Hypno's "just for today" diary of rediscovery.

hypno06

Thanks, but it is very definitely a case of needs must. There is absolutely no room for manoevre, and I have a car MOT to fit in there somewhere along the lines. Whilst I have the cash for the actual test, I have no money anywhere to cover any work that needs doing, so I will have to keep my fingers well and truly crossed there!

So.....I have the children on board with the envelopes, and between us we will be as frugal as we possibly can be. Hopefully my courgettes will produce fruit soon - every little helps!

Nelmer

Hi Hypno,

You sound very organised!

Can I ask you....with all your experience what would be your personal tips/favourite ways of money saving/making/monitoring that you have come across?!

x

hypno06

Hmm, well my best ways, and most productive ways, would be either having the students in, or having a second job (in my case, bar work), but both require commitment in order to get the money coming in regularly enough to get the debts down.

In terms of flexibility, matched betting and ebaying, although you have to be in the mood for both those, as you do with car boots, dooyoo etc.....so if you are procrastinator, there is always another day to do them, whereas if you have agreed to be behind the bar at 6pm on Saturday, then you will be there!

I have to say, though, that my personal favourite was the mad free bingo weekend that we had about 2 and a half years ago - a whole weekend of working through those lists of sites, playing through a free £1 or £10 and depositing to withdraw whatever pennies we had won! It ended up being quite a laugh as both me and OH sat at opposite ends of the sofa, armed with laptops, thinking of about a hundred different user names!

Ahhhh, those were the days :rotfl:

But probably the biggest thing, going forward, and which takes up most of my time now, MSE-wise, is simply budgeting, rebudgeting, recalculating, and being more careful. There is little point in making £50 at a car boot sale, if your budgets are out by £100.....

taxi73

Some good tips there....I remember the bingo times well.lol...
There is loads more I should be doing as well...mealplanning and budgetting being the main ones..mmm

angelaf_3

All that sounds very organised. I hope everything goes well till Wednesday (obviously I mean I want things to go well for you after Wednesday but you know what I mean).

I can't wait for my week off in July so I can perhaps get a handle on my cunning plan (once I've thought of it) because everything feels totally out of control at the mo.

hypno06

I think at this stage of my journey, and in the situation I am in, it is more and more vital to ensure I can work with what I have got. As we all know, we can't possibly know what is in the future, eg illness, redundancy, separation, and other factors such as the possible loss of child benefit, etc. But we CAN keep a closer eye on what we have and to make that work for us.

I know now, that I have no one else to fall back on, no one to help produce an extra income, and sometimes I feel like doing the MSE moneymaking stuff, sometimes I am sick and tired of doing it, and just want to be.....

So, if I just want to be....and want to be able to be that way going forward, then I simply have to be organised in my budgets, in my meal planning, and know exactly what is coming in, and exactly what is due out.

I may then get some extra income from time to time, which will be a bonus, but I can no longer rely on this, and I have little or no control over many of the external factors mentioned above, so it makes sense for me to focus on what I can do with what I have got!

misselvis

hypno06 wrote: »

I suppose at least by doing her DVD you know you are doing the workout of someone who really does know what they are doing, rather than of a celebrity who is endorsing a fitness regime that they probably don't even complete themselves!

I had Nell's DVD and used it so much had to replace it. I agree that she is somewhat bland and sometimes I need to put up my own radio to drown out their music choice but my word she does get the heart pumping and it works - you can get the DVD's second hand for under £5 cheaper than a gym membership. :j

misselvis

sorry forgot to add this in my previous mail but I can totally empathise with what you are saying. I don't have kids but its that realisation that the buck stops with you. my mum says I am sometimes a bit too focused but as much as I know they are around to help I truly believe I had to take charge and there are no atm fairy godmothers lurking around. keep doing what you are doing each time you start a new day it's a new beginning and new horizons of unlimited possibilities.

hypno06

New Horizons of Unlimited possibilities.

I like that

elantan

yes it does have a certain ring to it doesnt it ... would be good on a business card me thinks