Bright light, bright light!!

Knitting_Nora

Erm....hello....:hello:

Inspired by you lot out there in the MSE-verse, I've finally plucked up the courage to start my own DFW diary.


Why now? Well grab yourself a coffee dear reader, and I shall expand (quite literally actually - this moment of courage is being sponsored by Galaxy chocolate...).

Back in December '06 I had a minor lightbulb moment when I was forced to look at just how much personal debt I'd accumulated. Somehow, without taking much notice, I'd managed to get myself into £65k worth of debt with nothing to show for it.

So I worked. I worked hard, and frankly I worked stupid (routinely working 100hrs unpaid overtime per week). Then earlier this year I had a nervous breakdown. There *ahem* may have been some dribbling....

I've been on sick leave since then, and though still not quite right, I've very recently started to rebuild my life - because here's the bright side to a nervous breakdown (stick with me here...) - you don't come out the same person that went in, and it's your choice where you go next.

I'm actually being given voluntary redundancy - the best option for me and for my company - but it's taking work a while to arrange it; and I go onto half pay next month. For someone used to living to (and often exceeding) her means, this means a complete life change over the next few months.

Having lurked around the MSE site and forums for a bit, I've already picked up quite a lot of hints and tips, but I need the community support to help me apply them. In order to maintain repayments on my debts, I'm also going to have to move out of my rental by the end of this year, and in with family for a few months. Not as dire as it sounds, but still a huge change....and it's nice to have this thread to offload on!

It's a little scary to be doing such bit things when you're not 100%, but between you and me (you can keep a secret, right?), I'm sort of excited to be grasping it by the throat and wringing it's neck....

Once my wages have settled, I'll do a proper updated SOA, but in the meantime, trust me when I say that my main weakness is wasteful and extravagant shopping tendancies....so this is where I'm concentrating first. Starting with the recent success of selling on ebay and changing up the sealed pot which enabled me to pay off a huge Next bill.....

So, without further ado, let the wild rumpus commence!

Nora.

silkglade

Hi Nora and well done on starting your recovery of coming out the other side. :T

They are such a lovely bunch on here and I think you have done amazing well to get the Next bill sorted already.

Very focused already.... well your definitely doing all the right things to start your debt free journey.

Fantastic progress and you should be proud of yourself.

Good luck

Knitting_Nora

Morning MSE-verse; and thanks to silkglade for such a lovely welcome.

Don't know about the rest of you, but I thought this morning came around just a tad earlier than usual. Around this time of year I start to doubt the accuracy of my alarm clock - which usually leads to me reaching for my watch, only to realise that I can't see a thing when I've first woken up, which I usually remember as I sail through the air having fallen out of bed while stretching for my watch, because I don't believe the alarm clock. Mornings can be a bit dangerous in my house!

Today is a little different than most as later today I have a couple of friends coming over for a bit of a craft tutorial. Now I'm no teacher, but I've had enough of that there schoolin' to suspect that my 'students' would be helped along by having somewhere to sit, and a table to work at.

It dawned on me at about 4am, that this probably means I need to clear the kitchen table - that magnet for all things not food, or generally considered 'kitchenalia', but easily dumped enroute to somewhere else in the house. I'm beginning to wonder if the kitchen table is the reason that the kitchen probably shouldn't be the first room you come to in my house.....

Of course, necessity is the mother of all procrastination - so instead of taking a shovel to the kitchen, I'm writing in my diary before launching a stealth attack on the ironing pile (shhhh, don't tell it - it's already amassed an army...even the tea towels have turned).

And on the money front - well, Mr Postman has just delivered two nice little cheques from music magpie, which I'll be paying into my current account, because *drum roll* this month, I fully intend to stay within my overdraft limit! *...and the one man band goes wild...*

Doesn't seem like much, does it? Except I really couldn't tell you where my money goes *reaches for her newly formed spending diary*, and to be honest, I really should be clearing that overdraft rather than actively living in it. So a couple of months ago, I promised myself I would make a much better effort at living within the limit, and so on. Keeping to the limit for the third month running will be enough of a shock to my bank...wait til they see money actually being paid in at this point (woo ha ha!).

Rightyo, to the ironing board!

Nora.

Shower-of-roses

So you're a Gremlins fan too!

Well hello Nora, you finally plucked up the courage. I felt light-headed and sick for a few days and now (and I'm not joking), I'm positively dancing around the room. I think it's called taking control, or grabbing the bull by the proverbial

I thought I stuck to a budget or thereabouts, now the pesky spends diary is never far from me. It's a gorgeous little Betty Boop number given to me by my long distance lover (who's also stuck at the bottom of the pile of debt mountain possibly similar to yours maybe even higher). That diary I started around 4 weeks ago is the best thing I've ever done. It makes me reign in the spending toward the end of the week where I would have just carried on into the overdraft, CC's etc etc. and laugh like a drain at the success of my £10 per day challenges. Yup the kids are afraid, and my Mum is just staring at me....bewildered!!!

