The freezing, and the pain to come.

suehippo

I think getting a job in a bar is a great idea - it's sociable and as you can't drink (alcohol) when working should help with cutting down.

As becoming a hermit isn't really an option could you arrange to go out just one night a week - if it's a weeknight it's usually not as late as a weekend so should be a bit cheaper. Also, when I used to do bar work you had to work at least a Friday or Saturday.

Good luck with the journey but if you stay as determined as you sound then you'll do it.

Also, why is the house not worth anything? - only being nosey as can't imagine a scenario where this would be the case.

financial_planner

Day 2

Day two in to my debt free journey.

I'm very serious about this £1 a day idea. Of course it is unsustainable in the long term, but I want to get to the end of the month on this budget, so I can pay off my finnish credit card and the debt to my brother, as soon as the next payslip comes in.

I spent my last £4 in Sainsburys and bought the rice, tomatoes, and frozen vegetables, along with some instant noodles (for emergencies), potatoes, and onions. And, some Sainsburys basic weetabix (I forgot I needed to eat breakfast!). Amazingly, the £4 bought me two full bags of food!

Arriving back home, I cooked up the vegetable stew. The ingredients were basically lots of onion fried in a lot of Olive Oil. Added in the tomato, peppers, courgette and finally the frozen mixed vegetables. Then, chicken stock, water, mixed herbs and chilli powder.

I got at least four large servings out of it. As it happens, I had two cold baked potatoes and some salad also in the fridge, so it made for a pretty decent meal, all in all!

This afternoon, I wrote a basic one page CV, looking for bar work. Easy, although I had been putting it off for some time. I printed off a load of copies and put them in my bag.

Then, I dusted off my bike. Sure it had been in the garden for some time, but given my current financial predicament, getting the tube (at £2 each way) is no longer an option. The bike was quite ok, I pumped up the tyres and rode along the river path to central London. What a great way to travel! I'll be cycling to work from now on then, either that or jogging (its about 5 kilomtetres each way).

I locked up my bike and went around a load of pubs. (There are so many, in London, its difficult to know where to start sometimes!). I sought out some of the more upmarket establishments, preferably full of young and attractive women.

I called in at five pubs in total. Of these, three said they were hiring, so I gave them my CV. I was kind of hoping that I'd be able to get a job there and then, but it seems as though it isn't quite that easy. Anyway, I figured I would take down their numbers, and call the managers up tomorrow afternoon, when the pubs would be likely to be quiet, to see if they had given my CV some consideration.

Back home, and to my emails. Ar, here we go. Proposals for dinner, proposals for lunch, proposals for drinks... I guess some are in the 'excuses' territory. I negotiated one dinner for early November. One proposal to meet up for this week was from a good friend, so I just emailed him back and said I'm skint. Sorry.

As we're quite good friends though, he offered to take me out to dinner on my birthday, which is on Wednesday. I suggested we do lunch instead (to avoid it turning in to a drinking session), and he was ok with that. So, there you go! I managed to swindle a free lunch to celebrate my Birthday. I suppose I'll have a more conclusive celebration at some point later in the year, but for the moment, the debt issue has to take priority.

The next thing is to work out a serious financial plan about how much I am going to spend, and save, from October onwards. And, I also need to think through all those difficult questions about how I am going to deal with the socialising, etc. And I will discuss the finnish house in some more detail later on, I promise. But i'm feeling quite good about this today. Its been a really good start. Thanks for all your help and advice! Really appreciated.

Oh, and today was indeed a NSD. Hopefully tomorrow will be too.

Cheers

FP.

Want_to_be_free

A man who can cook, wants to learn dance, ready to have a go at a foreign language and says wants proper relationship? Well I should have been 10 years younger

Joke , joke ...

I know you are talking about dramatic changes in your life. There are a lot of wise people here, they can give far better advise then I ever can....So I will carry on with 'not forgetting to have fun' aspect and leave the import things to others...

Have you ever tried Groupon?

I use Groupon for activities, so far I took scuba diving, belly dancing, ice skating, I got false eye lashes, although this was not me, went to high tea and took a friend along , went to Turkish bath and enjoyed the experience along with my three friends

Or better Telegraph Deals?
I had brilliant lunch costing me £20 in Chelsea ...

Normally I wouldn't be able to afford any of these things , or rather never be able to justify the cost while I am in debt. Groupon and Telegraph Deals gave me and people around me pleasure.
When you only pay £ 4 for unlimited ice skating for 2, life suddenly gets colourful again...
Bring along the friends on the way, they will think that you are extremely cool for arranging so many different activities...Well you don't have to tell them you are only paying the fraction of the cost , do you?

