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"Simply not solvent!

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  • Seaxwyn
    Seaxwyn Posts: 4,896 Forumite
    I will find out if there's room to manoeuvre with the climbing club. I don't know much about it yet but it seems a friendly place. Yes it is a HUGE space with lots of those artificial rock walls, and they also take the kids to outdoor places. I'm very happy for the kids to belong as they really are great climbers - my kids are all born cat burglars! We will have to see if it's worth £100/month though.

    Another thing I liked about it - while they were having their taster session I sat in the cafe area and wrote three entries for short story comps. The words just flowed from my pen. If I could do that once a week I'd be very happy!

    Possibly need to rethink expenditure on kids activities though as I'm also paying for DD3 to do gym and DD1 to do running (but that's excellent value £22.50 a year for fantastic training). And today we were playing tennis in the park (badly) and I was thinking I should pay for some tennis lessons. I need to get a grip here.
    Total debt: 1 January 2007 £[strike]49,387.79[/strike] 1 January 2012 £[STRIKE]19,312.85[/STRIKE] 1 August 2012 £11,517.62



  • hypno06
    hypno06 Posts: 32,296 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    You can find a way to get £100 a month........set yourself a challenge, get the children all involved in raising the money, as it is for their benefit, etc etc.

    I hope OH flu thing is better, and that the paypacket tomorrow is better than the last one!

    As for only paying minimum payments, well.....when you factor in the amount of savings you are making then you have an equivalent figure. Sadly we can't do overpayments AND big savings at times like this, so we have to make a decision - big overpayments.........big savings........or smaller amounts of each? What proportion of overpayment/savings/etc you do will change throughout the year......and at the end of the year you will have paid off more debt.....been prepared for bills.....sorted out a remortgage etc you will be able to give yourself a huge pat on the back.
    Successful women can still have their feet on the ground. They just wear better shoes. (Maud Van de Venne)
    Life begins at the end of your comfort zone (Neale Donald Walsch)
  • Karmacat
    Karmacat Posts: 39,460 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Yep, I agree with hypno, you have to keep looking at the overall picture - for instance, I *know* my calculations are out on my totals, I confess it. But I also know that I'm correct on each deal that I do, and that each deal makes me better off - bingo, m.b., whatever. I just have to remember that and stop trying to reconcile each thing. Thats the overall picture for you, even if I don't quite understand it (sorry, hijacking here...).

    Anyway... I love the pic of you doing your writing, that sounds really great. And flow!!! Flow is precious, go with it.
    2023: the year I get to buy a car
  • Seaxwyn
    Seaxwyn Posts: 4,896 Forumite
    Hypno, I knew you'd say 'find the money' but I'm not so good as that as you!

    I'm doing a carboot sale on 9 March (weather permitting) so that should pay for a few sessions. Amazon sales have dried up a bit, I need to think about new sources of stock.

    I'm being really rubbish with work, as usual, have got this lovely £25/hour work and am just not getting on with it! I feel quite sick with shame when I think of everyone else on here beavering away at matched betting, bingo etc. I do think I need to find somewhere different to work as my desk and computer at home are too associated with time-wasting.
    Total debt: 1 January 2007 £[strike]49,387.79[/strike] 1 January 2012 £[STRIKE]19,312.85[/STRIKE] 1 August 2012 £11,517.62



  • hypno06
    hypno06 Posts: 32,296 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I know what you mean about feeling sick with shame, Seaxwyn.....I feel the same about my housework..........just CAN'T do it....no matter how hard I try. Everyone tells me it is just a case of doing it this way or that way, and I just can't get on top of it for more than 5 mins.

    A friend of mine came over this afternoon and I have been mortified......and that was AFTER my so called attempts at tidying :o
    Successful women can still have their feet on the ground. They just wear better shoes. (Maud Van de Venne)
    Life begins at the end of your comfort zone (Neale Donald Walsch)
  • Seaxwyn wrote: »

    I'm being really rubbish with work, as usual, have got this lovely £25/hour work and am just not getting on with it!

