to wonder what the fuck to do now? (Immediate financial problem)

[Margaritte]

We are on a very tight budget for the next couple of months. We know this, and have got advice from StepChange & I posted a thread on here for recipe /shopping advice.

However, today our card declined trying to pay for £22 or so worth of shopping. We were not expecting that, and now I am very worried and starting to panic

We have some food in for dinners. No packed lunch food though, for ds1 & 2 and dh. We have no milk (well, enough for a bottle tonight for dd) and are down to 3 nappies.

Payday isn't until end of next week, so have to do something until then.

this thread is making me well up because of the lovely compassion being shown, to a stranger, with no thought of recognition or reward. in RL today it has been crap wet and windy weather, and I have encountered bitchiness and selfishness and arrogant twatty drivers who should not be on the roads, so a bit of niceness has lifted my spirits no end.

Go MNers!

How much for your air fryer marg ?

I love chips but don't have a deep fryer because they smell and I'm always so disappointed by oven chips, no matter which brand I get!

I am so proud of MN right now, and of you for accepting all the offers of help. Just goes to show, when the chips are down.....

This is such a wonderful thread! Magritte- you are a total inspiration and it goes to show that anyone can end up in a difficult situation such as this. But, and I speak from experience, it will get better. DH and I have just come out of a long spell of financial struggle and, whilst I live in fear of it happening again, we're okay for now.

If you are selling your Tassimo then I'd be interested. I've been looking for a coffee machine for my husband's birthday and this is an eco-friendly solution (spirit of recycling and all that jazz!) so if you would like to sell it then just name your price!

Margaritte, Can you PM me your address, I have a very small parcel food of cupboard staples (and a few treats) ready to send.

Also, if you need advice on eBay - I am very clued up about selling rules.

food of = of food

(Fingers type too fast!)

I am sorry you find yourself in this situation, but heartened by the offers of help you have had from kind MNers. Well done for swallowing your pride and accepting them - pride, after all, does not fill hungry tummies.

We have been in a similar situation to you, and indeed we are at the moment. We are slightly more fortunate in that my parents (& other relatives) are just around the corner & will feed us or lend us money if we need it, but we hate to ask (that pesky pride again )

Anyway, here are a few little tips, in case you have not had them:

• Apply online for a Nectar card if you are anywhere near a Sainsbury's. You may get points just for joining up (not sure) & you can do surveys online through Nectar Canvass & amass up to 250-500 points on a good week (worth £1.25-£2.50 at Sainsbury's, although you have to spend them in increments of £2.50). These appear pretty much straight away & can also be used on fuel, so are very useful.

• Other survey sites such as Valued Opinions are good & pay in vouchers.

• My local Tesco (quite big) has free nappies & wipes in its baby changing room, useful for an emergency.

• Definitely sell stuff on Facebook pages, I can make £50-£150 per month this way, with just things we no longer need, taking about 30 mins per day.

• Sign up for product testing. There is a MN product test section & various others online. I have had lots of useful things in the past - coffee, butter, a breakfast at Bella Italia for the whole family, nappies, dishwasher tablets, toothpaste - to name but a few. Not all vital stuff but it saves buying a few bits

Good luck

Wow, MN is amazing. I'm so humbled to be a part of this community sometimes.

All the best of luck, OP. I so feel for you - and the literally millions of others in the UK who are facing straitened times.

We fortunately had the chance to leave the UK two years ago when DH was offered a job abroad, but I don't doubt we'd have gone down the same route as you. Our first winter after DD was born was a cold one, as we couldn't afford to heat any other room than hers. And we were both paid OK at the time. Things are unquestionably worse now.

Sending you love, and more of the same to anyone else in the same situation.

Hi op I've been thinking about you today. I just wondered how you were?

Please on me ur address OP. My dd is almost 3 and I'm in the fortunate position that I have great friends who pass on bags of clothes for her, most of which I never get a chance to put on her.

