Hypno's approach to life, the universe and debtbusting.....

hypno06

Chapter 8 is upon us.......I know it is not that long since I started chapter 7.......but I feel as though I have been a bit in "no man's land" over the last couple of months.....and over the last few days I have started to feel a bit more aware of how I need and want things to be.

So....the story so far is thus.

Bought a house, it fell down, tried to sue surveyor but we had to pay for rebuild, couldn't borrow on the mortgage because it was falling down so now in negative equity, borrowed on cards and loans to do the work, felt depressed, sold the house but didn't cover the debt, rented for a year, bought another house that hasn't fallen down, robbed Peter to pay Paul for many years in the meantime, never making progress. Debt on top of mortgage = £100k.

Dad died suddenly, giving me major kick up the backside, life's too short, blah, blah, blah, walked away from work, went self employed, somehow managed to pay everything, rented spare room to foreign students, discovered MSE, had bigger kick up the backside, started focusing, bought stardrops and microfibre cloths, tried flylady but failed once or twice , entered challenges, learnt matched betting, went mad playing free bingo glglglgl lucky lemons, learnt that a snowball is more than a handful of frozen water, and started to make progress.

Went one step forwards, two back but stuck with the great people of DFW and now go one back and two forward.....most of the time. Battles with Egg, Barclays, bank charges, travel insurance claims (didn't pay out after my bags got pinched :mad:) all helping to keep me occupied in my ample spare time :rolleyes: Went back to work, with a salary, payslip and everything!

Stockbroker, 38, stressed and very tired, married to a hardworking OH for 19 years, who works all the hours available, but still has yet to find out that you can get a balance of the bank account from the cash machine, and that there is no need to ring me to ask "which account shall I pay for petrol on" every time, with two sports mad teenagers, who happen to be quite good at one of the most expensive sports on earth, useless at housework but have got rid of the sock pile and reclaimed dining room from the ironing.....longing for the day a cleaner fits into the budget, still doing bits and pieces of self employed stuff, and ran the London Marathon in April.....training in my ample spare time :rolleyes:

Debt now £26.5k....aiming for debt free by Easter, 7 diary chapters completed, still putting soda crystals in washing powder to make it go further, mystery shopping in lunch-hours, and my £20 that I took out of the bank the Friday before last still hasn't been used up entirely.

Think that sums up the last few years :rotfl:

Anyway.......:rolleyes: As I mentioned above, I feel as though I have been a bit in "no man's land" over the last couple of months....but things have become a little clearer in my mind recently....so the next post will go into that in a bit more detail for anyone who is remotely interested!!!

shaun40400

:j:j
NOT READ IT YET JUST WONT TO BE FIRST POST :p

EDIT ...WOOOPIEEEEEE

SarahNeedle1872

Anyone who's remotely interested...!?! We are ALL interested!! I'm sure there are far more lurkers on your diary than you realise!! Good luck with the next chapter...

Sx

SarahNeedle1872

shaun40400 wrote: »

:j:j
NOT READ IT YET JUST WONT TO BE FIRST POST :p

EDIT ...WOOOPIEEEEEE

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

[Deleted User]

Happy new shiny diary Hypno.

Tea
x

ClootiesMum

Not remotely interested , but really, really interested :j:j.
And from lurking for a long time, can I just say that you're one of the friendly faces who makes me realise I'm not a real saddo .

Best of luck with Chapter 8 & I look forward to keeping up with you.

Take care

CM

The_Dragon

Happy new diary Hypno! and happy debt busting and China saving as well!

lilmissmup

Hello, found you

Hope your new diary helps you achieve what you need.

babyhead

:j:j YAY! Chapter 8!!! :j:j

* subscribes *

Good luck Hypno.

shaun40400

OK
now ive read it
its actually quite funny (except for the bit about your dad of cause) but as we regulars know ...(wow im a regular? ......is that sad??) it hasn't been a barrel of fun.
to be perfectly honest i think you've been more of an inspiration too so many others,those who pop in now again and say "been reading your dairy,,,wow" or the lurkers who probably outnumber us 1000's to 1,or the insane ones who can actually see this dairy(ref to last dairy and hogworts)
no mention of the stress or er stress or the courage and devotion and great human endeavour that is required to say no









when the call comes around in the office for bacon butties:rotfl::rotfl:

you don't have to be baaaaarrrking to read this dairy,
but it sure as hell helps if you are:rotfl::rotfl::cool:
happy new dairy mrs,,,,,,,

hypno06

So....over the last few years, we have bumbled through - never having enough to make the budget balance on paper, yet alone in practice, but somehow managing to get by.

