Today is a new day!

InaPickle

Delighted to hear about your auction sales - well done!

Glad to hear that everything else is going well at the minute (apart from your poor aunt, of course ).

Am busybusybusy so will drop by again soon. x

Verbatim

Good news about the auction sales P&F. I hope you have a nice relaxing day with your daughter. Wow to getting a PA that would really help. And help to get your dd to school.

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

Its 2am and in true Lou style I have been assleep since about 9pm in the chair. Just had a cuppa and decided to put my latest Kl order through on the computer before going to bed properly for a few hours. Its my aunts funeral later today, shes having a horse drawn carriage to the church. She adored horses, had her own and looked after others too.

So, how are things going. Am really pleased with some decisions Ivemade so far although some are clearly not going to change over night like getting to bed before falling asleep!!

MBNA are the blight of my debt. I called them recently again because the min amount they said Im due to pay in my recent tel call with them and the amount showing on my online statement are two different figures. The woman I spoke to said I could speak to someone about an "account review" and so I took them up on it thinking I could get my interest rate reduced. However, they simply will still not budge on interest rate, only change the amount I pay each month which is no good to man or beast since I will most certainly only be paying interst all the time and not the debt and it will just keep on increasing. Not least the woman I then spoke to really wound me up saying why did I get into so much debt if I couldn't afford to pay it back. Well, its like this........ If nothing else is achieved, I really hope my appt on the 17th up the road can help me on this issue.

Kl is going well. The money from my pictures is due this week. Ive decided to up my retail slightly and with that my income will obviously increase and I intend to give myself till the end of the year to see how that pans out in terms of tiredness issues etc. Its just in the summer months its far more straight forward, my funny bits def ache and tire more in the colder weather and so I want to capitalise where I can and so to me it makes sense to step it up now while the weather is milder. The orders are out there most definately. Its just finding them! Re the team building, have started this up again and will be pacing myself. One ofmy team has a prospect hes talking to, another 2 prospects have said they want to start in the next 10 days or so, so its already looking good.

Other good news: I sent some old bits of jewellry to Cash for Gold and they sent me a chq for 85p!! Soi, I asked for my jewellry back. Ive just recd 27 times that amount from the same auction house that sold my pictures, a chq for £27! Every little helps!

Everything is up to date. I am not going to have a second month mtge hols. I intend to keep going and pay everything as I go, increase my income and just go for it. See what options there are on the 17th, however I know in my heart I just want to keep things as they are with the debt reducing and making in roads with getting finances more organised, paying off more, or getting an emergency fund together. Thats what I want. MBNA are the one Co, I want to sort something out with if poss. Will wait and see! I keep tellng myself, the only way is up. If I can survive the last 6 months, I can survive anything. And once more Im just so so grateful for my business, the ability to just go out and find more orders etc. This current financial situation is just not going to be like this forever!

Off to bed!

Verbatim

Keep going P & P! I'm sure an emergency fund is the security / safety net you need to give you peace of mind that you'll be able to cope when you are not so well or the bad weather sets you back.

Is your signature all your debt including the mortgage? How much of it is cc or loans? MNBA does seem to be one of the worst providers and unbudgeable. Have you looked into doing a balance transfer? There are some 0% deals at present which last for a year and more. If your credit rating is reasonable would you be able to get one of these deals? Then at least you'd be able to make inroads into the actual debt without any more interest being added.

I hope your Aunt's funeral goes well today. These things are always draining so be especially kind to yourself today. Take care.

V

beanielou

Hope it goes as well as it can do today.

Smart_Mart

Thinking of you today, PaF.....

taxi73

Hope it all goes well for you today x

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

Well, feel like Ive been away forever!

Yes, my signature is all my debt including everything, my mortgage, sec loans, credit cards, Overdraft. I just prefer it that way, keeps it simple in my head! My one consolation is if I sold my home tomorrow, everything would be paid off and I would have some left over. Thats not going to happen though. Bang! The debt will be gone!

Well, the funeral was just so amazing in that my aunt was pulled to the church in a carriage with 4 black horses with all the headress etc. She certainly stopped the traffic and deservedly so. My dad and one of my cousins did a recount of her life at the church and I sat there and thought if my family can say the same about me when Im gone I will have achieved big time. Yes, listening to their words made me find that determination and drive to never give up. My aunt was truely an inspiration. We all loved her so much.

