The final countdown... and a newbie in the DFSD house!

alibob30

I know exactly how you feel, my eldest is 6 and I feel the same. However, the netmums meet a mum board isn't a forum, there are ad's from other mum's and you e-mail them privately and directly.
I'm rubbish on forums as you can see from my low post count here, it seems that everyone else has something witty and funny to say and I have no idea!!

debtfreesomeday

Thanks alibob, I shall take a look at the board for sure. X

Well it's been a tough old week in the dfsd household and it's only Monday! Ds not sleeping at all well and it all got a bit much yesterday and there were lots of tears from myself. I just wish the medication would help as his reflux is horrendous still.

On a plus note, I'm doing well on eBay. One person has bought an item for £22 which was double what I thought I'd get for it! The paypal transaction says 'pending' though so not sure what that means. The other bits are up to £38 with 5 days to go.

I managed to take advantage of the chea baby items in tesco and picked up a bed rail for £3 instead of £25 for when Ds is older. I also got some bedding, bits for put and about and some gifts for about a tenth of the prices they should be.

I'm not feeling too positive at the moment though, just worked out our budget for once I go back to work and it seems we're only going to have around £70 left once the bills, petrol and groceries are paid for. That's before any credit card payments too. I guess I'm going to have to work on reducing our grocery bill. We currently allocate £200 a month for us and Ds, but it's always gone before the end of the month. I need to work harder at that. Also need to see if I can make some extra money somehow. I can see us spiralling into huge debts again, I'm not surf how we're gonna cope these next 25 months...

Chocforever

I have read your latest posts and have been wondering what to say in reply which doesn't sounds patronising or have the opposite effect to that which I intended. I'm afraid I haven't come up with anything which fits those criteria, but feel I can't just read your posts and not comment. So here is my best attempt.

I am really sorry to read that you are feeling low and lacking confidence. Leaving aside for one moment the lack of sleep and stress you are feeling from DS being poorly, this has clearly been going on for some time. From an outsider's perspective, you seem to have a lovely and supportive OH and family, you are intelligent and articulate, both of you are in employment and have a nice house and garden.

I realise that if you worked in a profession that happened to attract a higher financial reward (which is rarely to do with ability; just due to a historic trend, demand or nature of the employer), that life would be easier, you would feel freer to do the things you want to do and socialising with people who have more disposable income would be less stressful.

Most people have some insecurities, but you seem to be saying something beyond that whereby you risk narrowing your horizons.

I'm sure you are great mum to DS and there are bound to be experiences, good and bad, that you can share with others, empathise with and feel a wider sense of community.

I don't want to suggest you should do something about confidence and self esteem when you are sleep deprived and have enough on your plate right now. But I do want to say that people really are interested in your life and your opinions. You have nearly 10,000 views on this diary and we enjoy your virtual company on here very much .

Best wishes xx

wantabetterlife

Great post chocs...couldnt have said it better myself.
I have always followed DFSD's diaries and feel like in some way i am sharing her journey. I always check my subscriptions and love reading your updates even though i hardly ever post. Just to let you know you are not talking to yourself and i do understand the stress with the baby and lack of sleep...i am just back to work after baby number three and things are a bit mental but i just take it a day at a time....and i keep telling myself things WILL get easier

Chocforever

Moving on from the heavy stuff to the trivial ...... I have amazing MSE news.... I actually collected enough points on P!gsback for a voucher. It must have taken me at least 18 months (and has probably not been the best use of my time), but I was determined to get there, even after they downgraded the points to make it harder to redeem.

A small victory amongst a largely unproductive week. I have a week to go until payday. I had actually managed to save some money this month. Shame I got a £500 tax bill which more than wipes out the savings I made. Ho hum...

Hope you are OK xx

debtfreesomeday

I am still alive! Sorry for going AWOL for a while, life has been busy and I've been feeling very tired in the evenings so not had much time to catch up.

Thank you both for your posts chocs and WABL, they were much appreciated. I do have major self-confidence issues and am completely aware of where these stem from, but find it difficult to tackle the issues I have. I guess I have to work on it.

I am very thankful for everything and everyone I have in my life and am acutely aware of how precious life is. I know that I am so lucky to have the life I have compared to many less fortunate. I guess I need to start living with the glass half full as I can so easily be a glass half empty type of girl.
I am also an acute worrier, as you may have picked up! This doesn't help really, as I worry so much about those I love and what may or may not be. I'm not sure how to change that really.

Anyway, onto the reason I'm here... The finances.
Well, it's been a fairly profitable few weeks for the DFSD household. I am ebaying like a crazy woman at the moment; last week 32 items finished, those that sold, made us around £120 after postage. This is on the way to the bank account now and will then be paid off the credit card, hopefully all of it will anyway.
I currently have another 10 or so items on eBay, making £15.50 with 2 days to go. Hopefully that will go up a bit before the auctions end.
I also sold another book on amazon yesterday, which sold for just under £9, so will probably be around £6 profit once postage is covered.

I have 4 large baby related items to advertise for sale on the notice board at work. I'm not back at work yet, but am able to still do it electronically. Hopefully these will bring in around £80.

We have made the decision to cancel the break we had booked for january. We were really looking forward to it, but have learnt that their cancellation cover, which we paid £10 extra for, no longer includes cancellation due to bad weather which may be a likely reason for us cancelling at that time of year. We can't afford to lose the money if we physically couldn't make the 3 hour trip thanks to the winter weather! The money was taken already so that will go towards the credit card too and reduce it a lot.

I can barely keep my eyes open so will have to continue tomorrow!
X

wantabetterlife

Glad to see youve got ur mojo back DFSD...fab work on the ebay sales..i photographed a few things today and plan to list them on sunday.
Im a bit of a worry wart to, so i can sympathise there....sometimes i really wish i cud be more like those people who take everything in their stride...but unfortunately i dont think there is much we can do about it, its just the way we are .
Have a good weekend

debtfreesomeday

Hope your eBay listings do well WABL. I'm currently up to around the £17 Mark with the current listings due to end tomorrow. I might even list a few more bits tomorrow, but I have a busy day planned so it may not get done.
Today has been a big was day, taking advantage of the lovely weather! I'm currently on the 5th load of the day - I stripped the bed to line dry the linen and have also washed all of Ds's 'too big' clothes which are new and stored under his cot. I was planning on washing them over the winter but at least I'll get them dry for free on the line.

Got to pop out shortly and pick up some padded envelopes to post the amazon book, other than those, it should be a NSD.

Ds demanding my attention, will add rest later!

Itsadogslife_2

Hi DFSD, I used to subscribe to your diary a while ago under my previous user name and thought I would pop in and say hi. You amaze me with how well you are doing especially with all you have to contend with.

I also don't have very good self confidence and worry a lot, if you ever find the place that sells it or gives it away let me know! I would love to be an optimist but things always get in the way

debtfreesomeday

Hi itsadogslife and thanks for posting. Maybe we should check eBay and see if anyone has any going cheap! I guess it's something we need to work on eh? But it is so hard to take that first step in doing so. A lot if mine is weight related, I'm a good 4 stone more than I should be. Although I am tall and people say I don't look so big, but the fact is, I am, and it prevents me from doing a lot if things be because I feel so ashamed about my weight. I know the solution is easy, I need to eat less and move more, but life seems to get in the way and, being a comfort eater in times of stress, it's no surprise I'm overweight! There always seems to be major amounts if stress in my life! I just need to find another way to get through it I guess.