I've had my LBM and now it's time to sort it out once and for all

Primrose2004

Not much happened today:whistle: took kids to see MIl and went to the park. Spent £1.20 parking at the park:mad: but it's a lovely one without hoards of people so I don't mind if it's not too often.

Tried to do some work for my new job but it's a nightmare. Everytime I try to do something it creates about 5 more jobs and things to sort out :wall: I'm hoping at some point this will stop as it should be such a simple job really.

Primrose2004

I just checked my online banking:( always a depressing read. One day I hope that I can look and not be worried:( So here's the balances, not good;

cc - £6,872
O/d 1 - £1,639
O/d 2 - £195.87

and there's a Next statement I forgot at first, all items bought in the sale they had recently so bargains but not really as we didn't have the money:mad: £120.91

I am actually astounded and very cross at the amount of credit a person can just go out and get. If you add up all the available balances you could owe an absolute fortune. It's no wonder so many people get into trouble. It's only £100 here and £100 there but they add up to so much

In all honesty i'm going to struggle to get through the next 20 days til payday:o I have got a lot of food in the cupboards and will try to spend as little as I can but it will be tight.

There are a few things that may help. dd/ds back to school/preschool. No plans for the weekends so can hopefully spend very little(had planned on going to a fete today but will just take £10 and take drinks and snack with me) I do need to buy milk and maybe fruit today. I put £15 petrol in the car yesterday which already shows in my o/d's above. I think i'll walk to school on mon and fri(my non-work days) that will (a) mean no petrol and (b) give me some exercise. but I will need to use the car to collect dc as it's up hill and they'll both be tired from their first week at school. Will have to see how early we get ready though as we may need to rush as usual!!

Also I have my extra £20 a week as of next week so I can use that to live/buy petrol.

There is also a bit of private work I could finish off over the next week and bill. they're normally pretty good at paying quickly so will try my best to get it done.

I will be trying my best to ebay if I can muster the enthusiasm.

Another bit of good news is dd's shoes still fit:T am hoping they last until at least Oct halfterm.

If I can get to the end of Sept still within the o/d limit and without using the cc I will be extatic:rotfl:Then my new salary will kick in and I can breathe just a little more. My budget was £100 a week to live (food/petrol) but I now have £200 to last nearly 3 weeks:eek: I don't like living by the seat of my financial pants

Oh and I forgot to mention it's dh's bday at the end of the month and our anniversary on mon.

Happy days:(

Primrose2004

Right, I have decided that there's no point me worrying about this. What's done is done and I can't change the fact the debt is there. But what I can do is pledge that

1) I will not put anymore transactions onto my cc
2) I will pay off the minimum amount on the cc and a little more if possible. Then once the childcare payments stop and we have more money throw as much as we can at the cc.
3) I will ebay all I can
4) I will finish off the private work I have so that I can bill and get paid
5) I will throw all my efforts into my 2 jobs to keep myself busy
6) I will try to spend as little as possible.
7) for my bday/christmas I will ask for Next vouchers so that next time they have a sale and I buy stuff on my account I have the vouchers to PAY IT OFF STRAIGHT AWAY
8) I will stop doing my volunteer work on the school committee. I will however still offer to help at events if they need me but I cannot afford the time to go to evening meetings.
9) I will continue to make meals from scratch and aim to waste nothing(or very little) food and will continue trying to cut back brands, find the cheapest place to buy things.
10) I will NOT BUY LUNCH at work, I will make sandwiches everyday
11) I will not go into town. I don't need anything in there and I will waste money

that's all I can think of for now, will be back later with more:D

CITDFW

glad you feeling a bit more positive, and your plan sounds great, im hoping when school starts on monday my spends will reduce, im going to look out all the local playgroups for me and baby as if they local we wont need car and i really want to cut back on my petrol usage x hope you are having a nice time at the fete x

Primrose2004

CITDFW, thank you:) I'm loving your signature, you're so right, the kids won't remember what we bought them, just time spent with them. I've been guilty of forgetting that and it's part of the reason for the cc debt:o

savingholmes

hi primrose - have a look at memory girl's thread to cheer yourself up and get ideas on making money stretch!

Primrose2004

Thanks SH, i've saved her thread and will take a look, need to set aside a while as it's quite long!

Not much happening today. I spent £22 in Tesco but bought only from my list accept one thing, some nuts, i'm trying to be healthier and lose some weight and thought i'd try them out instead of choc so I don't mind that.

We spent the best part of £20 yesterday at the fete but the dc had fun, went on some rides, bought some tatt:D and the best part for me was that although temptation was shoved right in my face about 5 times, I didn't eat any naughty things:T I had a cup of tea and that was it. VERY impressed with my willpower but i'm sure it won't last.

Back to school tomorrow :j

Primrose2004

I'm shattered. Had a busy busy day.

OH let me have a lie in:j, got up about 9ish, got ready and took dc to the park to ride their bikes and play for a while, home, had to go shopping(see earlier post re Tesco). Then did washing, cleaning and once dc went to bed I have just done 5 hours work:eek: madness. But all sorted, I think, for my new job which officially starts tomorrow. It's 8 hours a week term time only but as it's the admin role there's a fair bit to do outside of term. I have already done 15 hours of work for them so will see how many hours I do over the next 3 weeks and might be able to claim some overtime:T which'll be handy. If I can claim the whole 15 hours that's £90ish after tax:j

I think dc are ready for school/preschool, we put them to bed a little early tonight and within 1/2 hour they were both fast asleep in the same bed, cute!

Planning on some NSD this week. Does anyone know if planned spends are counted. Eg dd goes to gymnastics every wed so I have to pay that and tomorrow I will probably pay the school dinners for a week or so but they are in my budget so I was thinking they don't really count?

CITDFW

hope all went ok back at school and nursery , if these things are on your soa as in they are budgeted for i wouldnt count them, so effectively you can have a nsd, but do what you think is right for you xxx

Primrose2004

I think if it's a planned spend I won't count it.

I had a NSD today, no planned spends or anything:T but I did do yet another 6.5/7 hours of work for my new job:eek: which is good but I haven't even broken the back of the to do list yet:( still it'll all be extra cash. I'm gonna add up my hours at the end of the month and work out how many more i've done than I should've, then pay myself the overtime(i run the payroll) although like my Dad said today, i'll make sure the amount is under the NI threshold so I avoid payin gthat, if it goes over(which I doubt) i'll carry some hours over to next month;) I'll have to pay tax on the whole earnings though

right i'm shattered and it's mine and oh's 8th wedding anniversary today so best get off the computer:o:rotfl: