Sleep, depression, anxiety and general bullshit

I have had a few posts recently which explains that I am having a tough time with my council. Let me try and explain.

In December they suspended my Housing Benefit, this is something that helps pay for my rent. This went on past Christmas, putting a massive strain on our financial situation that was already in dire straits. We have been robbing Peter to pay Paul for nearly a year now, having this happen just before Christmas was just a shit. However they were doing their job, which I can understand. They eventually sent me my report, which lowered my housing benefit by 71% give or take. I couldn’t figure out how they worked that out, our circumstances hadn’t changed that much, since they last did it, so I appealed.

In Feburary, while still waiting for this damn appeal, I got 2 lovely letters from them, one stating I owed nearly 4k in back payments and the other stating I had till the end of the financial year (end of March) to pay the council tax I owed, which was nearly £2k.

These also were appealed (still waiting) however, something must of happened because on Saturday I got a letter saying they had made a slight mistake and I actually owed £300 in back payments, I am still waiting for the council tax letter. That is not a slight mistake, that is a massive fucking cock up, causing undue stress and misery to both myself and my partner.

Also on Saturday, I got a phonecall from my landlord. What I will say is my landlord has been great, she has been paid late a lot and recently it has been tough to even pay the rent, however this is her only form of income, I am late, then she is late paying her bills, meaning she gets charges, which could be avoided if I had paid on time, she informed me, that if it continued then she would have to give me notice, which while not a total shock, because you know I am screwing her, while the government screws me, was still not a happy phonecall. I explained everything I was doing, but she ultimately has to protect herself, which I get.

The problem we have is that where I live is a very expensive part of the country, the chances of ever getting into social housing is remote. I want to move further North, where is it cheaper, but that sometimes means job opportunities are not as available. Also, we have my stepson to consider, my partner doesn’t want to move too far away, which is fair enough, but at the moment, something needs to break and we don’t know what.

Its a very stressful time at the moment, which is why I am not sleeping, why my depression is so bad and why my anxiety is so bad.

I just want to get better and get a job and get off benefits, the problem is, everytime I get into a good place we get thrown a curveball. I am not sure what the answer is and I know we will figure it, but it might mean uprooting our family, who knows maybe this will all get sorted in the next couple of weeks.