To be worried (money)

[willowwaters]

I've just been paid, and this is the last wage slip I will have until the end of September.

I'm trying to reassure myself that all will be fine but just the same, it seems a LONG eleven weeks ...

No cooking facilities? How come?

Where are you living? What on? Are you in some kind of house share with communal facilities.

I'm not deliberately doing so LIZS but see it from my point of view.

I come on just having a moan as in a bit worried about money. I have been working in two jobs; one has finished and the other is highly unreliable, and I end up being quizzed quite aggressively about my living arrangements.

I really don't want to get into my living arrangements as they are fairly unique and would out me to anybody who knows me.

OP has made it clear that she doesn't want to go into details about her living situation; she's stated what facilities she has and doesn't have.

Missed the post re the kettle. That's all I was asking.

Agree with those saying about the drip feeding.

Hope you get more hours OP and into better living conditions, sounds awful.

It wasn't intended to drip feed. I just didn't realise I'd have to do an itinerary of my possessions before posting

Is it that you don't have enough money that without relying on the zero hour job, which of course is not guaranteed, or is it that you've received the money from your regular job earlier than anticipated?

If the latter, can you put the extra away/give it to someone to look after?

Sort of both clash, I was worried anyway but was sort of going to delay really worrying until I got my last paycheque and that happened sooner than I expected! It's silly I know as its the same amount of money, but it's a psychological thing I guess.

Just a random fact but if you have a kettle you can actually cook pasta.

Put pasta in a saucepan, pour boiling water on it, leave for an unknown amount of time that is less than 35 minutes, pasta is cooked without any need to apply heat.

I found this out when I was in a hurry one day so thought it would be a brilliant idea to save myself a few minutes by "starting off" the pasta whilst I did the nursery run and came back to some very over cooked and soggy pasta.

On the bright side - for once we weren't late for gym club that day!

Thanks

I get it. I've had a similar thing happen when changing jobs.

Hopefully you can get more shifts. However, it's best to hope for the best and prepare for the worst case scenario. Can you have a word with your zero hours boss to give you an indication of how many hours are likely?

I'd be tempted to pay what needed paying straight away, but I suspect that might leave you in the position where you've no money to get transport to work should shifts come up?

You can boil eggs in the kettle too - if you leave the lid off it doesn't cut out. Need to make sure the kettle doesn't boil dry though.

Well I have access to a kettle, it isn't mine though. At the risk of sounding vaguer!

Problem is my work is domicillary care so I need a car to get from place to place.

bread and cheese are cheap, so are bananas. Might get boring as a diet, but it's nutritionally complete & not forever.

What about casual cleaning or care work to supplement your income? Corner shops always have notices up asking for carers who can come in flexible hours to help out people who are semi-housebound.

Are you claiming any benefits you might be entitled to ?

So you've had your last paycheck until September of your set hours job, but do have a zero hours contract, so any work from that will be on top of the July paycheck you're trying to stretch until September, is that right? And the July paycheck is just enough to keep you fed/bills paid, it's just its going ot be very tight and there's nothing else spare.

Your living arrangements, are they tied to the zero hours job or could you look for other work as well as the zero hours job? If so, I'd be signing on with every temp agency you can find in your area, look for pubs/restaurants looking for any casual workers over the summer, also worth contacting catering companies, most will have weddings/events needing additional waiting staff over the summer 'boom time' and also some of their staff away. (If you have limited cooking facilities, catering companies and restaurants might be great for you, often they will have cooked extra food that the staff can eat)

Thank you. Yeah, it'll be fine I know, just very very tight.

Another food tip - the packs of flavoured couscous you can make in a plastic tub/bowl and are good to go - always seem to be on special offer somewhere - I use them for lunches at work with only a kettle available to make food.