    Just think, 4 hours of that and bingo! There's a month's rock-climbing! (Well, not taking into account tax, but close enough)
    ...much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.
  • Seaxwyn
    Seaxwyn Posts: 4,896 Forumite
    Hypno - I am with you on the housework, I am just the same.

    NDG - that's a good way of looking at it - but really I need to do a lot of hours to pay the mortgage and bills! I will make a real effort to do more now there is no longer the excuse of half term.
    Total debt: 1 January 2007 £[strike]49,387.79[/strike] 1 January 2012 £[STRIKE]19,312.85[/STRIKE] 1 August 2012 £11,517.62



  • hypno06
    hypno06 Posts: 32,296 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    How about working out how many hours to pay each thing....

    Then you can say "today I paid the council tax" or "today I paid for the kids to do activities" or whatever - if you have that "visual" of time worked = bills paid then it might help you.....
    Successful women can still have their feet on the ground. They just wear better shoes. (Maud Van de Venne)
    Life begins at the end of your comfort zone (Neale Donald Walsch)
  • Seaxwyn
    Seaxwyn Posts: 4,896 Forumite
    part of the problem is that while I bill clients by the hour or day, in reality most jobs don't break down into hourly chunks - it's more a phonecall here, an email there, a dash of inspired copy-writing thrown in somewhere else. I agree a price in advance so how long it all actually takes is academic really.

    But this one particular job is very much a by-the-hour thing so I should at least draw a chart and colour in the blocks to motivate me through it.

    I am realising what huge problems I have in so many aspects of work - having to deal with multiple clients and competing priorities particularly. eg tomorrow I have 3 'urgent' jobs and I have no plan how I'm going to get through them.

    Like housework, time-management is not rocket science and I should just pull myself together and organise myself. But I think I need a brain transplant first. It's exhausting and demoralising.

    Right, off to chase kids into bed. I am feeling good that I have at least made them locate school bags and books ready for tomorrow. Hoping that neither has PE tomorrow. Luckily the oldest two are self-sufficient in this regard.
    Total debt: 1 January 2007 £[strike]49,387.79[/strike] 1 January 2012 £[STRIKE]19,312.85[/STRIKE] 1 August 2012 £11,517.62



  • Karmacat
    Karmacat Posts: 39,460 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I am realising what huge problems I have in so many aspects of work - having to deal with multiple clients and competing priorities particularly. eg tomorrow I have 3 'urgent' jobs and I have no plan how I'm going to get through them.

    Prioritising sounds like the key.... Stephen Covey has a brilliant way of putting it (I just hunted out my notes, he calls it the management matrix):






    The management matrix
    ==================================================

    //Box One............................................ Box Two
    //
    //Urgent AND ..........................................Not urgent, but important
    //Important: ...........................................Prevention, relationship building,
    //crises, deadline .....................................planning, recreation.
    //driven projects.
    //
    //
    //Box Three ............................................Box Four
    //Urgent, but not ......................................Not urgent, not important
    //important: proximate,...............................Trivia, busy work, time
    //pressing matters, ....................................wasters, pleasant activities.
    //popular activities.

    ======================================================







    I have to put the dots in, cos it won't stay in boxes without it. I've found his tremendously helpful - just cos its urgent, doesn't mean its important (box 3) and some things that don't have any time schedule at all are really important (box 2) - he recommends that eventually managers should be spending most of their time on Box 2 activities, which is obviously an ideal, but something to work towards.
    Like housework, time-management is not rocket science and I should just pull myself together and organise myself. But I think I need a brain transplant first. It's exhausting and demoralising.

    You have to want to do it. You have to have enough *energy* to do it. I loathe housework, so I don't do it, I skimp by on enough not to shame myself too strongly when clients come in, and for the rest... well, its my dirt anyway! Except when I have people to stay, and then I get completely paranoid, of course.

    I realise this is probably no use, its just that I've found it useful - I can prevaricate endlessly, so some way of classifying it all in my head was useful. You've said about finding somewhere different to work - how difficult is that going to be, or is that really another block thats going to keep you stuck? Reminds me of me and my attempts at trading, it really does, its horrible when you keep on trying and can't do it.


    Good luck with it all, Seaxwyn.
    2023: the year I get to buy a car
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