Dh has just found out he has lost his job - advice please.

[meggmoo]

Just wanted some practical money saving advice please from anyone.

Luxuries are out of the window obviously and I'm looking at shopping at cheaper stores for our groceries any other ideas?

TIA

Firstly OMG and I'm sorry, practically, do you have any direct debits/standing orders that could be considered luxuries rather than necessities e.g. into a savings account, charity donations? Will keep brain rumbling on about this in the background.

Make a list of all your out goings.
If you have sky change to a cheaper package and then give them notice to cancel (30days I think)
Look and see if credit cards etc have payment protection.
Buy fruit and veg from a market if poss.
Plan meals for the week and just buy that food.
See if you can get cheaper gas and electric.
Would you get council tax benefit.
Working tax/child tax credit.

Thks Lio - Will do a proper list this evening and go through bank statements. I'm pretty sure we don't have card protection.

This has really come out of the blue, a real shocker.

Don't know about council tax benefit????

Do you work, if not you should be entitled to some benefits.Get dh to go to the job center asap. How many children do you have.
Good luck

Council tax benefit is EXTREMELY hard to get. Okay, nearly impossible. Put it this way: I was once supporting 3 people on £13,000/pa - gross - and didn't qualify for ANY council tax benefit.

If you, your partner or any of your children are registered disabled, however, you may qualify for some.

My pensioner ILs don't qualify for council tax benefit.

If you're a renter, you may be entitled to housing benefit. It's worth applying.

Are you working? If you are earning under £15,000, you may qualify for Working Tax Credit. You may also qualify for Child Tax Credit - same application form.

Learn to love places like Lidl, Farm Foods and your local library.

Got Sky or digital cable? Cancel them and get a Freeview box.

See your CAB or Job Centre for further advice.

Hi heavenis. I do some voluntary stuff(work a couple of mornings a week) which I will have to knock on the head and I was paying for childcare so I could do it.

We only have the one(ds) and were talking of trying for another (that'll be on the back burner for a bit)

Sorry to hear this too.

What about changing your gas/electricity/telecom provider? I can recommend Call 18866 for landline & mobile phones.

Will cancel Sky asap.

is it redundancy? then make sure he gets everything possible he's entitled too - worth talking to CAB about this. There are basic rights they have to meet in terms of payoff. If you have any concerns about the company playing fair then get a solicitor. Now is not the time to play nicely with an ex-employer. Was he at the company for long?

in terms of savings - cut out meat for a while, its way more expensive. If you must have meat then get something like a chicken so you can get 2+ meals out of it once you've made stock etc. if you have bband try switching supplier

Mercy what is 18866?

Thanks for the posts I didn't think I was going to get any!

I'm just thinking thank god we didn't move (we were going to buy close to dh's work which would have meant we were out in the middle of nowhere! Phew.

He was a contractor, not entitled to didly and was only in this post for 11 months.

Garage/car boot sale? You will get rid of junk (sorry, assuming you have any!) and £100 in your hand will feel really useful. And gives you a positive 'project' to concentrate on.

Monday morning contact the job center so dh can get registered. Do you currently get tax credits if you do,don't ring them until you dh has been sorted out for benefits or they'll just cancel your current award and you'll have less money.
If you don't currently get it then ring them and get them to send out an application. (You can also go into your local tax office to this)
Will post more as ideas come.

meggymoo sorry to hear this
really useful advice here

Fantastic , thank you. I did spend a few hours panicking about how we were going to manage and didn't know where to begin so these are suggestions I can make a start on.

Cheers Doormat. Poor dh is devastated and keeps saying he is a terrible dh and dad bless him.

Your poor dh. Before you start to buget go and buy a bottle of wine or some beers.

Great idea.
x

Meggmoo, Call18866.co.uk.

It's a company based in Switzerland (I think) which offers discounts on phone rates. You can only register online and they will invoice you monthly. For example calls to a UK fixed line are free, subject to a 3 or 4p per minute connection fee. We have saved over £50 in one quarter. If you have the right sort of phone you can programme all calls with the prefix 18866 so you don't have to remember to do it each time.

HTH

Just bumping to see if any other genius ideas come to mind.

Do you currently run a car, and can you take it off the road for a bit, i.e. have you got anywhere you can put it? If you could, then you could get a refund for the tax and not have to pay MOT, insurance, petrol etc. all a bit unlikely but you never know.

Stop buying liquids, if you do! - i.e. don't buy soft drinks, laundry liquid, alcohol, mineral water etc. you're payin ga fortune for somebody else's tap water. if you're not running a car, they'll be too heavy to carry home anyway.

could be worth going on a water meter, if you aren't already, and sharing a shower

my ds happily drinks uht milk - worth a try?

Thanks AB.
Have discussed getting rid of my gas guzzling car with DH.

Ds drinks rice milk - which is pretty pricey but that's one thing that can't change! (lactose intolerant)