Clawing back - the second half

Claw_back_money

Years ago I worked in care where we would wear gloves to wash people and its really difficult, also the gloves mess your skin up and are uncomfortable in themselves, so I'm not sure how much of a solution that is really. I've found E45 very good on my legs, and of all things, germalene is the kindest when there are raw bleeding patches, what do you use?

Lemon_Tree

hi i have to wash them with acqueous cream, i'm allergic to E45 and i've tried loads of other stuff which didn't seem to help.
i have a cream called elidel which seems to get it back under control when it gets bad, the pharmasist hates giving it to me as it's £35 for a small tube. I get a prescription for 70g but i insist on getting it as two small tubes as they go off after 12 weeks and a large tube means i end up throwing away just under half. Thankfully it's non steroidal and is derived from anti-rejection treatments so i hope it's not thinning my skin like the steroid cream does.
when i get the bleeding patches i smother my skin with epiderm and go to bed with cotton gloves as it's really greasy. It at least take the soreness out of them.

Claw_back_money

LT that sounds really awful. Is it triggered by foods and stress too, or just contact from chemicals?
I think you really shouldn't be washing up at all

Cbm

Claw_back_money

Financial bit
I've just closed 2 credit cards, which was surprisingly easy . I know there are benefits to paying for things by CC but I'm more worried about the temptation, or the risk of someone else using them if I'm not keeping an eye on the balances. MBNA I can't shut until monday as they only work Saturday until 1pm (which isn't very good).
I've also opened a reg saver account for myself, the money is tied away for a year. I'm still unsure about saving money 'for me', but there might come a time when I'd like to do something on my own - and it would feel better funding that from my own pot of money.
So we're getting there, the only things left are to cancel one more CC, just leaving me with one for emergencies, and to open an ISA for the 'joint savings' next month - this month we need to pay for the cambelt so can't really start the additional savings.

They do say 'when the cat's away the mouse will play'... OH is away for the weekend and so I... woke up at 4am and played the Charmin game to win a koala - and won one! Not quite as good as the 1kg chocolate rabbit I won a couple of weeks ago, but still quite fun

Cbm

Lemon_Tree

lol to the Koala, i'd have prefered the chocolate rabbit though.

it's strange closing cards isn't it, it's like a weight gets lifted but at the same time you lose your bolt hole 'just in case'. It will help your credit rating though as too many empty CC's aren't good for you.
since i paid off my cahoot loan, i seem to be getting loan letters and credit card letters offering me money. I thought they were suposed to have stopped sending out such post. Strange thing is that i've yet to get the letter telling me that the loans definitely cleared.

Claw_back_money

I hope you get a confirmation letter soon LT, how long has it been paid off?

Another busy few days ahead, work is manic and no sign of the pressure easing off at all. I think I might book a week off in early June just to catch up with the housework and to think about anything but work!

Banks are ok, the car is in having the cam belt done today so hopefully we'll know how much that is going to be later today. I need to cancel the MBNA card and phone re the mortgage to arrange a (small) overpayment on the mortgage, today. I am looking forward to settling down with money related stuff - at the moment there seems to be as much to do as when we were in debt!

Cbm

Edit to add: I've closed MBNA, no probs, and increased mortgage giving us a small overpayment of £25ish a month for the time being. Now back to work!

milann

LT the sore skin sounds awful - is it something you have always had - OUCH - you NEED a dishwasher - either mechanical or in human form of OH. We were without a dw for several years and I went on strike - it kept getting pushed down the list of priorities (I saw red when it came after dh's hobbies) - dh started doing pots as they mounted and I stopped washing. We got one last year and funnily enough dh still usually washes by hand when it is just the two of us and we only use it if there's a lot of pots or we've had visitors.

CBM - I'm still really chuffed for you and am imagining the great feeling of getting rid of the cc's. Makes sense to keep one for emergencies though.

Milann

Lemon_Tree

milann, it started about 12 years ago when i moved here, but i had smaller doses of it when i was a child. i thnk it was agravated by the water changes moving here. My probably is i tend to get annoyed with the pots everywhere so wash them myselves.

CBM i cleared my cahoo loan just under a month ago. i really must find out the paper work and get on the phone to them. Another thing on my to do list.

Claw_back_money

12 years is a really long time to suffer like that LT , and long enough to try every 'cure' going I imagine. I hope you can get a dishwasher sorted soon, whether mechanical or obliging OH.

I've been thinking about the amount of available credit we had - it was absolutely masses!

Flexiloan £500Overdraft £1,500Visa £10,000Joint £3,900B'card £2,700MBNA £7,600Egg £5,100
+ OHs overdraft and cards!

With hindsight, weren't we everso lucky to have a LBM when we did - we hadn't 'run out of credit' - far from it and it could have been so, so much worse. _pale_

By cancelling 3 credit cards and reducing the joint overdraft I've more than halved the available credit, but it is still absolutely masses. Maybe I should think about reducing it still further, by reducing the limits. What is a reasonable amount of available credit to have - is there such a thing as a 'reasonable amount'?

The car needed another bit as well as the cambelt so has stayed in the garage overnight.

Cbm

Lemon_Tree

CBM it is surprising when you actually look at these things deeper. I'm nowhere near debt freedom but i've left myself with £300 overdraft just in case and i've got one CC with a £1000 limit on it. I think i'll have to stick with that. It does scare me but at the moment i'm almost more scared that i could run it back up again