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

wantabetterlife

Hi DFSD, that was a lovely gesture from your parents and also the offer from your MIL, you are soos sooo lucky to be surrounded by such generous and loving people...it makes the burden of paying off the debt a lot less lonely. I personally found the first couple of months after returning to work the most difficult financially as i had put a lot of things on the credit card, so i would imagine the money from your parents will come in handy when you return to work. Love the new signature...you have come a long way!!!:D:D

Chocforever

I agree with Wantabetterlife. You have a lovely family who just want to help and you may need that extra money when you adjust into a new routine.

I understand your comments about your parents never being in debt. That was the norm in their generation when people saved up for things instead of buying now and paying later. Of course, times have changed and interest rates are reduced, lifestyles have changed and the norm has reversed. I wouldn't be so hard on yourself.

Taking a wider perspective, my parents generation have been more fortunate in terms of money than compared with mine (and certainly when compared with people younger than me). They have benefited from huge property appreciation, putting modest sums into pension schemes whilst getting guaranteed salary linked pensions and state pensions which will be subsidised by those of us still working, with reduced pension provision and huge mortgages. My parents are able to comfortably live off their income without spending any capital which is a situation which will, I think, always be out of reach for me.

That said, I am also reluctant to take money from my parents - frankly, whether I accept depends on my own financial situation at the time. There is that nagging doubt that you never know when they might need it themselves and that as I get older, I shouldn't need their support. I suppose that when I do accept gifts from them, I reconcile this by thinking that in the forseeable future, they don't need that money and if they ever did, I would borrow to repay them if necessary.

Hope you had a good night's sleep. I have just had a long lie in which was lovely. Now I need to catch up with all the jobs I had planned to do this morning!

Have a good day x

Chocforever

Oh, and did I mention that my flat has sold (fingers crossed it all goes through smoothly) . I think it is fair to say that I was in shock earlier in the week. I had an appointment at the hairdressers after I had been told. They were half way through before I noticed they were dying my hair the wrong colour :rotfl:. I'm starting to get used to it now!

So, onto the next round of decluttering. Let's see if I can find anything to put on Ebay today.

debtfreesomeday

Oh my chocs, that's fantastic news! Is that less than a week??? I love the way you dropped that huge piece of news in passing at the end! Oh I'm so happy for you. The de-cluttering must really have worked! Have you found anywhere to rent yet? My fingers and toes are well and truly crossed for you. X

debtfreesomeday

Tonight I've listed 12 more items on eBay and 3 have sold already for at least £3.99 profit on each. That will be more money paid off the credit card. I have some clothes and other baby bits to list but that will have to wait until next weekend now.

We have also reached a compromise with MIL on her kind offer. She had asked us again to reconsider, so we have reluctantly accepted her offer, but not for as long as she originally suggested. We have said 6 months help will be really appreciated, so that's how it currently stands.

Tomorrow I'm going to have to buy new ink for our printer, but first, I'm going to look in the clearance section in tesco as they had some clearance printers last week. I need one which is much MUCH more economical on ink, with cheaper ink too!

debtfreesomeday

One more eBay sale today, I need to post all of those off tomorrow.
I went out to buy yet more inks for the printer today, but instead bought another printer. It was £60, but the inks for that one are £10 each, whereas, it would've cost me £34 just to buy new inks for the old one.
I will sell the old one on the notice board at work when I return.

Also had to buy nappies today as getting very low on them. Just picked up a £10 box until I have time to look around for better deals. I usually buy them in bulk when I see good deals.

Chocforever

Good move with the printer. I suspect I should have done the same long ago. I tend to use the scanner more than the printer which has come in very useful indeed. However, since I got a posh phone a few weeks ago, it has a pretty good camera and then I can email the pictures straight from the phone to the computer so the whole process only takes seconds. It has been brilliant for doing MS receipts and for Ebay pictures.

Speaking of Ebay, I didn't find much to put on there yesterday. I'm impressed you have so much stuff. Have you bought things just to sell on Ebay? I was seriously scraping the barrel to find the the 3 things I did put on there - we shall see if anyone bids on them. What was good, though, was that the restaurant vouchers I wanted rid of sold yesterday for 95% of their face value .

Tonight I got home and could hear water pouring down the drain even as I approached the building. I presumed the flat upstairs has a faulty water valve or something. I also assumed the problem had just happened. I waited a while, and the water was still pouring away (down the drain I hasten to add, thankfully not through my ceiling). I realised that the husband was away and thought maybe his wife didn't know how to switch the water off. After 45 minutes, I went and knocked on the door. And then rang the bell. No answer. I left it another half an hour and rang the bell again. No answer (and I know she is there). So I put a note through the door saying where she needs to turn the water off and how. Still the water is going. Heaven knows what their water bill will be. 2 hours later I thought this is ridiculous, she can't leave it all night and I am not sure I would sleep knowing there is water endlessly flowing from upstairs. So I pressed the buzzer for their flat which is really, really loud. Still she wouldn't answer the door. However, I think it had some effect because I assume she then saw the note I had put through the door, I heard some scrambling around and finally she switched the water off! So I can calm down now and get some sleep!

debtfreesomeday

Oh my goodness, why would she not answer the door? How crazy! You had an eventful night then! Hope you managed to get some sleep after all that.

With regards to eBay, no, the bits I've sold recently have been baby items we haven't used. They have all sold really well which I'm grateful for as it's made us an extra bit of money. I haven't put the clothes or any other bits on yet, hopefully I'll get round to doing it next weekend.

I've paid £100.97 off the credit card this morning; the 97p yo make it a whole number! That money's come from the eBay sales, so that's great.

Oops, Ds screaming...

Chocforever

Yes, it was odd about the neighbour. Maybe she thought I was going to complain and she didn't know what to do. Anyway, I came home last night and no pouring water so that was a relief.

£100 is a good chunk to pay off the credit card - well done. Ebay has its benefits.

Well l have another busy day today with appointments in my home town this morning and this evening. I have to travel about 40 miles this afternoon for a medical appointment. It's in a lovely city and it looks like a nice sunny day so it will be pleasant walking around somewhere different for the afternoon. After two exercise classes and a few miles of walking, I will be fitter by the end of the day .

Hope you have a good day!

debtfreesomeday

Just wrote a newsy post and lost it, :mad:, so will keep this short and to the point!

Another £60.30 transferred to the bank account from Paypal; this is destined for the credit card. A few refunds have lowered this balance slightly in the last week.

Hubby and I have both dusted off our ISA details and have set them up as payees on our bank accounts. Hopefully, at some point, we shall be able to make little regular payments to these to save for the future, but for now, they're there so we can transfer a few £'s if we ever find we have any spare.

Gas/Elec supplier has issued a refund of £40 as we are £160+ in credit. The rest I guess is better staying with them for higher bills over winter. If we're still in credit come the spring, we'll obtain a refund. The £40 will be put in the car/house savings pot to go towards those type of bills, as MOT is due in Jan.

DFSD