£29,303...Enough is enough!

Thank you both. He's applied for anything and everything he can find so hopefully something will come along soon. I just hate the uncertainty. Fortunately, we have plenty of food in the freezer from stocking up on yellow stickers bargains. We've got £700 in savings, or just over £1000 if we pay DHs car insurance monthly instead of a lump sum next month. I've got a box hidden away filled with Xmas choccies and biscuits, a bag full of presents for DD from the b00ts January sale, and a few presents each put away for DH, and DC 2 & 3. I've got £50 am@zon vouchers and close to cashing out another £25 on SB. So whilst it's not an ideal situation, I know that the prepping, foraging, bargain hunting, and stashing have all been worthwhile. If necessary, we can survive a few months without DHs income, and I don't need to worry about Christmas.

I wish I was logging on to report that DH had found a new job, but no such luck yet. He's had an interview but wasn't successful. He hasn't heard back from most of the jobs he's applied for, but hopefully something will come up soon. His old employer have paid his wages late and his wages are short. He's also taken some advice about being dismissed without notice and he's been told to make a claim for payment in lieu of notice. It won't be a huge amount, and I'm not expecting them to pay without a fight, but would be really useful right now.

As things are tight I'm making an effort this month to be cash neutral with my spends. This means having a big clear out to sell some items and use the cash from this for grocery shopping. I got off to a good start selling my old phone for £65. I've done a big shop and have £15 left in my purse. We've got plenty of items to sell (clothes and toys the children have outgrown etc) so I need to make an effort to get them photographed and listed.

We went to a lovely firework display this evening and I'm feeling quite proud of my forward planning. I knew there would be fast food stalls there so I cooked some burgers just before we left, took them with us in a container stuffed with a hot water bottle, and they were still piping hot when we got there. I even remembered to take the burger baps, cheese slices, and sauces. Unfortunately, DC3 didn't like the fireworks and spent 20 minutes clinging on to me with his eyes closed.