One of the things that I have been openly criticised for, is that we spend a lot of money on skiing and school trips. This is important to us. It is not the fault of the children that we got into this situation, and I feel very strongly that they get opportunities without being spoilt. We have been faced with people who say we shouldn't be spending money on these things, yet these same people don't perhaps realise that our children don't have games consoles, or watch Sky because we don't have it. They don't realise that our children are happy to sacrifice every single Christmas present and birthday present, from everyone, not just from us, in order that they can go and ski, or go to China....that our children are happy to get up early every single day to do paper-rounds, come rain or shine, to earn their own money to contribute and to save up for their own things, are happy to share their home, even their room, with paying foreign students. Our children are far from spoilt, but I understand why people might think that they are....those people are welcome to come and spend time with us and see the real hypno family!

I have also, for the first time in a long time, got a family holiday to look forward to this summer. We've also had a fab time in London on Marathon weekend, and went to see Take That - all paid for with money earnt the MSE way.

But I still have things that need to be addressed, and these things are becoming more and more important to me.

We have work to be done on this house - window frames that are rotten through, trees that need the attention of someone that knows what they are doing, a driveway that needs work doing to it etc. These jobs have been put off year after year because there is always something more important than getting a skip in, or hiring a chainsaw....or at least that is how it has seemed. I need to get this work done, though, because I want to move house....and without the work done the value of the house would be significantly lower than it should be, and to do the work at the last minute to get it ready to sell would be obvious that we have "tarted it up for sale" and demoralising that we would be paying money to get the house nice and not had the benefit of being in it while it is nice..........if that makes sense!

And we have had no savings.....every penny has gone to the debt, or to skiing, or whatever.......meaning if the car dies, there is no provision to repair it. If one of us loses a job, there is no buffer to fall back on. This has started to bother me more and more.

So.....The realistic budget now includes provision for:

- skiing
- family holidays and trips away
- Home improvements
- Savings

Standing orders have been set up for all the above - in the hope that I can stop bumbling along, somehow managing to cover everything, and instead have proper designated accounts that money goes into in advance, and which covers the things that we need it to cover.

I want to let the children ski. I want them to be able to go on school trips. I want to have a new window or two before winter sets in, and I want to drive my car knowing that if I need to take it to the garage, I do not need to have a sleepless night worrying about what it might cost.

The debtbusting has slowed recently - while I pay for DD to go to China, and for DS to have gone to Norway.....and I feel very comfortable with that.

However, I still want to be rid of this debt by Easter to allow me to start paying off the mortgage, which is currently interest only, and looking to move house to the dream house.

So, it is a case of work smarter now, not necessarily work harder.

As I was making lunches for our current two students, I realised that I need to think of this more as a job. I am disciplined at work. I can do what I need to do when I need to do it. I need to realise that I have more than one job. I have a job 8am to 6pm in an office, but I also have a job working irregular hours outside that, and a business to run.

The three students that I have in July will bring in £700. That is a wage for some people. It is more than a bit of useful cash, it is an income. That income needs to be earned, just as my salary is earned. The same goes for the download site.....bank charge claims, insurance claims, and even writing dooyoo reviews etc.

Once I realised that this is what it is.....it all felt much better. I felt much more in control of things, and I could see the future plans, and budgets a lot clearer.

I am sure this makes no sense to some people! But it makes sense to me, and so it is my new approach......for the time being at least.

DD will go to China in October. DS will go skiing for as many weeks as we can manage in winter. I will have windows that don't let the water in.....and we will be debt free by Easter......

Whether OH has worked out that you can get a balance from the cash machine by then is, however, debateable!!!!