"Simply not solvent!

buddiebabe

Morning

Congratualtions on getting through April without accumulating any more debt.

You've done so well reducing your debt by £2000 since Jan its a great achievement and one you should be really proud of :j

keep surviving and even paying just the smallest amount over the minimum payment on things is better than not paying it at all! It all adds up at the end of the day.

Im sure May is going to be a great month for us all. New month new start

Buddiebabe x

Seaxwyn

Morning Buddie!

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm feeling really optimistic about the new month too. May - what a lovely time of year!

Best of luck for the boss's visit this afternoon! Hold on to the May optimism, work is only work after all, and the summer is stretching ahead of us when DFWs can enjoy the free sunshine and birdsong as much as anyone.

Don't forget to update us when the boss has been, I'll log on to find out.

peb

Ahh - sorry I assumed he had a degree. I do not know if not having one is a barrier; I had one when I did the course. However colleges are supposed to beto lifelong learning and hopefully his experience will count? I would suggest that he looks at Huddersfield University's website - I know they do the qualification there. Otherwise there are C&G qualifications which some of my friends did to see if they liked teaching - no grant available on those.

I wish him luck

Penny

postingalwaysposting

Seaxwyn i have just read this diary all teh way through... not an easy feat but although i dont have any advice (have no idea about working self employed and freelancing) i just want to say good luck, and it will take time but you will get there :T

hypno06

Re budgets/business etc

When I went self employed I was given loads of help by the tax office - they do free workshop days where you can go and they will help you get stuff sorted. They are heavily subscribed so sometimes you have to wait a few weeks but they are pretty good. Give the tax office a call.

Also, some local authorities offer grants to small businesses to help with tax and accountancy. Our local authority will give you a small amount which will allow you to pay an accountant to show you what to do so that you can do it yourself (IYSWIM).

Also, do you have any sort of Women in Enterprise thing going on in your area. Check out https://www.weetu.co.uk for ideas.

Might be worth making a couple of phone calls, or do a bit more web surfing!

Seaxwyn

Reading about people's extreme budgetting - hypno and immoral angel spring to mind and others as well - has made me very ashamed of my food shopping. We spent over £500/month in March and April, which is ridiculous.

So I've resolved to:

a) have a proper clear-out of the storecupboard. Started with a tinned squid paella yesterday! Thank goodness I'll never have to look at those scary tins again. Tonight will be lentil soup (thanks dizzie for the recipe). Then we have various other dried pulses in the back of the cupboard so I'll appeal on OS for help with those.

b) write a proper meal plan this weekend and stick to it.

The main problem here is that I leave the food shopping to OH - if I pay the mortgage, the big loan and most of the bills he can at least buy the food. However he doesn't have the same debt-busting motivation as me and has a weakness for expensive delicacies. The obvious answer, which has eluded me before, is to make him do the shopping but give him a list.

Other resolutions: today I will:
- not play Freecell at all
- not visit MSE or any other non-work-related website until I have done three full hours billable work

See you at lunchtime!

hypno06

How about doing the supermarket shopping online?

That way you can take advantage of free delivery codes from MSE and do your shopping as you make your list and won't get tempted by stuff you don't need.

You also get to see how much it costs before you pay, so if it is too much you can cut it back without the embarressment at the checkout!!!

Plus (bonus in my book) is that you don't have to go to the supermarket which is one of my most hated place - all the numpties seem to be there at the same time as me, getting in the way with their trollies:mad:

Seaxwyn

hypno, you are not the first person to suggest this and the rational part of my brain knows it would be a good idea.

I've been musing on the why-not-shop-online question and realise there is a psychodrama being played out here.

I won't do it as I think OH ought to buy the food. OH won't do it as, bizarrely, he actually enjoys supermarket shopping. I think there's a primeval thing at play that he likes to be the one putting food in front of his children. Also, he is a great foodie and likes shopping around for quality. He takes a list but then buys what looks good to him on the day.

BUT, and I've just realised this, there is something else going on here too. He submits to my bossing and nagging over money most of the time, as he knows I'm right, but he uses food as a way of sabotaging my efforts.

For example, this morning I told him that all we needed to buy were milk and fruit and that I would get these (and I outlined in tedious detail how I would go about it... M&S vouchers, yawn, the market, zzzzzz). I explained in loving detail the storecupboard supper I would cook and how we could get through the weekend without buying anything other than milk and fruit.

Shortly afterwards he went out to Sainsbury's and spent £28 on perishable stuff that meant my storecupboard menus had to be put on hold.

I can't believe I've just written four whole paragraphs on this tiny and boring issue. I hope noone reads it. That's the worst thing about debt - it's turned me into a shrill and joyless nag.

hypno06

Seaxwyn wrote: »

I can't believe I've just written four whole paragraphs on this tiny and boring issue. I hope noone reads it. That's the worst thing about debt - it's turned me into a shrill and joyless nag.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Not only have we read it, but we relate to it too!

Has it turned you into a shrill and joyless nag or someone with the strength to make their future better for themselves and their family

Besides, you fed them squid paella yesterday, how foodie does he want to be. Just tell him that Jamie Oliver has got this new storecupboard campaign running, and Nigella is currently doing wonderful things with pulses

Seaxwyn

Just to write something more positive....

I did it! I worked most of the day without wasting time on the Internet! Hooray!

I got offered three pieces of work today! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Two I have accepted (one has to be confirmed but could be worth £8,000 a year... here's hoping it comes off). The third I had to say no to, as I couldn't fit it in though it was something I would love to do.

It means a lot to me, I have a low opinion of myself really, especially in work terms, but I keep getting these great offers so I can't be useless, can I? Now if I get more efficient I can say yes to more of them.

Something I listed on ebay yesterday has a bid for £30 and 6 watchers. I got it for free. Hooray!

Only 200 more Yellow Pages to deliver..... if anyone thinks delivering YP is an easy way to make a fast buck, please let me disabuse you of that notion now. It's GRUELLING.