Any advice please?

[Deleted User]

Also if you get a chance look at Butterfly Brains thread on here of 'Feed a family of Four on £20.00 a week' well worth a look for her recipes are truly inspirational in making food streeetch :):)

Living_proof

Sorry to hear this Emma, but you will get through it and come out the other side the stronger for it. I think other than all the good advice already given is that it's really important to change your mindset, realise that this is a real challenge but make it your challenge, where you set the rules and be the judge of how things are going. Be realistic and whilst there are some things you don't want to give up, and some changes which will be difficult, you need the weeks ahead to be achievable. Small changes all add up and make a real difference to your budget and it's better to cut right back and gradually add things back in rather than be continually cutting back and feeling you are going without. Hopefully this episode will be a blip but unfortunately these days it could happen again and again during our long working lives. If you manage the situation well you will feel in control and not a victim of circumstances. I hope the sun comes out for you soon.

emmad5689

Thank you for all your tips, we do feel quite bright on the whole as he really needed to be out of there anyway but it still needs some planning to get sorted. He signed up to job centre this morning and he will get one weeks money 2 weeks today and then he will be paid fortnightly so at least I know what's happening with that. he has sat for hours today submitting CV's for jobs so fingers crossed.


tax credits said when I rang that it could take 4 weeks to sort out and that I would get a final notice of this award and then a new notice of the new award, I have today received a copy of our old award so I am hoping the new award and payments won't be too far behind.


At the weekend I am selling at a craft fair so I am hoping that it goes well but there are also some competitions for hand made items which are 50p entry but you can win between £3 to £10 in each category so I have entered 6 and I have helped the girls to make some entries for things too as there entry is free too so they might be able to win some vouchers. last year there wasn't a lot of entries in some of the categories so I am hoping this year is the same.


I know I really do need to meal plan as I keep having to nip to the shops but tonight after baking entries for the competition I was tired and couldn't be bother but instead of reaching for the take away menu I had prepared hot pot earlier in the day for hubby and I grabbed a sandwich so feeling pretty proud of myself.

bugsy1975

.Take In a foreign exchange student .

YORKSHIRELASS

bugsy1975 wrote: »

.Take In a foreign exchange student .

Might be a good idea for some, but I suspect that with a daughter with mental health problems having a stranger in the house is not going to work.

I agree with everyone else, being organised and planning carefully is the key. Stay away from any shops unless you are going with a list of things that you actually need.

Make sure you are recording what you spend and keeping a very close eye on your finances so you know exactly where you are.

Tax credits are usually pretty quick and you might find a payment in your account fairly soon.

I hope it all works out for you.

Pollycat

emmad5689 wrote: »

I know I really do need to meal plan as I keep having to nip to the shops but tonight after baking entries for the competition I was tired and couldn't be bother but instead of reaching for the take away menu I had prepared hot pot earlier in the day for hubby and I grabbed a sandwich so feeling pretty proud of myself.

Don't knock yourself out, love, you've had a lot on over the last week and tbh, you seem to have managed to get a fair amount of things organised as it is.
Knowing that meal-planning is what you need to do is half of the battle.

If your OH has half as much get-up-and-go as you seem to have, he'll waltz into another job.

Good luck with the Craft Fair.

emmad5689

Thanks guys, no foreign exchange student wouldn't work for us but thanks for the idea. Hubby is currently signing up to another agency as we speak and they said they have loads of work. Job centre have text saying his claim is sorted so if he doesn't get any work then his payments will go in as expected, we got an extra tax credits payment so I presume it will be the new payments from next week.

I went to the shop this morning for fresh bits and managed to pick up a couple of things with cash back on them even a treat of a pack of chocolate fingers for 85p where I will get £1 back so even better.

Hubby has sat for hours applying for jobs today so fingers crossed for that.

Thanks for listening all it really helps to be able to see what I am managing to do and being pleased for that rather than worrying what I haven't done x

mama_bear_3-2

I've recently found myself in a similar situation and when we looked at our budget, we found that we were overspending loads on our food shop. So now I do a meal plan and cost out my meals individually and it has helped us save a fortune. Also, check out aldi super 6 and plan meals around them.

emmad5689

Thanks I have started using Aldi more and getting the family to try their things instead of branded, a lot of things have gone down well thankfully x