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Unfortunately there will not be a Government System post this week as it is taking longer as Mexico is quite a major Government system with a Constitution that is over 100 years old and has over 150 pages to it that is far more complex than other Constitutions I have gone over before – so it is going to take a bit more time, should be up later next week though as it is coming along.
Instead I thought I would talk about what I have done since I have moved into my new flat with my younger brother. I am not expecting this post to be too long (although it might be), I have not lived here that long yet. But, at the same time it is already February (Christmas and New Year going fast as it always does) and that means I have already been living here for coming up to around 3-months. I can say that everything is going well, including money, we are not yet having any issues affording anything and hopefully it remains that way.
Saving Money is Always Important
I am always making sure to save money and limit spending on things that are not necessary. So usually I am only really buying food that is needed and obviously paying for the bills, and since costs are split between me and my brother that helps even more in affordability, plus we have Housing Benefit fully covering the rent as well, and neither of us yet have a car so the added costs of that do not yet exist. We also do not have need to use buses, trains or other forms of public transport on the regular and so those costs are eliminated – although I do have a bus pass so travel on that is free. Me and my brother also do not regularly go out, such as to restaurants (which are rare treats) or pubs/nightclubs (which are not my kind of place anyway).
We also cook the vast majority of our own meals using food obtained from places like Lidls, Asda, and Iceland. Getting a takeaway is another rare treat usually reserved for birthdays, so money in this area is also saved. But I understand that many people do not have time to cook their own meals (because you know, they work full time jobs or worse beyond-time jobs). Beyond time jobs are what I like to call jobs that don’t end when you leave the office or that don’t have fixed times or places, or you are on call most of the time, jobs that take up way beyond average work hours.
For myself though if I did not have time to cook I would probably just revert back to cheap microwave meals that which me and my brother used to survive off of when my mother had her accident and we had not yet learned to cook.
Neither me or my brother have paying jobs, we are fully living off of benefits. We are struggling to get Personal Independence Payment for my brother who needs it as like me he has Autism and struggles a lot with social stuff and being employable. So my brother is more financially off than me, but even then we still have enough to get by.
We both save as much as possible, and this is working out great just in case there is ever a rainy day as they say – or if I ever need a new computer for example, which may unfortunately be reality soon as the one I have right now already seems to be playing up from time to time, but I am trying my best to eek it out – it is rather unfortunate that my past two laptops (including my current one) have not been able to run as long or as good as my first ever laptop, which was a Dell, which lasted for well over 5-years before having any issues, my current laptops on the other hand have started having issues on barely reaching the 1-year mark – unlucky.
My sister has bought me my laptops since the Dell and I am extremely grateful to her for that, all bought laptops are ones I have chosen myself within a reasonable price range. But the next time I shall be buying my own as I need to move away from such reliance on my sister. But again, I am going to go as long as possible before getting another new laptop. As it stands this laptop has limited slow periods, usually upon turning on, but these will end after a little while of waiting so it is not a super big deal, just hoping it does not get worse.
Laptop shenanigans aside what else has been going on since I have moved? Well I still have Netflix thanks to a friend of my sister’s who let me use their account. I have been mulling over whether to possibly get Disney+ as well, which I would also get if my brother wanted to as well as we could again split the cost, either way it should be affordable, but I am still considering for now.
Decorating?
Me and my social worker put up a shelf affixed to the wall of my room to have a place to put more stuff. I should probably paint the hallway as there are some markings left over from previous fixtures, but I just have not really been bothered to get around to it yet, it’s not really super urgent. Me and my social worker are also planning to eventually go around my town and take some nice photos of scenery to put up around the flat to give it a bit more life.
The Mould Wars
I am also making sure to be on the guard against mould, with it being Winter and all, a bunch already came up in my brother’s room but we managed to clean it off without needing to get the council involved – next time he will learn not to hang his damp clothes up next to the window. I have made sure to keep window vents open and to peridoically wipe the windows down in the mornings to stop mould growth, which has worked. I am determined to prevent a mould patch similar to what appeared in my old bedroom which was impossible to remove as it had become several layers deep (removing it completely probably would have required specialist intervention and a lot of hassle).
Something to add to my shopping list are anti-mould cleaners.
