Austere April Advances (even though it's mid March.....). Frugaleers Unite

[needastrongone]

New thread. Can't link.

Wreck hope the electric gets sorted soon.

Fluffy whereabouts are you that it's snowing? its bright and sunny here! Did blow a gail last night though, no damage to anything I can see though.

Welcome money yep this is the right place for you have you made sure you are claiming everything you are entitled to? Good luck with the job hunting.

Looks like going to be another quiet day here, plan to make some banana bread in a min. Need to meal plan for the coming week, lots of healthy things to build dd up a bit (and me!) Have started a Morrisons order which I keep adding to....

Not a frugal thing but need to vent. I applied a few weeks ago to this senior women's network thing via LinkedIn. Thought nothing of it. This morning, received a phone call, clearly from America. (Realised after I submitted it that it was USA based). The woman was so rude. Essentially, today is our holiday (note I have no other holiday this Easter break since work is shite so kids are in camps). I don't want to talk business on my holiday. I basically expressed my surprise that she'd called during Easter and said something about 'work life balance' and made some lame excuse about being on my way out to play with my kids... And she said something along the lines of 'well, enjoy your time off with your kids then on your holiday...' Like how is that my fault? It's a public holiday in this country!

Worse still, it was a call from a woman, purportedly about senior women leadership and she puts it across as if it's a sin to spend time with my children. On my holiday. And theirs.

How bizarre bees! And rude. I thought it was pretty much standard not to do any business on bank holidays, that being the idea of them - is it not a holiday in the US then?

Thanks everyone for the lovely welcome . I recently went self employed but it hasn't worked out (i.e. I'm hardly bringing any money in) so last week I made the depressing decision to apply for JSA. I've got my initial meeting at the job centre tomorrow, which I'm really not looking forward to. It's the school holidays so DS will need to come with me (single parent). I'm currently claiming TCs, housing benefit and child benefit but I'm overdrawn and completely broke, so desperately need the JSA payments until I find work.

Babsmam not sure what you mean by talking through my plan. What kind of plan? My only plan is to get a job ASAP .

Just spent the last half hour unclogging the shower drain. glam there is so much of my hair down there that I could form a new me. So gross. Must remember to brush my hair and pull out all strays before shower.

Might venture out for a walk. The sun is out but it's blowing a hooley.

money would you consider an iva?. There is no point flogging yourself to pay debts back when you can write it off. One of Dhs colleagues did it. It was a fresh start for him.

Em Sam here, I bought a metal mesh thing to go over the shower drain when we moved here. Now I buy plain powdered caustic soda and make up a solution to clean the traps all over the house.

I blocked the bath in our first rental flat, I had waist length hair.

Midlands girlie, woke up to thick white snow flakes. Now it's just meh.

Money. I meant as in checking all your outgoings, tackling debt, planning your budget Etc. good luck job hunting and with your meeting.

Bees that's ridiculous

Fluffy we had snow too and rain and hail and wind and now sun
!!!

Babsmam Thanks for clarifying. I actually re-looked at my finances and did an SOA for MSE a few weeks ago. From that I've cut as many costs as I can but I have so much debt that it doesn't really touch the sides . My earnings averaged £200 per month over the last three months and my debt repayments alone are around £350 (although I've lowered my CC repayments to the bare minimum).

Fluffy I've considered a DRO but my car is worth more than £1k so I can't go down that route. I looked into selling the car but I'm about 15 months into a finance deal and you can't sell a car that's still in a finance deal. Not sure what an IVA involves but I'll check it out. I put my details into the StepChange calculator the other day and it recommended a DMP but I'm worried about my credit rating going down the pan. I haven't been this skint since I was a student, and I only had myself to worry about then. I've made some completely stupid decisions and hate myself for it . Feel totally at rock bottom.

You can voluntarily terminate a finance deal, they don't like you knowing about that.

It will be in your t&c, I did it on one of mine & bought a much cheaper car. They tried to put me off it by saying it would affect my credit rating but it didn't. You're only adhering to their conditions so they can't really penalise you for it.

Power came on before we went out but all the roads out were blocked by fallen trees or floods! We just made it but were forty minutes late. Quite spendy at £22 to get into the gardens and £9 something on drinks. Came home and dh made American pancakes with bacon mmm.

Sometimes, it depends on how long the deal has been in place, usually it's easier the further in you get with the finance deals I think, from memory.

Do you menu plan? Are you near an Asda? They have a wonky veg box for £3.50 which has stacks of stuff in it that you could convert to a frugal meal. If you bought a box of value eggs too, I bet you could get the following from it;

Jacket potatoes with value beans and maybe cheese.
Chunky veggie soup.
Veggie fritatta
Maybe also a stir fry.

