(I'm using a throwaway account)
Hey there! Recently my boyfriend and I are being forced out of his parents home. Originally they gave us five days, but now we have two months (as much as I don't want to get them in trouble, if they kept it at five days I would have gotten police involved in some way because the legal mandatory amount is minimum two months I believe). We live in Ottawa, Canada. They're helping us find an apartment - today we're looking at a few and my boyfriend's sisters ex husband is the landlord. (we aren't in any bad terms, here at my boyfriend's parents apartment he sometimes will bring us super yummy sandwiches and salads).
I'm on welfare so I get $679 per month, but I round down to $650 to put $29 in to savings so I'll have a little extra to fall back on. Currently I have somewhere between 400-600 saved up in cash. We will be moving in September so I hope to have about $1000-$1200 saved up by then. My boyfriend is planning on going on welfare until he gets his job,which could potentially be full time (he will work with the landlord I believe) Rent will cost us maximum $400 each (the maximum we are allowed to pay for rent on welfare) so it will come to 800. We will put about $20 towards laundry each month for a while and see if that is too much or too little (we don't know if they are coin or card machines yet). That brings me down to about $200-$230 (and my bf will be down to about $230-$250 since I'll pay for the laundry). My debit card costs about $12 or $13
The thing is, after paying rent and laundry and my debit, I'm trying to finance this using only my money so we'll have something to save up and fall back on if anything ever happens. He will be getting a job guaranteed and I'll be looking for one. Maybe he will pay for internet or I will, or we will split it, we aren't sure yet. How can we make this $200 of mine last the whole month? So far for groceries and buying items, this is my plan: • Buy fresh fruit and veggies but only what's cheap because it is in seaaon.
• Buy canned goods but only of the actual item (beans, not chilli, chunky tomatoes etc)
• Buy meat on supersale, only the bad cuts or what's about to expire (they'll be cheaper). I might buy ground beef anyways for chilli,stir fries, pasta etc
• Im going to try my best to grow some foods and herbs. I want regular tomatoes but my parents have Cherry tomatoes and I could probably grab some and plant them. I want to grow green onion, maybe even cucumber and/or peppers. I plan on growing many herbs my dad grows like rosemary, basil, dill, and many more.
• If I do buy spices, buy only one every time I go grocery shopping. Also a lot of brands tend to rip you off so check the ethnic section.
• We don't have to pay for our cell phones. His has data but mine is pay as you go, both will be paid for. Which is why we want internet, and I'll need it as I want do some online work (writing, and my brother has a couple businesses of his own so I'd like to look into that too). Not to mention for job searching. Anybody know good internet, for maybe around $40 or so? Or any deals. Would be greatly appreciated.
•Welfare will provide a starter kit which is apparently mostly kitchen stuff. My caseworker told me that they can't help pay for furniture as of this year, but my friend who moved this year recieved funds for furniture. So I don't know about this. I emailed her stating this and I don't know what she will reply.
• Welfare helps pay last month's rent
• we basically only have a bed, tv, two bookshelves, and some dressers, other than kitchen supplies
• I plan to shop at dollar tree before moving to buy toilet paper, plunger, and small but necessary items. Any ideas of what other items I'll need are welcomed.
• I have a crap ton of kitchen items, which is why I emailed my caseworker asking if I could tell them what I have and they would get me something different. I really appreciate their help and although some of my items are old, they will make do and it would be more useful to get something I need rather than already have. I have plates, dessert plates, bowls, utensils, knives, teacups and teacup plates, pans, pots, casserole dishes, a wok (for those who don't know, it's essentially a frying pan but you plug it in rather that heat it on the stove), a really old coffee maker that makes one mug of coffee (I don't often make coffee But I likely will with this, i still have coffee I bought a while ago), the list goes on. All of these items I am recieving for free. We also will have a t-fal, a waffle/sandwich maker, and a bread maker.
• my boyfriend's mother said she might slowly buy us some things, like a microwave, and she recently bought herself an extremely nice couch off eBay for $200. I'm not getting my hopes up, but this is a possibility. I may get house warming gifts too
We will likely be moving into a bachelor or one bedroom apartment. We aren't sure if it will be basement level or have a balcony. Also I have to admit, many of these tips above I found on other Reddit posts or from other people. I plan on making food that can be saved for other days, like pasta or chilli etc. If I grow tomatoes I'll be able to make homemade sauce and buy cheap pasta.
I'm probably forgetting a lot that I know but any help will be appreciated. Any questions will be welcomed, answered as soon as I can, and then edited into this post to clear any confusion or to answer everyone else with the same question. We are viewing apartments today so I likely will leave in on hour and will return in 3-4 hours, possibly less. I know to take pictures of everything especially any existing damage, take a charger to test the plugs, test the water and hot water. I won't be signing anything right away as well move in September and I'll be sending everything to someone I know to do a sanity check. Also any help on the indoor gardening aspect will be very much appreciated. Apologies for the very long post. Edit: added things, fixed some things and grammar
July 17, 2017 at 04:44PM
