"Simply not solvent!

Seaxwyn

Another day when I faffed about and did almost no billable work - I'm so sick of myself on this front - BUT, two really good things happened:

First my sister offered to pay for us to have a holiday this summer, then a friend came round with a bag of hand-me-down clothes for me.

Life has felt such a struggle recently that this double whammy of unexpected generosity felt like some kind of cosmic affirmation.

So the reason I didn't get much work done was that I was too busy researching holiday options. I feel a pull towards the South West... Cornwall or Devon. Suggestions welcome. We won't be spending while away so we need to be somewhere where we'll be happy just being there, and as our family consists of two fuddy-duddy adults, two hormone-crazed teenagers and two younger children this is a challenge.

And the clothes? Well they're not the kind of thing I wear, so it's time I got to grips with ebay. I hereby resolve to put up my first items this weekend.

Also I have £12 in my brand new Quidco account, from buying a computer for my dad yesterday, so I need to look into ways of making more that way. Advice welcome, but I don't want to do 'daily clicks' for small amounts as I already have such a problem keeping myself focussed on work and don't need any more online distractions.

Happy weekend to all fellow moneysavers

dizzy_lizzie

Hello Seaxwyn. Have read through your posts and so glad you're doing a diary too. If you feel a pull to Cornwall then you must go. Trust your instincts. I love Cornwall, Padstow is lovely and the Lizard Peninsula is amazing, though I expect you've been before.
Have a great week-end and keep up the positivity. x

Seaxwyn

A month since I started this thread, time for an update. January’s figures are:

Money in: £2206.06
Money out: £4213.51
Balance £ -2007.45

Oh dear.

There were some ‘extra’ payments: £800 tax bill, extra mortgage payment of £703 as December’s had got missed, also £126.72 on birthday presents and outing – half our family birthdays fall in January.

However even without those things (which should of course be saved for) it’s a huge deficit and very sobering.

Income will start coming through from the freelance work we’ve been doing, but probably not fast enough to turn the ship around in Feb. Two of my main contracts are billable as projects are completed rather than monthly, which means I won't be writing invoices on those til March.

The words “simply not solvent”, which Clapton wrote in response to my initial post, have been ringing in my ears all month. I don’t want to have my head in the sand if that is the case, so if come April things aren't going the right way, I will look for a full-time job.

Just in order not to be terminally depressed, here are a few positive reflections on the month.

- OH has been far more engaged in the financial struggle – not perfect but a huge improvement.
- OH has done three days of teaching, which went really well. Only six more booked but the College seem pleased too so that's definitely an area to explore for further work.
- I’ve made a start on freelancing for my three main clients. While I still have to work on my self-discipline problem, the work is really enjoyable and the clients are lovely. I spend so much time stressing about this work I often lose sight of how lucky I am to have work that I love.
- I think we should be entitled to Working Family Tax Credits again (we have not been getting it due to a past overpayment), just need to get OH to give me his estimated earnings for the year and give them a ring.

That's it for now. Any words of wisdom or comfort will be very gratefully received.

[Edited as bullet points not working. Is it a firefox thing?]

dizzy_lizzie

Hi Seaxwyn
Some days are worse than others aren't they and can get us down but it's good you're looking at the positives too. I'm sure keep posting your diary will help. It does me, even if it only makes me realise were I'm going wrong!
All the best to you.

Seaxwyn

Thanks dizzy!

Today I spent £55.12 in sainsbury's - on my M&S credit card. This is the first time I've used a credit card since March 06, and only necessary as someone has cloned my debit card and withdrawn money from ATMs in Malaysia!

I'm more excited than anything to be the victim of a global scam, and the only effect is that I can't withdraw cash until A&L send out a new card, which I wouldn't have done anyway.

Also this weekend I spent £9 on tea and cakes! Lesson learned: if you're going out in the cold, take a thermos. I baked a batch of muffins this morning so we'd have something to take out with us but they all got eaten before they'd even cooled.

My first ever ebay listings end this evening, bids currently totalling £8.24 on two items, watchers but no bids on the other two. I'm really looking forward to seeing what we get.

hypno06

Hiya!!

We were cloned earlier this month with a spending spree happening in Canada!

