Stop the ride, i wanna get off!

ragstoricheswannabe

Hello!

This is gonna be my 4th diary, my last got quite depressing. boring with no direction and i then nicely fell off the wagon (or more like leaped) but after heading back into the overdraft i had transfered, my lightbulb has now reignited!

A little about me for those who have never "met" me before.......I am 28 and a mother of 2 boys aged 5 1/2 years and 22 months. Me and my fella both work, im a nurse in a care home and he is a trucker. We are supposed to earn a pretty decent wage between us (so were told by finacial people) but due to debts and bills we dont seem to see any of it. This is where the ride needs to stop, WE WANNA GET OFF!!!!!!

Have done my soa again but not going to post as its pretty much straightforward and i have got it down to as basic as possible.

I have now calculated my debt totals and seem to be going up not down. I now owe: £23, 797.46:o:mad::eek:

Sofa: £1492.13
Loan: £7039.92
MIL: £1200
Credit card: £2860.26
Overdraft cc: £3761.35
Car: £7443.80

I pay £629.90 a month to debt repayments, and thats not including any extra we throw at them. What i could do with that money!!!!!!!!!



My head is now firmly out the sand, my plan so far is:

• both me and the OH are going to have "pocket money" each week. This should hopefully reduce the amount he spends in the garages and what i spend on rubbish in supermarkets and discount shops.
• Any overtime monies earnt will go straight to the debts.
• Car booting stuff we dont need. Really dont have the time or patience to ebay.
• Get the breadmaker back out and USE!!!!!
• Start baking again for the boys treats ie biscuits, cakes etc.
• Try and meal plan, or at least have a stock of homemade stuff in the freezer that OH can just bung in the oven.
• Start doing a shopping list again and stick to it!
• No more takeaways!

Any other suggestions will be gratefully recieved.

Think thats enough for a first post.........................

Love rags
xxxxxxx

Pips_Mum

Found you, you sont get rid of me that easy!

Good Luck finding your way off this awful ride we call debt x x

ragstoricheswannabe

Hey pipsmum, glad you found me! (was always pants at hide and seek:rotfl:)

Well, cant spend much today as my fella has lost my bank card!!! Good thing really, but will have to be organised with getting fuel and the like till my new card comes.

The family car is going for its mot today, fingers crossed it passes so i dont have to dip much into the car fund. The smaller car is having its mot next week and tax is due the end of this month, hoping i have enough in there to cover it.

Have done my daily free scratcheez, and my bank account still looking dire.

didnt sleep all that well last night, thoughts kept whizzing round my head on how to get this debt paid off quicker............but guess i have to be patient (not my strong point) Feels like i am right back at day one of my journey.

Oh well payday next week so at least can make some payments, no matter how small. Have the money saved for our hols (a week in wales at my fella's aunties) so any extra in my wage will go straight to the debts. I dont think i will have the cc's and mil paid off by xmas '10 but will keep trying.

WHERE THERE IS A WILL THERE IS A WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

natsplatnat

Hi Rags!

Yep, you've got me again for this 'ride'! Hope you don't mind?

Wouldn't it be great if there was an 'emergancy stop' button on this debt ride? You could just hop off whenever you wanted! (although knowing my luck it would be at the top of a loop-the-loop, hanging upside down and I would fall to an untimely....anyway!)

Definitely get organised and do a bootfair. We have only done 1 so far this year (last year it felt like we were out at silly o'clock every Sunday morning!)... we have a policy though that if an item sees its 3rd bootfair and still doesn't sell - it goes... Charity shop or dump, but we don't want it and it would appear that no-one else does either!! lol I didn't think we had a lot for the laast one, but we still made about £80 (after deductions for pitch, teas, bugers etc! lol)

Right, really must do some work - good luck for the new diary and remember you are not on this ride alone! ;O)

ragstoricheswannabe

Welcome back nats!!!! of course i dont mind you coming along.......i wouldnt have it any other way!
Any tips for doing a car boot then?

