1 down 6 to go...

Why is it, just as you're getting somewhere, something goes bang and hits you hard. Received an email today from the landlord that he is going to increase the rent. Now I've been here nearly 6.5 years and this is the 1st one plus he's increasing it to a level that is still £150-£200 lower than the average rent around here, albeit still £100 above the LHA (goodness only knows where they get their figures from). We're having loads of problems with our HB (as mentioned a couple of posts ago) which our MP has been dealing with due to the severity of the problems and we have a meeting about this later today with some snooty sounding woman at the local HB office. One thing at a time, find out what on earth is going on with their calculations, then worry about the rent. Ultimately though we're going to have to swallow it as if we don't he'll just serve us our notice then we'll have to sit here for however long it takes to go the high court to evict us and neither of us are in the right frame of mind to do that, and how could we put that stress and then the upheaval of it all, followed by living in temporary accommodation for however long, knowing that we'll never be able to rent privately again. Argh, we are at the mercy of these landlords/agents who want the earth to be able to live in a knackered old house paying double what we would on a mortgage.

Saving a bit of money feels so good doesn't it. Needed a thicker cardi type thing for the cooler weather, used the cashback site that I'm signed up to with work, a vouchercode for 20% off and had a free delivery code sent to me too so what should have been £38.95 including postage was only £28.00 total, plus almost £1 cash back. Boom! Just want this cheque to hurry up and clear now so that I can whack it on this CC.

Woah! I worked out yesterday that in total this year we have spent an average of £105.15 per week on debt. That is ridiculous, and I know it's not a lot compared to what a lot of people spend, but that's still over £5000 per year that we will have to do what we want with. We can have nice things without feeling guilty, I won't have to keep saying no to DH all the time, and we'll still be able to put away a fair amount each month too. Plus this time next year childcare will be half what it is now as DD will be at school so it'll only be holiday clubs to pay for and DS1 will be 14 so will be old enough to stay at home/go out with mates while I'm at work. I always feel much more positive when the 1st CC statement of the month comes out, even moreso on a day like today when we still have £350 in the bank after the rent has been paid, and even more this month with it being the first month since the rent increase.

We've been a bit 'bad' the last couple of weeks, nothing really really bad, but the kind of thing where I have my conscience saying I really shouldn't be doing it, but telling myself that sometimes it's necessary to treat yourself. We went out for the day a couple of weeks ago while the older 2 were at their dads, had some lunch in a pub (very, very nice it was too!), we bought quite a bit of clothes for DD this week too, plus today I've bought football tickets for next week, Disney show tickets for next April and next week I'll be getting Foo Fighters tickets. OK, the Foos tickets are something that I wouldn't bat an eyelid at going over the CC limit for, so there'll be no inner battle next week as to whether or not I should get them, but the rest of it I get a little bit split over. BUT, it's not very often that we spend money like that and I think from time time you need to let go if you can, otherwise you just get resentful of the situation.

On top of all that, it's still a week and a half until DH is paid and 2 weeks until I'm paid.