Onion carbonara and other stories

life_in_termoil

Payment a day is good, even if you just pay 1p off a debt, its something!! The numbers will still come down.

Itsadogslife_2

At the moment, our brood of animals only consists of some chickens and one dog, although I would like to add another dog as we normally have two but we lost our old girlie last year. I would love a tortoise which is doable in this house, but if I had a bit of land, I would love a donkey or two, and some ducks and maybe an extra dog to make it three.

My lack of a degree has really short changed me in my career as if I had a degree I could be the lawyer, not just the glorified secretary. But I am very lucky in my current job that my boss gives me a much broader range of responsibilities and I am happy in what I do for her, but would be stuck if I ever went to work anywhere else.

Does it feel like a weight has been lifted by confiding in your mom? I haven't told my mom the figure, I think I couldn't bear the look of disappointment on her face. I also think she can't help me so there is little point in worrying her, but it would be nice to have someone to talk to.

the_mollusk

life_in_termoil wrote: »

Payment a day is good, even if you just pay 1p off a debt, its something!! The numbers will still come down.

yes. decided to do this one too. sealed pot will be pennies, payment a day will be what i can (encouraging to see it go straight to the trouble-spot!). soon i'd like to start on the 1 debt in 100 days too. i think that'll be all for now. thanks for the encouragement - i've been browsing the challenge threads for ages and not doing anything about it!

i've just remembered a £250 loan from my mum, silly me!! added it to my seemingly ever-increasing debt stack. <sigh>

the_mollusk

Itsadogslife wrote:

My lack of a degree has really short changed me in my career as if I had a degree I could be the lawyer, not just the glorified secretary. But I am very lucky in my current job that my boss gives me a much broader range of responsibilities and I am happy in what I do for her, but would be stuck if I ever went to work anywhere else.

you never know what the future would've held if you'd chosen a different path. i did a phd for a similar reason - i was effectively a lowly technician and thought i could earn a lot more and do much more interesting things if i just did a phd and got one of the better jobs you can get with an extra degree. five years (two of which were pretty hellish) and £thousands later, i realised i've shot myself in the foot - not only are the highly specialised phd jobs very few and far between (and often involve moving abroad - good experience but logistically difficult), but the stress and the admin and the politics that go with the job have made me realise i would have been much happier sticking with the technician's job. but i'm now overqualified to go for the technician jobs, can't just leave it off my cv as i haven't got the right experience, and i've ended up looking for something completely different because i'm (emotionally and soon probably physically) running away from the whole thing.

and you don't know if you'd be stuck if you didn't have this job - my mum kindly(!) told me she accidentally got preggers with me while doing her accountancy qualifications, and never qualified - yet she's had a brilliant career with responsibilities and (often) salary that only a qualified accountant should have had, because she's qualified by experience - as are you. it's good that you're enjoying your work but don't think it'll be the only good job you'll get! (and look at erin brokovich....!)

(k stepping away from the high horse...)

Itsadogslife wrote:

Does it feel like a weight has been lifted by confiding in your mom? I haven't told my mom the figure, I think I couldn't bear the look of disappointment on her face. I also think she can't help me so there is little point in worrying her, but it would be nice to have someone to talk to.

i'll answer this tomorrow after some sleep, because i thought it would, but somehow it just seems sort of normal - god knows why, it should be a huge relief!! i think it's because i'm ridiculously tired today and everything seems a bit dreamy and strange...! i didn't want to tell my mum for exactly the same reasons so i know how you feel.

the_mollusk

Itsadogslife wrote: »

Does it feel like a weight has been lifted by confiding in your mom? I haven't told my mom the figure, I think I couldn't bear the look of disappointment on her face. I also think she can't help me so there is little point in worrying her, but it would be nice to have someone to talk to.

hmm... for some reason the relief of telling my mum hasn't come yet. i think i felt more relief joining these boards! maybe it's because nothing's really changed, she can't help me and i'm still in the same situation, and her surprising relief at me not owing millions (or whatever she expected!) turned things upside down a bit! only thing that's changed really is that i'm not scared of her opening my credit card bills any more (everything goes to her house, and she's never opened any of it but worries every time i get anything even if i tell her it's just a statement!)

but i think if you really feel strongly that you need to talk to someone close to you then i would say definitely tell her. parents have a habit of being incredibly supportive in times of real need. one of my best friends told his dad he owed £40,000 - he said it was met with "no emotion" but a whopping interest-free loan of £30,000 which he's doing very well with paying back. not everyone is that lucky financially but i'm sure your mum will try and help in any way she can and will be grateful that you trust her enough to tell her. it might not be pretty for a few minutes but once the initial shock wears off i'm sure she'll support you in every way she can.

