Diary - Does it count as a lightbulb moment if your head's still stuck in the sand?

lalli_pickle

OK, so this is me.
I have a good job, I earn reasonable money, I also have a lot of debt which I need to pay back.
I don't want to give figures, I don't want to post a SOA - I'm not quite ready for that yet, I don't want advice at the moment but I will do shortly so bear with me.
At the moment I feel like I'm spending all my time trying to keep myself afloat and I'm struggling. I'm running and running and playing catch up all the time because I'm scared that if I stop and actually look at where I am it will all seem impossible to manage, so, I'm working 3 jobs, 90 hours a week plus everything else I can do to earn money like survey sites, cashback, ebay, and I am making payments on my debts. I know if I get an IVA I will lose my job and my career and be booted out of my profession so my target so far has been to pay the people clamouring the loudest the minimum amount to keep them off my back in order that I can keep myself going just a little longer. I've been doing this for around 6 years now and I think it has become such a familiar routine that I haven't worried too much, however, this month has been a bit of a crisis situation.
Basically, my landlady has decided she needs her house back at the end of the summer holidays.
Now summer holidays are always a bit of a stretch for me financially because of needing to pay fulltime childcare often overnight or at weekends because I work so much. I've always justified this by being able to say well OK, I might only get to keep £1, £2 or whatever per hour but at least it's a bit of extra money in the pot, but now I'm going to have to get serious.
My problem isn't spending as such in that I buy very few luxuries, eat at work etc, but because of these debts I've built up I am in deficit every single month, granted it used to be by around £1,000 per month and now it's only around £600 per month but that's still extra money i have to find and my 'magic money' has run out.
So....
My priorities for the next month is to pay the childminder, put petrol in my car and get it MOT'd (all needed so that I can get to work), pay the rent and save for a deposit, get a new job somewhere local (I'm currently driving at least 100 miles per day and paying for 2 or 3 extra hours childcare that I wouldn't need to if I worked locally), find a new house and clean the old one so I get a good reference.
I've warned all my debtors that I have to find a deposit and most have agreed to £10 per month until October so I'm taking September as the month to get myself into order which means, I suppose, finally facing up to it all and going to talk to the CCCS or something similar.
This diary is somewhere for me to ramble on and keep track of what I'm doing. I'm also going to set myself some targets because now that you guys can read them I'll have to stick to them.

Targets - by August 31

• Pay - childminder, petrol, rent, MOT (remember 4 new tyres)
• Save £1,500 as deposit, fee and first months rent based on max of £700pcm (hopefully find somewhere cheaper than that but rather safe than sorry)
• Find somewhere to rent
• Have a proper clean out and put everything on ebay
• Clean house to get good references

My main targets all relate to earning more money so my daily plan is:

1. Sell everything I own that I don't need (need not want) on ebay
2. Do dailyclicks (thanks eagerlearner for the sheet/links)
3. Do as many surveys as possible
4. Do as many MS jobs as possible
5. Do more reviews on Ciao/dooyoo
6. Pick up some extra shifts at work, volunteer to cover delivery driver
7. Give out all my business cards and solicit some more self employed work asap as all cards have my current address so no use after 31 August anyway

I also feel like I've been neglecting my poor DS recently so I need to spend more time with him. I have 3 weeks paid holiday in August so I have split that into 1/3 extra shifts at job no2, 1/3 cleaning house and making pretty and 1/3 doing fun stuff that doesn't cost money.
I already have a daysaver train ticket (£10 travel anywhere) so we're going up to London for the day to visit all the museums, we'll also spend some time at the beach and the park and i have some crafty stuff, beads, sewing and knitting stuff that he is interested in learning so might even make some rugs or patchwork blankets to put on ebay .
I know I need to look on the old style board for cleaning tips and also food tips as I have a budget of £40 for the month and I'll need to feed us both from that as I can't keep turning up to work and accidentally eating the leftovers
I'm going to look at Tesco website and work out how much I can get for £40, I'm assuming most of our diet will consist of value products, tins and home made soups but I'm quite a good cook if I do say so myself, just not used to meal plan. Gonna go through cupboards and empty as well if I can because I don't want to take bags of open flour etc when we move.

This has gone on a really long time, so if anyone has managed to read this far congratulations :rotfl:
I'm gonna sign off and make some money now, thanks for reading

BILLIE

Well Pickle that certainly was a long post, but I can sympathise with you for not wanting to say how much or post an SOA, but of course there are some things that need to be shown so that positive advice can be given. Having read it all it appears that you are doing all you can to get extra dosh in and also advising your creditors as to your situation. Not sure how old DS is, but hope that you are able to have a little bit of "us" time in the 1/3rd you speak of. What part of the country are you cos that will certainly reflect in your rent and also what do you do? (that's if you wish to post that info.) Pecker up you will get there and are doing a fab job. Billie xx

lalli_pickle

Thanks Billie, I'm down South near Brighton so rent is sky high £650 for a 2 bed flat and £750+ for a 3 bed (I have a lodger at the moment but before that the spare room was my office, a luxury i know, but it meant I could keep client files out and lock the door without DS and cat climbing all over them.
DS is 8 and I still have no clue what he wants most of the time. Sometimes I think he'd like to spend more time with me but sometimes I'm sure he'd rather be with his friends.
Lately he's been dropping boarding school into the conversation, one of his friends goes to a boarding school and DSs school go swimming at another and I think he thinks its all a bit Mallory Towers, but in a way it is quite appealing to me as i wouldn't have to arrange childcare overnight etc meaning I could work 7 nights a week and possibly get my debt down. If I didn't have to pay childcare I'd be able to put all of my extra salary towards the debt and be paid off in less than 2 years.
I suppose this is where being a single parent family sucks because if I was married we'd a) have 2 incomes and b) one of us could work nights and evenings without having to pay childcare but we have to play the hand we're dealt with I suppose.
An extra bonus of boarding school I suppose is that I could rent a room at £40pw rather than a house at £175. The thing is I'm still not sure that 8 is old enough, OK his friend loves it and I think he would love it too, but I worry that his support would then become other kids and I remember being a kid and making some not very wise decisions because i didn't have an adult I could turn to and I don't want him to do the same.
I dunno, the debt thing I can handle, that's just manipulating numbers. Children now I have no clue about! How on earth do you know whether what you're doing is best for them or even good for them. Everyone seems to have conflicting opinions on the subject

lalli_pickle

Ah, as to what I do, well now, I'm kind of an *whispers* accountant. So really I should know better, but that's also the reason why I can't get an IVA/BR.

BILLIE

I know what you mean - I used to work in banking and was great organising other people's money!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I work in an independent school which most kids who board love, but of course you would have boarding school fees which would far outweigh child costs. Our termly fees for a child your sons age would be approx. £6,400 x by 3 terms a year = £19,200 and that's before uniform school trips photographs etc.,

lalli_pickle

Ah, but I'd save around £1,500 min in childcare and up to £500 on rent per month, and I could work an extra 30 odd hours per week which would be at least an extra £400 per month plus as my childminder lives 10 miles in the opposite direction to my work I'd save maybe £50 on petrol.... the possibilities are endless.
Or I suppose I could apply for a job at a boarding school and get a live in position and discount on schooling without having to worry about rent