Moving on, things are never dull in PAF land! The school has refered me and dd to Social Services without informing me first. My mum has been absolutely brilliant in helping me deal with it. The appt is on Weds, my mum and dd will be there too. It all stems from a letter I received two weeks ago from the school saying dd had been late 10 times in one term. Well, I was thrilled it wasn't any more!! I wrote to the school saying that I felt I was doing my best, I can not do anymore in my situation whilst on my own, and that is as it is. The next thing? A letter from Social Services. I called them, they want to discuss the late issue and "other issues"! What "other issues" I asked. It is best if we speak with you. Wept virtually all day wondering what on earth Ive done to be such a dreadful mother, and then mum got involved. She tel the welfare officer for the school who has since written to me with useless information that doesn't apply in my case. Apparently, dd has been crying at school, no one told me I said, why does that warrant a referral to Social Services? Dd is adamant she hasn't when I gently asked her. Im going to have a word with her teacher tom.

So, this am, I have been on the internet, Ive got some detail on the Disability Discrimination Act, Ive spoken to a customer who has fast become a very good friend who is also disabled and has had a heart transplant and who has shared the same frustration as me with dds school since the new head has arrived. Now, her dd is at a comprehensive school and the arrangement is just accepted that if she has a bad am getting up then she will get her dd into school a bit late. Thats the way it has to be. I am going to call the Human Rights Commission tom, another thing we want to raise is that the one disabled parking bay at the school has been cemented over and as my friend found out to her horror, she was told she could not use the car park to drop her dd off there anymore. Similarly, the new head has shut off the one external area for wheelchair use so another mum has to go through the school to collect her dd. To my mind, that does not "promote positive attitudes towards disabled people" as is detailed in the Disability Discrimination Act. It just says to me we are an inconvenience. Social Services want me to work with the school. How can I when we have been refered to them without consultation and they refuse to understand the implications of being disabled, and the info they do give is completely irrelevent. Wheres my voice to date? Nothing about my situation is new, Ive never lied or hidden the truth about anything, its only become an issue since the new head. I can only do my best and thats it. I am on the waiting list for an assessment for Direct Payments and that will take up to 3 months apparently. Anyway, so thats that! I think today is the first day since thursday I haven't cried about it all... yet!

I have my appt tom at the Advice Centre, am v excited, I think if I can get MBNA sorted, I will be fine. There is so much I need to be claiming more and looking into. My friend told me I should get a further discount off my council tax as I am disabled and have a stair lift, I should be getting a higher rate of care on my care component of DLA, to be fair the local disability assoc said that too, and when I was awarded the lower, we decided to leave it for fear if I reapply they could take it all away. At the time it felt such a fight to get it, I just couldn't go through it all again. Apparently, now that my DLA is awarded forever, that can not happen but I intend to check tom at this appt. I should also be getting chiropody sessions on the NHS. To date Ive been paying £30. Surely, the chiropodist would have known but I think I am just v niave. Anyway, it will all get sorted. My aunty came through many trials and tribulations! I am just so grateful for my mum, this is the sort of support I just need from her right now and she is there, not least she told me recently she and dad are v proud of me and that made me cry! Anyway, thats my essay for today! Making up for lost time ... On with the day and hopefully no tears if I start thinking about everything!

taxi73

HI PAF...sorry to hear about SSbut please don't take it too much to heart as from a couple of months ago ..the shools have had a new multi agency approach...my DD hadn't managed to get DGS to school on a few occasionsand the school called a welfare meeting..the wag officer,police and social services were there..he is 5 years old!!!!!!
SS siad he was perfectly looked after and the police told the education officer to get his and her bus pass sorted as that was the reason he wasn't at school...they had put him at a school 5 miles away!!!!
The school said the multi agency approach had become law since the deaths of children that had dropped out of school and off the radar.
So I can see the point but boy was I angry to start with as until it was explained to us we couldn't understand why the SS or police were there....
So this is why I say don't take it to heart.

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

I hear what you say taxi, but to me dd has 100% attendance. Its just that we are sometimes 5/10 mins late. And they have contacted me before, the school that is about this. They know the situation and they expect me to perform miracles as far as I can see. I can only do my best. Have contacted Young Carers Direct, and in their experience schools are happy to understand if a child is late due to a disabled parent. There are v few schools who react the way dd's school has. Have checked Disability Discrimination Act and the school are in breach of it if they are going to try and make me achieve miracles and not except the situation as it is. Am going to call Human Rights Commission today and just check with them my legal position in this. My mum is prepared to go to the local MP if need be! Anyway, better get on. Have been up since 6am today to get myself awake and up to try and not be late, get my limbs working and all that. It is a challenge to do this every am thats the thing as even though I set the alarm, it is not unknown for me to sleep through it and then thats when panic reigns trying to get dd to school. The tiredness issue is a really big thing here and I just have to go with the flow and take each day as it comes. Off I better go!