I have done nothing yet but writting here is the only way that will make me do stg...

Want_to_be_free

Tonight's demage is £45/ £20 Best friend's BD in December, £15 Very Good Friend's Xmas gift- I will still need to give her more but I will use the trifty board and make things for her I guess , £10 Not So Little Boy's partial Xmas gift.

I still have to buy Xmas gift for Best Friend- No more then £15 though, maybe I will have a go at making something, not so sure what though?

Not sure what to buy for Not So Little Boy either.I would spend about £50 and I already blown £10, but he will like what I bought for him- well I hope he will.

Also very good friend will need more , she is into natural stuff so I will try to make some home made organic creams , well I will have a go ;-D

And one more gift for my lodger, who is moving in on the 16th Nov- she is a friend and I have to get her something.

Another gift will be for a guest who will stay with us during Xmas, but if she doesn't come then no need to give any gifts.

As you see my Xmas list is very small- I cut present stuff to the bone. My family is not here so no need to give them anything or send them anything. Their gift is when I go and visit them next year.

I already bought wrappings and cards last year. Not that I will give cards to everbody, just some selected ones... Rest will get emails...

As said before I am turning into a very boring person!

jwil

I don't think you are boring for not wanting to go out and spend money (well if you are, then I am too :rotfl:)

Have you had a look at the old style boards, there's a thread on there with loads of ideas about what people are doing/making for christmas.

chevalier

Have just read your diary right through. Holy cow gal, what ALOT to go through. I would have been doolally after half of that stuff, let alone all of it.

How did you get on with the DLA application, did that all get put on hold because not so little boy is now in foster care?

I hope that you are take note that your body is telling you you are stressed. Try not to take on too much.

Good luck with the rest of your debt busting
chev

Want_to_be_free

jwil wrote: »

I don't think you are boring for not wanting to go out and spend money (well if you are, then I am too :rotfl:)

Have you had a look at the old style boards, there's a thread on there with loads of ideas about what people are doing/making for christmas.

Oh Jwill- my Xmas is almost sorted :T I am only buying 4 gifts

I bought for my Good Friend; the earth moon and silver necklace and ear rings , cost me £15

For my Best Friend , it is a Xmas and baby gift together along with my BD celebration thingy , ok this is expensive at £99 (SPA day) but my justification is that there are three events together , plus she is pregnant and also she was there when I had gone through sad times. So she is totally worth it.

For Not So Little Boy, he is going to get IPod touch- ok before anyone goes ‘ahhhaa ‘ I am only paying £100 towards it, rest will be paid by Not So Little Boy – I have been keeping my Tesco Vouchers for that. As Martin tipped us for Monday, I am really hoping I can exchange my vouchers x2 , cross fingers...

For my lodger/friend: me and my Good Friend are going to buy something together and won’t spend more than £7.5 each...We might also have a visitor around that time, if she comes, again me and my Good Friend will buy her a gift again spending no more than £7.5 each.

But I have to think about food and drink in a trifty way x

Want_to_be_free

chevalier wrote: »

Have just read your diary right through. Holy cow gal, what ALOT to go through. I would have been doolally after half of that stuff, let alone all of it.

How did you get on with the DLA application, did that all get put on hold because not so little boy is now in foster care?

I hope that you are take note that your body is telling you you are stressed. Try not to take on too much.

Good luck with the rest of your debt busting
chev

Such a coincidence Chevalier, I was actually reading your diary earlier. You seem to have a dream life now but I see that it was not easy for you either. I hope everything is sorted out with your visa etc now … It is always difficult to deal with bureaucracy saying that I didn’t really encounter any issues when I was getting my clearance status here in the UK. When I applied, I had been already working for an American company for about 7 years and never have claimed benefits so I was giving an approval within 6 weeks comparing to others who had to wait for months or years.

I actually went a bit doolally :rotfl:as you put it but hey I have a child to consider…Oh Gosh, I am still doolally :rotfl:

Mmm I actually never put the DLA application in. Although apparently I can… It just doesn’t feel right though..

