We are about to pull the purse strings soooo tight!

Alice_in_Poorland

Verbatim wrote: »

Welcome back Alice. I've missed you too. So sorry to hear life has not been treating you well and I really hope that your run of bad luck has ended.
You are such a resourceful, determined and caring person so don't you dare entertain the idea that you're not! Far less anything approaching worthless.
I know how worrying it must be to know you have major expenditure coming up without a clear idea of where it's coming from.
On a lighter note you could give up ironing(!) or ask on freecycle for a temporary replacement. For the major sums could you suspend payments to creditors for a month or two? I know you're not with a dmp agency any more but they used to allow that for major expenditure needs.
In any event try not to worry and keep on keeping on.
Vx

Thank you V, ooo I wish I could give up ironing......my mother would never approve.:rotfl: I did manage to get an iron from sburys reduced and used nectar points, so cost £8 in the end.:)

Thank you so much for your kind words.

Xx

Alice_in_Poorland

Puzzcat wrote: »

Hi Alice,

Sorry your having a hard time of it at the moment. I have just reduced all my creditor payments down to £5 each a month for the next 3 months to save up to pay for dd's uni rent. 5 out of the 9 have put me onto a 6 month payment plan.. tempting.... I will see how it goes. The others are happy to accept what I have offered or haven't responded so got it anyway..!! I just wrote to each and told them that is what I was doing.. I really think you could do with a little break and although it delays the debt free journey, you sound like you could do with a little less stress for awhile.

One rang and they didn't want me to pay anything, most wrote and I did speak to a couple of the dca's as they wanted i & e's and I told them as in my letter I will be redoing it in December to adjust to my new financial circumstances and they were happy with that. Its all about communication. No nasty phone calls or letters, please put yourself and your family first, debts can wait.

Love Puzz. x

Thank you Puzz, I do battle with myself over reducing the payments.

The DCAs I've spoken to have all been OK......apart from Bcard but that's a different story.....to be honest I almost don't want them to be nice to me when I call. That does sound bizarre doesn't it.

Xx

Alice_in_Poorland

brizzledfw wrote: »

Keep truckin' Alice...hope it all gets easier very very soon

Xx

Thanks brizzle. I'm going to keep plodding.

Xx

Alice_in_Poorland

I'm so grateful for your posts. They put things in perspective. I know we've got to live, DS won't need all this financial assistance for ever and we will pay all the debt off eventually.

This week has been another tough one, you can tell because I've made two jellies.:rotfl: next week I've got a few days child care to pay £60 and a day off so looking forward to that.

I need to get back to the spending diary. I've been keeping too much in my head the past few weeks.

On the home front. House is so untidy so going to sort it out today. Pegged out yesterday, didn't dry 100% but only needed airing. Have pegged out all bed sheets this morning but it's just started to drizzle.:(

OH currently de-weeding drive and tidying up the front.

Still doing clubbercise, struggling with my wrist still, fingers just about ok now but I love it. Some of the music they play just take me back, remembering when we did 'all nighters', the very thought of them makes me shudder now.:rotfl:

Thank you again for your wise words and encouragement.

Xx

brizzledfw

Hi :wave:

Just seem you'd posted and dropped by...my house is also very untidy at the mo and whilst I am absolutely not in the neat freak spectrum (as those in RL can testify!!) I know it affects me when it feels out of control. Hope you feel better soon. On the advice of Tinkerbell and DIA..I am also looking into a bullet journal to feel more in control, alongside my beloved YNAB. I have dug out an old journal with a nice sticker on front and purple cover (I love purple) which has a few musings in it already and will continue in that...will keep you posted

So have set girls on it...my mIL IS a tidy freak so let's see what we can do in next 30 mins with Cerys blaring out on R6!!

mummytogirls

Awwww Alice, sounds like you've had a rough couple of weeks but you know what you need to do. How on earth did you sprain your wrist and break 2 fingers?!

I reckon you're giving the iron too much of a hard time :rotfl: I always go for morphy richards and they always seem ok and not too badly priced. Seems you got a bargain with yours.

Take care xx

Alice_in_Poorland

Hi brizzle, love the journal idea. I used to be really hot on filling in the spending diary/budget but have cooled off big just lately.....naughty naughty.

Have started lists for Christmas - things to do, things to get etc etc.

P.s. House is still a bit untidy, but the outside front looks very smart.:)

Hi mummy, the wrist was just one of those things, i was walking towards a football pitch, turned my head to speak to OH who was a bit behind me, then somehow (possible tripped over a blade of grass:rotfl:) just fell forward, put my hand out to steady myself but missed the post and my hand hit the concrete, hence broken fingers and a very sore wrist......absolutely no alcohol involved.:D

Unfortunately it is my non-ironing hand.:rotfl:

In other news, the heating is still off. But chilly in here tonight but got fleece on and throw over my legs so bearable.

Called into supermarket on way home, spent £26.

DS3 needs new trainers. He does only have one pair which he wears for every leisure activity. Budget for new pair £25.

Must go through pile of post/paperwork that has grown on the side in the kitchen!!

Xx

Eager_Elephant

How are you managing with one hand out of action?


Heating - I know it was the hot topic of conversation on your diary last year so I can see it will be the same this year!!!
We have been managing with no heating, some nights my nose has been really cold but generally we have been warm enough (as long as I don't stand on the tiled kitchen floor for too long!!).
DD had a friend round at the weekend so the heating was put on as friend was cold - oh my god it was awful - the house heated up really quickly. DD ended up too hot and in a t-shirt, friend still had a hoody on and said she was just right. DH and I were sweating buckets and ended up sleeping on top of the duvet because the house was still boiling hot at 2 in the morning (heating having gone off at about 10pm).
We all vowed, including DD not to put the heating on again as we can't cope.
But DD has another friend coming tomorrow and staying over, she is a tiny slip of a girl so will probably feel the cold (unlike our family who have a nice layer!!) so the heating will probably have to go on - I am dreading it and will get my summer PJ's out just in case!!

Alice_in_Poorland

Hi EE, I'm not doing to bad with the hand, fingers are ok it's my wrist, would probably be better if it was broken bones trying to heal. yeah heating is well and truly still off. In fact it's been quite mild here the last week or so. As also aiming for 1st November but after that will only put on if extremely cold or house feels damp.....or if we have visitors.:rotfl:

Feel you pain when you've had to put the heating on. That would be us sweating it out.lol.

I did put the heated airer on last night, was on for approx 4 hours, cost is suppose to be 6p per hour. I had pegged out but it hadn't dried at all really, and I couldn't fit everything on the airers. Was having a good tidy up and clean yesterday afternoon and just wanted it dried and out of the way.:)

On the money front, we've put £25 petrol in both cars. Spent £83 in sburys but £28 was on clothes for DS3, and underwear. Also spent £25 on trainers for DS3. Spent £8 in £1stretcher, had to get new ironing board cover and picked up multi pack baked beans (got to be Heinz I'm afraid) whilst I was in there.

Went out last night to Halloween party, spent £20 or so.

So a spendy couple of days. Need to update spending diary, meal plan just about sorted for next week.

Have won some BN shoes on eBay, £6 in total, would of cost over £40 from next....a bargain.

Will start keeping check on NSDs from 1st November.

Xx

Verbatim

Well done on the shoes bargain. Have you managed to sort out a cunning plan for the money for your ds1?
Hope your wrist is well on the way to healing. You always have such busy weekends and do it all so cheaply. You are a brilliant money manager.