13 Moons ... ( *** Off, I'm Fabulous )

Karmacat

Lula, in spite of the mahoosive grocery bill, it sounds like things are going so well for you - not long now!

Lula-Hula

Hello,

I've been struggling this week. My energy levels are low & I have this constant feeling of carrying a burden that makes me feel on edge & like I'm in a self made prison.

I get up, go to work, come home, do home job, do parenty stuff, do homey stuff & then have a bath & go to bed. At the back of my mind is a constant drone of debt & how I need to pay it off by May 1st & then pay back the funds I 'borrowed' & the £600 ISA money I 'borrowed'...

The solution is obvious but I do rather feel as though I've wimped out or failed. Bear with me, I'm listing my justifications first.

I've been working on my own post-April budget & it's not great. the sum of council tax, rent increase, utilities increase, fuel price increase comes to an extra £140 expenditure each month .

I have booked a week off work during school easter hols but due to bank holidays this works out at 11 days off which is great, but potentially costly. I really, really want to get DDs bedroom decorated during this time. She has been waiting so long, this is also costly.

DD is at the childminders for the other week but I am still £65 short at the moment current as it's usually funded by Child Benefit but I dont get the next payment until the week after :think:

There are another 2 weeks to payday & I've done & actually overdone my grocery budget already.

Next week the Uncle Richard direct debit, the pet insurance direct debit & my mobile direct debit are due out, as well as the rent.

I have miscalculated debit card payments & gone into overdraft - I had to 'borrow' £70 from the savings funds to pay in. This now needs to be replaced. Total 'borrowed' now = £670.

DD has been on a waiting list for music lessons at school for nearly 18 months. Today I got a call to inform me that there is now a place for her, & that will be £130 a term.

Becoming debt free by May 1st is moving out of reach. The extra £140 of bills to pay + the £130 for music lessons has already taken up half the regular debt repayment required.

I want this debt gone, I want to feel 'clean'. I have a very primal urge to save as much money as I can into an emergency fund as soon as possible. Global events are unsettling me & I dont feel that either of my jobs are completely secure. I want to be in a position to be able to help those in need. I want to be able to help DD with the cost of university if she chooses to go.

I am very fortunate to have some money in an ISA. I have not wanted to use this money & with my debt at 0% for the last year, it hasn't been necessary. That changes in 2 weeks time & I have come to the conclusion that with the extra expenses I have to pay out next month, it seems ludicrous to struggle on & pay interest on the debt when I could just as easily use that ISA money to help clear it. I've already 'borrowed' £600 so I may as well use a bit more & then when the debt is gone, I can start to repay the ISA.

I'm quite good at saving really, & hate having to use funds money so I'll be very motivated to pay it back asap.

I have therefore made a payment of £975 to Uncle Richard. It doesnt actually give me much satisfaction as it's a combination of impatience , my own miscalculations & over spending (ebay frenzy & groceries) that means I havent stuck to the plan. I also feel desperately guilty for using it, as I hope not to have to admit this to family any more than I have admitted to ever having CC debts.

In case anyone is wondering, by keeping the money in the ISA, I would have earned about £10 more in interest than the cost of the interest on the debt. It's a price I'm willing to pay.

I still have the final £275 to clear which should now be possible by the end of the month & can then move on to the next financial phase in my life by starting to repay the money I've borrowed from the isa. The full amount to be repaid will be revealed at a later date. I need to admit it to myself first.

This is actually a very cunning way to ensure I have a valid reason to stick around here & that I dont suddenly go completely bonkers & spend like a demon. I have a feeling that I may be more succesful at budgeting when it is for my own benefit rather than for debt repayment, but I'm not completely convinced so will need to have all you lovely people around to keep me on the right path.

I have had a small ebay breakthrough today though. We are selling some old equipment at work & I was put in charge of setting up an ebay account, writing the blurb & loading the photos. I think that's a fairly large clue / omen / shove in a certain direction :rotfl:.

boredofbeingathome

I approve of a cunning plan and it looks good to me.

