Mobile phone is struggling to upload photos and and running v slow.

I buy 2nd hand cheap PAYG mobiles but they don't last long. Can't afford a new mobile phone and unable to get a phone on contract as poor credit rating.

My son's current school is a Catholic one, and he is therefore not allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms, but has to wear trousers instead.

He has recently had a massive growth spurt, and has put on quite a bit of weight around his stomach area, and as a result most of the trousers I buy for him from the shops are standardised for a specific age group, but not very adjustable in terms of size, which often means even when I buy him trousers for an older age than he is (because often the waist is that little bit larger) the legs of them are often way too long, and I have to pay even more money (sometimes more than what I paid for the actual trousers) just to get them altered at the Tailors!

I often feel that I can't win, and that (even though they also sell elasticated waisted trousers) they still don't cater for slightly larger children.

This is one of the biggest challenges I face at the start of almost every school year.

The school new year gives me stress and anxiety, as my son will move to a new school due to bullying in previous school. New uniform, new people, and as a single parent working full time, it is sometimes very hard to manage it all. Especially with cost of living crisis, it is hard to manage finances and prioritise and rationing.

However, will get there as I am a proud and blessed single mom. My son is a blessing and keeps me strong and happy in many ways.

For me, I'm in quite, I guess, a lucky position really. Two of my children at university so they're sort of out of the way and my youngest is now going into year eleven at school because she goes to a special needs school. Thankfully, I don't have to cover all the expense of all the exam books. It that's general supplies that go with that. So financially, I'm not really worried or put out at all, thankfully, this time. Although it's going to be a bit of an emotional year because we're starting to look at sort of placements in colleges for her and being she's got special needs, it's a bit more trickier than normal. So that's the only fear I've got problems I've got this year, thankfully. So yeah, I'm in a luckily enough, a very lucky position.

That’s a very hard question to answer.

I make a lot of ideas up of things that I want to do or that need doing.

Some thing happens that ends up putting a stop to it.

I’ve dreamt of learning to drive over the past few years but then I just can’t afford to do the lessons and buy a car.

I have put a new plan in place in regards to controlling money better so it’s not spent wrong and hopefully that will allow me to save.

Partner started a new job back in May, which if he does really well there is a good chance of being on a higher wage and sorting our lives out

Having been on UC for a while, I have noticed that there are often times that when an employer asks for experience in the field in question, it is some times hard to get some, especially if you have been unemployed for some time.

Furthermore, I've even found that getting into voluntary work within my chosen field of work, has been just as challenging as getting the actual job itself because there are so many other people wanting to get the work experience that I need also.

I paid my£600 rent on time and in full on the 1st of every month before and throughout lockdowns. My private had made no attempt to contact me within the 3 years I and my daughter stayed in the flat.

Out of the blue, in lockdowns, I started to receive phone calls from the landlord's wife that the neighbours (in their own bought flats) had called them and complained I was causing damage in communal areas of the block of flats. I found this strange as the neighbours never came to me direct and how did they have my landlord's phone number as they moved away across the country. These absurd phone calls became more regular and the landlord and his wife decided to visit.

They picked faults of our living conditions. It was not a show house, it was lived in and I had a basket of washing sitting to be ironed. The landlord's wife made a fuss saying I was not coping mentally. She went into my daughter's bedroom without permission. My daughter has autism and the landlord and wife did not respect us. My daughter was struggling with her mental health at the time and became distressed as the landlord's wife sat on her bed announcing she was a retired social worker and it was clear that we were not coping.

I lost my temper and shouted for them to leave.

Landlord did not adhere to laws and give 24 hours notice to visit. He would sit outside my flat early in morning and wait for me to leave as he mentioned he had a key and could enter his property any time he liked.

Police and the private rental housing officer of council played it down as lockdowns were causing tempers to rise.