Unfortunately for the stupid cloners, they picked on someone with no money in their account so everything got rejected every time they tried to use it!!

But, anyway, your post above seems quite positive, remember that things are not going to happen overnight, you will not unfortunately wake up in the morning free of debt, but you are making moves in the right direction, as is OH.

So, you may not have sorted out exactly how this will resolve itself, but you are more in control and aware of things than you were before, and that can only be a good thing.

Small steps will get you there eventually xx

Seaxwyn

I've been feeling really down about money. On present progress we are adding to our debts every month, not reducing them. I've had to pay my M&S card minimum payment by writing a cheque from my NatWest overdraft which is 16% APR - ouch. It feels hopeless.

Also I've been stressing about work as I dont finish my part-time job til next Thursday and have more than full time amount of freelance work as well so I'm working late nights and early mornings, projects are slipping behind schedule, and I'm feeling tired and hopeless.

But, a few major boosts today.

I have been paid £353.82 expenses I didn't know I'd get back, so this felt like a pure windfall.
OH has been told he can invoice £900 in advance for a job he's been making slow progress on, which has given him a boost to work harder and finish it to get the remaining £900...
We have banked £217.49 from ebay in the past week from stuff that was just lying around the house.
And yesterday OH got approached in the street and offered £20 to take part in a focus group.

The next week or so is going to be hard as we both have a scary amount of freelance work to get through and it's half term next week. But if we can make it to the end of feb without slipping further into debt I will feel optimistic as next month the income from the freelance work should begin to show.

My two biggest challenges are:
- to be ruthlessly efficient about getting work done, despite tiredness
- to encourage/support/cajole OH into being the same

Seaxwyn

I suddenly feel a bit better about everything.

I left my part-time job yesterday. Now I will have much more time to concentrate on freelance work. What a relief.

A totally unexpected £391.81 tax credits was paid into my account today. Our tax credits were stopped in August as we had been overpaid previously, but as our income has dropped and childcare expenses gone up I rang last week with the new figures. I don't know if this is a one off or if we'll get the same amount each month now. It would be so great to get £390 monthly as it almost exactly matches our biggest loan payment of £386.86. But that seems to good to be true so I'll assume it's a one off til I hear otherwise.

As well as that, a lovely late birthday present, two huge bags of carbootable cast-off clothes, and a job worth 720 Euros (if I do it by Tuesday) all landed in my lap today.

I've had a quote for life cover that is a tiny fraction of the mortgage term assurance we are paying at present. I just have to chase OH (Mr Inertia) to get a quote also then we can switch over.

OH is working very hard at present. He has good work for the next couple of months so I hope we can pay off a bit of debt before the usual unemployed status returns.

Kids swarming all over the house, the younger ones need pitchforking into bed, so I'm logging off now and will be back later.

JohnD76

Seaxwyn wrote:

Hi, this is a policy that will pay off the mortgage in the event of either of our deaths. I think this is essential as neither of us could pay it alone.

The other life insurance would pay 100k if one of us died, the total mortgage is 153k I think, so perhaps we could reduce the mortgage term one, I hadn't thought of that - I will look into it. Thanks for the suggestion.

Cancel your mortgage term insurance policy.

Check out money supermarket for a better priced life assurance policy. We are paying about £28 a month for an insured sum well over twice your total mortgage debt with terminal illness cover.

Use quidco.com's zurich insurance offer for buildings and contents and check out your car insurance whilst you are there too.

With water bills as high as yours I would immediately get a water meter fitted.

Look to switch utilities once again using quidco.

Are you tied into your mortgage? Can you look to remortgage to a lower rate and transfer some of your debts onto another product on the mortgage? Have you got sufficient equity in your home to clear your debts completely and start paying the mortgage back as a capital repayment?

Your phone and internet is high for a month too.

See if you have got any bank/card charges you can reclaim.

Hope this helps,

John.

JohnD76

Do you live anywhere near a Costco or Makro? We are saving £££'s by doing 90% of our shopping at Costco and the food is SO much nicer than the nasty supermarkets.

Use QUIDCO.com too!!!! Not with Costco, but in general for switching utilities etc.... You can also get some really good freebies on there too.

Check out the Zurich insurance deals!!!!!!