The revenge of the stripey socks - a DFW adventure

Pippilongstocking

Poor thing Uni - its a tricky balance you know - remembering the 'evil' things your parents did to you as a child and then being a parent.

They once told me to eat my tea - which was rabbit - that I hated. To spurn me on they told me it was bugs bunny.

Months no bugs bunny cartoon on the TV - thinking my dad had savagely killed and cooked a film star cartoon rabbit.

Still can't eat rabbit - ergh.

The silly town name here is called Twitt - but spelt with an 'a instead of an i'

Pippilongstocking

sophiesmum wrote: »

:rotfl: :rotfl:

Okay I have to confess to occasionlly having dead things in my freezer:p

My brother keeps Harris Hawks so if I happen to come across fresh roadkill I stick it in a plastic bag and freeze it for him, until he picks it up and uses to feed his birds. My chest freezer has been last resting place to pheasants, rabbits, hares, and a fox. If my freezer is too full I dop it off at mums:p

See - there you are - I am NOT the only one............

only up here its more 'beach kill' than road kill......tee hee.

Looked in store cupboard, nothing funny to report there except a collection of food (all vaguely normal) and some egg boxes which I must recycle back to the local shop 'Shearers' which is one of those lovely old fashioned kinda wholefood, greengrocer, iron mongers - places.

Sometimes we get eggs there - so I save the boxes.........

Cupboard needs a declutter though - old toaster, and some other bits that are taking up room in there that don't need to be............

Pippilongstocking

Sorry my diary so I guess I need to do a bit of the financy thinky bit....if you have anything you can add or think is silly please crack on........I am a work in progress.

Ah ha - all quiet in the household - so about to try and do a bit of work. Need to hand in my 'almost' done introduction tomorrow - not sure when they say Friday does that mean they expect it early or late? I am going for the later option.

I have to say I am very glad I found the DFW section of this site - when I did I was rollercoastering downwards - each month more paid than income - head firmly in the sand. I looked into an IVA and took lots of great advice from this site - started to earn just enough extra to get things like DD birthday pressie etc and slowly but surely alot of the sensible things on here have started to sink in. I have given myself a year to try and get myself sorted out and on an even keel. With a big gulp I said OK lets try and sort this out..........with lots of help and advice from here..............I have done the following.....

I kept my receipts - found never mind I was spending an extra £100 a month on food I was ALSO - spending over £100 a month on 'coffees, toasties when in town and other bits of takeaways'

So I was scrimping at the supermarket and then spending on meals/food out when my cupboards were groaning with lovely food. Keeping your receipts also lets you see how much you actually spend on alcohol and sweets and stuff you don't really need, that was a shock too!!!!!!!

I also started to look at my bank everyday - and beg, borrow and move around cash every time I went into illegal overdraft - which was a pain - but after a couple of months when the charges from previous months stopped - wow what a difference that makes - so all those dashes down to the bank (sometimes even having to take money out of my CC) were worth it in the end.

Having a scary hard look at things has really opened up my eyes. My debt has reduced a bit - but not much really - I have done alot of moving things around - using the lower interest/0% stuff to pay off the higher interest stuff.

See 'Martin et al., 2008' I did read and listen......:money:

So when I looked at my SOA from last August - and then looked at my debt now - its not dramatically different. I was a bit annoyed that its not furhter down yet. BUT - I know what it is now - (BTW its still scary) - I know which ones I have to try and pay first - and have a reserve just in case anything sneaks into illegal OD - check bank twice day to make sure all is ok in the world of the sneaky silly statement that doesn't quite tell you the truth.

Next thing on my mission is to sort out a working spreadsheet - its downloaded now and safely on a stick.

Contact the CC that I defaulted on and made a minimum agreement with 6 months ago - and see the balance and the state of play now - I think -- only think they froze the interest on it - but I am not sure - so that needs a bit of attention.

I also need to contact RBS about my loan the interest is really high - maybe somehow that can be changed? Or I can find out how much quicker I can pay it off.

