MeandO's money-shuffling

tryingtodobetter

Morning MeandO are you entitled to transitional protection for your UC move? Hopefully that will mean you don't lose anything for now.

MeandO

Thank you tryingtodobetter, I hadn't thought about transitional support but looked into it after reading your post and it seems I will be entitled to it so that will help.  

MeandO

DS and I spent the weekend with my lovely parents after driving to see them at the end of last week. It was so lovely to go home again, albeit for only a couple of nights. We got to see my sister too and a family friend whom I know as my 'aunty,' so it was lovely to be surrounded by friendly faces, familiar surroundings and loved ones. 😍  The decline is my Dad's health is showing now though and was quite worrying. My Mum's health is not good but we're praying that surgery helps her very soon. I am just so grateful they are both still here as they have both defied the odds thus far. 

With regards ro finances, my gifts savings pot has started to take a hit as I have bought a few Christmas presents. It's sad to see it going down but that is what it was saved for. I have ordered some more sports clothes for DS tonight as he is in need of some t-shirts. I will let him have a couple now and the remainder for Christmas. 
I also need to but him more sports boots tomorrow (a differenet type to the others we boight him a couple of weeks ago!) as his others have completely fallen apart at the toes. I have informed the ex and requested he pays half though. 

The £5 arrived in the bank from vinted today and has gone towards the t-shirts for DS. I paid using the CC as I arn points and bought them online, but have paid over half off straight away and the remainder will be paid when I transfer more funds out of the gift account.

I'm struggling to.keep my eyes open, so it's definitely my bedtime. Night all, hope everyone is having a lovely week so far xx

MeandO

I’ve paid off the credit card and also paid out nearly £82 on new sports boots and safety equipment DS needed. The ex has read my message but has ignored it, we’ll see if any money materialises from him. I have had to transfer money from an other account to pay for it. I need to pay in some cash from my purse which will go towards covering it if I do end up having to pay for it all, plus the child tax credits are paid in tomorrow. 

I made a batch of veg/past sauce for DS tonight and have frozen half of it. I haven’t eaten tonight as i’ve not been feeling too great, but DS had some pasta, sauce and meatballs I’d previously bought as a YS and froze for later use. I won’t need much shopping this week as our fridge and cupboards are relatively full so it should be a minimal spend weekend. 

I’ve managed to tackle a few small tasks this week that I’ve previously been putting off and feel much better for doing so. I’ve sorted a kitchen cupboard that was getting a bit like a bad game of Tetris every time it was opened; attached a vented cover to a hole in one of the fireplaces - mainly to stop the huge spiders from coming in if that’s where they’re coming from, caught up with the cleaning and sorted out the utility room a little bit. I feel more spurred on to tackle a few more tasks I’ve been putting off and want to tackle a big cupboard in the utility room and one in my little office, AKA the box room.

I need to list DS’s old football boots on vinted as they were hardly used but are too small, will try and get that done tomorrow. I’m sure I have a few more bits I can put on there too to hopefully bring in a few more £’s. 

Sarahwithlove

Hope you get to keep the transitional protection on UC as it all helps. Good luck with getting money out of ex. Does he pay regular maintenance or just as and when for stuff? 

MeandO

Thanks Sarahwithlove x

I've logged on this morning to find that tax credits have paid me around half of the normal payment so I'm guessing that's related to my UC application and they've not appplied the transitional protection. I logged on to my tax credits account yesterday only to get a message saying "You can't use this service' so I couldn't see if payments had been affected. I then logged onto the UC account which said i wouldn't be told anything until 6th November. It would have been nice to have had some notice that the payment would drop this month. I've rejigged the budget now to cover the shortfall. 

Sarahwithlove

UC gets paid a month in arrears as well just something to bare in mind 

tryingtodobetter

You are entitled to the transitional protection but I have heard of numerous cases where it has not been paid until they are challenged by the claimant on their journal. Please make sure you follow it up when you're able to see exactly what you're being paid.