Basically a fair few meals for a really good price

Happy easter everyone :)

welcome moneyfornothing

We have been at the seaside since saturday, v cold but bright at times and lovely to be away. Think we will head up home later on today. Internet signal is a bit rubbish but thats probably no bad thing, kids are having a ball!

Payday tomorrow (hopefully!) will have to have a think about the money shuffle now I will be dropping a considerable amount from next month with the reduced hours. We have been very good all weekend and spent a grand total of £28 lol.

Time now for a proper read through Ive missed loads!

Moneyfornothing there will be a way out of your situation I wish I knew more about debt to be able to offer advice, might be worth posting a statement of affairs to see if there are any suggestions. Could you write to your creditors and offer token payments / freezing interest until you get back on your feet? Are you claiming everything you are eligible for benefits wise?

Thanks all. I'm already on MSE and have posted several times about my debt, got lots of lovely replies trying to help. I've looked in the T&Cs for the car and after so many payments I can give it back with no further payments to be made but that's not for about 6 months and I'm hoping to have a job by then! Also, the car is worth more than the outstanding amount, so just handing it back would be really irritating as I'd be losing out, if that makes sense. I can't afford to buy a cheaper car, unfortunately.

Today I bought milk, reduced bread, cheese and a big bag of potatoes (29p - bargain!) and that's it until some more money comes in. I can do quite a lot with that and the food I've already got in, so we won't starve but there's a distinct lack of fruit and veg in our diet at the moment! I live near a small Asda but it doesn't do wonky veg boxes - you can only get them at larger branches. I'm going to go back to meal planning and shopping at Aldi while I'm job hunting. At the moment I need to get my weekly food shop down to £10-15 per week, ideally.

Hi Money sorry you're feeling so down. It's great that you are confronting the issue.

Money how old is your son? When I first joined this thread I was aiming to feed dd and I for about £20 a week, it was doable but tough. If your ds is at school can he get free school meals? Also could you get food bank vouchers?

Fruit wise, look out for offers and veg is generally quite cheap well broccoli and carrots are anyway.

Have you looked out for anything you can sell? Also keep an eye out on fb buy and sell pages for kids clothes etc.

Being at rock bottom means the only way is up

Have had another nice but quiet day, dd seems all better really - kids are amazing really. Plan tomos is drs for me and dd and vets for boy cat!

Lilac I remember being suddenly very aware of the nuances of family life at that age. I developed a bit of a sideline in mediation when I was 6. Your daughter may have a new career there. I agree that it's a lot to carry at 6 though. Probably good to talk to her about it and give her some perspective.

My ex step dad slapped my mum round the face when I was younger. I can't remember how old I was maybe five? Sorry I haven't got anything helpful to say I missed your post about what happened.

money The Jack Monroe recipe book is great for folk on a budget, and a lot of her recipes are on her website. If you want me to post the book to you, just message me, I don't use it any more, I've worked my way up to NIgella now

I'm going to post up my spends over last few days tomorrow, I've not kept a daily track but I'm doing a long day at work tomorrow so have got time then at lunchtime.

There's a couple of good offers on topcashback.

1. Shepherds friendly stocks and shares isa. Deposit £30 a month for 3 months, get £100 cashback. Actually it's £85 but they will price match quidco at £100 if you ask. Withdraw deposited funds, fee free from what I can see.

2. American Express gold business card. Fee free for 12 months. £53 cashback. They pay out quickly so cancel the card when you've withdrawn the cashback because the second years fee is £125.

£153 always comes in handy.

NSD.

Money. Pleased you are getting sorted on mse. Don't forget frozen veg is just as good and probably more frugal as there is less waste.
£9 into Roman fort, £13 in lidl and £10 in marks for no kid treat tea.

Hi all, and welcome Money .

We've had a nice Easter w/e. It wasn't too spendy either - we used our existing tickets that are valid for a year at a fab attraction. DS had a great time.

And we've had lots of homemade food, which always cheers me up. It does take quite a lot of time (and washing up!) though.

fluffy nice finds! I wonder if I can do those. Will look into it. Sometimes they're funny about CI residents.

Nsd. Have sat on the couch all afternoon and binge watched the night manager.

Feel exhausted. Storm kept me awake last night as did the wine I had yesterday. So feeling a bit tired emotional and bloated.

Turning leftover roast chicken into a rissotto tonight. Proper comfort food. Yippee.