Spirited's SOA & Diary

Spirited_2

Still not completely sorted out things, but I am making steady progress on it.

I treated myself to some of the infamous Star Drops yesterday and I've been trying it out today, I like it, but haven't done enough to be completely convinced yet. We popped into Aldi for the first time, really just to have a gander at the range and prices, picked up a cucumber for 30p and a naughty treat of stawberries.

We were unexpectedly invited to DH's mother for lunch yesterday, so we saved a little bit there. Gave us a chance to catch up with her and that side of the family, which is important since I don't get on with my lot terribly well.

OH isn't coping too well with the disappointment still, and I have drifted back into my role of caretaker, and I have to be careful that I don't get dragged down too.

Money wise, we've had a bit of a relief today. DH has checked what his bonus is going to be for the next week, and it's a lot more than usual as a big deal went through. This should cover our shortfall for this month and pay off some of the overdraft. DH has agreed for some of his Sharesave money to go into paying off the Marbles and Natwest Mastercards. This leaves us with the £830 on my 0% overdraft, the loan and the car finance.

We've sold more on ebay and uploaded a bunch of stuff - taking advantage of the 5p listing day. Again it's not stuff we'll miss too much. We are looking at getting hubby a new job, and getting me more work from home. We've switched the broadband down to £14.99 but have managed to stick with Eclipse on the same speed, we will just not be prioritised at busy times (i.e. no more deal or no deal entries :sad: ) this is great, we'll save over £100 a year, and we don't even have to change our email addresses! I phoned up (this is something I find difficult) South West Water, they say that our last bill was on estimate, so don't really want to decrease our payments till we have a metered reading, there is one due for June. We don't use a lot of water, so I can't see it being a problem.

Thanks for being here, it helps xxx

nadnad

i'm glad you feel you're getting somewhere - but are you getting enough support from your OH? it sounds like he leans on you a lot. I know he must be disappointed you didn't get your business loan but really its not an ideal for you to be getting into more debt right now - new businesses are stressful enough without already being in debt before you begin and I hope he understands this. I'm glad you feel you are getting support from this forum but you need his support too so make sure you are getting it.

Also you mention that your OH has agreed to use "some" of his share money for your debts - it sounds like he's not thrilled with the idea. At the end of the day these are joint debts and you have a shortfall - him having all that money in a share scheme is doing you no good right now and so I hope he understands this as well.

I just hope he's not putting all the pressure on you to sort out this problem because you need to have help as well.

Anyhow i've gotta go now but I'll look back in later and see if I can come up with anything else that you can do.

Take care of yourself

Spirited_2

Gosh, I'm as high as a kite. DH bought (I know) the local paper last night as it was jobs night. He pointed out a job to me that was 'perfect' a casual library job. I phoned up the main librarian today and she sounded very nice. The job doesn't pay very well and it will only be short hours on the school holidays and it's only a small library - but do you know what, that's fine!

I can't wait to get on with writing up a CV/letter and posting it out to her. I think it would really give me the gentle break in I need to the 'world of work' again. It's a small place, I'd be surrounded by books (my first love) perfect for someone just getting over an anxiety disorder. I could combine it with work that I can do from home (like website design) and it would curb my amazon spending habit.

The best thing about it is that even if it doesn't work out, and I don't get the job, I feel like I could get another job, the possibilities are just stretching out in front of me... which for someone who has spent too long being depressed and anxious is bloody brilliant.

I think I might treat myself to a bike, probably not the £200 one that I'd love out of Halfords (money saving!), but a decent second hand one would do. That way I could get into work without paying extortionate bus ticket prices (ha!) and get some well needed exercise.

I felt so good about this all that I went out for a short walk (I haven't left the house alone in months!).

Sorry if this is all a bit too personal and not enough about money, but I need to tell someone.

As for DH, well, he's depressed, and I know know how he feels. He's also been looking after me very well, and I think he's beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel again, reading your post helped.

Total Ebay Sales: £118.37 Current Items at: £14.98 so far.

I'm going to write up a letter to the library and then get on with tidying up (and ebay/amazon hunting) my study.

lazy&indebt

Don't apologise for telling us! You should be very proud of yourself! I know how difficult it is to overcome an anxiety disorder so you have done really well. I hope you get this job. You deserve it.

nadnad

Spirited thats great - I'm so glad for you you seem to have made a breakthrough and even the tone of your post sounds so much happier! Make sure you write up a cracking CV and knock their socks off.

Oh and you never have to apologise on here - we're just all so glad you're doing well!!

fairylights_2

Spirited

You are doing really well - sounds like you've both been through the wringer a bit.

