Cost of Living #5

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Joan the Vampire Slayer said:
Life is just too expensive. I don't know what a solution is. I'm working as much as I can, and still not making enough to get by.
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Honestly it sounds like you need a job with regular hours, any job is better than one where you don't know how many hours you'll be doing each week. I know you want to get into teaching but I'd change jobs now if I was you, so that until then you have regular hours and can properly budget. You can't budget properly if you don't know how much you will be taking home each month.

I need to rework my tesco order, it's way too high, admittedly thru now sell the cat food that Mr fussy likes so I've added that and cat litter to the order, but still it's currently at £70 and I don't want to go over £100 for the month and there's a bit I need to get from aldi too.
 
November
November
Its definitely easier to budget with a consistent number coming in.
I just spent my last £10 on a new book 😂

However my old internet provider is giving me a £6 refund tomorrow so it's only a £4 book really!
 
nightshade said:
Honestly it sounds like you need a job with regular hours, any job is better than one where you don't know how many hours you'll be doing each week. I know you want to get into teaching but I'd change jobs now if I was you, so that until then you have regular hours and can properly budget. You can't budget properly if you don't know how much you will be taking home each month.
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Absolutely agreed! As you said, I'm working on making a career change into teaching, but the training program doesn't start until the summer. I just need to bey get by until then. As for getting another job - I don't really have experience in any other area but theatre and restaurant work, and we don't have much of a theatre scene here, so there aren't many options. Also, if I did get something, I'd just have to quit in June.
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November said:
Some days I gotta remember how much I have now.
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I'm also practicing gratefulness. Though I am really struggling now, I am so thankful for my house, my friends and my dogs. I also have to remind myself that where I am now is much better than where I was last year at this time.
 
Joan the Vampire Slayer said:
As for getting another job - I don't really have experience in any other area but theatre and restaurant work, and we don't have much of a theatre scene here, so there aren't many options. Also, if I did get something, I'd just have to quit in June.
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Supermarkets, fast food places, none of that requires experience, but it's extra money and easy to quit in 5 months, I'd rather work in the next few months to get ahead of bills than keep struggling because you might have to quit. Do 30 hours in one place then pick up what bar shifts you can get in your spare time, so that even once you get the summer job you still can pick up a few bar shifts as well.
 
Ethan Reigns
Ethan Reigns
Xander picked up a bar shift in "Beer Bad" and it worked for him.
Joan the Vampire Slayer
Joan the Vampire Slayer
Good point! I may do just that.
TamsinValencia said:
I am looking for a job too for extra money while in university.
I am looking into admin or telephone operator roles.
Or a publishing/editor role.
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The biggest lesson I have learned so far in life, hard work does not pay off. Find the easy work 😜 these sounds like great ideas 😀 goodluck!
 
I got free food today! My dad was clearing out my uncle's cupboards, so now I have 3 tins of rice pudding (ambrosia too!) 2 tins of mushroom soup (heinz), a tin of custard and a box of oxo cubes. Plus a bag of tealights.
 
Hunga Munga
Hunga Munga
Oooh I want tealights ! Time was they were everywhere cheap , now they're a bit more elusive .
Quorn quarter-pounders are 3 packs for £5 again . I am having some of that deal . I love those burgers for a versatile meat replacement but they aint cheap ! Think I'm saving £2.60 or thereabouts .

Aside from that my finances are a yawning chasm of uncertainty . Doing the switchover from Workinjg tax credit to Universal Credit and it is not pleasant . It's not like it's anything but chump change for me but without it my whole life is more precarious . Before the pandemic I was all set to get rid of it but things have not bounced back . The 'cost-of-living' thing has been just as bad as the pandemic.

This time last year I had 2 and a half grand . I worked my arse off all year , lived frugally, paid my bills and bought a few DVDs . Right now I still have 2 and a half grand ...I just trod water for an entire year and I really tried to get moving .

I'm pretty much decided on selling up . I'd love to stay but if I'm not making more than I'm spending anymore , what's the point ? It's not like my current life is anything you could retire to anyway . It's way too rugged . First serious health crisis and I am out of here , never to return . I'd rather be living in something I chose than forced into social housing by circumstance .

Grumble grumble 😉.
 
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Hunga Munga said:
One thing I have got right this winter is firewood . It's nearly february and I still have loads of top drawer stuff ready to burn .
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I was talking with my mother about firewood today, she's had to order some for the rest of winter.

I'm worried about March, February being a shorter month, and I will have used up all my electricity credit up by then, so I'll have to put up my direct debit by at least £25 a month. However there's no council tax that month, so I guess that will help.
 
NotASlayer
NotASlayer
I have to say I am looking forward to the two no council tax months.
Joan the Vampire Slayer
Joan the Vampire Slayer
What is council tax?
Woke up early to avoid the heat and the news
(Food Housing) was bleak before 6am lol

I am absolutely blasting my air con. No care for the price at the moment. It'll be cheaper than a hospital bill! I did my eco bit, saving water energy/recycling all that crap, no more now. The news still says we have to cut back so there is enough for everyone yet the population keeps growing so we must have enough!

The planned outage is still showing on the power website but a lady from my church is sure it will be cancelled because the heat wave is worse than forecast. We'll see. If ya dont hear from me by friday, I dead lol.
 
@Joan the Vampire Slayer it's a bill that the government makes us pay monthly, but it's over 10 months so in February and March we don't pay it. You can alter it today over 12 months but I think people like to have those 2 months of not paying before it goes up in April.

@November keep the house shaded as much as possible, lots of wet towels. Do you know the exactish time it's going off. Can you freeze a few towels and take them out just before it goes off? Keep you and the animals hydrated.
 
NotASlayer
NotASlayer
nightshade said:
@November keep the house shaded as much as possible, lots of wet towels. Do you know the exactish time it's going off. Can you freeze a few towels and take them out just before it goes off? Keep you and the animals hydrated.
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Yep 🙂 I have hung some bunny blankets along the front verandah, they needed airing and the shade is a bonus 🙂 got a blanket over the lounge window, a jacket over the front door and a mattress against the bedroom window. Towels over the kitchen window. Air cons set on 22C which is lower than i usually do, but I just want to cool as much of the space as possible. Will be a haven under my house for animals too! I filled up all the wildlife waters this morning and shaded them

No more room in the freezer now, I have frozen a few icecream tubs of water. If the power does go (no exact time, just a time frame) Im going to set up the esky sideways for the buns and put a frozen tub in with them, they love cubby houses so I expect they'd be happy to go in and out freely if I make it cool for them.

The dogs and I can get be wet down. The water quality is really crap at the moment (discoloured) but its fine to shower in. I have a small cooler towel for me and a cooling mat for the dogs, although the poodle is fine in the heat..just me and the fat dog will suffer lol.
I have been drinking hydrolyte today but ration it cos its expensive!

The lady from church is sure it will be cancelled cos she rang them on the phone, but its still showing on the website. I really hope she is right and the website is wrong!
 
The power has stayed on so far, so BIG yay for that.

I agree @Hunga Munga that this inflation stuff is worse than the pandemic. I live a more locked down life now than during any aussie lockdowns and I think this is why I get so confused over what quality of life is. I'd really like to get out a bit more but really cant justify it. I have more savings now, but bigger bills to save for haha.
 
I want to pay off everything, but I have to wait until Monday for the car, plus you know keep paying the bills
 
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