Roxies £3K diary - help!

RoxieW

Ok deep breath here goes.
Hi all I'm Roxie:wave:
I used to be addicted to this site but then I had a new baby, a new job and life just became too busy. Then I let things slide.
We've been living the high life and as such have accumulated a £3K overdraft. OH has found out and the poo has well and truly hit the fan. He's taken my bank cards and is taking control of the money - giving me a £200 budget per week for everything apart from bills.
He's angry at me and I'm angry at him for him blaming me for all the debt when in fact he has also contributed.

So anyway - I'm taking control and I want to claw back the £3K my own way and show him that I dont need treating like a child.
I'm going to have a read through the DFW board to check out what challenges I can do.
I have already ebayed £300 worth of clothes, jewellery, a bag and the wiifit board. We'll see how that does.
I also did my first 'cash' shop at the weekend. I had £100 budget and spent £106. I had £110 in my purse which was terrifying!

My plan for to day was to ebay, check out the challenges, check our utility rates and do a menu plan for the week.

A little bit of background is that we have 3 children - aged 1, 6 and 7. I work freelance from home as a writer and have been quite busy the past year. I'm trying to juggle that with the baby so not to have to use childcare but it is quite difficult. So I dont have a huge amount of time to devote to MSE. Am going to limit myself to an hour a day so if I dont reply to any posts/questions straight away that is why. Otherwise the temptation will be to stay logged in all day and not get anything else done.

The 3K has been accrued through a combination of holidays, days out, luxury groceries, meals out, clothes - just the usual I imagine!

It's my birthdya tomorrow and I have cancelled going out with my OH and also going away this month. Things are very tense and I feel very down. I also have the 3 children on school hols to juggle with a busy work sched so feeling overwhelmed with these money worries on top.

Anyone who has any MSE/money making suggestions - suggestions of challenges to join or things to do for cheap/free with the kids during the hols that would be great.

Thanks for reading
Rox

RoxieW

Clawed back so far

£1 - coupon redeemed
(what! its a start lol)
£30 item returned
£5 change taken to bank

RoxieW

ok have done menu plan and changed utilites earning £55 and 500 clubcard points

Going into town for milk and a trip to the park.

museumworker

* sorry roxy, posted this on wrong thread!*

Hello, and congrats with changes so far, little by little you'll get there!

Where abouts are you based? I had in my head Essex, but I'm not sure where I got that from? Anyway, I would recommend that you see what your local museums are offering, they tend to be free and have special family events and activities that are nearly always free. Plus museum people tend to be very friendly and glad to have visitors . Do subscribe to get their free e-newsletters to keep in the loop.

Your local library may also be running some special events, or a reading challenge which is good for the kids.

RoxieW

hello
not we are in derbyshire - as i have a car we are alittle bit restricted but there seems to be a few things running at the local library to take advantage of.

Went into town - bought guinea pig food and milk and nothing else. yey me!

See what mood OH is in when he gets home

lizguil

Hi Roxie. Just wanted to wish you luck on your 3k challenge!

I'm based in Derbyshire too and have found Surestart centres a great way to entertain little ones for nothing. I use my local centre for 2 sessions a week which means 3 (ish) hours of free child entertainment so I think they're really worth checking out. My DD is 3 and I have a newborn to keep me busy too.

Hope all goes well. Have subscribed so look forward to seeing how you get on!

LG x

rubber_soul

Hi Roxie!

Good luck on your debt busting journey... I can emphasise with the overdraft- I too have a £3000 overdraft :o have decided it needs to go!

Am subscribing to your diary :beer:

yukkibear

Hi Roxie, good luck with your challenge. I had a 3k loan last year and somehow managed to pay it off within 8 months, which was a fab achievement. I did it by

- rounding down my bank account to the nearest pound (perhaps not so good for you whilst paying back an overdraft)
- ebayed everything constantly
- sold larger items in free paper
- matched betting
- free bingo offers
- every penny "saved" went to the debt

I'll subscribe and keep checking back to see how you're doing.

RoxieW

Morning all - happy birthday to me

Well another money arguement last night things are quite fraught at the minute. He's now decided that £200 weekly budget is too much and is asking me to practically account for every penny. Am finding his attitude really difficult to deal with as on one hand he's asking me to be frugal then on the next he's asking for money to buy food from marks and spencers when i've already done a big food shop this week. he wants me to be frugal in theory but not in practice when it effects him.

Anyway - putting it to one side for my birthday. he's coming home this afternoon so will hopefully take the children for a walk and maybe go to a cafe for a coffee if I'm lucky lol. Something that was an everyday occurrence (I ould think nothing of meeting a friend for lunch and spending £10 - £15) is now a birthday treat!

museumworker

Happy birthday - hope you have a nice afternoon together.

pennywisepoundstupid

:bdaycake:Happy birthday Roxie, goodluck with the debt busting.