where to start?

saxysarah

gosh me 2!!

now to work on the march challenge to get in some extra cash to pay off the debts without worrying that i'm in an overspending spiral!
off to work later for 5 hours overtime - only 3 of which will count towards the challenge as i had to lose 2 hours this week in order to do training for childline! still 3 hours is better than nothing ;-)

saxysarah

hmmm i'm thinking i've done a lot of lurking round the boards today and posting and reading etc but i haven't actually picked up the phone and got a final figure for my smallest card which i could pay off - right now......mental paying of debts is no good so thats a slap on the wrists for me :mad:

fritillaria

Just wanted to say that I think you're doing brilliantly. Reading this thread has made me feel incredibly lazy! I think if you can find a way to afford them then a couple of little luxuries are well deserved.

My OH gave up smoking when I was pregnant with my daughter. He only smoked rollups but found the patches from the doctor really helped. I was amazed how well he coped!

Good luck with the £5 a day in March - I've joined that challenge too.

saxysarah

:paww thanks for that much appreciated suppport:p

will ring doc and make an appointment i've never tried patches so its gotta be worth a go!

best of luck with baby number 2:j

squeezymeplease

You're dead right, you have nothng to lose by going to your gp. The champix tablets actually stop you craving cigs, you get to a point (usually within the first 2-3 weeks) where even the thought of having one makes you feel like throwing up. It was hard, and when anything stressful came up, both df and I would almost kill each other just trying to find a release for our tension and anger, but tbh 6 months later we've both learnt that the cigs didn't relieve stress, but the 5 mins outside inhaling deeply was actually what calmed us down (just didnt realise we were doing this, to us we were just going for a fag lol). We still get just as stressed at some things as we did when we smoked, but now we can get through it without cigs as a crutch/solution iykwim.

And I second the having some treats, we tried to go without treats to save as much money as poss but we would end up so fed up we would blow all our money on pay day and end up even worse off debt wise. So now we have sky+ (albeit a limited package), have a few beers at home on a weekend, and a ready meal instead of take away (usually frozen pizzas and chips, and a yummy pudding). It's not as expensive as going out for a meal, movie and drinks, but we still feel we have something to look forward to at the weekend.

saxysarah

right then:j no more excuses i've put it off for years I resolve to ring the gp this wednesday (first free day) and attempt to make an appointment for quitting advice/patches etc

very scary makes me light up just thinking about it!!!!

chivers1977

I just wanted to say WOW! 1 child with 2 of us is a challenge, let alone 5 for a single parent. You seem to have everything sorted out.

I'd still look at the pressies though cos even with 5 £100 pm if you are "spending" another £100 of vouchers etc is still quite high., I know that teenagers want the best but that to me means a £100 pressie for christmas at the most......

saxysarah

But what can you really buy for £100? christms presents here generally consist of a stocking - (smaller now for the older ones) which has the usual underwear/pjs/smellies/slippers/trainers/school stuff/sweets/and a few 'sillies' I do most of this shoppings in wilkis/primark etcbear in mind that this is mostly stuff I would have to buy them anyway throughout the year so the xmas stocking bundle lasts them for a long time, but multiplied by 5 it adds up and when 1 xbox game is around £40 - well thats not really much of a present the oldest two have a budget of £300 on top which they generally select themselves and they are quite savvy at getting the most out of it - this is generally where all their branded clothing more expensive kit items comes from and i do it mostly online and get cashback. for the younger 3 the presents are generally bigger boxes etc and the £300 covers everything. when DS2 wanted a laptop two christmases ago it seemed like a tall order but using recon sites it was possible. I do have quite a lot of immediate family but the majority of their presents are hunted down bargains - I generally manage on xmas morning to fill my living room with presentsand the biggest challenge is getting in there to open them!


Christmas is a magical time here and tho it might sound like my kids are horribly spoilt they are appreciative of what they get and take a lot of pleasure from going out themselves and hunting down bits and pieces for me so I have lots of little bits to open too. We also as a family always do stuff like shoeboxes etc for those at christmas that dont have the luxury of enjoying such a good christmas. On top of that of course there is the christmas food shop althugh I will be cutting back on mince pies this year as I still have 2 boxes in the cupboard!!!

I always had this type of christmas as a child so I suppose that is one reason why our christmas runs this way but there is also a certain element of not wanting the fact that i've !!!!!!ed up my marriage(s) and seem to have a rather dysfunctional life mean my kids have to pay for it. Like I said they are appreciative kids when DS3 wanted a dslite one year my oldest had an immaculate one that he had bought and paid for himself a year previously - he gave it to me for DS3 in order to contribute to that years christmas which i thought was a really nice gesture. I have only ever put xmas on cards one year a long time ago and never now use credit to pay for it (my card bills are racked up from an australia trip several years ago with DS1/2and 3 XOH and his daughter)

A lot of people in these forums might be horrified if they visited me at christmas but as materialistic as it sounds its really worth every penny I work hard to achieve it and as long as I am able to provide it I will keep on trying (although i feel quite guilty now and am expecting a few disgusted replies)

katenut

Christmas sounds lovely at your house!! TBH I think you are justified in spending that if they are getting clothes etc with it, don't feel guilty. Your kids sound lovely too - not at all spoilt and very appreciative!!
For immediate family last year we did a five-pound challenge - we each spent a fiver on each other, I managed to get 8 presents out of the fiver for one of my brothers by using offers online, charity shops etc. It made Christmas Day good fun seeing what everyone had managed to get
I see you're also on the Olympic Challenge - my favourite challenge!

saxysarah

thanks for that I was expecting a barrage horrified replies from posters! The £5 family presents sounds like fun - a friend of mine does a thing where they buy really silly little things for noone in particular and number them - then they roll a dice to get a present - they do it for christmas afternoons when people come round and avoid having to but a particular present for every individual but still have lots of fun opening presents!

Off to pay my first bit of CC and make a start on my olympic challenge ;-)