MrsNextDoor Yes, rather a big age gap Thank you very much anyway.

minouwasminou I do have a slow cooker, although it was going to be one of the items to sell..

codandchipstwice With musicmagpie, did you have trouble getting them to pay? Or did they just take a long time? If its the latter, I may send them still, as I will need the money in a couple of months time too.

breadstixandhommus I hadn't yet decided a price for the airfryer, as I have no clue If you are still interested, then pm me and I can sort out some pictures etc, so you can see

SageYourResoluteSolution I had taken idontknowmyusernameanymore's advice, and put it on FB earlier for £20. If you are interested, and PM me, I will sort out a picture for you, too.

confusedofengland Please could you tell me a bit more about the product testing? It sounds interesting.

LoliMax I'm feeling very appreciative today! I spent the weekend in complete panic about packed lunches and nappies mainly. Now I have both and am very grateful

I've used music magpie and they were fine. Averaged about 50p per CD/dvd with most bring 30p and a few £1-2.

They paid for everything we sent off - you know how much they will pay before sending. However their terms and conditions are VERY clear - if they can't play a disc on receipt they won't pay for it and they won't return it either so we spent a couple of hours buffing every disc. We also didn't send any obviously broken cases.

I think it was a week before we received payment.

Hi Margaritte there was about a tenner's worth of stuff they wouldn't pay for (but to be fair we didn't test it, and we still got about £80) - it's just it took that long for them to go through their processes - if you look on MSE there's a thread with people saying the same. They also changed the amount they would pay us from the time they accepted the order to the time they paid, nothing to do with the quality of items just I guess the market has shifted.

So, fair but slow . .

I have also signed up to do market research, as has DH and he's taking DS( to one tonight - £15 for DS and £25 for DH as chaperone - it all helps. www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=market%20research%20london links to lots of agencies - you are supposed to sign to only one but DH and you don't have to sign up to the same.

There's also Pinecone research - they send me surveys now and again that take about 10 mins to do online and pay £3 each.

And YY to mumsnet product testers - we've had loads through them over the past year or so

So glad you are getting somewhere, we are in not quite such dire straits but an unexpected dd has gone out meaning we now have £50 for a week including DMIlL 70th birthday tomorrow night - so time to go into full on budget mode

So, about the product testing. I have signed up to the product testing panel on here, which is where I seem to get the majority of my tests atm. I have recently had from here things such as mini milk ice lollies, toothpaste, books for my DC & more. So, not all things that you necessarily need, but a free treat is always nice, too . If you email this address they will tell you how to sign up [email protected]. Generally, you have to fill in a survey to feed back about the product you have tested & you often get put into a prize draw to win some vouchers for doing so. All very simple & great fun

I have had other products (nappies, dw tabs) through surveys I do on Valued Opinions & Nectar Canvass, but these are a lot rarer. I get paid a few £ in vouchers or Nectar points for doing this. I have also just (yesterday) received some free Tassimo coffee discs from their Taste panel, but I see you are getting rid of your Tassimo so that won't be any good to you.

Hope this helps you a little bit

Margaritte Don't get rid of your slow cooker!

If I recall, one of your earlier challenges was planning and cooking a meal because of your depression.

MNetters will help you to do cheap, healthy, tasty meals in the slow cooker once we have got you over this 'blip'. I became the slow-cooker Queen after DH died - and I have bought them as gifts for friends who are time-challenged by cooking.

(That's my advice anyway!)

I will finish packing your parcel and send tomorrow.

I have sent a PM with ebay instructions.

Anything else I can help with my lovely?