MeandO

Thank you sarahwithlove and tryingtodobetter. I tried to phone tax credits yesterday as they've booted me off the online facility and the UC online is at stalemate until 6th November when they've made their decision, but the queue was well over 30 minutes just to get through so I gave up. I'll wait until 6th and then see what it says - I should be able to place an entry into the journal online then as you suggested tryingtodobetter, hopefully that will be the easiest way to get it sorted. I'm fortunate in that the tax credits amount wasn't make or break for me as it wasn't a huge amount, but it really did help and an extra few ££'s at the moment would've made quite a difference.

It's been a stressful morning. DS woke with stomach pains again which went on for an hour or so during which time he also had a big nosebleed again. I've chased the doctor about tests they did weeks ago due to his stomach issues only to be told I have to call after 3pm, conveniently when no-one actually answers the phone at the surgery. I'm going to change doctors, getting to speak to one is just as likely as finding rocking horse p00p.
I also had to get the car in the garage for 9.30am to check something that hasn't worked since I had it. Turns out it's a common fault and needs parts so I'll have to take it back when the parts are in. It's under warranty so there'll be no cost, it's just a bit annoying as it's something that should have been picked up before it was sold to me. I tried to work briefly from the dealership as couldn't get time off and work were good enough to let me go during work time but that proved pretty impossible with the wifi not being great. Am back home now to a barrage of emails and issues that everyone seems to dump on myself and my colleague, there is a distinct buck-passing mentality in my place of work and it always seems to be left to me and my colleague to deal with. I'm so tired of it this week, it's been a horribly stressful week at work and I seem to have had a constant headache. It's all getting a bit overwhelming now tbh.

MeandO

This feels like the longest ever month between pay days.  I’ve had to transfer some money from a savings pot tonight to cover petrol and to make sure there’s enough in the account for everything else with a week to go until payday. Good news is I should earn around £180 extra in overtime, the bad news is that it won’t go near covering the amount I now have on the cc.  In my defence, all but one item is a need - both my walking boots and the boots/shoes I wear almost daily have both had to be thrown in the bin this week. One pair I’ve had for 2 years and worn daily except for flip flop weather in the summer, the other, at least 7 years and they’ve tracked around Iceland 3 times, so they’ve done well! The walking boots had holes through the heel where the hard lining was coming through and digging in to my foot and my regular boots had holes in the soles and I had to stitch the outside of them up at the weekend, just so I had something to put in my feet. The walking boots were half price from mountain warehouse at £27 and the other boots were £60 - unfortunately I have very wide, large feet so can never find boots or shoes very cheap. I have also booked a long weekend trip for DS and I for early next year which wasn’t cheap, but will be his Christmas present. It is a specific location with an activity he will love, so I know he’ll be excited about it. I’ve also booked train tickets as they were much cheaper this early, with the travel card bringing the cost down massively. I’ve also bought DS and I a small suitcase each for our travels in a sale - we had a huge rucksack last time which I obviously carried and it absolutely did my back in and was a nightmare on the trains. We have several short trips planned for the new year so will get use out of them and it’s something that has been on my list for a while to buy when I spied a good deal. Some of the CC balance will be paid off with the Christmas funds, the rest I will clear as quickly as possible. 

I have worked less OT hours this month but did boost it with an extra 3 hours today and will try  and do as many as I can before the end of the month. 

Tomorrow I’m going to try and look at my budget and rejig a few things to make it work better for us. I need to up the gas/elec payment now winter’s on the way as I gave in and turned the heating on for an hour tonight as the house was freezing. I also need to factor in a pot for ‘fun’. As I mentioned, DS and I have a few planned little breaks in the next 12 months and OH and I would like to have a few 2 or 3 night trips a couple of times a year so I need to save for this in a specific pot. I feel guilty if I use money I’ve put in the ‘savings’ pot and feel like I’m failing by doing so, so I need to make sure there are savings earmarked for this. I also need to increase the Christmas/birthdays savings next year too. 

Still no sign from UC with regards to a payment decision and no sign of the missing half payment from tax credits. I have asked the question about the half payment in my online journal UC encourage you to use, but no answer yet. They did offer me a mortgage interest loan though which I would have to repay when I sold my house… no thank you.