If_My_Pennies_Were_Pounds

Hi Rags,

I hope you don't mind me commenting on your diary, newbie here, but could give a little advice for car booting!

Tip 1. Always always always take a flask of tea and a picnic/packed lunch - therefore no excuse to buy food and drink when you're there and means more profit in your pocket!

Tip 2. Try not to look at other people's stalls, if you don't look, you won't see something you like and then you won't buy!

Tip 3. Take everything and anything with you, one man's junk is another man's treasure (or whatever the saying is!)

Hope this helps...
Pennies

mummytogirls

Hi rags, when you stop the ride please can you let me off too!!

We are very similar in terms of age, 2 children, debt amount and should be out there living the high life on the wages but not due to debt!!

I currently have about £7000 outstanding on my car but ive not included that in my debt calcs cos im planning to get rid and get something smaller and more economical.

Heres to your new diary :beer:. Will be following you!! x

natsplatnat

If_My_Pennies_Were_Pounds wrote: »

Tip 1. Always always always take a flask of tea and a picnic/packed lunch - therefore no excuse to buy food and drink when you're there and means more profit in your pocket!

• Despite my earlier post including "teas and burgers" I do whole-heartedly agree with this - also, if the weather is as good as it has been recently, bottles of made up squash etc, either frozen the night before or at least chilled will keep you hydrated (I was melting by half eight when we did ours!)

• We tend to stick to our guns regarding pricing at least for the first couple of hours (you get the 'professional' bootfair buyers round early doors!) and then reduce prices as the day goes on.

• I find the following conversation always works well when OH has gone off for a 'wander' round other stalls (TUT TUT TUT!)

Customer: "How much is that?"
Me: "Well.....my OH was asking £12 for it, but as he's not here, and I'm going to be the one to pack it all up, I'll take £10!!" We only wanted £10 in the first place, but they don't know that! ;O)

It is amazing how well that works!

• Definitely put anything and everything out for sale - We took our parasol and base to give us some shade and ended up selling that for £15... not bad considering it was from my mum and therefore cost us nothing! (we didn't use it anyway!)

• Spare toiletries do tend to go well, but not worth taking them if you are on a mission to see how long you can go without buying any for yourself.

• Storage stuff and things like wicker baskets etc go well

• odd and sods of decorating bits go.

Thats about all my tips for now.... of course I will be back if I think of anything else!

Oh, there is one last thing, if you are taking clothes to hang on a rail to sell, don't bother if it is windy as I am yet to find a clothes rail that will stay up in the wind.... even with ballast and props and pegs and allsorts to assist! (kids clothes can just go out on a tarp or blanket though, or we separate into boxes for different sizes and let people rummage!)

Bye for now! x

If_My_Pennies_Were_Pounds

natsplatnat wrote: »

you get the 'professional' bootfair buyers round early doors!

We found this too, as soon as you get in you will get all the regulars asking what you have, we found in particular they were after jewellery and anything electronic.

Mobile phones go well, as do any console games.

Shoes went pretty well for us - obviously we only took nearly new shoes that were in a good state!

Oh and teddies, the number of older people who want a little something for their grandchildren is unbelievable.

ragstoricheswannabe

Thanks for the tips! given me food for thought.

One question, i have loads of clothes both kiddies, womens and mens.......is it best to display on a rail or do people actually like to rummage??

Do CD's and dvd's sell well?

And books?

Think with what we have in this house to sell i am gonna need two pitches!
What do you use as a table?

If_My_Pennies_Were_Pounds

We borrowed a pasting table off a friend, if I remember rightly most locations have tables you can borrow - but of course you have to pay for them, which eats in to your profits!

Books went well, we didn't really try CDs and DVDs, though I can tell you from experience that VHS videos will not sell - the odd one or two maybe but you'll have trouble shifting them.

People liked rummaging at the ones we did, if you sort them in to separate baskets/piles then I think that would be easier for people to look, but generally if someone is after something, they'll take the time to look.