to be irrationally worried that we only have £140 left to last to next Tuesday.........

[WheresTheMoneyGone]

and have 4 DCs? 2 x DCs need new school shoes before Monday (I threw their last ones out when they finished school because they were wrecked - they only last a term - bloody boys). We have enough food until Monday - online shop will be delivered today with enough food for 4 days and I have taken that off bank total. I always feel irrationally insecure if we have less than £100 in account!

We will need to put £15 on electric meter and £25 on gas meter today (meters installed before we moved in and bloody costing £5 a day just for gas!!).

Big car bill this month for MOT repairs and tax credits reduced by £60 last week and every week until end of June due to DH earning slightly higher than expected - £1000 - which I informed them of immediately we got his final payslip for the last tax year so they reduce our payments by £240 month!

I fucking well hate this obssessing about money all the time . We don't smoke/drink/go out/have holidays/do anything really. Before anyone says we should not have had 4 DCs, we were better off until last year when I got made redundant and can't now find another job earning enough to cover childcare.

i have about that A MONTH to live on, so i think that you are being irrational.

however, down here with me is a horrid place to be (dd will be wearing her shoes no matter what state they are in and they absoluely wont be thrown out until i cant jam them on her feet any longer)

I know i'm probably ruining her feet forever... but what can i do?

I really empathise with you OP welcome to my world. I hope things will get better for you and your family, and every child is a Blessing so ignore any rude comments.

Stranded could I please have a copy too?

In fact with so many requests could you post a thread on it to save you time?

Op- YANBU
It is awful having to scrimp and scrape all the time.
It must be so nice to have money to do exactly as you please.
Hope you are ok.

Hi Stranded,

Could you possibly send me that meal plan too?

Thanks

This op must be some kind of sick joke.
To have food in, gas elec covered, loads of activities done, shoes bought, fuel in the tank and still have loads of money left (was it £60 left?) and be worried is either totally out of touch of reality or is a sick post to make many people feel dreadful about their own 'real' situation.
I don't care that the op says she knows she may be irrational - it;s bang out of order to post like this.

There's a point where we all worry if we have less left to play with. It's different for different people as we all have different lives. Some only have a few pounds left at the end of the week, some less, some more. It's OK to worry, it won't always be like this though.

Stranded could I please have your meal plan too - we're all getting very bored of lentil soup

Anyone who has a pre-pay meter should consider changing their supplier to Ebico - they charge one rate for everyone regardless of how you pay.

www.ebico.org.uk/home-b

Sorry to add to the workload, Stranded, but I'd be hugely grateful for a copy as well.

OP - I sympathise - seeing the end of the money is worrying, whatever budget you're used to being on.

Competitive skint comment - we have just over £200 in the bank , however, we owe about £1,600 in council tax about which they're getting a bit angsty/bailiffy, so it's not really our £200 .

Ermmm. Stranded.. if you get a second, could I have a copy please? Fanks ever so....

I'm getting really angry too.

At all the posters who are having a go at Wheresthemoneygone.

We all have a certain amount of money at any given time. If you don't have enough to pay the bills it's very stressful. But it is also a cause of stress if you haves less than you are used to getting by on. The OP knows it is irrational, but it is how she feels.

A bit of respect for other peoples realities would be nice

I'm getting really angry too.

At all the posters who are having a go at Wheresthemoneygone.

We all have a certain amount of money at any given time. If you don't have enough to pay the bills it's very stressful. But it is also a cause of stress if you haves less than you are used to getting by on. The OP knows it is irrational, but it is how she feels.

A bit of respect for other peoples realities would be nice

Oops, I evidently feel so strongly I had to say it twice.

Am I too late, stranded?

I don't care that the op says she knows she may be irrational - it;s bang out of order to post like this.
No it's not. It's a public forum and she can post about anything she wants and by the same token you can choose to read it or not.

FWIW I would feel the same and I have to have a certain amount of money in my current account that would send people into shock ( I can live with my family of 6 for six months and still have change for a curry I can hear some MNers shout) However after being really skint a few years ago for no reason of our own having no money now frightens me.

I think it's obvious that below a certain level of spare cash we can feel anxious. That amount is different for each family but I must admit to a feeling of as £140 until Tuesday with most essentials already paid for is an amount I would be glad of.

I have much much less than that until the 23rd at the earliest and will cope only because I have a family who will help.

You're not alone. I never worried about money, till I was made redundant. It took along time for me to find another job, and it was less well paid.

I now have to count every penny. It sucks. We have taken 6k out of our savings over the last three years, just to make ends meet.

There's a website called Cheap Family Recipes I use a lot - they have meticulously planned a nutritionally balanced menu which claims to be able to feed a family of 4 for £100 a month! I've never tried to follow the whole month as DH is quite fussy particular about crunchy nut cornflakes for breakfast and he is pedantic partial to making his own spicy chicken salad wrap for lunch but I make their bread, hummus, cheesecake etc.

Hang on while I see if I can do a linky...

Cheap Family Recipes

Has that worked?!

Thank you stranded :)

A bit of respect for other peoples realities would be nice

Yes it would...that applies to the OP too.

By some people on heres 'realities' she is rolling in it.

Hi Stranded - am I too late to request a copy of your meal plan? You must have been doing nothing else for the next couple of days!

Many thanks

"last" couple of days!!