I'm tackling my debts in 2010

emmie26

Aghhh I've been avoiding looking at all my bank account becuase I didn't want to know what was going on ignorance is bliss so they say, however, I have just bitten the bullet! Now in my warped mind I was thinking well because I haven't looked there might be some suprise payments having gone in, however as this is the real world there were no miracle deposits and I am about the same amount overdrawn this month as I was last month which is rubbish I was hoping that I would be able to clear the overdraft this month as it was only a couple of hundred.

Me and hubby have been really naughty all month we really need to re-focus because we have not really brought anything just spent lots of little bits on absolutely nothing of value such as coffee's out (smack my wrist) and packets of ready made cookies (smack hubby's wrist).

I suppose we have been really good for 3 months and it could not continue without a blip, but I am still really peeved!

Anyway am about to go and get some meat out of the freezer phase one of getting back on track means menu planning I have not been doing that for a while.

emmie26

well two lots of good news today, the parents in law came around for the first bbq of the season, and gave us £500 towards doing our living room, hubby also broke the news that he has been given a £500 bonus(£650 before tax), as the company has done really well and hubby has not had a day off sick all year! Just as I was feeling really rubbish something comes along to cheer me up :j
Have been a bit naughty again though today I've brought my son two pairs of shoes, some summer sandal type things and a pair of trainers as he has started football on a monday night and his other trainer type things were not sport shoes at all but were more for fashion, that came to the grand total of £30:o. As well as this I spent about £15 on food for the bbq, but this was money well spent my family and hubby's family came around and it was a really lovely day.
Living room is coming along nicely, we have chosen a wallpaper and my father in law is coming around on monday to put it up with hubby. Tomorrow we need to go and get the paint for the other walls we have about £30 left of the household budget and next months budget starts on monday anyway so we could take a bit of that if needed.
I don't know if its getting a bit of sun on my face or the fact that living room is finally showing signs of progress, but I'mfeeling really good

Radish72

Yeah :j

Buying shoes for your children is not naughty and is an essential need, so stop feeling naughty, don't make me wag my finger at you

So with the gift and bonus (well done hubby) does that mean you have enough to finish the living room?

I'm typing this after a afternoon on the beer and a huge kebab (BF now snoring), why can men fall asleep in nanoseconds, oh well more wine for me

Its defo the sun, it makes everything feel so right

Keep up the good work, looking forward to the report on the living room :j

InaPickle

Sounds good, Emmie - well done!

And well done on managin to fit decorating and a new fireplace into a tight budget. That can''t be easy at all. :T

emmie26

Well I've had a very productive day today and all at no cost to me (hubby got his purse out for some of it).

Planted potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, strawberries, sweetpeas and sunflower seeds (most of these seeds were free after a promotion in the local paper). We started the veggie patch last year, it isn't really that much of a money saver but I enjoy doing it and the children really enjoy messing in the soil, finding worms and other such creepy crawlies, There is also nothing better than going out on a sunday afternoon with the children and picking some veggies for dinner, yum!

Have also painted the ceiling in the living room, it was the 2nd coat, but needed doing today as the wallpaper is going on tomorrow, we have picked the colours for the rest of the walls, but I cannot for the life of me decide what to do about the damn fire. I am alternating between just wanting to get the cheapest one that I can find (that I like) or going for my dream fire, a beautiful, timeless, cast iron one (which will be loads more expensive). I wake up thinking about it and I go asleep thinking about it. I know I should go for the cheap one (I've seen one I like in b&q for £399) but we have done the rest of the house up with no expense spared (hence the debt) and it is the last room so I keep thinking we should just finish it off exactly how we want it so once it is done we don't have any regrets. I will have to ponder this a bit more :think:.

I get paid tomorrow so have just done aprils summary with hubby, disappointing but am not putting it on here yet because I haven't checked my overdraft today and I want to be sure I have the exact figures. Here's hoping next month will be a better one;).

emmie26

Aprils summary

Food budget [STRIKE]£200[/STRIKE] £230
Petrol [STRIKE]£80[/STRIKE] £120

Debt repayments

Overdraft [STRIKE]£260[/STRIKE]£306 :eek:
Overdraft 2 £600
Santander [STRIKE]£2925[/STRIKE] £2558
Car loan[STRIKE]£886[/STRIKE] £748
Barclaycard [STRIKE]£4917.75[/STRIKE] £4802.75
Halifax £0

Total Debt £9,014.75

Debt reduced by £574:eek:

Amount repaid in 2010 £3,635 :T

I am gutted about this but am not going to dwell on it too much the truth is me and hubby took our eye of the ball for a month and somewhere along the line ended up £400 down on last month. I will not let it happen again .