Lula-Hula

thanks Bob -

it was the best I could do, I'm all out of turnips

taxi73

Sounds like a good idea to use the ISA and then pay yourself back whilst sticking to a realistic budget

boredofbeingathome

Lula-Hula wrote: »

thanks Bob -

it was the best I could do, I'm all out of turnips

Turnips are the faithful standby, i am dreading running out of them:eek::rotfl:

se999

It sounds like you've made the best choice you could for where you are at the moment, so well done. It's good that you spotted the original plan wasn't working well enough and acted on it. It's so easy not to spot when things change.

Lula-Hula

Thanks for the encouragement lovely people :A

I know it makes sense really, & that was always my back up plan should all other efforts fail

I do feel a lot lighter this morning ( in mood anyway - as the excitement led me into a '2-chocolate-digestives-for-breakfast' situation without me even noticing what I was doing )

The title for a new diary has already occurred to me & that will commence on the wondrous day itself

There will be lots of plans for this new adventure & I'll be starting it with my (now somewhat dusty old) mission to be 'People that do things rather than people who have things, with a visit to nearby gallery showing fabby items that laydees have coveted & collected over the years. I'll post a link later.

Due to meet lovely friend for coffee over in Windsor at lunchtime so having done one load of laundry & boosted my hair colour, I'n now going to clean the bathroom & then make myself presentable.

Bye for now
xx

taxi73

Sounds like a fabby day,,looking forward to new diary.

Lula-Hula

Well, I was a complete whirlwind of activity this morning. I cleaned the bathroom & hoovered throughout before heading off.

I also took my copy of Marie Claire with me so I could claim my free sample of the Bare Escentuals minerals make up - having seen that there is a store in Windsor. Even after all this time I'm still a bit self conscious at times with using vouchers etc. but the girl in the shop was really lovely & did my colour match & made me up before giving me the free sample. It feels lovely on & the mini brush is so soft. The shop is gorgeous with a huge array of goodies to try out & she gave me a card for a free make'under' when I return to buy the full starter set of base, brushes & makeup ... at a mere £160 :eek:.

I might not go to Windsor for a wee while :rotfl:. Well, that's not true actually, I want to try out the Benefit shop next ( that's on Quidco & less expensive ).

Had a lovely chat & catch up with my friend who has given me details of a fab set of paints that can go over any surface & I'm quite keen now to do some updating on the home.

I popped in to the sweet shop to buy a rainbow lolly for DD & then found myself buying a nice black belted cardi in the sale for £20 ( it will replace the nasty worn cheapo one from primarni that I hate ) so need to declare that on the clothes challenge.

The coffee, parking & lolly came to just £10.40 & that's from my pocket money fund so perfectly allowed .

Came home to find the ebay bag had arrived - not quite sure about it yet, will need to try it out & also a very stern letter form the bank. It was about my having gone overdrawn & basically if I 'continue to misuse' my account, facilities will be withdrawn & it will be closed.

Ooooh er - all that for 23p

- unfortunately it was the account where I don't have an overdraft & it was an ebay purchase that took me over - I didnt have as much as I thought in my PayPal account although I did add funds the same day so not sure if I'll get charged for that too .

Do hope it doesn't scupper my chances of getting a shiny new CC from the bank - I want it to pay for everyday purchases such as groceries, fuel & other shopping & will then pay it back every month. It's a cashback CC & comes with a 6 month 0% purchase rate & I was rather hoping to buy a new cooker with it too :whistle:.

I've been asked to help out at guides tonight as one of the leaders is ill so that should give my karma a boost I've also agreed to sponsor DD & her friends with their skipping challenge.

I'll have to do a bit of top up shopping tomorrow - at the co op & then hope to get out in the garden & do stuff. Visiting rellies on sunday so that should be a NSD.

At some point I need to decide whether to continue with the cash funds as they are, or whether to try something new for when I start to repay myself.