A Trolley full of yellow . . .

cloud_cuckoo_land

Hiya,

Well I've decided to start a diary to try and keep a record of the little things I'm doing to try and save money and sort my debts out!

The title relates to my weekly "Budget" shop at Morrisons where almost my entire trolley in Morrisons Value brand which is bright yellow.

My story is a complicated one but I'll try and cut it as short as I can, I'm 30 with 3 children and a husband. The kids are 3, 10 and 11 and are generally good but driving me mad today!! My hubbie is lovely but a pain and I'm a softie when it comes to him - he always asks me and I just can't say no. He never believes me when I say we haven't got ANY money either. Bless him! It's only been recently that I've been able to be truly honest with him about the state of our finances - and he has been really supportive.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with Bi Polar disorder which basically means very severe mood swings, my problem in the past has been that when I was "Up" I would go on spending sprees but not really buying very much - always for the kids or the house; and when I was "Down", I would wallow in buying chocolate and junk food and ringing in sick for work - which I didn't get paid for.

Things have changes a lot over the past year, I've had my medication sorted out and have been an avid reader of these forums although never having had the guts to write anything myself. Through advice from these forums though, I managed to reclaim over 4,000 pounds in bank charges and have been playing daily scratchcards for over 2 years which has netted me over 1200 pounds, unfortunately that doesn't seem to have dented my debts so I'm pushing things up a notch.

I've recently got myself a new, better paid (and much more stressful) job and am hoping to keep working part time on a saturday in my current job, we have a lodger too so all this put together should help to get these debts cleared.

I'm hoping to actually get on with my allotment because although I've had it for 2 years, I've only ever managed to make a plate of mash with it!

OK, anyway, today I've taken a jar of lose change to HSBC's coin sorting machine which should go towards my overdraft, I've been shopping for birthday presents for the 3 year old and not gone over budget or bought anything I didn't need. I've cooked dinner using leftovers from Friday and last night and am planning to make a birthday cake for littlun once they've gone to bed.

Please give me some moral support and a kick up the backside when you feel appropriate - lol!!

Thanks for reading.

PS, If no one reads this - never mind - I'll carry on writing it for my own benefit - it will help to realise how much I'm focussing on my debts.

BEAT_THE_DEBT

Hi i can totally understand i have had bipolar all my life but only now medicated properly.x Good luck. I still spending moods also on house and ds, but better.x

cloud_cuckoo_land

Thanks for replying, feel all excited now coz someone's read it!! lol

I don't think I realised at the time how much the BP affected my spending, but looking back on it now it's so obvious that the times when things were hardest were the times when I really went for it!!

So much better now though, although I still feel myself getting a bit wobbly when I haven't had enough sleep or had to deal with a lot of stress.

Thankyou again for reading.

xx :j

Triangle

Hey

Just want to say well done for posting - keep at it! Sounds like you are doing great guns already, well done! :beer:

T
x

elfen

I'm not bi-polar, I have borderline personality disorder but I know what you mean about the highs and lows (I also have depression)

cloud_cuckoo_land

We didn't use all of the pasta at dinner time so used the cooked pasta to knock up a pasta salad for tomorrow's lunch, my husband (who never ever takes any interest in these sort of things) said and I qoute "Now that, I am really impressed with!" he hates waste and I feel all chuffed with myself now!!

Also got a phone call this evening about doing a Mystery shop tomorrow, haven't done any mystery shopping for months so that's really cool. Not only because I'll get paid a small amount but I get to go to a fast food restaurant for lunch knowing that I'm not paying for it!!

Having a bit of a crisis of conscience, because at the moment I am paying for the kids to have hot dinners at school, I realise that I should making packed lunches but it's healthier for them to have hot dinners and because we all eat junk if it's in the house - seems like a better idea to just not have to buy it!

Thanks for the kind words,

Cuckoo. xx

cloud_cuckoo_land

Also put my foot down with OH today when he was talking about having to buy a new headset for his pc, I told him he has 80.00 a month for cigarettes and if he really wants a new headset he'll have to cut down on smoking to pay for it!

Go me!! :j

Cuckoo. xx

REDMADCURLS

I saw you on Beat the Debts diary and had to pop over - daily scratches, yellow packs, change to overdraft and bank charges claimed all in the first post............that puts you about 100 ahead of where I was! Congratulations

Will subscribe and look forward to hearing your mutterings, rants and happy stories .. oh wait that me..............your diary might just be adult, mature and intelligent

Welcome aboard the skylard hun xx

REDMADCURLS

cloud_cuckoo_land wrote: »

We didn't use all of the pasta at dinner time so used the cooked pasta to knock up a pasta salad for tomorrow's lunch, my husband (who never ever takes any interest in these sort of things) said and I qoute "Now that, I am really impressed with!" he hates waste and I feel all chuffed with myself now!!

Also got a phone call this evening about doing a Mystery shop tomorrow, haven't done any mystery shopping for months so that's really cool. Not only because I'll get paid a small amount but I get to go to a fast food restaurant for lunch knowing that I'm not paying for it!!

Having a bit of a crisis of conscience, because at the moment I am paying for the kids to have hot dinners at school, I realise that I should making packed lunches but it's healthier for them to have hot dinners and because we all eat junk if it's in the house - seems like a better idea to just not have to buy it!

Thanks for the kind words,

Cuckoo. xx

I just wrote a whole load of stuff about how great you are and it disappeared, how annoying is that.

Basically bank charges claimed, daily scratches etc etc. That makes you about 100 posts ahead of me on your first post. Congratulations.

Welcome aboard the skylard hun, and enjoy the ride!;)

REDMADCURLS

see there it is....making a fool out of me........sorry for making your diary untidy on its first page!

cloud_cuckoo_land

Lol, redmadcurls - thankyou for your kind words!!!

BUT it's all gone wrong and I've killed the cake - it's all curdled on the top!! Don't know what I've done wrong!! :-(

It's a bit of a family tradition of ours to cut the cake at breakfast time so I'm really gutted and fighting the urge to get a taxi to the 24 hour tesco and buy one!!

Poo. xx

Cuckoo. xx