Jo_R's debt-free diary, slow and steady progress!

beanielou

Pity you werent due a wee bit later as you wont be entitled to the health in pregnancy grant~bummer

Jo_R_2

True beanielou but hey hey what can I do - also conceiving a baby due in half-term wasn't the bestest of arrangements - my god I feel massive and no signs yet and having to run round after DDs!

Is quiet at the mo... Spread DD1's Princess quilt over the living room floor in front of the fire (in a non-hazardous fashion LOL) and they're both there playing and watching a DVD we rented from the library so I have a few mins to myself. Keep thinking I should be doing this, that and the other then think I'm being too hard on myself and should have a break when I get the chance!

Today was quite positive, keeping on top of checking online banking which am doing once a day now, phoned the council to get a standing order form for my repayments for my Council Tax bill, and went to playgroup which was free! Also got Tesco Clubcard vouchers for money off shopping which is always nice, and managed to post the three items I sold on ebay.

However... Got my credit card bill and the cash I paid in last week to take my card balance under my limit was just a little too late so got another £12 added Then at the Post Office spent just over £3 on drinks and snacks for me and the girls after waiting for ages in the queue - why do I feel the need to 'treat' them everytime they've done something good, been patient and so on - it always costs me pounds that add up...:eek:

And I confess, I have asked OH to bring us chips home for tea. I am too knackered to cook (is there an "I am knackered" icon as I say it so much?!)

Keep looking longingly at the Sure Start money in my bank account... Not touched it yet, although I still need to buy a couple of bits for after baby is born... My bank charges have only eaten into £4 of it, and I have one more charge to come out next week, so rather than getting annoyed at myself for getting charged, I am thinking be pleased with myself for stepping up to the challenge and intervening into our financial habits in what could have been a situation with much more charges than I did incur. Can't see the point of kicking myself about it now, it's done

It's all slow and steady but I can see us getting to a point in a month or two where we can start throwing extra at our debts :j

beanielou

Well done on keeping so positive.
Worth asking for the CC overlimit fee refunded?
Keep taking baby steps~you are doing so well
Enjoy the chips~you deserve them

Jo_R_2

Today me, DD1 (aged 5) and DD2 (aged 2) have mostly been at home. I have been soooo tired but luckily today have had our Home Start visitor round this morning to take the girls out to the park, then got an unexpected invite for DDs to play for a couple of hours at DD1's friends' house. Planning on sleeping for that one!

Have the usual nearly empty fridge/cupboards. Usually do shopping Monday but all fresh stuff goes by end of Friday and have realised me and OH tend to fall down a bit and pop to supermarket for pre-prepared stuff instead of cooking ourselves. So need to address that.

Not got much to do today in the way of targets. Have already checked online banking, and bought online (with money from maternity grant) the last couple of baby bits I needed, using a discount code. My aims for the weekend are to:

• pop to town and set up a separate account for rent, as I feel this will help us with planning our money better
• look more closely at our current SOA - one of my concerns at the moment is we are not budgeting/putting money aside properly for the less 'regular' expenses such as birthdays/Christmas, clothing/shoes, dentist and suchlike. Same goes for more regular stuff such as contents insurance. Not sure how to manage this yet, my initial thinking was many separate 'pots' but wondering how complicated this will make things!

Got both DDs whining at me so better go and attention them before my head explodes! :eek:

Jo_R_2

Well utterly p*ssed off at OH - although I suspect it may partly be hormonal but doesn't stop me feeling annoyed!

We spoke last night about the separate rent account. He thinks it's a good idea (he told me this already.) I reminded him he needed to transfer the two weeks of rent money from his last two weekly paydays into my account until we get the separate one set up. He replied by saying he didn't want to do that, he has a couple of DDs coming out (doesn't know when though) and doesn't know if he'll have enough money...:mad:

I said yes you will, we know this because we sat and worked it out! :rolleyes: He then said he didn't know because we still had my dad's car, and he's paying for all the petrol which is costing us a small fortune, as well as paying for all the grocery shopping on top of rent. I explained we can afford him paying the grocery shopping out of his account, but we still need to get rid of the car because we don't need it!!!:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

I went on to explain that we'd discussed this, we both have said it's costing us too much, and that's without factoring in tax, MOT or insurance, none of which we're paying now but will need to if we keep it much longer.

He's totally blinded by the sheer convenience factor, and don't get me wrong, I love having it there. But he's so used to having had a car since he was 17 (he's "nearing" 30 soon LOL) that for us not to have one is a total inconvenience to him. We only use it really for taking the girls to my parents or to their dads, doing grocery shopping or running errands, and for the past six months or so before that we'd managed perfectly well without one. But I can see he's going to argue until he's blue in the face that we should keep it, or get another one, and I completely disagree with that given how our financial situation is at the moment.

He seems oblivious to the fact that we don't have money to do much else with, which he moans about, yet he's quite happy to pour money into this car that we don't need!

Jo_R_2

Having some sort of control issues at the mo with money... I feel like I *need* to be in charge of everything whilst at the same time realise it's unrealistic and OH would not be best pleased if I were checking up on every 50p he was spending... :eek: Completely aware it's part of my depression - I feel a huge sense of lack of control over aspects of my life, and being in control of things helps me feel more level-headed and on a more even keel.

What I'm working towards at the moment is refining our SOA then hoping to post it on here. Not done it in full yet simply because things are going to change with money when baby arrives so waiting for that.

Have already realised we may have a little more spare cash than I thought. We had a rather generous 'entertainment' budget, and OH is plainly not going out as much now baby is imminent (I didn't go out much anyway, nevermind smoking or drinking, both of which OH does!:eek:)

Anyways... hoping to get a bit of HM baking in this afternoon after DD1 finishes school... but feeling a nap on the sofa whilst girls play might be more likely!

Hopefully will post again soon, feel absolutely knackered and 6 days overdue!

beanielou

Not surprised you are so knackered.
How long will they let you go?

Jo_R_2

Went three weeks over with DD2 who was also a planned home birth, but that put paid to any home birth plans!

If I get to 12 days over will have to see a consultant and see if they're happy for me to continue waiting it out; if so then can still hope for a HB; if not then I can either go into hospital for baby's birth or fight my corner for a HB... Must point out whilst being responsible and going to hospital a few times a week for monitoring, checking baby is okay, placenta is working and whatnot.

So keeping fingers crossed!

debttornado

Wow, you sound so organised! I'm so impressed. Keep up the good work and look after yourself.

lucielle

Hope things go ok for you with regards to HB.
L