Itsadogslife wrote: »

At the moment, our brood of animals only consists of some chickens and one dog, although I would like to add another dog as we normally have two but we lost our old girlie last year. I would love a tortoise which is doable in this house, but if I had a bit of land, I would love a donkey or two, and some ducks and maybe an extra dog to make it three.

i would love to have some chickens! and some bees and if i had land the first thing i'd get is a cow (a dexter) followed by a couple of goats and some sheep. i'm actually pretty obsessed with getting a cow at the moment, but our garden's about the size of a coffee table so even a little dexter wouldn't really fit.

the_mollusk

tonight's quick and cheap dinner

boil some rice for a minute or two less than usual.
when it's done, drain it and rinse it really well with fast-running cold water to stop it from cooking in its own heat and to make it totally cold, and leave it in the sieve.
fry mushrooms in a big pan (i use a wok) in butter and oil with a bit of chilli and loads of garlic and salt.
when the mushrooms start to brown, plonk them on top of the rice to free up the pan, and into the same pan crack in some eggs and stir them about till they're about half scrambled.
add in the mushrooms and rice, pour over more oil, and stir till everything's mixed through and heated up.
yum.

amounts for two: 140g rice, 2 large eggs, 250g mushrooms. lashings of salt and oil, as usual. (ok it should work with healthier amounts but maybe add more chilli and garlic if you're going down that route.)

the_mollusk

ok, here it is. for the last few days my thoughts have kept alternating between "i've budgeted so thoroughly nobody can possibly give me any advice on how to improve things" to "i need to cancel EVERYTHING and live on bread and water"......

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1683 (see note 3)
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0 (looking for job)
Total monthly income.................... 1683

Monthly Expense Details
Rent.................................... 515
Council tax............................. 0 (see note 4)
Electricity............................. 50
Water rates............................. 0 (see note 5)
Telephone, internet, TV, French mobile.. 63 (all included in a 2-year contract, 1 year remaining)
UK mobile (O2).......................... 25 (rarely use, ordered PAYG sim, cancelling contract next month)
Road tax................................ 0 (no road tax in france)
Car Insurance........................... 45
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 35
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 10
Buildings insurance..................... 23
Haircuts................................ 0 (cut own hair)
Student loan repayments................. 22 (fixed while i'm living abroad)
Charities............................... 12
Debit card charge....................... 8 (for french bank account - i don't appear to be allowed to refuse this charge)
Pet food & litter....................... 30
Groceries............................... 130
Total monthly expenses.................. 945

Everything else (clothing, petrol, car maintenance/parking, other travel,
vet, entertainment, presents, holidays, emergencies etc) has to come out
of what's left at the end of every month.

Assets
Shares and bonds........................ 6000
Total Assets............................ 6000

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
CC1............................8244......186.......14
CC2............................3963......104.......21
CC3............................4705......113.......17
Overdraft......................2000......0.........8
Mum............................240.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........19152.....403

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,683
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 945
Available for debt repayments........... 738
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 403
Amount left after debt repayments....... 335

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 6,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -19,152
Net Assets.............................. -13,152

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.

notes:
1) i get paid in euros but my debts are in pounds... so for simplicity i've converted everything roughly from € to £ by multiplying by 0.9. it's not totally accurate (or stable) but it's been hovering around that exchange rate for the last few months.

2) this is my soa only - it doesn't include OH's. he has no job at the moment and is borrowing from his mum to pay minimum payments on his credit cards... and he has a car, for which i pay insurance. should i do a separate soa for him? or do another one which includes both of our finances? we're engaged (meaning our debts are too i s'pose...) but we don't have any joint accounts or anything...

3) income after tax - this isn't quite after tax. in france you get your "after tax" payment, but then you have to pay some extra tax after a year of working, and nobody can tell you how much it'll be as it depends on a million things. nobody i've asked can give me even a rough estimate. i'm not looking forward to this surprise.

4) council tax - this is another of many things in france i still don't understand. a friend just told me recently that i should expect a whopping €900 bill in november (a year after i moved in) for something equivalent to council tax - she paid hers in bulk but she couldn't tell me if i would be able to pay in monthly instalments or wot... so currently i'm awaiting this surprise #2...

5) water rates - surprise #3. the thing is, i'm currently only not paying anything because i haven't actually told the water board i've moved into the flat it's been almost a year... when i finally tell them (or when i move out and the agency take it off my deposit) i guess it'll be about £200ish for the year, but i'm not sure.

phew. another long one. any ideas for improvement gratefully received...

the_mollusk

oh the guilt.

i've just cancelled my charity donations have put reminders in my calendar to pay the same amounts into my credit cards on the same days that my standing orders to the charities would've come out.

i feel like a bad person

Itsadogslife_2

I felt guilty as I did the same thing, cancelled my 3 different £4 per month charity contributions but as they say, charity begins at home and I will restart it one day, when I am not so much up the creek without the paddle

the_mollusk

yeah i wrote to both charities telling them pretty much the same thing, i hope to support them again in the future etc. i mentioned they do an amazing job but tried hard not to gush and go off on one about how guilty i feel and how stupid i've been with my money