Life is throwing lemons at me....

Lucifa73

As the title says, life has chucked me a few lemons over the past few months - redundancy and post natal depression being the most significant of them.

It has also passed me a couple of peaches though. The biggest being my 9 month son (Nathan). He and my husband are the sunshine in my day:D

So I was made redundant at the end of January, just as my maternity leave was due to start. Part of the settlement was maternity pay up to the end of August, being when I was intending to return to work. This left me in the strange position of being able to look for a new job but not claim JSA, which meant my PPI couldn't be used...

Anyway, some 10 months later the money we had hoped would be a boost to our deposit savings is almost gone and I am seriously jobhunting. My silver lining is the extra time I've had with Nathan, and tbhI am secretly delighted to have got that - there are always ways to get by, but you can never have the time over;)

So why the new diary now and not months ago when all this started? Well at the weekend I reached pretty much the lowest ebb ever and now, having (I hope) taken the first few steps on the upcurve I feel its time to start afresh.




Now, we can manage on Hubbles' salary with a bit of JSA and child benefit to top us up but it is going to require discipline, especially on the food front. I'm not going to post an SOA at this point as I have been on here long enough to know where the flexibility is and what I need to do to cut costs. Measures taken include:

• activating PPI now JSA has started,
• moving to interest only on the mortgage,
• deferring student loan repayments,
• moving from contract mobile to PAYG,
• cancelling contact lenses (I have 6 month supply in hand and if I still have no job by then ...
• Having an old fashion housekeeping pot (£25pw) in addition to one big shop a month (about £100) to feed us and the cat, buy cleaning materials and get other essentials (nappies, loo roll etc)

So onwards and upwards.

Now, pass me the tequila and salt:D

hypno06

**passes tequila and salt**

I have been using the old fashioned "housekeeping" for a couple of months, having tried every other sort of discipline over the last few years, and the weekly housekeeping is working really well for us.

Once you find whatever method works for you, it is much easier than the bumbling through we end up doing otherwise!

redsquirrel80

Sounds like a plan! Good luck lovely lady x

jo1972

Lucifa73 wrote: »

pass me the tequila and salt:D

Bit early , but you know, each to their own and all that :rotfl:

Good luck with your shiny new diary, I'll be back later to read properly
xx

Lucifa73

Hurrah - progress:j
Okay before I get all carried away it is just the first step but I have had a positive response on one of the job applications I submitted this week :j hopefully will get an interview out of it. Now waiting for job spec to come so I can have a look see:D

sallyx

:wave: hello happy shiney new diary and Luc

Im also using a seperate purse for housekeeping and only taking that money out each week, once its gone its gone! It seems to be working so far and I have spent far less money. Hope it works well for you too and that there is good news on the job front soon
xx

Lucifa73

Thanks Sal. Nice to see you here (I shall be v. jealous if everyone goes to see Maz and not me:p)

The housekeeping thing has worked well for the last 2 weeks so we shall carry on with it:D

The lady on the phone was very nice to speak to. She is going to make enquiries on my behalf on a confidential basis:D

cat4772

Luc - remember that at our lowest point we can ONLY go upwards (or my personal favourite, that the day is never darker than just before dawn)!

I'm also trying out an oldfashioned housekeeping jar to see if I can more adequately control the flow of money - good luck with this and EVEN MORE luck for the job seeking front!

cat.x

(Land_of)_Maz

Lucifa73 wrote: »

(I shall be v. jealous if everyone goes to see Maz and not me:p)

my ears were burning! So here i am! No show without punch!

I think i need to have a housekeeping purse too... sounds like a brill idea!

Now you do realise i shall be popping back frequently to steal other ideas!

Loved the bit you wrote about Nathan and Hubbles being peaches! how lovely!

*1 piece of diary housekeeping advice. Make your own entries in a different colour to all the other posters... after all it's your entries that should stand out. And it's useful when you read back later....

Snaggles

Happy new diary, happy new fresh start. I do admire the way you have just kept on bouncing back this year, but let's hope for a less stressful 2010.

Lucifa73

This is NOT an excuse to go purchase a shiny new Radley ( I still don't get it) though ladies...