h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Carpets cost quite a bit of money.
So I was quite concerned that I hadn't previously factored in the cost of getting even a modest and hard wearing carpet for my future home. Fudge!
I was also struck by how much work I'd have to put into cleaning and redecorating and generally bringing things upto a nicer standard in the flat.
Then a real bombshell hit.
I can't get a grant from the social fund to buy the very basics.
Fudge!!! Fudge!!!
No grant. No way I can afford a bed, a hoover, a washing machine a stove... and so on. Arggh!!!

In some areas there are charities that take unwanted furniture and give it to people in your position. Might there be one near you? I think Shelter would have the details, if there is one.

There's got to be some used stuff going around. 99% of the furniture in my apartment was either mine, my parents' or on loan from a friend. I think the only things I actually bought are the table and the filing cabinet.

There's got to be something! If not, sleeping bag and hot plate time!

Yeah, most of our furniture is cast-offs from friends. We just sort of put the word about when we moved to this unfurnished place. Getting kitchen equipment was harder, though. We had to pay for a second-hand cooker and washing machine.

But it all depends on how many people you know who own furniture.

Furniture isn't my worry. Although I missed a chance to get cast-offs from family friend who was moving...
A washing machine or washer/dryer, a fridge and freezer are concerns. I can get a microwave to tide me over until I can afford a cooker.
But carpets.
I'm gonna be there for months sleeping on just a mattress, living off nasty microwave meals buying essentials one item at a time.
And still don't know what I'm gonna do about carpets!

Cheap bright rag-rugs at IK*A? Small, but at £2.50 you could afford a few?

(Sorry for plugging that store, but sometimes you do make a bargain...)


Milla

I thought the point of rag-rugs was that anyone could make 'em themselves. Of course, there is the getting-round-to-it factor.... Yeah--go to Ikea.

I think my nearest Ikea is somewhere in the Croydon area. I might see if there are any rugs I don't strongly dislike in Haywards Heath and/or Crawley first.
I just really don't like rugs as a rule. I don't want to get any great number of them and have them as anything even closely resembling a medium to long-term solution.
A priority is to find a way of getting that grant I was counting on, even if I don't receive anything from until weeks after I've moved and use it to pay off a crisis or budgeting loan.
This means finding some way of getting back on income support, hopefully in addition to my current benefits rather than as an alternative to incapacity.
The first thing I'm gonna do when my tenancy starts at the new place will be to blitz the place clean, and maybe strip the wallpaper, then I need to decide on paint colours. Feel free to suggest good colours/colour schemes for the bedroom, living room, bathroom and kitchen. The only thoughts about colours I've had are for eggshell-white for the hallway and a burnt-orange for the bathroom, I'm enthusiastically set on either concept so feel free to critique or ignore both.

Out of time, for now.
Take care.

No stove or fridge! Man, where did this place come from?

Good luck with everything though; had no idea it was quite that bad

Social housing.
It's a great place to be offered. It has a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen and living room, i.e. it's a flat not a bedsit. And it isn't in the scumier parts of H. Heath.

I'll manage: get re-conditioned cooker and washing machine, secondhand fridge and freezer, I can afford a cheap microwave, kettle cleaning stuff etc..., I have some of the cooking utensils I need already, I'll find some furniture from one place or another. I will have to save for a decent bed, but can get by with just a mattress for now and I will get carpet and flooring eventually.
Various things this week just knocked my confidence about getting through the move sucessfully and not being in a worse position I am now for several months. The realisation I hadn't budgeted for carpet and the news I can't get a social fund grant knocked me for six.

I might find a way to get the grant anyway but it'll take some time and effort to get in line with the rules or get around them.

I hope it works out soon! Isn't there more places to get money from? Charities?

Milla

There's a charity that does cheap furniture... But I've not had a chance to see what kinda stuff they have on offer.
I don't know of any charities offering financial aid.
I've filled out an application for a crisis loan. I don't expect to get much if anything from it.

Sending hugs and good wishes your way.

I’ve felt so stressed, strained and anxious this weekend. Well it started on Thursday with feeling really drained and strained and it’s built up in stress and being on the verge of panic attacks…
There’s so much I want to get done before I make the final move into the flat. But I doubt I can get all I want sorted before the 13th.
This is all going to be quite a challenge but I intend to enjoy it all.

Monday - I want to get drinking water, other water, electricity, gas and a phone line service contracts sorted for the flat.
I want to look at the flat and try to picture the colours I'm thinking of on the walls. I want to measure the windows and the kitchen and get an idea of what size appliances will fit the kitchen and how many roman blinds I'll need to give me privacy in at least the bedroom, how much floor space I've got so I can work out what a carpet for the bedroom would cost me and get an idea of how many tins of each colour of paint I'll need.
And I want to make a start on the cleaning if I can, if I can’t do that then I’ll probably try to arrange delivery of the appliances…
What I do for the rest of the week depends on how much I get done on the preceding day or days…

Cool it man! It seems you need to weedle out the 'Must do's from the 'Want to do's... I realise you want to paint before moving in, but curtains can wait for example.
Deep breath, and keep your lists in order. Trying to keep it all in your head is very stressing too!


Milla

Yeah, when it comes down to it, all you really need to do today is phone the service providers. Make yourself a brew before you phone them (you'll be on hold for some time), and remember to have pen & paper handy (you'll need to doodle if nothing else).

Everything else, you can do if you feel like it. Most appliances are more or less the same size anyway, and kitchens are designed with this in mind.

A bit nerve-wracking, but all this nest-building sounds like fun. Hope you get the most out of it.

I'm currently using old sheets in place of blinds as the shop in Crawley which had the Roman blinds I wanted for the bedroom had sold all but the beaten display blind...
They had also stopped stocking the bed linen that I was after... Maybe it was a cosmic sign that black satin sheets send out an unflattering message…

But I have some ideas about curtains, just need this loan to come through, I've barely a penny to my name at the mo, then I can work out how long I'll need to save up for a decent bed and what I can afford to spend on curtains for the living and bed rooms, the kitchen and bathroom can wait for a few months if needed. Hopefully an alternative for the roman blinds will appear to me somewhere along the way, as those… err… net curtains things won’t appeal to me.

The washing machine I paid £100 for is full of stinking stagnant water. So I need to get them back to fix it or replace it with something else…
Getting the place clean is exhausting work…
I’ve not found anywhere that does cheap rugs, let alone rugs I want to give house space yet. No idea when I will be able to get a carpet fitted.

And there’s lots other stuff I could moan about too…

I could search my craft archives for some rag-rug patterns, I think I have a few, you can make them out of old shirts, pants pretty much whatever you have that you don't want. And as I recall they aren't that hard to make.... Just a thought....

I'm being given a 30/40 year old carpet. I though that my mum could make better use of it than I, but I've concluded I *really* want to get something down on the floor in the flat. I figure once I've got some curtain I put the sheet covering the bedroom window down on the floor., But still I could use any of my old clothes that aren't good enough for the charity shops to give me a rug in the hallway... So, yeah send some patterns.

Crisis Loan cheque arrived on Thursday. I've bought a few thing for the kitchen, paid some bills, will pay more next week and get some curtains, probli leather, get on with other mundane things and end up at the end of the week wondering where £300 went.

In other news, I saw Sin City last Friday. Loved it!!!

See! Little steps will get you there!!! Hang in!

Milla