Both Made Redundant - Moving To Nottingham

I'm Jules (Juliette), a Midwife / specialist Bereavement Midwife, and my partner is Christiaan, a Lead Video Game Designer. We are trying to raise money to move to Nottingham where I will be starting my new job as Deputy Bereavement Services Manager.

In November 2024 I was unexpectedly made redundant from my role as Triage Aftercare Midwife. I had started this role in April 2024, having left a role in another company in Nov 2023 where a manager tried to make me work against the ethics of the Midwifery Code. Christiaan shouldered all the house finances and care of our 4 cats not only during Nov 23-Apr 24 when I was looking for work, but also again from Nov 24. However he has now been made redundant himself in March- after his company had said they were not doing redundancies. They chose to do this only 3 weeks before his 2-year review kicked in; after that review they would have had to give him 3 months notice and pay him properly for those 3 months. Doing it 3 weeks before that review means he has been given nothing. He is actively looking for work, but the state of the Games Industry at the moment means this is not as easy as it has been for him previously.

We are trying to raise money for a rental deposit for a new house as well as the first month's rent as I will not be paid until a month after my new job starts. Of course we will not get our deposit back from the Leeds house before we move. We currently rent a house in Leeds and we cannot afford the next rent payment at the end of May, which is £1975 on its own. When we were both working fulltime, this house was affordable; now we are absolutely drowning.

We have been trying to weigh up whether it is cheaper to 1: try and move straight away rather than keep renting the Leeds house, or 2: move me into a friend's attic room during the weekdays and keep Christiaan and the cats in the Leeds house until we find a new place. Finding a new house and moving to Notts sooner seems the more sensible option. We do not own a car so we would be looking at hiring a van and maybe movers for the larger furniture. We would also need to arrange vet meds to mildly sedate 2 of the cats as they are not easily transportable. Luckily the other 2 are easy to move.

We are also giving people the option to have their donations paid back to them, as soon as we are both in full time work and able to do so. We do not want anyone to feel obligated to donate and the option for donation repayment is always open.