You've had a lousy time but I'm sure the song goes something like this, THE ONLY WAY IS UP. And we're all behind you pushing you along when you're feeling lazy.

Take care and good luck.
x

beanielou

So your new journey begins .............

scotdebs

Hello KN

Did you find anything in the sock drawer.........other than socks:rotfl:

Glad to see you have taken the first steps to getting sorted out on the debt front and good luck with the diary - I have found it helps keep the focus

Can I make one suggestion.......dont put off doing your SOA due to what "might happen" etc even if you are not ready to post it here I would really suggest making an attempt at one. As a self confessed guru of procrastiantion myself (together with my own blight of kitchenalia only just surpassed by spare bedenalia) it really wont help to keep [STRIKE]putting it off [/STRIKE]- sorry finding far more pressing things to attend to seeing it in black and white can be scarey but also add an element of clarity....

Knitting_Nora

Hi everyone

Nothing in my sock drawer..boo hiss..I want Scotdebs' sock drawer!!!

Thanks for the advice on the SOA (you can't see it, but I'm bowing to your wisdom). You're right - no time like the present. So I did the SOA last night. Not ready to post it (give me another couple of days to work up the guts!). But here are the highlights:

At the moment I technically have enough to live on and to repay the loans etc. with more than enough left over to live on. I'm actually overpaying on loan 2 and the credit cards, and loan 1 finishes in January *skips around the house*.

But I'm certainly suffering from the spare-cash-sucky-monster and routinely spend unnecessarily and am generally wasteful (though apparently not with receipts - was up to my ears in them last night!). Hence the credit cards and overdraft. Obviously that can't continue - quite aside from the fact that 50% of my wages will disappear from next month, it's not the person I want to be.

So, here's what I've done so far:

1. Created a PAD pot for the overdraft which I'll pay in every month a week before payday (I tend to aquire a lot of coins throughout the month, and I couldn't tell you where they go - this is much more fun!). As of yesterday, and including the magpie cheques, I have £53.05 to bank on Monday;

2. Sorted through the fridge and freezer, and have plenty to last me through to payday without needing to skip around the shops or swing by the chip shop - looking at the receipts this is the main killer for my finances, and massively unnecessary;

3. Set aside cash for the known financial requirements for the rest of the month - looking through the receipts, it's clear I spend less and am more focussed with cash rather than plastic.

4. Checked the Operation Santa plans for prezzie status - turns out that I'm well over 80% sorted, and where I'm crafting gifts, I already have the supplies in - so expect lots of diary updates about sitting on the sofa knitting and painting glass!

5. Scared myself with all the cleaning products and toiletries I seem to have collected - won't need to buy either for quite some time!

So alongside my spending diary, that seems pretty darn productive for an evening where I also taught someone to paint glass, and started a throw I'm knitting as a Christmas present...gosh I'm pooped!

On with the rest of the day - having a Christmas crafting day over at a friend's (think lots of tea and coffee - and mince pies, because you've got to have the right environment to be creative...honest...yes sirree...).

Take care - and have a good day.

Nora

Knitting_Nora

...ahem...make that loan 2 finishes in January. Unless I have a lotto win, or I get my redundancy, loan 1 has a little while left!!

Knitting_Nora

Anyone else have conversations like this with their friends/family?

Friend: "We really need to sort our finances out...*sigh*...OH and I had a long discussion about it the other day, so now we're being really good, and not spending unless we really have to"

Me: "Well, I'm doing that too - we can encourage each other. By - by the way, have you seen that MSE website? I find it a complete Godsend"

Friend: "Oh, yes, I've seen that. So, do you have plans tomorrow - I thought we could go to the shops"

*Pause for Nora to choke on tea and roll eyes*

Me: "Ummm, well I really don't need anything and don't want to be tempted to spend. I'd planned just to cozy up on the sofa and do some knitting. Why don't you come over? I can throw a couple of spuds in the oven and we'll have a nice NSD".

Friend: "Ooo, yes, that sound lovely. And maybe after lunch we can walk over to that nice garden centre near you for a look around, and a coffee".

*Nora bashes head on wall*

I have a lot of conversations with friends and family that go along these lines. Another friend yesterday was moaning about how everything is so expensive these days, and then went on to tell me how far she's got with the extreme wedding she's planning, and followed it up by emailing me a piccie of the brand new winter coat she's just bought from from a very expensive ladieswear store....

I'm not moaning (well, I am, but I don't mean to - afterall, each to their own), but other people routinely baffle me....

Of course, it also makes me appreciate my LBM, and being part of the MSE-verse all the more which is a lovely up side - you should all take a moment to accept my thanks *curtsies to the crowd*, and pat yourselves on the back for being wonderful company.

Knitting_Nora

Ooooooooooooooooo - I've gained a star! How did that happen?

Knitting_Nora

Oh, and I'm not a newbie anymore! Um....please still be especially nice to me though...pretty please...