Hi op hope you are doing better. It sucks to be in this position. We have found ourself to be a worse off than we were. Lots of benefits stopped, we used to get DLA for our deaf son but it has now been stopped and this means our housing benefit has stopped too. We are very lucky that I managed to get a job after 2 years of being a SAHM but it is only part time and I have to run for the bus after work to be home to pick my children up from school so a bit of a stress.
Something that maybe has already been mentioned so sorry if it has but I'm a member of -
onepoll they pay out when you get to £40 Ive found that useful.
Valued Opinions is a very good one they pay £10 vouchers when you get to £10.50 I'm saving them up and hope to use as Christmas gifts this year. Takes no time at all and they send them quickly.
use petrolprices . com to check the cheapest petrol in your area. I'm shocked at how much we spend per month on petrol alone to work and back.
collect petrol points with tesco and also sign up to tesco orchard I did a while ago but forgot to use it, Ive just answered a few questions and they will be sending me £3 of vouchers for fruit and veg.

www.latestfreestuff.co.uk/todays-freebies/ good for freebies

Margaritte I don't know if it's any use to you but I have just done a sort out of shoes that my DD has outgrown. I'd be happy to send you any that may be useful. Do you know what size shoes your DD is needing next? I can have a look and see if I have anything in the size you need. Let me know

OP - I recall your name from around Christmas time when you were in difficulty and Mumsnetters sent you items (including myself). Have things got worse again?

Thanks for the musicmagpie advice DownWithThisTypeOfThing & codandchipstwice I think I will send them of, after checking and wiping them down.

confusedofengland I am going to apply for the product testing Seems like a great way to get a little treat for the family. As does emms1981's freebie link. Some great things on there, thank you!

sadwidow28 Yes, I had an earlier thread about cooking & PND etc. I have just come out of the PND, and having lots of good days now. I struggle with cooking and planning etc now, and so posted for advice on that, only last week I think, or the week before.

AspieAndNT I did have a post that I started around October last year, yes I posted for ideas, and got some brilliant advice. A few MNetters on the thread were having a clear out and sent me toys & books they no longer needed. I also had a lovely MNetter send me a stocking for myself, with some lovely hot chocolate, jams & bubbles. I got some ideas for gifts from poundland etc, and my nan gifted us our Christmas Dinner in the end. Did you name change? (I only ask as I looked through the old thread, and messages, and couldn't find you.

Just a little tip....3 mahoosive 125 g of Colgate max toothpaste in our 99 p shop for £1-98!( 3 for 2 )

Enough toothpaste for several months I would think.

Oh no. Don't sell slow cooker, you can cook so many things in here for a fraction of the cost of putting on your big cooker.

Hope things are looking up.

My very dear friend called today and was moved to tears because her husband as been signed fit for work despite the fact he has two very painful knees and can hardly walk. A recent knee op has not worked and the strain of the other knee trying to take over has resulted in awful pain in the ' good' one. Strong pain killers don't touch the pain. He has back ache from his early years as a gardener and it getting arthritic pain in one arm. There is no money coming in because he is appealing the decision so money has been stopped.

I live in an area where unemployment is much higher than the national average and she has been trying to get a job for a long time.
They are in their mid fifties, where do you begin?

Their son of 20 who is fit and able cant even get a job.

Yes I have name changed.

I have reusable nappies that I can send you. Bit of a long term cost saving. Please PM me if you'd like them. I'd love to help. (This is my first ever post :).).

Dowser Sorry about your friend . OK, so the slow cooker stays! I really have to get back over to my recipe thread, don't I?

Not read all the posts, so apols if repeating. Glad to see you're keeping your slow cooker; best thing ever. Have a look at Feed Your Family for £20 a week; they have a site with recipes and a Facebook page, if you're on it. Not just slow cooker recipes but lots of basics (e.g. goodies, sweet and savoury, for lunch boxes) as well.

I want to try and make the food we have in last as long as possible. What can I do with any potatoes / carrots / onions that aren't used? Can I prepare and freeze them? If so, how do I do this?

What about if I made a cauliflower cheese for example? Could that be frozen? I don't want to waste anything and so want to make sure I can know how. Also I have 2 leeks, with the ends cut off. (from the chicken stock) No idea what to do with them