Radish72

emmie26 wrote: »

Aprils summary



Total Debt £9,014.75

Debt reduced by £574:eek:

Amount repaid in 2010 £3,635 :T

I am gutted about this but am not going to dwell on it too much the truth is me and hubby took our eye of the ball for a month and somewhere along the line ended up £400 down on last month. I will not let it happen again .

That is still a huge amount for 1 month (and gives an average of £900+/month)

But if this has inspired you for the next few months, then :T:T:T

emmie26

gee thanks radish!

I didn't reply sooner because I had some crazy person sending me weird private messages saying I was disgusting for being in so much debt and threatening to kill me, freaked me out a bit at first but I've reported it to martins little helpers so hopefully he will be kicked off the site!

Had a productive day today done a monthly shop so the cupboards and fridge freezer are packed to bursting spent £110 of the £200 budget for food but I really have got loads. Been invited to a few days/nights out over the next week or so which is going to be a challenge for me as I am now back on the wagon. First one is this friday with work colleagues, I am going to drive so shouldn't cost me too much I will just have to pay £7.50 for my ticket. Next one is next tuesday meeting up with an old school friend for a meal in the evening, I've planned for my son to go to one of his friends houses for tea and I am going to see if the restaurant will let my daughter share a meal with me as she barely eats anything anyway, I know it makes me look like a skin flint but I don't care. Third one is my friends birthday this will be the most costly, we have to pay £11 each for me and hubby and then pay for drinks once we are there so I am going to have to be really careful I think this is on the 12th May so I will have to see how finances are looking at this stage as to wether hubby has to drive or not (I am definately not driving, it is my friends birthday and I am rubbish at drinking, 2 glasses of wine and I'm anyones unlike my husband who can put quite a few away before he's had enough meaning he is a very expensive date).

By the way I still can't decide what to do about the fire it will be winter agin before we make our minds up :cool:

BLT_2

emmie26 wrote: »

gee thanks radish!

I didn't reply sooner because I had some crazy person sending me weird private messages saying I was disgusting for being in so much debt and threatening to kill me, freaked me out a bit at first but I've reported it to martins little helpers so hopefully he will be kicked off the site!


:cool:

Sadly the freak will probably come back again under a different nickname. Its probably the weirdo who started up a thread a day or so ago and then started giving personal abuse to all and sundry who contributed

One of the evils of the internet is the fact that people can hide behind a pseudonym.

InaPickle

emmie26 wrote: »

gee thanks radish!

I didn't reply sooner because I had some crazy person sending me weird private messages saying I was disgusting for being in so much debt and threatening to kill me, freaked me out a bit at first but I've reported it to martins little helpers so hopefully he will be kicked off the site!

OMG that's awful! I don't know who that idiot is, but they evidently have no guts if they are only prepared to PM people in order to slag them off. They should have said whatever they said in the open on your thread so that we could have mauled them for you. :cool:

Anyway, onto nicer things...good to hear about the shopping. Don't worry too much about last month: the debt was still going down, even if not at the rate you were hoping for cos at least it's still going in the same direction and it will help you refocus on what you are doing.

And now, young lady, this fire you keep mentioning. I can understand your desire to get a beautiful fire for your front room to 'finish off' your house, but since you say that a lot of your debt was incurred by doing up your house, do you think your mindset to money has yet changed enough to get the posher fire and still whittle down your debt? Is your house your Achilles' heel which drains your finances in the quest for the perfect home surroundings? If you get this fire can you see there being a next 'must have' item for the house, or will you have the mental and financial strength to stop yourself from thinking in that way and buying something else? Will this truly be the end?

I don't mean to sound harsh asking those questions, but I think they need to be asked in order to help you refocus on what your long-term goals are. However, it's only you who can decide what they are. Personally, I'm finding that the goalposts have changed a lot for me since I started this DF journey. I'm questioning the value of what I would have once bought much more thoroughly.

Keep going, Emmie - and any would-be stalkers don't mess with her else we will virtually maul her on her behalf!