A fresh start

beanielou

Looking good.
Its going down

taxi73

definitely looking good as it's going down...doesn't matter which debt it's coming off at the end of the day.

Sea78

Agreed - it's down big time, which means you aren't debting further...which means that once the loans are paid off you'll be able to pay off the others and then eventually have that extra cash as money to actually spend!! Does OH feel buoyed by the reduction too?

Hope all is good with you xxxx

Karmacat

And another one chipping in .... its all heading in the right direction - the posts that are similar aren't repetitious, they're consistent. Thats completely different.

chevalier

You have to give yourself credit, for not INCREASING the debt. Even if you would have liked to have had lower overdraft etc totals by now, you have got a full time job which will help with that going forward.

I was thankful to read that you were going to continue full time. that will take some financial pressure off you at least. When do the loans finish? Can you use it as a spur that say you are only paying them for another 6 months or whatever? I imagine when you stop paying those, the other debt will go down so much faster!

I had an idea for you ref xmas 2011. Could you save your £1 coins? that way you would have a fair bit saved to buy your children something other than socks? Of course you would have to be disciplined not to delve into it though....

What came of your OH DR appt? did you mention to him about the having to go to bed early to avoid the blueghness in the morning? it is really important to do this - speaking from experience.

I wish you easy, lucarative freelance work, to assist with the full time work. I wish you an OH who has his own epiphany this year.

clear waters, safe arrival
chev

Seaxwyn

Thanks Chev! The loan has 22 more months to go. It's such a big monthly payment and the main reason why I struggle to live on my income. when that's finished, paying off the CCs will be a doddle (though of course I may have two daughters at university by then - eek!)

Thanks for the suggestion about saving £1 coins for Christmas. It doesn't feel right to keep coins out of circulation though. Any coin I get my hands on should go into reducing my overdraft. This year they had more than socks, I spent about £40 on each child and they were very happy with their presents.

I don't know what happened at the doctor's appointment. He got another prescription for citaloprim, which I don't think is making any difference. He has another appointment at the employment rehabilitation service on 12 Jan, from which I hold out more hopes. He has seemed a bit better recently, he has tackled a few DIY jobs and made a few sensible noises about paying his paper round tips into the bank against January's standing orders. I really hope he has an epiphany too.

Thanks for your good wishes.

Savvy_sewing

Routing for you.
Hugs, Mooloo

dfw844

Happy new year Seaxwyn, it's great to see the difference between January 2010 and January 2011's totals! Just think how much you will be able to throw at the credit cards once your loan finishes!

I'm also glad you've decided to give it 6 months at work - I think that's a really sensible solution. You may not enjoy the job that much, but there's no enjoyment in wondering where the next loan payment will come from either, so it seems like the lesser of two evils for the time being. However, I hope that with your positive new year attitude work might seem a little better too, especially with OH improving.

Anyway, just wanted to wish you and your family all the best for the New Year. dfw xxx

chevalier

really hope OH improves. sometimes the change in a person can be very gradual. i would take any improvement as sign the tablets are doing their job. give them at least 6 months to really make a difference and then reassess. The reason I mentioned the saving £'s idea is that you have seemed so stressed in past years about how to pay for xmas, and this would be a small way of relieving some of this stress.

in other news i saw this in the competitions forum
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2964964

about doing some writing to win stuff. maybe you can have a go at it?
chev

Seaxwyn

He's been on the citaloprim for more than six months already, with no discernable change. The doctor has now halved his dose.

Thanks for the competition link. I'd like to enter more writing competitions but dont find the time at the moment. There are so many other things to be written!

I'm helping my dad edit a book of local people's memories of World War II, which is interesting.

I saw a job advertised locally which would be a dream job in many ways. I'm not applying as it's £13k less than I'm earning at present, and I don't have the qualifications anyway. You need "a recognised environmental/conservation qualification (degree/HND/NVQ)". I am going to ring them up to find what kind of qualifications would be acceptable and maybe I could get an NVQ. As i have years and years of working life ahead of me, it would be worth investing in some training to get a different kind of job.