Back on the wagon

downnotout

What a very MSE day I have had today
The first payment to the Uni hardship fund came out of my account this morning, only 39 weeks to go on that
I managed to get a lift to work from my MIL-to be, she works on the next ward, and she gave me a lift to and from work.
On the way home, we called at the Coop, I have been eying up the stash of gold blend that they have, its BBE date is 04/13, original price £4,98 for 150g, now I know that is over the odds (everything at the Coop is ) but its slowly been reduced over the last few weeks, there was only 6 packs left and they have been reduced to £1.15 each.... so I took alll 3 I wont need to buy coffee for home for months now
Managed to feed child number 3 out of MIL-to be stash, and the older two have had tea at the child minders, I am home alone with the kids tonight, so I will eat a pizza out of the freezer, it seems pointless to cook for one, and take-a-way is so far off the radar at the moment, it just costs far too much.
The not so good part of my day is that I have lost a 7.5 hour shift on saturday because the ward entered my shift on to the system as being on friday, I am working on another ward so this means that I am double booked, and the saturday shift has already been taken, such is the hardship of living off bank work

Something that I am trying to figure out is, I am enrolled on the NHS pension scheme, and they take around £100 a month out of my wages (all earnings related of course) but I have no long term plans to work for the NHS so my pension will be peanuts when I do retire. Should I opt out of the pension scheme and put this towards my debt or an ISA towards a house deposit? I just can't make up my mind.
I am looking to retrain as a bookkeeper or accountant in the next couple of years (when the CCJ has gone) and I am doing an unrecognised short course at the local college as an introduction to bookkeeping at the moment, and having spent the last few years watching every penny, I found that I quite enjoyed it.

downnotout

Morning all, just paid some more of my debt off
Paid £78.13 off my Littlewoods account (down to a nice round £500)
cleared my vanquis card, £262.83 - no interest again
Just need to be careful later when I go shopping, I need to get MrsDNO some socks for work, and DS3 some more baby vests, he has grown out of the 3-6 month ones now.
Then tonight I am off to college for week 3 of bookkeeping.
Plodding on!
Current debt £3639.89 - not long to go!

downnotout

With debt busting, disaster can always be just around the corner. Yesterday was spent arguing with MrsDNO about my employment. I work on the nurse bank at the local hospital, and just recently they have changed the way that they allocate shifts, before you could just ring the wards, and pick up work with little fuss, however recently they have brought in a system, where you can not longer do this, and you have to go through a central "bank coordinator". This means that you now receive a text message with available shifts, which is all well and good, with the major problem that you are not allowed to carry your phone on shift. So a case in example, you get a text at half nine monday morning with shift availability for the following week, you are at work and can't pick up that text until your break at 10. Surprisingly the shifts have gone. I have literally gone from working 45 hours a week, to 30 if I am lucky. The other problem is that they are all the shifts that no one else wants, i.e long days sat and sunday, and the occasional late shift on fridays. No I am not one for going out and getting drunk every weekend, but I have gone through my diary and I have had 1 weekend off since January. This means that I am literally going weeks at a time where I do not see my children. I am stuck in a job that I dont want, but have little choice if I am to get straight. BUT the cost is that I feel like I neglect the kids, in years to come they wont remember me working to keep a roof over there heads, but they will remember the quality time there birth mother spent with them on her access time every other weekend.

I have a job interview in the local A+E on the 23rd, which should I get the job, should mean that I will be able to get a more fair rota, and a better work life balance. However if I dont get the job I am adamant that I need to make a change. I have always wanted to go back self employed (its just something that I can't shake off) and I have decided to set up as a window cleaner, the logic is that I can turn my week days in to money earning days, and then work on the bank at the weekends when work is either slack or when the weather is too bad. MrsDNO thinks that I should put up and shut up and stay doing what I am doing now. BUT i am not working another 6 months working every weekend (13 hour shifts) and missing my children growing up. Its that serious that it could end our relationship but some things have to be done.
Sorry about the rant I just needed to get it off my chest, am I being selfish?

downnotout

Morning all, things calmed down a little yesterday, I got called in to work for a last minute shift, which makes me laugh, because I was already booked for the shift and cancelled. Then last minute they sent out a text again, so I grabbed it. Another 8 hours pay, or £50. I also by working a late avoided going the off licence for a 4 pack of beer, so I also saved a bit too. MrsDNO checked my account balance this morning and demanded to know where £58 had gone, its gone in to the overdraft account dear Totalled up all the work I have this week, and somehow I have managed to grab 53 hours, mostly 1-2-1 work that has been put in place, but that means that I only have a short fall of 12.25 hours over the month to get to full time, and with quite a few days off between now and the end of the pay month (as it stands 8) then I should be just about there. Having said that I am used to the money of 20-30 hours overtime a month, I won't get that this month, but then it is a 4 week pay month this time.

It is a little depressing to see that when you are so close to getting out of debt (3.5k) that things feel harder, I know that I just need that last little push to clear the debts, then I will be able to breath a little and not hand over hundreds of pounds a month in debt repayments, maybe I will be able to take the occasional weekend off without being stressed.

downnotout

What a totally crap month it has been,
Payday nearly gave me a heart attack, 60 hours short :O, taking 500 quid out of your expected wages has really hurt, especially when you booked the family holiday
I am in a little bit of a pickle with the vanquis card, basically holiday and living has seen this practically maxed out

Anyway on a brighter note, I have been very proactive with balancing the books a bit, Yesterday I went to see my old land lord, and demanded my deposit back, at first she was a little reluctant, then I mentioned that she had not put it into a deposit scheme and therefore I was entitled to claim the deposit back x3, an hour later she called to say I can pick it up . Of course having had the credit card bill through (and my second near heart attack of the month) the estimated interest for next month £44, I put the deposit in the bank and paid a huge wedge off the credit card.
Today I got around to ringing equifax and cancelled my subscription, I do enjoy reading my credit report on a monthly basis, but with having a couple of CCJs that do not fall off for another 18 months, I see little point in keeping this subscription. Besides I am registered on noddle too so for the main part thats as much as I need. At £8.99 a month, that is £107.88 which I have a better use for at the moment.
I am also looking forward to paying my last payment on my vodafone contract, I have traded 900 mins unlimited texts and 750mb data with vodafone, for £45 a month, for 02 Unlimited calls, Unlimited texts, and 1GB data for £21 a month, so another £24 a month better off, or £288 a year

All in all I am going to be £395.88 a year better off, without changing all that much in my life I would say that this is a pretty productive day off.
To top it off today is my very first no spend day in a long time

right time for a plan,

1)Pay minimums on all debts,
2)Clear most of the Vanquis Card,
3)Continue to pay £5 a week in to my ISA. ( I know its not always the best thing to do, save when having debts, but this is a little emergency fund that I am building, I have a grand total of £45 in it at the moment)