Getting down the Cost of Water Bills
I am planning to get a water meter fitted as it would definitely bring down the cost of the water bill from its current fixed rate. In all honesty it is something I should really have got on top of by now but I have again kept putting it off – I should stop being lazy on these things.
Filing Important Things in Easy to find Places = Insanity Avoided
I did buy a file binder for the various important letters and documents that I had been keeping in a more basic folder, I have since sorted all those documents and letters into their respective colour coded and labelled areas for both me and my brother, so finding these things will no longer be a challenge – my mum and sister were not as good at filing things away neatly or in easy to find places. So, that is something productive I have done since moving.
- NHS Number – check.
- National Insurance Number – check.
- Birth Certificates – check.
- Other Identification Documents – check.
- Medical and Diagnosis Documents – check.
- Financial, banking, and Benefits Documents – check.
- Tenancy, Council Tax and Bills – check.
- School and College grades and quallifications – check.
- Anything else I believe is important to file away – Certainly.
Basically, anything that seems like it might be important one day, make sure you know where it is and that everything is organised, believe me it makes everything so much easier when it comes to the mean world of bureacracy. At least I won’t have to spend hours pouring through mismatched jumbled mountains of papers anymore on the verge of a mental breakdown. And I can prove that I exist! Yay!
Filling up my Social Platter
I have certainly mentioned somewhere on this website about my social endeavors since moving, or at least I have talked about finding places to be social. Well, I can say that has been done. Whether it is a walk with some local organisation, or preparing to join up with a local art club – I have become quite the connected individual, which even led to me meeting the mayor of my town.
Now, I would not call myself a social butterfly, but I feel like I am certainly opening up a lot more. There is a particular social club I have joined that is for 17-25 year olds that I have been going to since November that has already opened up so many other things for me and has allowed me to open up socially. It is actually this social club that introduced me to the art club, had me meeting the mayor, got me free ice skating tickets for Christmas, and found me my first ever voluntary job, which is at a charity shop. It is also thanks to them I have joined a film event programmer group to learn more about the behind the scenes stuff of cinema and film – particularly that of specialised films.
I really cannot believe how the simple act of joining one social club has opened up so much and still promises so much more to come, as they are always on the look out for other groups, clubs and opportunities that I may be interested in. Although I must also make sure not to overload myself. But really, I am looking forward to see what more this will bring and I hope to go on many more little adventures, and maybe even some big ones one day. For certain I will be getting more involved in the local events of my town thanks to this social group.
It is actually all thanks to my social worker to begin with in helping me find this social group.
I am also still with another online social group (which I had joined via a support worker who helped me get my current social worker) as well for people with disabilities similar to myself, it was one that had originally ended (as it was one of those trial test things with a limited time period and the big bureacratics up top, although calling it a success, wanted to take it in a new direction that would not involve that current organisation as they were too small to bid for it, which left a bunch of us with nowhere to go) but a group of people from that original group decided to come together and make a new business to keep the social club going, so it is also very exiciting to see in what direction this will be going in too.
The outcome of this is a big independent leap for us, like we are sticking the finger to bureacracy and going our own way, and it also allowed the removal of constraints that had existed on the social group – such as to do with age limits, because with many of these things, those who are still young, but not considered young enough, end up missing out (so pretty much those who are 25+).
I have seen some improvements in moving away from this gray area of exclusion for those in the 25-30 age range, but even I think those in their 30s should not miss out either. There need to be more programs to accomodate those in their late 20s and 30s who still feel lost in life and who face issues – such as Autism and learning disabilities.
So – exciting times – and much potential to come.
Wait, Voluntary Job?
Yes, thanks to a social club I am a part of I have managed to obtain my first ever voluntary job, a part of my slow pathway to maybe one day entering employment and getting a paid job, starting with part-time and perhaps moving on to full-time if I am confident enough to drop benefits and that I could handle such a move – it is the ultimate goal as it stands.
So, the voluntary job is the very first baby step in that goal tree. As it stands the voluntary job is only on Tuesdays and only 2-4pm but if I get used to it and enjoy it I will certainly expand the amount of time that I do. The little bit of time I have done so far has been very nerve-wracking and I have already been wanting to bail a few times, but I am pushing myself to stick with it, as everyone there is nice. The only problem can be is that it is quite busy, and I am finding it a bit difficult to learn everything. I am also having trouble with getting the references I need as well so I ended up having to a miss a day due to that.