One thing that occurs to me with your broadband - have you checked virgin? We're with them for 14.99 and it's a monthly rather than 12 month contract. We went with them when we moved house rather than get stuck in a contract in the hope prices would drop and each time the prices have changed we've down-graded our package.

Might be better access than what you currently have?

Spirited_2

Thanks very much for the support guys xxx

I suppose I must be putting off coming up with this figure, but I can't seem to get all the information I need. So I've decided to post up what I've got, if I need to amend it later then I can do.


£20,151 :eek: this is not including any student loan.

This figure is made up of only three (two rather large) debts.

1. £811 - the old Household Bank Card (was 19.9%) now stuck on my OD (0%)
2. £10,329 - DH Natwest Bank Loan (5 years, 4 and a bit left to run) the payments for this are fixed, so if we make an overpayment it just reduces the term, not the payments or the interest.

3. £9,011 - This is the outstanding balance on the Car finance. We have just over a year of £314 monthly payments left to make, followed by a final payment of ~£3300. Again, from what I can tell, this looks fairly fixed (i.e. paying the balance off earlier won't affect the interest paid as it was calculated at the begining. But I'll see if I can find some paperwork which details the effect of over payments.

Money wise, we should have about £2000, maybe a bit more after all our overdrafts (bar the 0% one) are paid off. What do we do with this money? Does it go into a savings account untill we can pay off one of the balances in full? I take it we still have to be careful with money and not let the fact it seems relatively manageable fool us - I still remember the card being refused at the checkout and the disappointment at having to put off our business dreams.

We still need to tackle the overspend, and my earnings (or lack there of).

The broadband has seemed fine really. I even entered Deal/No deal today, so it can't be that bad, I think we'll stick with it unless we notice a terrible difference but thanks for the tip.

I'd love to get rid of the Bank loan and the Car finance monthly payments (£194 + £310) as between them we could almost pay the rent! It would really take the pressure off and allow us to get on with our lives. I think with the car though, unless we get into dire straights, it would be worth getting to the end of the finance, paying the outstanding amount and keeping the car. It's a fuel efficent car, reliable and would do us for many many years as a family, it's relatively cheap to run (not to finance!) and we've put in a lot of money to it it. Obviously if push comes to shove we'll need to get rid, but I suppose I'd rather have the next 12 months b a bit tight, than get a second hand car which is dearer to run for the next five years.

Spirited_2

The last few days we haven't been good, we've burnt two meals and splashed out on three takeaways (one £10, the other two £3). It didn't help that I thought we'd be able to go shopping again by now, and so our meal plan was only till Sunday. DH does not have a day off till Thursday.

That said, I've now made £162 on Ebay, and have another 10 items finishing within the hour (unfortunately most for small amounts). So not great and I've still got to sit down with a spreadsheet and get things sorted.

So overall, I've made a decent start, but there is a long way to go, thanks for all of your advice and support so far, I wouldn't have gotten as far as I have without you all, even when I've just been reading the other threads it helps.

moozie_2

Hello spirited

I've just read your thread and wanted to congratulate you on coming such a long way in such a short time. You are battling more than one issues and you are doing really well. I hope you feel quite pleased with your efforts.

Don't worry about the meals. It is a small blip in the grand scheme of things and it could have been a lot worse!

Let's hope tebay keeps making you some £££ and I look forward to hearing how you got on with that letter and CV for the library. Good luck vibes coming your way

I look forward to your next update

Spirited_2

I haven't updated in a while, mainly because I've been having a bad month or so where my health is concerned, and have chickened out of applying for jobs. I'm still relearning about how to look after myself and leave the house etc. so I don't feel able to hold down a job.

Our finances aren't looking too great as I haven't had the energy to keep up with them, though I also haven't been spending directly (though DH got me a game and has been supplying me with chocolate). I also haven't been feeling up to meal plans or shopping lists, so that area has slipped a bit too.

On the other hand we are still in a better position than we were before LBM as we have cut down on a lot of unnecessary spending (the gym, magazine subscriptions, etc) and now have no credit card debts (grr @ the card which we forgot to cancel which charged us £0.03 PPI and then gave us £3.72 in interest ). The savings we had have begun to dwindle though, as you'd expect from doing a half-job on sorting out living within our means. I'm determined to get that sorted before we end up in nasty debts again (ok, the consolidation loan is nasty, and the car finance isn't exactly pleasant, but you know what I mean).

On a positive note I have re-joined the local library (Amazon was one of my weaknesses) and haven't bought a book since. I'm looking to join a local wildlife group, which should help give me something to do outside the house without much expense. I do still want a bike but I'm holding out for a bargain - who needs a shiny new bike that's more likely to get stolen anyway - but I will buy a cycle helmet as that's more important.

Sorry that I'm not an immediate success, but I think if I hang around with you lot more often, maybe some good habits will rub off.