One note though it is so easy to carry on with Groupon etc, so the trick is only allow yourself one thing per month or put some sort of budget to it...Otherwise it gets more harmful the useful ....

zafiro1984

I've been reading your postings with interest.
Things don't change that much, I can remember being in a similar situation 40+ years ago. I lost my husbands Christmas bonus which he had carefully given to me to make things easier - it was the grand sum of £5.00 (1970). I was gutted and can still remember how I felt to this day. On receiving a new cheque book through the post I remember my son saying 'oh good you have some more money now.' Credit cards were not an option then, so we had to try and manage. I regularly went overdrawn one entire months salary (£60). Then I grew up!!! I got into this mess so I had to get out of it by myself. Once you realise what you are doing is unsustainable is the day you change for the better. Take charge of the situation, be positive, be pro-active, declutter if possible to release 'rainy day money' Put aside 'fun money' (discos were in my day when we could afford babysitters). You may end up with a smaller group of friends but they will be genuine friends - friends you will keep all your life.
Now 40+ years later we are retired, life is good but hectic, horses, chickens, alpacas, dogs, and yes, the kids now in their 40's think we are mad. As I write my OH is busy on a 12tonne road roller tracking stone to make an arena for his horses. We still try to live life to the full, to have a reason to get up in the morning. Stay focussed, be positive you will get there - we did.

financial_planner

Hi

Thanks all so much for the supportive postings! It really is great, awesome. I hope, when I have some wisdom to share, I'll be in a position to give something back and support others. But for the moment, I'm still at the foot of a gianormous mountain, and I've only just started climbing.

As for Groupon, and the coupon situation in general, strangely my ex girlfriend was the master of that. She still was, on our second to last meeting, where we went to Pizza Express together with a coupon. But of course, I would always break all the rules, and just order loads of beer, desserts etc. But, I'm definetlely going to look in to all these things. Just this morning, cycling to work, I was thinking that I'm going to get a free introductory gym pass every weekend, until I run out of gyms, which will be difficult given how many there are in this part of London.

But, all this stuff, in my mind at the moment at least, I have put back until October, when I try and set out the plan going forward. My focus at the moment should be on getting the second job, because that's the only way I'm going to make any real headway in to the debt.

Today was another NSD. I'm just cooking the curry at the moment, it smells ok, and there was really no problem at all taking my rice and vegetables to work today. But I didn't make any progress on the second job front, which is a little frustrating, given that it's my priority. There was one pub I really like, and I called them, but there was no answer. Oh well. I guess these things all take time.

One good thing was I found a load more change, possibly about £2. Amazing how far money goes when you don't have any!

FP

Want_to_be_free

Hi FP, don't get frustrated with the second job, it might take for a while , just be persistant and call in several times. Under the current climate, there are too many people looking for jobs and in my experience being persistant always help...

Tomorrow is another day which will bring you to closer to your goal.

savingholmes

I just wrote a long post and lost it!!!

Good luck on your journey. Look at the Make £10 a day challenge on the DFW board for money making ideas. We can refer you to cashback sites or free bingo sites to generate amazon vouchers or similar if you are interested or you can go direct. Some people do surveys. I would persist with the second job idea. Perhaps watch spendaholics programme sometime on really - late at night as it may give you a visual of what kind of habits you have and how they're not really helping

Well done on your efforts so far. On the shopping board you can also find links to coupons that may help with your food shop

financial_planner

I got the job. It starts tomorrow. Not the greatest bar in the world, but I suppose its a start. Seems like I can work pretty much as much as I want to, if the trial shift tomorrow goes ok, so thats good. Also, its close by to where my friends work, so maybe they can hang out in the bar and make it generally more fun. I walked past tonight and it looked dead, but I guess it is a tuesday.

The good thing about this bar is the spirits are set out as cocktails, so it is as much a cocktail bar as it is a regular bar. I'm kind of hoping I can learn how to mix cocktails. That would be one positive out of working there. They also have a kitchen, so i'm hoping i'll get some free food, that would also be good.

But the main point is that it is extra cash. I had to buy some lights for my bike with my remaining money (8.99 from argos), so I can cycle safely home after work. I also met up with my friend. He bought me dinner but of course it all went downhill afterwards. Spent another £15 on beer. I guess this was my 30th birthday celebration. I didn't get off that lightly, but we agreed to rearrange the proper party for later in October. However, October is already looking pretty busy, I have weddings, birthdays etc. One good thing about having a second job is that it gives me an excuse:cant go out for dinner because i'm working. but maybe i can meet you in the club afterwards.

Thanks again for all your helpful posts/encouragement. will report back soon!

FP

gallygirl

That's great FP, more income and learn a (very popular ) new skill in the process :T

savingholmes

Congrats FP on the second job - as you say learn new skills, fringe benefits in terms of possible food and social activity and you have more to pay off debt with