But, that is the rocky road at the beginning, I am sure things will improve and hopefully I can find references before Tuesday. References have always been difficult for me as they cannot be family members and I have to have known them for around 2-years, which for me as someone only just entering into the social world – that is quite difficult.
But, I hope that this first step on the goal tree is a successful one and leads me to employment one day and the confidence to step away from benefits – of which can feel like a trap a lot of the time, losing that safety net.
The social group I am a part of will also be looking at other voluntary jobs as well so even if this current one does not work out there should be others to choose from. For me I am especially interested in anything to do with IT or animals.
I am also being helped along my path via a organisation called Prince’s Trust and a mentor who have been provided by them. If you are a young person struggling with employment, whether you have learning disability, autism, or are neurotypical, then check out the Prince’s Trust, it supports those up to the age of 30, and they have a number of free programs and opportunity, many of which are done online, that can help you on your path.
Trying to Knuckle Down
I have been trying to do my Duolingo and Mimo lessons. For Duolingo it is French, which I am finding a little difficult to fit into my day. And the other one, Mimo, is to do with coding, I have already learned HTML and CSS, which are the base-level fundamentals, and I am currently learning JavaScript which is what many websites use. I also want to learn Python as well.
I am certainly making better progress on Mimo then Duolingo but I guess that makes sense as coding aligns more with my general IT and computer interests, perhaps one day it will all be something I can utilise for a job in the future. I think it is very important that if you have something you are interested in, try and hone it as a skill, the access to information is so much wider now a days from free internet resources to free applications – like Mimo. Have look about for things that will help with whatever your own passion is and pursue it.
And as well as that I have been getting on with writing blogs quite obviously which takes up the majority of my time during the week, and even then I find it difficult to get my blogs done, because I always want them to be big and detailed. I find it hard to remain in the scope of a simple blog post, like this one I am writing right now for example. I am also not the best at coming up with ideas so being consistent is not the easiest. And with all the other things going on as well I do not have the entirety of most days to do blogposts so I make up for that in the evenings now, rather than stopping at 4pm my goal now is to go on to at least 7pm, and sometimes beyond that as well.
At the same time I am also making sure not to be too hard on myself and to not wear and burn myself out, which can be very easy with all the new things I am doing and picking up, and expanding how long I work on my blogs. But also, pushing yourself, in a reasonable fashion, is important to getting yourself towards where you want to be. I still take weekends off but I am beginning to wonder if I should start also working on my blogs on Sunday’s as well, I think it is something to consider and may actually make things a lot more flexible, so I may soon give it a test trial.
Adventures with my Social Worker?
My social worker is also able to take me on day’s out to places as well that I would like to go. Obviously such places need to be within a reasonable distance and I would be paying for things. But since I am not the best with public transport it is good to know that my social worker can take me to a place I want to go.
I have already made a list of places I want to go and where I want to try things out. It will be a treat thing though, not something I do all the time, because again money is a factor and I am also not going to neglect my responsibilities. Anyway, perhaps whenever I do go on these day’s out I will drop a blogpost about it.
Get a Car… Learn to Drive?
Talking about transport I am in a bit of dilemma over learning to drive. I do not know if I want to get a car yet, considering all the added costs that it brings and that it might be something I pay for entirely myself. Although it could be possible me and my brother get a shared car with him on my insurance, and then we could split the costs. It is all hypothetical for now though.
If the pandemic had not have happened it is possible I may have learned to drive by this point, but now the wait has given me pause to think on it. I do not feel like me and my brother would really use a car that much as it stands, there does not seem to be a great need for one yet, as we can walk most places we need to get to, and places that are a bit further usually my sister, aunt, or social worker can get me there.
So I wonder if it is worth even bothering to learn yet as I would not want to learn, not get a car, and potentially forget how to drive. Or I would not want to learn, get a car, and then just hardly ever use it while still having to pay for insurance, tax, MOTs and all.
So… yes… this is something I must think on for now, but I guess as it stands this ambition to drive is currently shelved. I just feel like I need a sign of actually needing a car, because as it stands I just do not see myself using one too often if I did get one. LikeI said when it comes to money I only want to mostly spend on necessary things and needs.
Well, I guess that rounds this off for now. Maybe you found something interesting or even useful in this brain-emptying of a post. Again… Mexico government system post should be later next week!
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