Stuck in a runt

Storm

Can I suggest that your OH does a bit of volunteer work whilst he's job hunting? It shows employers that he's showing commitment, will possibly update his skills a bit, plus will mean a recent reference for when he applies for stuff. The other thing he can do to improve his prospects is some kind of course - local colleges all run some free courses in basic skills if he's not got o levels/GCSEs in those, and do a search for local charities that might run free courses in IT etc (WEA -Workers Educational Association are a national one) Next Step are also a national association with local providers who give advice & guidance on learning & work - they may know of places to help with CV writing etc that could help (sorry, work in this field, so I tend to go off on one occassionally )

searching_me

hey its not going on if its help believe me... see he wants a full time job and im happy to give up my part time for him to do so so he earn double but i want to go to college to... see i had my daughter when i 17 and as you can imagine money as been a strugglin issuse ever seen... im more annoyed that i thought id be ok by now but of course im not... he has a level but there in art and also have half a alevel (had 2 quit half way through because job seekers were complainin i needed to get a job) ... id love to be a teacher its my dream job... but if i dont see a way out it means another year of working my !!!! off and another i put it off x

Wanna_Bee_Free

Hi Searching me

Just want to say hello and welcome to dfw, good luck on your journey sorting this out.

You might find it helps to jot down what you spend day to day - I find it scary how quickly I can spend a lot on mags, coffee and other treats n bits and bobs when it feels like I've been good!

Take care,

Bee

Edited: I can see you want to tackle the bigger job stuff, but was trying to help you make a start over the next few days.

mummytofour

Ok Im really sorry to sound rude here but I think what we need to look at is the whole picture I think we need to see the family income so wages child benefit and tax credits. I understand you want OH to feel like he has some money but if its leaving your short its not really an option. It maybe that a case of re-jigging the house hold finances may help ease the pressure all round?

Storm

Teaching isn't so bad to get qualified for as you can either get a decent grant (£6K I think) to train at uni, or do it in a school on £12K a year on the graduate teacher programme - the problem is with getting the degree in the first place (I don't even include my student loan in my debt total cos it scares me too much!) There is the open uni, though I know it's supposed to be very hard when working at the same time - perhaps if your OH got a full time job it might be possible then?

Anyway, back to the cashflow... as Wanna Be Free says, a spending diary can really help see where all the little bits of cash go which add up. Personally I find dealing in cash easier as I can just take out my weekly budget and see every time I open my purse how much I've got left (works wonders for not buying those little extras!)

If you're not planning to have any more kids it may be worth selling off your old baby stuff either through Ebay or local papers etc - Greenmetropolis.com is great for selling books, and all kinds of things go well on Ebay, so you may be able to raise a bit that way. Oh, and remember when you get a bit paid off the overdraft to lower the limit so you're not tempted to run it up again!

searching_me

i see your point... its not rude its being honest... plus tip toein around things never sorted things out.....
i think i also have a habit of .. ive been the one organising everything for so long i just tell my oh what to pay and end up forgetting the big picture...
well lets see
bare in mind this is not monthly... it is every 4 weeks
388 tax credits
72 child benefits
420 my wages
880 altogether

outgoing
40 electric
30 gas
160 rent
150 food
40 travel
30 sky
11 bt
11 od %
60 credit
11 tv
90 council tax
20 mobile
80 savings (which is wiped for xmas)
733 altogether
so im left with 107

i think xx

tsharp

A rut or a runt?

searching_me

rut... well you know what i mean

singlemum_4

Storm wrote: »

Teaching isn't so bad to get qualified for as you can either get a decent grant (£6K I think) to train at uni, or do it in a school on £12K a year on the graduate teacher programme - the problem is with getting the degree in the first place (I don't even include my student loan in my debt total cos it scares me too much!) There is the open uni, though I know it's supposed to be very hard when working at the same time - perhaps if your OH got a full time job it might be possible then?

Or you can start with a foundation degree thats what im doing still work 4 days a week, 1 day at uni quite a lot of homework tho. Got grants so costing me nothing (doesn't affect my tax credits). Sorry thats not going to help short term but for the future it may do.

searching_me

thank you ... where can i go to talk to someone about that.. as i say i moved from london to sheffield for a fresh start but as i say it ending in debt... so i am gonna get it sorted and i maybe tight now but a year or so of tight times for a brighter future seems a good thing (in the long run lol)