were paid less than £153 per week on average when you were employed over the last 2 years.

*"You usually get contribution-based JSA if you’ve paid enough Class 1 National Insurance contributions (NICs) in the 2 tax years before the benefit year you’re claiming in. A benefit year runs from the first Sunday in January to the Saturday before the first Sunday in January of the next year.
That means you must have:

• worked for 26 weeks in one of these years earning at least the lower earnings limit for that tax year and
• paid class 1 contributions or received National Insurance credits in both of those tax years that amount to 50 times the lower earnings limit. The limit is about £110." (From www.gov.uk)

This is what I would do. This is just my personal opinion; you may disagree! My training in benefits advice is years out of date, but from what I've looked up on the government website this seems about right.

(1) Run this calculator. It will tell you if you can get Contributions-Based or Income-Based JSA. (Link) This will take ten minutes.

(2) Run this calculator for a second opinion! (Link) This will take ten minutes.

(3) Now you should check your "National Insurance Contributions record". You can do this online or by phone. Here's the details of how to do it. (Link)

(4) Now you have your ammunition! Call the number on the top of your letter and give them the details of your National Insurance Contributions record. Tell them to re-consider your claim for Contributions-Based JSA. At the same time ask them to put in an application for Income-Based JSA so that you have applied for this in the event of not being eligible for Contributions-Based JSA.

One thing to bear in mind is that the amount of money you get on these two different JSA benefits is the same. (Link)

If you're need support to fix this contact Citizens Advice (Link) or similar in your area.

Hope this helps.

Thanks ally! Seems really confusing! Will try to look at it tomorrow x