I heart NY - Our journey to and across the Pond

newyorkcitybride

latest update. DH has quit his job, and my company has made staff cutbacks and it's been suggested I wont have a job in 6 months....

Feel totally at a loss as to what to do now.....

newyorkcitybride

I've been bad and neglected this, but as I started another thread regarding the above issue, was concentrating on that for a wee while.....

Now OH hasn't found alternative employment just yet but has been sending plenty of applications etc. technically he is still employed until the 11th so at the end of July he will still get some pay, plus any owed holiday etc.

So thats not been too jolly. I've been pretty stressed out by the whole thing.

on the plus side following changes in my company it looks like my job is actually pretty secure. I've had some meeting with the directors and they are very enthusiastic about new ways to grow our business. That aside though I have been called for an interview for another company, pay could be about 2k more than I'm on now, but I really love my job (when its going well) so not entirely sure of what to do ??? Maybe I should go for interview just for practise....

There is also a small possibility that we could move Up North come February as DH has applied to become a Firefighter (which has been his dream since birth!), he's already been a retained firefighter so his chances are good. Wont hear about that till end of Aug though.

now back to the money. We've decided to stop overpayments and just make our minimum payments for the moment and save the overpayment money we would have used this month for next month and the following, in case OH doesn't have much luck job's wise.
That way at least everything is being paid, we're not missing anything, or adversely affecting our credit rating...

On a positive note though we've been really good with our food shop. We're going for weekly as we find we're not quite getting the hang of using things up before they go soft
So first week was £44 and this weeks has been £22.... both of which were not bare minimum, we've got some treats in there, like a packet of biscuits and some traditional lemonade but we are watching what we're spending, opting to try some value lines and see how we get on etc.

I've also been trying to get this meal planning down.... I've got a list of meals for this week and posted over on the OS board so hopefully we'll do ok...

This weeks meal plan is:

Today Roasted veg filled yorkies, gravy and chicken
Monday Gammon Rounds, new pots and broccoli
Tuesday Battered chicken and veg
Wednesday pag Bol
Thurs Cod, roast veg and broccoli
Fri Omelette and chips
Saturday Battered chicken and chips

I've also started on making some cakes to keep our sweet tooths satisfied, I'm currently baking a weetabix loaf which I found the recipe for on OS Index, with raisins and cherries instead of sultanas... I hope it comes out nice...

newyorkcitybride

OK...

So things havent been going too abdly.

OH hasn't yet found a new job, but he has been filling in applications etc. I'm just tyring to keep him motivated to find something, anything! Unfortunately the stress of not knowing whether we are going to be able to make repayments scares me quite a bit.... who am I kidding?! I'm really stressed out over it!

However, on a positive note, he has listed his car (on finance) on Ebay, and will use the sale of that to clear the finance. He's put a reserve on it which is the settlement amount from the finance company, and its going pretty well so far, so heres hoping.
He will also get a refund on his insurance policy, which was done last month, £381 so I'd like to think he might get £300 back on that?
But Im not sure what might happen, as Im not involved in anything car orientated!

I have also just paid off three old bills which had been passed on to DCA (bit scary when their letters come through) which will mean I should be able to get my old deposit back on the flat I was living in at the start of last year but could not provide proof of all utility settlements. That deposit was for something like £800, which I owe to a friend, so I just need to write them a letter?

Does anyone know if after a length of time an agency can just keep your deposit?! Thats the only thing I'm worried about. I had asked them to settle the accounts with the deposit and send me what was left but that fell on deaf ears....!

So far I've got £156 left in my current account which is to cover food, interest and my mobile bill. The latter two will come in at just shy of £30 which leaves £120 to last until the 26th when we go on holiday, which is also payday.
Considering our last food ship was £22 in Asda, Im hoping next week it'll be something like £30?As we will need to replace things we have eaten this week from the freezer.

Still checking out the OS board for meal ideas/inspiration but OH is still quite fussy so it's a slow process. However after our holiday (we get back on 3rd) if he still hasn't got a job I may have to just tell him to eat it or go hungry because we simply dont have the luxury of being picky anymore if we've only got my wage!

I'm also going to go for that interview with another company. Its likely to pay me at least £20k a year, which is £2.5k a year more than I'm on right now, and as much as I love my job, we just cant survive, and make overpayments to get debt free if OH isn't bringing home what he used to with previous job (26k)....
But thats if I get that job LOL.... here's hoping.

Will post later some new numbers and I'd really appreciate it if someone/anyone who reads this could have a look through them and make any suggestions! Pretty please

newyorkcitybride

Hi to anyone reading!

Latest update is hubby's car didn't sell on ebay. We needed to get just shy of £5k to clear the finance left on it, similar models etc have gone for more than that but we only managed to get £3,800 which was less than the reserve.

I did tell OH to wait to set it up so that it finished in the evening when people were at home and could watch it, perhaps I will jolly over to the Ebay thread and see what tips there are (free of course) which can help sales via ebay.

On the plus side, my parents ( a 2 car family) have offered us my mums old car to use when hubbys one sells. Just a little auto' fiesta as they no longer need 2 cars since my mum bikes everywhere now. Which would be great since OH isn't travelling so much for work, its just for the odd few trips etc.

So will probably re-list that after getting some tips I think.

OH has 2 interviews tomorrow so thats very positive.

Food shop wise we spent £55 in Asda last night. I'm trying to do weekly shops but always go a day later the next week. Been working well so far. That should also see us through till we go on holiday next saturday, aside from maybe some top ups of vegetables. So will try and run everything down a fair bit.

Aside from that not much else has changed really....
Have had some more bad news regarding work, it seems that the lease on my premises has been put up for sale, and if someone comes in with the offer they want, I'll be gone! Its just getting to be so stressful now, that I find I'm not sleeping with that hanging over me, OH's work situation.

I've been doing some research about what else I could possibly take to improve my moods as I'm feeling increasingly low, drained, I'm not communicating very well, getting out of bed is such a drain, and just overall unhappy. I'd rather not go back to the doctor, and I tried St Johns Wort but I didnt find it did much for me. Exercise helped whilst I was fairly ok but I feel like I'm slipping at a faster rate than what its picking me up....

So for anyone who may possibly be reading, a bit of advice or just a hug would be really welcome right now!

thepinklady

Hiya NYCB,

I'm reading....

I'm so sorry to hear about your rough time at the moment. I really hope your OH's interviews go well tomorrow. Does he know what he wants to do yet since the police? my OH is a cop in the MET and always says if he ever left for some reason he'd look into starting up his own security business (unfortunately that requires money) or become a driving instructor, as most cops do the advanced driving courses and can drive pretty well. I think you mentioned something about him joining the fire brigade, how's that going?

I really hope things get better with your job, you definately don't need the stress of all that whilst OH is out of work. I hope you have a lovely holiday and get some time to think about yourself. Maybe whilst there you could visit a few fire brigages and see what he needs to join? when my OH and i were in NYC we visited a police station, they were so kind to us, loved the English :rotfl: we even got NYC police uniforms!!!

x