A fresh start

Seaxwyn

Hi Wordsmith! Thanks for your kind words, which I find really encouraging. I too get demoralised sometimes by how well some of the diarists cope with the challenges of life. I often feel I am muddling along and going backwards.

I decided not to stay with the writers' group. I was really pleased to be invited, and enjoyed planning my story, but the people aren't in the same situation as me - they all seem to have time and money to go off on writers' retreats and stuff. And every time we met up it meant buying gin and tonics. I had a bad weekend recently when the deadline for my story was looming and I had a big freelance project on and I got so stressed my skin actually started peeling off. So I decided then to give up attempting to write - or postpone it til later in life anyway.

Are you managing to do any writing, in between shopkeeping and freelancing?

The one thing keeping me sane at the moment is running. I have become really obsessed, and run three or four times a week with a friend who is, fortunately, equally obsessed.

hypno06

Happy Easter to you and yours, Seaxwyn!

Seaxwyn

And to you, Hypno! Enjoy your decorating

Karmacat

hypno06 wrote: »

Wordsmith - don't feel demoralised. Most of us don't cope as well as you think! We all have our very bleak, and very wobbly moments.....often frequent ones! What is good though, is that the people on here pull us through - they encourage us by reminding us of what we have already achieved, what positive things we have got going for us, etc, and it stops us from diving under the duvet never to be seen again!

I second this.

Seaxwyn wrote: »

Hi Wordsmith! Thanks for your kind words, which I find really encouraging. I too get demoralised sometimes by how well some of the diarists cope with the challenges of life. I often feel I am muddling along and going backwards.

Me too I can see a clear route ahead, but I can't quite manage to get to the start of that clarity :o:o

I decided not to stay with the writers' group. I was really pleased to be invited, and enjoyed planning my story, but the people aren't in the same situation as me - they all seem to have time and money to go off on writers' retreats and stuff. And every time we met up it meant buying gin and tonics. I had a bad weekend recently when the deadline for my story was looming and I had a big freelance project on and I got so stressed my skin actually started peeling off. So I decided then to give up attempting to write - or postpone it til later in life anyway.

Are you managing to do any writing, in between shopkeeping and freelancing?

The one thing keeping me sane at the moment is running. I have become really obsessed, and run three or four times a week with a friend who is, fortunately, equally obsessed.

Oof, Seaxwyn - thats tough. And I know what you mean about the other writers - when I was doing counselling training, lots of the other women were really well off middle class women in their 40s who were being financed by their *very* rich husbands. Completely different situation, they didn't really have a clue how other trainees lived, let alone their clients.

I wish I was obsessed by running!

taxi73

Well done on Sub £30k..that's great news.

buddiebabe

Happy Easter and congrats on being under £30K :j:j:j

Buddiebabe x

Seaxwyn

Hello All. I haven't been on for a while as I've been busy with other things and I've had nothing cheering to report on the money front.

It's been a very expensive month, with car repairs & MOT (OH's brother paid but his money got lost in OH's overdraft while I paid the garage), another £200 when OH filled our diesel tank with petrol (grrrrr) and £300 paid for DD3 to go skiing with friends.

My debt total has sailed back over the 30k mark and is well over 31 in fact - payday on Friday and am hoping against all the odds to be back under 30 for 1 May.

We have been living in my expensive NatWest overdraft, and I feel like I'm having yet another lightbulb moment facing up to the fact that we can't keep up with our outgoings. I have been doing freelance work and am this morning listing yet more books on Amazon, but getting back out of the overdraft is going to take more than that.

I am standing as a candidate in the local election next month. I shouldn't have agreed to do it as I don't have time to do it properly so it's just another thing making me feel guilty. Looking forward to that being over.

Otherwise, all good. Spring has sprung and it's a delight to be outside. A kind, generous friend has offered us her house for a week in the summer and we're all looking forward to that holiday.

Just must crack this money thing.....

Seaxwyn

Happy Mayday! My debt total today is £30,160.91. Yes that is £422.92 MORE than last month, ending an eight-month run of reduction.

Worst of all, my NatWest overdraft now stands at £1531.56. It's been rising steadily all year and I can't see how I can get out of it. £540 goes out of that account each month, and only £42 goes in, so I have to top it up with freelance work and Amazon sales. Both of which have been thinner on the ground in the last month.

Oh woe! I really can't see what to do!

Also, our boiler is malfunctioning and the radiators are hot all the time, we can't turn them off, so we are using up expensive gas for no reason.

At the moment I am putting all my energy into campaigning for the local election, that will be over on Thursday so I can get back to looking at my own economic deficit.

buddiebabe

Hey

Am sorry you're having a bad time of it. At least you have managed to total up your debt... i can't face mine yet

Good luck with your election campaigning. Im doing the counting for the election next week and i don't know if im looking forward to it but i really need the extra cash so will give it a go.

Thats not good about your radiators you really need to get your boiler looked at which may save you some money in the long run.

Buddiebabe x

Karmacat

You poor thing, Seaxwyn, thats really bad about the boiler - do you have the boiler on all the time? I know there are more of you than in my singleton household, but it sounds like while you're waiting for the boiler engineer, you might switch it off for most of the time ....

And the debt too .... I don't know how you can bear to spend energy on campaigning when you're so stressed, but I really admire you for it.

Buddiebabe - I did some stuff for the Greens at the byelections last year, standing there taking the numbers of people's poll cards - we were the only party who had enough volunteers to rotate that duty, which was quite fun when I realised and its not onerous, honestly. Standing up for that length of time is my biggest problem, I get backache.

I wish I had something constructive to say, Seaxwyn .... there's a structural problem, obviously, like mine has become structural. I hope you can find a positive way through this .