301k in debt and morbidly obese - things aren't great!

MrBloater

The free listings weekend on eBay could well be the thing that pulls the Bloaters back from the brink this month - excellent timing and the fact it's 4 days means I won't be rushed and can properly describe and 'sell' the few items of any value - mainly vintage computers and console games.
Carbooting's turned into a no-no when I saw the cost - £13 for a spot is just a little bit too much of a gamble at the moment.
And in answer to the wise owls who have asked the quite sensible question of how did it all get back to this mess - it was due mainly to a month (March) of completely taking my eye off the ball - little trips to the local Co-Op were happening on almost daily basis, takeaways reared their expensive head again, and with the Ofsted visit and a number of redundancies of my colleagues - I preferred to comfortably numb myself at home rather than check the online balances, there was also a drive to spruce the house up ready for the royal visit, and then what finally kicked me into the gutter was having to load up both cars with fuel last week. So, whilst next month will be tight, there won't be any knock-on effect from crazy spending of this month.
And the most important thing, and I say this mainly to those who suffer from the same issues but just lurk in the forums never putting their diaries out there, is to get involved in MSE. Most spending is governed by emotions and the emotional investment I have in this forum thanks to the brilliant people who respond and support means I cannot fail. In March I don't think I logged in once. Since Christmas I hardly posted. Hence the start of this year the spending has gone up. Now I'm back on here posting regularly I will not be making those mistakes. After all, the best definition of insanity I ever heard was "doing the same things over and over again and expecting a different result".
Here's hoping everyone has an Outstanding Friday.

taxi73

Well looks like you'll be able to balance the books then by reigning in the spending and that's a great start.You now have something to work from.Take aways and corner shops are great big money pits as you know.How long is your visitor here for?..if the shopping is expensive whilst they are there because you're maybe trying to keep up appearances then get very inventive in the kitchen using cheaper food cooked from scratch and they'll probably not know the difference.It's amazing what a difference a few herbs and spices thrown in to a dish makes.There are lots of things on the old style board that may help you

MrBloater

43 items photographed and ready to be put on ebay tonight when we return from a family day out. Feeling a bit more able to breathe now...

taxi73

That's a relief to hear.Have a great day out x

Firewalker

Good. Breathe out and start thinking long term - how do you ensure that the whole money thing works 'like it is on rails'. One of the things you will need to do is some 'hedging' - how big is your 'emergency fund? It may have been better to have build one (about £1500) last year instead of putting all extra cash on your debts.

Every time you have a crisis like the one from the last week you are on a downward spiral - you spend emotionally and much more; you can't earn because you are destructed and you can't be bethered to check and control your balance because you are worried it will be bad. In other words, you are back to the begining.

Wish you a productive e-baying weekend. In the short run this is fine.

Firewalker

ClootiesMum

I lurk rather than post - but have a great day out

And go for the PPI - DH has had money back from the cpompany I work for - Psychobabble is right - they are 2 copmpletly different issues.

No paperwork is not a problem - this site tells you all you need to know but usually just a phone call to the cust services dept of the appropriate company will make sure it's dealt with for you.

Best of luck

Northern_Lassy

sounding a lot more positive today Mr B, hope the day out helps you de-stress

Lara44

Great to hear Mr B. At the end of the day prices are rising a lot and incomes are staying the same. So we're all having to be a bit more watchful over those everyday spends. So you're not alone

You should definitely be looking into PPI soon - this could become a new emergency fund for you. Then you can relax that you can cope with any surprising ups and downs.

Luckystepho

Hi Mr B, good to see you back, you sound as though you are back on track, I'm sure your temporary situation can be sorted with ebay etc and a long term strategy put back into place. Have a great Easter weekend everyone! x

MrBloater

96 items on eBay, very low spend day considering it was a day out at a castle with wife, mother-in-law and the two littlies. Tomorrow morning am going to multi-task, promised the kids a tent day - and hopefully in digging said tents out of the shed, might find some stuff lurking in there that I can sell. So things are looking up.