Thank you for your best wishes, I am now off to your diary and will write to you about cloths because it is one of my favourite topic:D

Want_to_be_free

I have my first Christmas prezzi…

Yesterday, I went to lunch with my gorgeously pregnant best friend. This was my partial Christmas present as we don’t know what is next few days will bring , she wanted to this lunch just in case…

It was a lovely time, but in the end I confessed my insecurity about my looks. I don’t have many friends. But the ones I have are all really pretty and trendy. As a matter of fact I don’t have one friend who is not good looking. Mostly, they are all younger than me too. I don’t feel right among them, I feel frumpy , old , passed sell by date, this makes me upset because I lose my hope about having a family again . Maybe some will shone me wanting to be in a relationship because of my late partner but I feel so lonely sometimes and long for a hug…I am not wanting to deep dive to a relationship because I also think that I am really selfish these days, I just do what I want to do, and what Not So Little Boy needs, and after that I am exhausted any way…Off course I didn’t tell my Best Friend all those , just said I am upset because all my friends pretty and I don’t look as good because I am 40 now…By the way she is not only a best friend but trained psychologist… She told me that I have a very pretty face ( as all best friends would say) , I lost the weight that I put on when I was under pressure and kept it under control, so she said all I need to do, completely change the way I look. She said, I need to get Trinity and Susanna style make over, get a colour analysis to see what colours will suit me, have a new wardrobe, change my hair, and be real me rather than stuck in the time….

Well it is easy to say it but when you have a debt like mine? I get into habit that I cannot spend any money even if I have it because everything needs to go to the debt…. Still I agree with what she says, I need a confidence boaster. So I did check how much it would cost me to get Trinity and Susanna style make over. I knew it would be a lot, and yep I am right it starts from £230 upwards for three hours consultation and shopping…This is without any other extra cost and cloths or the hair cut etc….. I don’t think so LOL …Now I am going to post a new threat and see what my friends at MSE will come up with….

Ah by the way , just back from gym and I feel sick after the class , while I wasn’t well I stop going to classes for two weeks and now I am struggling to get back in to it …

And this is not a vanity, we are judged by our looks everywhere, I don’t want to be old and frumpy…I want to wear colours, I want to enjoy life again. I just don’t know how but the want is there and getting stronger x

jwil

The makeover sounds like a great idea! I hope peeps on here come up with some good suggestions for how you can get it done more cheaply. Sorry I have no idea, I just throw on whatever comes to hand in the morning and my Dh cuts my hair .

One day I might try and be glam though!

Want_to_be_free

Ok, I blown out my budget for the month!
This is a real set back but it is too late to beat myself up.

The story started 8 months ago really. I wanted some professional photos to be taken me with ' Not So Little Boy'. This time, I was a bit doolally, it was couple of months after my partner’s death. I and my late partner had only one picture together, and this upsets me a lot.

I wanted ‘Not So Little Boy’ to have pictures with mummy just in case I die suddenly, I know now it is not really clever or logical but talk to me about logical at that time…

Our original sitting date was back in August however I postponed it couple of times. I factored the cost into my budget and set my mind up that I would only spend £100 as I already paid £49 deposit, which would go towards the first picture, and if we wanted to but more we would have to pay extra £49 per picture. Well this is how the sales man pitched the all thing but it is true that at no stage I asked the price of individual pictures, just assumed they will be £49 each. Lesson to be learnt here…

Yesterday we went to London; the studio is in Central London. Place was quite a disappointment, as it was like a factory; you are in an out, no personal touch as they advertised. Well that doesn’t matter in the end because actual shooting was so much fun and I could see my ‘Not So Little Boy’ was very happy. Even though he is a boy, he is into fashion, definitely more than me . He really enjoyed the shoots because he wants to be model , he is not vain – he knows that I was a child model, seen the pictures of me , I guess this is why he wants to do it as well , he thinks that it will be good earner too, ah my clever child ;-D

Anyway, blow came when we went to review the pic’s. We both agreed that no more than 3 pic’s and no more than £100…Gosh, we are told that our first picture would be free and there after £98 each. Argggg, nope I did not think so, cut the story short after a lot of bargaining and ''nope I am not getting more then our first picture +1'' discussion, we ended up with 8 pictures and £200 …And guess what at no stage of this conversation I was ashamed. Normally I would be but we wouldn’t end up for a portfolio of 8 pictures costing only £200+49 (Deposit) versus original price of £800.

The sales man was conning, my fault was not asking but assuming, and now I am short of £100 this month – eh we have gorgeous pictures that we can eat until I get paid next , which is 3 weeks from today.

jwil

Want_to_be_free wrote: »

we have gorgeous pictures that we can eat until I get paid next , which is 3 weeks from today.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

jwil

Glad you liked the pictures WTBF - that's the main thing. Well done on the haggling though, that is a good result! Shame they hid the true costs though :mad:

I don't think having the pictures done is a bad idea actually, I think when you lose someone suddenly it really brings it home to you how short life can be. You never know what is around the corner, and if your NSLB has some lovely pictures of you both then that's a good thing.

Now, eating for the next 3 weeks - would you like me to send some ketchup to go with your photos? I hear it's pretty good for getting rid of the cardboardy taste