One morning the landlord pushed his way in and both my duaghter and myself pushed against the door. He put his foot in the door and shouted we were attacking him! I called police who said it was a domestic and we needed to calm down. They did not come out to flat. I called all services who supported my daughter who is autistic. None were available and all working from home. They were not allowed to enter my flat due to council covid restrictions.

Finally a kind volunteer from Citizens Advice came out and arranged a time with landlord to have a discussion.

Turned out that this was typical bully behaviour of private landlords who wanted to evict tenants but not want to go through proper court procedures as it costs.

There was no reason to evict us. The communal repairs were due to the neighbours not having home insurance and blamed me to get my landlord to pay. They were all in cahoots.

Inside the flat, the landlord had failed to maintain gas boiler annual checks and the 5 year electricity checks. He broke the law.

The lease was not legal binding as it was printed from the Internet and used American legal jargon.

The landlord owned other properties and the tenants could not pay rent in lockdowns and he wanted to sell all his properties as soon as lockdowns lifted.

I had done nothing wrong, but the impact of the bullying landlord still affects the mental health of both my daughter and myself.

I found another private house which was more expensive but was in better condition of the only 2 homes up for rent. I got into debt with a high interest loan to pay the deposit. The council offered to support financially for deposit and white goods but took 12 weeks to process the application that stated 28 days turnaround. By that time we were already in our new home. The council refused to reimburse me.

I had no washing machine or fridge freezer for first few months and had to buy second hand and pay a local man to plumb in washing machine. With high interest payments on the land for removals and deposit. We were in poverty.

Again citizens advice came to the rescue with organising lower loan repayments.

We been here 18 months now... The house is cold an damp not insulated. No carpet downstairs yet. Draughts can be felt from windows when shut. Black mould growing on front of house walls. Minor repairs are not being done letter box broke off and can see daylight through a gap. Energy bills are very high.

Leasing agent is kind but making excuses of the damp being caused by walls sweating due to pictures on walls. We took pictures off walls, cleaned the mould off and 2 months later there is more black mould.

I am paying over the benefit limit and the energy bills are still high even though I received cost of living payments, the bills are not any lower.

Looking for a more affordable home is near impossible as rent prices are up again over the housing benefit limit.

So at the moment, I'm on housing benefit or they paid pretty good with the credit, but I'm having constant problems with my landlord. They are constantly on my case because the health and benefit system is paid slightly. I think it's a month in arrears and council don't like that getting told letters of I owe money even though a week after they sent me a letter the rents were being paid up. It's the benefit system in regards to University Credit, sending the payments to the local authority. The local authorities don't always seem to match up in my case, which is a bit of a pain.

It’s been awful I have been on the waiting list for over a year. Who wants to wait up until midnight to bid on a house? The rent prices are ridiculous you can’t get anywhere that is even covered by support from the council. So how are you supposed to find a house?

I know it's not the end of the world, but my 20 year old tv has packed up. A lot of people would just expect you to go out and buy another, but times have changed over the last 20 years, I struggle to buy food and clothing for my family and myself, so a tv is out of the question, this got me thinking about what I would do if the fridge or cooker stopped working!

So a busy hectic week is almost over. I'm so thankful my child is in school! This week started with a pest problem. Weevils everywhere.

Spoke to the housing association who said we had to deal with it and then they'll come in to fix everything that needs done.

So pest exterminator has been in and we're £140 out of pocket. Alongside that we had to stay out of the house because it needed to be clear for 6 hours after the treatment had been put down. Went out for dinner at Pizza Express because I had offers for it. But that's put paid to doing anything out at the weekend.

Roll on next week and more money coming in. I've now to get through the weekend without spending anything.... this could be fun.

This past week has been horrendous, I spent 4 days in hospital and need an operation, which has been declined by the NHS for the past 3 years. My only option is to go private with a cost of 8,000+ to gain a quality of life and hopefully get back into full time work. I come home to a leak in the bathroom. With no spare money to repair the damages caused in the bathroom. I'm hoping it will make do until after Christmas.