I need to sort a holiday fund, and make a budget for our trips this year. Leaving here is costly and therefore I need an extra £200 a trip (about that much) each time we leave as a family to go 'south'. for ferry, car and petrol. Shutting my eyes and hoping for the best with this expense isnt really working.:cool:

I only get to 'do' xmas every two years so this is my year - stuff is already starting to get stashed away for that. helped hugely by folks telling you about boots sales (all my wrapping paper and some gifts) and other bits and bobs and freebies which are wee and will make nice pressies - I dont want to go over board with it all - which I know as a single parent its easy for me to do - but - I do want to make the most of it and make it special for us all, we hardly really get to do it at all. As I have to share my holidays with daddy, each time we do get to do something fun, we do try and push the boat out....in a silly way.

I have my sealed pots -
Xmas one - dotty teramundi - ta SM!!!!
Holiday one - Camper van no 1 - Blue
Odds and sods - Campervan no 2 - Purple
Change that can be raided for money like guides - Flower pig

We are planning a road trip in the campervan in the summer - maybe all the way to Dad's in France not sure yet, stopping on the way - so I really need to price it up and see if we can realistically do it - what a hoot it would be - to clatter and bash our way to Daddies in our silly old Vdub - stripey socks in tow - prob get there by the AA but hey its the thought that counts - who ever wants to have a boring MUM?? I am sure they will wish they did have a boring one at some point........anyway that trip needs looked at to see if we CAN actuallly afford to do it.

Phew - so I guess I need to tackle RBS loan, the evil credit card people and sort out a working for real spreadsheet.

The idea of taking on this house was to give us all a bit more freedom - ie easy to walk places like swimming, cinema etc to allow the kids to develop a sense of being about to do things sometimes without me:eek:

And, as its in town, in a largeish house with extra rooms (2 bedrooms spare - and upto 4 in the summer when kids etc are away), I have the ability to tackle my debt by renting a room or two, growing some veggies and plants for sale and cutting down on expenses like petrol etc. We won't have this opportunity forever so I am thinking I should really make the most of it - it helps them and it might be able to seriously contribute to my debts.

I need wake up and smell the financial coffee - enough of the scary financial stuff now for some serious science stuff.

Away to do some literature/introductioon editing.

Thanks for a lovely first day of my diary - I haven't truely laughed so much in ages. I love being here, its an amazing place to be, but it does get a bit quiet sometimes.

Thank you and goodnight!!

paybacktime2008

Good night. Tomorrow you an tell us (me) all about the plants you sell. Im a plantaholic;)

Pippilongstocking

me too night night - plants are my life

oh yeah and the kids.....whoops!!!!

sophiesmum_2

Great first day for your diary fay:D
Reading your finance post above seems like you are really starting to get to grips with the mindset needed to tackle the debts. Forget about the student loan stuff for now and concentrate on the other stuff, with your lodgers you should be able to start making some inroads. Don't be too hard on yourself - one step at a time;)
A road trip in the vw sounds like fun too :j

Pippilongstocking

Away to de-ice front step and path incase we all break our necks.

I am thinking organic sea salt flakes (currently the only salt I have found in the house) not the way forward as they aren't very DFW.

There is salt somewhere - away to work and am as busy as a mad march hare so I need to not be naughty and be online til later - xx

If you catch me online - tell me off.

Kittikins

Hi Fay, I'm loving your diary, don't "know" you but am so pleased I stumbled across your diary, I aspire to having a combi one day, but darned finances always get in the way *sigh*

If you have/can get it, dishwasher salt is apparently the thing to use for frosty steps and paths, I just go out in my exOH's walking boots.

Yup, I've got an exOH too - mine walked out when DD was 4 months old with the reason that he just didn't love me any more, completely out of the blue. What a loser, lol. We're sooooo much better off without him. He doesn't appreciate it when he and DD have tea on powerpuff plates with hello kitty cups - the philistine!!

MrsAudus2b

Good morning Fay - what a wonderful night was had by all last night :j

Just read your finance post - and I think you are doing amazingly well. You have got organised and although you may not have seen a huge reduction in debt, the most important thing is you have stopped adding to it and have your saving pots etc. I was down one night the other week thinking about my huuugge debt total - until someone on here rightly pointed out that if I hadn't had a LBM, it could be much much worse!

So well done you - :beer:

xxx

Pippilongstocking

*****Sneaks off at lunchtime in large double crew cab works pick-up truck to take pictures of willow in the snow. We don't often get snow so I need some pics of my chaps growing (sleeping) in the snow.

I know that I should'nt like driving the shiny big grey pick-up - very un-green very very unenvironmentally friendly .........................but its so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even the doggies approve - will sneak back later.