Fearless Frugaleers Finding Their Feet in February

[SpottyTeacakes]

I've got fruflu

Thank you I just worry that people will think DH is an irresponsible twit jacking in his job when he has a family to support. (Admittedly I may be overthinking this, influenced by my (sort of) nephew who has quit a job every couple of months for the last 3 years, always after some silly tiff with a colleague or boss, while his GF is trying feed and clothe their child...)

Fuzz. Do not justify to us, you really don't need to This is constructive dismissal you know, you can claim constructive dismissal after he has left. Think of the Chelsea doctor in the headlines.

Fuzz DH jacked in a highly paid job 14 years ago to start the business. Look at us now, you might I considered him irresponsible then. It worked out better than we could ever have envisaged.

Fizz, I also think you need to persuade him to go on sick leave; the sooner the better really. He can't quit, as then he can't claim any benefits.

Oh I didn't realise that about being able to do it after leaving. Thank you.

I am not being melodramatic when I say I really don't know how I'd be managing with all this if it wasn't for all you lovely Frugaleers

And yes Wreck (only just 'got' your name BTW ) DH has been there almost exactly 2 years and the problems have been over a year of that!

What is it you can't get if you quit? Is it just JSA? Housing etc is ok isn't it?

fuzz I think you guys are fab. you just keep on going & going, working harder and harder. He's definitely not a twit if he decides to quit.

He's an award winning employee!

DS is MUCH better today. I'm so relieved.

Tonight we are going to sit down & go through our monthly spending so far. Then think of some frugal fun for the rest of the month! I'd like to put aside any money we have leftover from Feburary.

Oh thank you all

I have started a thread to clarify all the benefits stuff - can't make head nor tail of the info online in my sorry state!

Fuzz, I claim housing benefit without claiming JSA (I am entitled to it, but can get by without it, for now anyway), but in some areas that have universal credit, they're all linked into one payment, so rules are different.

fuzz I definitely second the advice of checking the policy to the letter, the smallest cock up can undermine the whole process. Does he have scope under the policies to make a bullying and harassment claim against his manager as it sounds an awful lot like targeting

fuzz I'm sure they make all the benefits stuff difficult to understand on purpose so people don't claim!
I have a poorly child too, her cold has turned into a horrible cough. She coughed until she was sick this afternoon poor love. It has meant an NSD though as we've just stayed in the warm. Hoping she sleeps, she needs the rest.

Brought marks Spencer Valentine dine in for £20 today searched through for biggest rib eye steak to make it worthwhile got few other bits as well they do a dairy free spread for £1 a tub, I had 15% off food voucher n £8 in credit card vouchers so load shopping and new top in sale for ds1 cost me £16

We got the dine in deal as well eastmids dh typically put a load of other bits in the trolley so it ended up adding up to over 60 but apparently I was being unreasonable when I said we didn't need a lemon drizzle. I got a lovely autograph dress at 60% off for an awards thing next week (we didn't win but they do an event anyway) and I had a £10 voucher for referring my dad to something so it only really cost me £16. I'm counting that as my frugal win for the week as there haven't been any other!

pointless DS was sick with coughing this week too. It's horrible seeing them struggle because they don't understand and can't communicate. The best thing that helped DS sleep was a steamy bath before bedtime. And using a hot damp cloth and draping it over the radiator to moisten the air. My wonderful GP suggested this and it worked a treat. Hoping she sleeps well for you. We also have a Vicks humidifier but it runs out of water at night.

Fuzz
not sure about uk benefits but if you quit here you can claim after nine weeks? It's funny he is almost two years, it would nt be to do with redundancy entitlements? It's just that two yrs service here entitles you to redundancy payment? Could be just me being suspicious!!
I have FM and it's no wonder your pain is worse with all the extra stress, fingers crossed other job comes up soon for your DH.

Tayto
Thanks I am feeling much better thank goodness.

Spendy at the moment.

Fuzz just a thought on constructive dismissal. I'm no expert so maybe ask in employment or legal but look see if you have to have started the grievance process prior to leaving

Tayto is DH on board with frugaleering? If he is I'd add up all grocery spends for a month and compare it to prices in Lidl/Aldi.

Girlie glad both you and DD had a good day.

Glad you had a nice birthday meal, belated happy birthday

Good luck with the interview NK

Went out to look at bathroom and kitchen tiles. This lead into £10 on a card n chocs for DH for Valantines, £10 on a chicken for tomorrow, smoothies for DDs and a bar of chocolate that I now don't feel like eating. I've realised I have a cold, plenty of supplies in so no need to hit the pharmacy. DH gave in the pressure from DD1 for fish and chips don't know how much he spent but we now have chips in the freezer for omelettes.

Thanks collie she's had a bath and gone to bed smothered in Vicks. She's asleep...for now!

Wow, I'm so behind because I've been so absorbed in making this quilt for our baby nephew who we've met for the first time today. It's the first quilt I've completed and I'm so pleased with the final result. Lots of baby cuddles today. In Devon until Tuesday so will try to keep the spending down as much as possible. Will catch up properly soon

Aw, that's gorgeous, North. Enjoy your time in Devon, having lots of cuddles.

That's gorgeous north!

North that's beautiful. Have a fab time!

Wow north that's amazing!

Not caught up properly. Bit will read through soon. Today's spends £25 riding. That's it

Oh my word North that is stunning! :)

Had a nice evening with my friend, didn't discuss things in front of DSD (she does know some stuff about DH's job but didn't want her to feel burdened IYSWIM) we all just played games together which was lovely. Took my mind off it.

We've also been on an online Usborne book sale thing, she was getting loads for her classroom (it sucks really, school budgets are so low that she has to pay for everything herself, although it does mean she can take it with her if she moves school). Despite seeing absolutely LOADS I would love to get, I am only looking at a few very specific things that have been on my wishlist for ages, planned gifts for DD's birthday, and I know the RRPs/typical Amazon prices etc so can tell which ones are a genuinely good saving. If this had been a few days weeks ago I would have spent a huge amount but I'm being pretty restrained and reminding myself that most of the books are available in the library anyway! (The ones I'm getting for DD are not.)

Going to mum's at some point this week, maybe twice, and have no idea what's happening with DH's work and stuff, so we're ordering the shopping without really knowing what meals we will need which is annoying. BUT I've still got my meal-planning hat on, so I'm focusing more on non-perishable type ingredients so we don't have to worry about stuff going off and eating things on the right day. Will be a week of fish fingers and suchlike but oh well I think we need this week to be as easy as possible anyway.

Spends - Saturday:
£5.05 bus fare - unfortunately the travel shop was shut so DH couldn't do DSD's bus pass. Will do it tomorrow.
£14.35 essential items that DH gets staff discount for. :o

Can I just say, before I go to bed, one more big thank you to you all. It's made this all much less terrifying and I don't feel so alone with it. Sorry for hijacking the thread somewhat but really. Thank you.

Pointless hope you get some sleep.
Gorgeous quilt north
Fuzz sound like a lovely evening and exactly what you need. Don't worry about the hijack as as anyway its still all linked to frugal living