Debt free in ten years-my new, more realistic challenge.

poohbear59

Thank you for the turbolister information. I have downloaded it and have started listing lots of random things from the house that we never use. I have lots of books that belonged to my late father in law that Mr Pooh is happy to let go of at last. Some are very old and I have seen them selling on ebay. Even if it is just £10 a book it is worth the effort.

Mr Pooh hasn't been paid for a few weeks now and we are up to our limit on our overdraft on the personal account too. What a mess! It is just a hiccup, I know, but the bank won't budge on the overdraft.
The daft thing is I had a £2000 overdraft facility that I reduced to just £500 voluntarily and now they won't increase it. All they could suggest was that we phone our mortgage company and ask to do a late payment. We have had a mortgage for 28 years and have never been late By next Thursday all the money will be in the account and then we won't have any problems paying the bills.

We have been looking at Hilux pickups as they are the ones that last the longest but we would need to buy quite an old one as we can't pay much.

poohbear59

A new day and a new challenge. I am restricted to doing light work as I have a rib sprain. It is agony and I am now taking some seriously strong painkillers. It gives me a chance to sit and concentrate on trying to recover our financial situation.

Good news yesterday, that the marketing grant cheque is in the post. That means we can pay ourselves back some of the money we lent the business. If we weren't supplementing the business, and DS2 and DH we would be managing quite well.

Yesterday we decided not to cancel the mortgage payment and cancelled water rates, dog insurance, TV licence, barclaycard and my NHS pre payment prescription card!! I can reinstate them all on Thursday, the bank tell me, so I hope it is all quite straight forward.

ETA Mr P has gone in search of payments from clients. We are hoping someone will pay him direct into our account then we won't have to wait for a cheque to clear.

poohbear59

Today I am listing any and everything I can find on ebay and amazon to see if we can make some extra cash to see us through the next month. The cottage is fully booked for May and most of June so things will be easier in about a month but things are extremely tight today.
I have listed the cottage for one of the weeks that we have availability and some clothes I bought for weddings last year.

Any ideas of things that sell easily will be gratefully received.

poohbear59

I am feeling a bit more optimistic today. Despite the painful ribs I have managed to get into some old clothes for DS1 to photograph me minus my head. We have about 40 items to list and if 5 sell I will be happy.

It is pointless having lots of unused items in the house that could make me a few pennies.

beanielou

Keep plosdding & oow to the ribs.

poohbear59

Beanielou I managed to list only ten items yesterday. I am still very slow and trying to measure items of clothing was tricky. I felt better that I was achieving something positive.

Mr Pooh didn't manage to find anyone able to pay their invoices at the weekend but has a job for someone he has worked for this year who always pays at the end of the week. We are hoping our cash flow problems will soon be sorted and we can go on to pay off more debts.

We need to keep in our minds that we have paid off 10% since last August.

poohbear59

The crisis is over! Mr P has been paid by bank transfer this morning. I contacted the bank and they were very good and reinstated all the direct debits I cancelled on Saturday They said they wouldn't normally do it but because I contacted them in advance when I thought we were going to be unable to pay them that they will do it free of charge

Apparently the money should be in the bank the day before in order to pay direct debits. That is a sneaky one. Yet another way to catch people out.

beanielou

Glad the crisis is over :j

poohbear59

To make a difference to our debts I listed some first edition books on ebay. I started them at 99p and I have some watchers with 3 days to go but no bids yet. I am now worried I have put too low a strating price.

The snow is quite deep today especially where it has blown across the road. Some drifts are about 3 feet deep but Mr P and next door neighb our have dug out the 1/4 mile to the main road. The road is open as the ski slope is open today.

Now that would be a good money spinner. Hot soups and drinks are really needed up near the slope but we don't have the means to set up a hot drinks service for just a few days each year. We looked into hiring a van but it is too expensive and too far to travel in snow to pick it up. Maybe next year.....

Today I have DS2 chopping wood and keeping the fire going, DS3 is skiing, Mr Pooh is going to see if he can get to work down another track and I am continuing listing on ebay.

I am hoping that today will be NSD 4 for me. My sister sent me £20 for a treat and I have already lent it to DS3 to pay for his ski tow fees. At least I know I will get it back from him as soon as he has been to the cashpoint.

We had an amazing thing happen here yesterday! A new supermarket opened in town Little things please us here. It is a S'ar minimart but has trolleys and space to walk around with a trolley: a new thing for us as we had the tiniest of Co-ops and no other supermarket. We have lots of 10% off vouchers to use by 15th April but having had a look around I would say that it is still very pricey. It is 44 mile round trip to nearest big supermarket. I was hoping it would be competitively priced to keep shoppers local

I was thinking that having a bigger supermarket nearby (it is still 10 mile round trip) might save on petrol costs travelling to other shops but I am not so sure. Mr S has just started delivering here and I put in my first order there last week when I was ill.

PinotGrigio41

I have missed so much pooh, there is never a dull moment is there ?!

I thought I had posted when you got back from your weekend away, but it looks as though I wrote a post to you in my head but never did actualyl send it !! I am prone to these things !! Bit of a worry really, there really is no hope !! :rotfl:

So sorry to hear about the ribs, they sound so very painful. Hope the extra strong painkillers are kicking in for you.

Your money spinning idea sounds good. We had a similar thought it. We live close tot he river. Its a beautiful walk, lovely on a sunny day, lots of dog walkers, kids crabbing etc, but there is nowhere to get drinks, yet directly on the opposite side of the river is a lovely pub. Unfortuantley no way across other than in wading boots in low tide ! A little row boat to take people backand forth woudl be lovely, or if a nice deck were built a lovely cafe selling drinks and snacks,. We discovered though that many people have palied to do similar over the years yet the council turn it down. Its such a shame .

Where abouts is your cottage that you have mentioned ? Sorry if you have said before and I have missed it !

Hope you feel better soon xx