As my user name says, have I forgotten anything?

[haveIforgottenanything]

My partner lost his job at the weekend, massive downturn in profit, been there less than 2 years so last one in first one out.

Added to this, they have "forgotten" to pay him (gets paid fortnightly)

He is dealing with that, along with JSA and job searches.

I am disabled, but have informed CTC, HB and ESA.

I have cancelled subscriptions that I can and have recently done mobile phones and internet, so I know they are the lowest they can be, same with gas and electric.

We have no savings, as we used those over lockdown, so am a little worried that we are going to be shunted over to UC, but know we can get an advance.

I already do surveys, comps and various other things found on the £10 a day thread.

Because they haven't paid him, we are screwed for the rent this week and next, but have phoned and spoken to the landlord and explained the situation and they have given us a break for the next 2 weeks, have food in for at least a month, if we are careful.

But I still feel like I have forgotten something, things like DD comes out on the first, which we should have just enough money to cover them. I don't particularly want to get a credit card, as we have had massive problems with debt, managed to get out of them and want to stay like that.

No can't take in ironing.

I haven't got any specific tips but this sounds hard and you sound as though you are being really proactive and constructive about it so I just wanted to say dont forget to be nice to yourself and each other. Good luck.

@Palavah thank you. we will try

Can you speak to the company he works for and get them to do a fast payment? It can be done ( I used to work in Payroll ) companies just don't like doing it as it costs extra.

@RosieLemonadeAndSugar he is dealing with it, he was meant to be paid Friday, they said there was a problem with it going through (its a small company) then yesterday they hadn't hit the right button, or something similar, today, of course they will transfer it right away. Its possible it could be a non issue if it hits today, but I wanted to cover us just incase, I told the landlord that if he does get paid, we will pay them.

If it doesn't go in today, I think its ACAS he can get advice from or maybe the CAB

Has he been paid yet op?

No, it didn't go in yesterday, he is going to ring ACAS and CAB this morning and go from there.

My guess is the business is going under and they can't afford it.

Do you have any gold jewellery you can sell for scrap value? Broken stuff is fine. Go to more than one jeweller to see how much they will pay. The price of gold is high now.

@Mosaic123, no we haven't got anything to sell for scrap. I have my engagement ring I can pawn and we are just going through DVDs and CDs although they probably won't get much, its nice to have a clear out.

Its is just these two weeks, I have rearranged our budget to take his wages out, if I can find a way to pay the rent (without asking family) then that would be good, but like I say the Landlord has been really good, but I would rather not have to pay back anything extra while tightening our belts.

I am pretty close to cashing out on some of the higher paying out surveys, so I am going to try and do Christmas on those for DS, myself and DP will do and IOU presents (assuming he doesn't get a job before Christmas)

My guess is the business is going under and they can't afford it.

Yeah, that was mine too. Far too many excuses.

Really hope you get sorted, such shit times :(

If you pay your council tax over 10 months, you can switch to 12 monthly, lowers the payment a little, but you don't get the free months in February and March. You might also be able to move the payment to later in the month, which will improve cashflow. Ours comes out on the last day of each month.

Cut out as many Christmas presents as possible - adults really don't need them.

Do you have any unused Nectar points etc that could be used for food shopping? Although if they do their annual double up event, that can be a good way of getting toys for your DS for Christmas.

No shame in asking for a food bank referral in your situation if things get desperate.

See if there's anything in Moneysavingexpert's list

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help/

Some shops, the Post Office and parcel delivery companies might be looking for extra Christmas staff at this time of year, although opportunities might not be as easy to come by as previous years.

@BarbaraofSeville I am waiting to see if we get some type of reduction on the council tax (I am not sure on this) before we extend the council tax.

If I strip Christmas presents right down, its 4 children, we have tesco clubcard points, no nectar points, so should be able to get a few quid off, along with our mobile phones being with tesco, we get extra points and can double up etc on that.

DP doesn't drive, it was our main thing to start saving up for with this job, he is applying for everything he can, including going on to the actual companies websites, rather than just rely on job sites like reed etc.

The only thing we are debating is whether its worth going round places with CVs, I think everything is online and with COVID they probably don't want to accept things like that, but he is going to have a look at the next town over on Friday, do our town today and do slightly further out but walking distance tomorrow, see if he can sign up for some agency jobs. He is willing to do anything.

@userxx thanks, it is shit and I wish it had come either at the start of this month or the end of this month, but it is what it is, and I doubt he is going to get his week's notice either. Although this is something we need to get some type of advice on, as neither of us have ever dealt with not being paid at all before