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Financially, how do you manage during a burnout?

Nessie

I haven't been able to work for over 13 months now and financially it's become quite uncomfortable.

After the first month I realised I wasn't getting better any time soon, so switched my utilities to better deals, stopped paying into my pension, stopped overpaying on my mortgage, and cancelled all my direct debit donations to charities (I'm really not much of a spender at the best of times).

From that point on, the only money going out of my bank account each month has been (in descending order):

  • Mortgage
  • Management service charge (includes gas central heating, water, buildings insurance)
  • Council Tax
  • Electricity
  • Broadband and line rental (no calls)
  • SIM-only mobile (£5.50pcm includes unlimited calls and texts)

All told, it's £1,099 per month.

All of my food and the occasional prescription are extra, which my boyfriend has kindly been paying for, and I pay my contents insurance and TV license annually.

My rainy day savings ran out after 10.5 months, at which point I took in lodgers. One pays £600pcm, the other £500pcm, all bills included. So I currently have a net profit of £1 per month.

However, since being largely housebound, my electricity bill has gone up from £14pcm to £26pcm, and I'm worried the energy supplier will force me to increase my monthly payments again as the nights get longer and I now have extra people living here consuming electricity. I'm happy to sit in the dark and give up drinking tea (i.e. boiling the kettle) and watching TV, but I can't really expect the same of them; plus they're both passionate about ironing for some reason (WTF?). At least they don't really cook. (I put microwaves and mini-fridges in their rooms so I seem to have attracted people who prefer convenience food/eating out, which was kinda the hope.)

The thing is, I HATE having other people living here, and I'm certain it's impairing my recovery. I feel like I did at uni—trapped, anxious, terrified—to the point that I hide in my room and miss meals if they get back from work before I've eaten so I don't have to endure any small talk. My legs have been numb and buckling from the stress of it, and I've been struggling to walk for the last 4 weeks. But I really have no other way to generate the kind of income I need to cover my bills. I'm pretty sure benefits won't come close (I don't have kids). I looked at moving back to my parents and renting out my whole flat, but their house isn't exactly autie-friendly and my mum made it clear I wasn't welcome anyway (although my dad was very supportive). Also, selling up and/or down-sizing doesn't make financial sense as I'm only 3 years in to my 30 year mortgage, and the housing market is completely flat at the moment because of Brexit.

I had thought I could maybe get some part-time work from home but the reality is, even the idea of an interview, much less doing any kind of work, at the moment makes my legs go numb as I can't cope with any kind of stress or demands being made of me.

I hate knowing I'm stuck with strangers in my home—and me sleeping in my living room—for the foreseeable future. It's no life.

Hence my question: Financially, how do you manage during a burnout? Thanks in advance.

Parents

  • Hi Nessie82

    This is a difficult situation and I don't envy you it at all, I'm not sure, in fact no I am quite convinced I couldn't have a lodger never mind two in my house.

    There is the possibility that if you claimed benefits that a good percentage of your bills and mortgage might be covered but and it it a big but it would all depend on what benefits and at what rates you were awarded. It would be worth looking into what is available and what you might be eligible for. 

    The problems with claiming benefit might be that 1) they take time to come through 2) if you have your lodgers while you are applying then the income from their rent would effect the amount of money you would be awarded so if you decide to put in a claim your lodgers might have to move out for you to do that which leads to 3) you may not get as much money as you get from having lodgers but you would have your own space again which would make it easier to reassess how you are going to get your feet back under you. 

    I wouldn't like to say that you should do try to make any changes with out having a very close look at what benefits are available to you and it may be that the stress of having lodgers is less than claiming benefits. It might be that you find it's not for you but I strongly recommend looking into it. 

    All I can say is that I wish I had claimed benefits earlier than I did rather than trying to get by doing things that made me quite ill with the stress. 

    Good luck what ever you decide. 

    LeafHugging

Reply

  • Hi Nessie82

    This is a difficult situation and I don't envy you it at all, I'm not sure, in fact no I am quite convinced I couldn't have a lodger never mind two in my house.

    There is the possibility that if you claimed benefits that a good percentage of your bills and mortgage might be covered but and it it a big but it would all depend on what benefits and at what rates you were awarded. It would be worth looking into what is available and what you might be eligible for. 

    The problems with claiming benefit might be that 1) they take time to come through 2) if you have your lodgers while you are applying then the income from their rent would effect the amount of money you would be awarded so if you decide to put in a claim your lodgers might have to move out for you to do that which leads to 3) you may not get as much money as you get from having lodgers but you would have your own space again which would make it easier to reassess how you are going to get your feet back under you. 

    I wouldn't like to say that you should do try to make any changes with out having a very close look at what benefits are available to you and it may be that the stress of having lodgers is less than claiming benefits. It might be that you find it's not for you but I strongly recommend looking into it. 

    All I can say is that I wish I had claimed benefits earlier than I did rather than trying to get by doing things that made me quite ill with the stress. 

    Good luck what ever you decide. 

    LeafHugging

Children
  • in reply to Leaf

    Hi Leaf,

    Thank you so much for your kind words and advice. My family and friends keep making out that it's 'no big deal' sharing my home with people and it's 'easy money'; they don't get how stressful I find it as someone with autism (my fiancé does, but no one else really), so I wholeheartedly appreciate you acknowledging how much of a problem this is for me.

    As you say, benefits take an age to come through—appealing decisions, even longer—and my lodgers will no doubt count against me. I contacted the Citizens Advice Bureau back in the summer to see what I might be entitled to and they emailed me back all the stuff on their website and links to the benefits calculators (which I'd already read and tried out, as explained in my email to them), and they said I would need to come in for a face-to-face appointment so they could fully assess my entitlement and needs, despite me explaining that I am basically housebound and asking for a Skype/phone appointment (which apparently my local branch don't offer).

    It looks like I could definitely get the PIP 'Care' component, possibly at the higher rate, but the 'Mobility' component at the standard rate may require a fight that I'm just not up to (and for the extra £20-ish a week, probably isn't worth the effort-cost to me).

    ESA-wise, my fiancé works full-time (i.e. more than 16 hours a week), albeit for barely more than minimum wage, and I was self-employed trading through a private limited company before becoming ill so haven't paid National Insurance recently enough to qualify. I don't know if it's worth asking my fiancé to pay my missing years in NI so that I am then entitled. Does it even work like that?

    I don't understand how Universal Credit works. I thought it was supposed to replace some of the above, but I've also read that people have been given UC whilst awaiting their assessment decision and then been forced to repay it, and I don't want a loan or the uncertainty of this.

    Housing Benefit would reduce my Council Tax bill from £150pcm to £10pcm (i.e. save £140pcm), but only if I got rid of my lodgers (so it would cost me £1,100pcm). It would also give me a loan of £300pcm towards the interest on my mortgage, but that would be repayable at some point (it isn't clear when or how), and I'm savvy enough to know it's a bad idea to take out a loan to pay another loan (have they really learned nothing from the 2007/08 Financial Crisis?!).

    When I feel up to it, I'm going to make an appointment to see my GP (and take my fiancé with me) to talk about my current health needs, as I haven't had any contact with them in months (on the basis they can't prescribe anything to make me better), and my ASD diagnosis was over 7 years ago in Northampton so I've never discussed it with my GP here in Bournemouth, and I think it's probably time I did. Plus, once the GP is primed, I'm hoping any PIP application I make will go through with less of a fight.

    I think I started this thread because I wanted to check I hadn't missed anything obvious, or not so obvious, that could get me out of this hole. It's just really hard, isn't it? But I'm grateful to have someone who understands acknowledge that, so thank you again.

    Nessie xx