Boarding the Bus of Positivity (for 24 months of travels!)

wantabetterlife

Hi DFSD, how are things going these days? I never imagined you working in the creative industry, for some reason i always imagined you working in a bank!

Chocforever

Hi

I hope everything is OK with you,

Best wishes x

debtfreesomeday

Hi everyone

A big sorry for the lack of recent posts, all of my 'spare' time of late has been taken up designing and making items and creating a website for my new little business. It's still in the construction phase, but I'm nearer publishing it and getting everything set up so I can take orders (if i get any!). I am really enjoying having something else to focus on and, although it has been lots of hard work sat at my computer/sewing machine/ironing board, it has given me a real lift.
Unfortunately, it has not helped with the debt-clearance yet as I've had to buy quite a lot of fabric & printing supplies which has gone on the credit card, but hopefully it will make a little money when I'm eventually done with the planning and creating.

Moneywise, we are due a £50 payout from Quidco and also received a surprise £15 from an energy switch which I'd forgotten about, so that will help slightly. I've also had a random £81 paid into our account by tax credits, but I'm imagining this is a mistake as we were no longer eligible for them when the rules were changed. I need to phone them and see what they're playing at as I don't want to end up owing them money. As everyone knows, they're notoriously bad for incorrect payments.

We have been doing quite well with ebay too. We made £46 at the weekend on some of DS's old items, and have had other dribs and drabs of money trickling in from other auctions too. It does seem to disappear as soon as it hits the bank account though!

DFSD

debtfreesomeday

Just transferred £111 from paypal to the bank account which has left us at *only* £31 overdrawn. Think there are still a couple of bills to pay though, so likely to be worse than that before payday on tuesday.

It's nice and sunny here today, so Ds and I may go out for a walk. We have no plans today so I need to think of something quick to keep me sane as DH working til 8 or 9pm tonight.

I did some more work on my website yesterday and have even managed to get some photos uploaded to the relevant places! Still have a lot to do before it's completed and can 'go live' though.

Feeling a bit down again presently. All down to the usual suspects - lack of money/poor sleep/missing family/friends few and far between/haring work - on top of the loss of my last remaining, and much loved, grandparent at the weekend. I'm trying to give myself a talking to and stay strong and focused, but it seems I don't listen to myself as much as I should!

Dfsd

Chocforever

Sorry to read that your grandparent died x

The web-site sounds very interesting and I hope it keeps progressing well.

Moneywise, dare I say that things are going quite well this month. I have spent very little indeed. And when I have needed things, I have tried to use up vouchers and loyalty card points. A friend had a party here over last weekend which was lovely. Spends wise, not too bad at all and she really liked the small gift I had bought which was nice.

I'm feeling a bit low too for various reasons. I was just making good progress with my fitness and running when I got injured. My own stupid fault for doing too much too soon. But very frustrating as the muscle tear is taking weeks to heal and I am impatient! Because I am sitting around a lot to try to speed up the healing process, I am just getting bored and have too much time to think. Things are also pretty rubbish at work with several rounds of redundancies. Just trying to hang in there. I know quite a few of my friends who have fixed term contracts are struggling to get renewals. I hope the economy picks up in the next year to reduce everyone's stress levels.

Anyway, as you say, onwards and upwards. I have enjoyed the extra time to read and listen to music. My leg is getting better and I'm hopeful it will all be healed in time for my holiday in a couple of weeks time. It's just a cheap rental property on the south coast. The break will be very welcome as I haven't really been away properly all year so fingers crossed the weather is kind.

debtfreesomeday

Sorry to hear you have been feeling low too Chocs. I think a lot of people ae feeling the same at the moment; I guess it's the time of year when we have to accept we have had no real summer and there's no chance of it getting warmer now (says DFSD, from underneath her 3 layers and banket in the sofa and still freezing!).
Also sorry to hear of your injury. When do you think it will be fully healed? It must be very very frustrating when you were doing so well and were so motivated with the training. I hope it improves really soon.

Well done on the minimal spends too; I wish I could say the same, but unfortunately I can't! There will be ONE month when we are underbudget, don't overspend and have money in the bank at the end of the month. I hope.

debtfreesomeday

It's not been the best week... DH and I have been ill with, what we now think may be, food poisoning. Originally we thought it was a nasty tummy bug, but we learnt that DH's Mum has also been ill and it started 36 hours after we all ate out and ate similar dishes. Thankfully, DS has something different and seems to be fine, touch wood. We thought we were getting better, but last night DH ended up at the out of hours GP and today I feel like I've been hit by a bus, stomach first. I'm off work today and thankfully, Ds's nursery was able to take him for this morning as well as the usual Friday afternoon. It will cost us a little extra next month but that is irrelevant at the moment!
It's times like this when we feel really alone here, with no-one to help out or turn to if we're both ill.

I've made a couple more sales on ebay in the past few days which will amount to around £11 or so profit. I shall try and get the winter baby clothes listed soon to bring in a little more money.

I was able to do some more work on my website yesterday, but now my main task is to photograph everything I have made for sale to upload onto the site. It's pretty hard to get good images with the little point and click camera we have, but I did manage to get some that looked fine and edit the lighting etc in photoshop so they looked quite professional.
I am also waiting on an order of a batch of fabric which will not be arriving for a couple of weeks as some of it is out of stock. I need some of this fabric to include in the photos so I'm at a bit of a stalemate at the moment; I'm just trying to get on and do the bits I can do though for now. Not today though, today I can do nothing!

yukkibear

Hiya stranger. Sorry I've not popped in for a while. Hope you start to feel better soon, spending money for ds to help you get rest isn't important and you should take the time to recouperate. Being ill is crud.

Exciting news on the new business, let me know your website when you go live.

debtfreesomeday

Hi YB, nice to 'see' you.

Feeling 90% better now thanks, but just so tired, sure I'll perk up soon. Was hoping for a good night's sleep last night, but Ds had other ideas!

I've had another couple of ebay sales over the weekend, which will net about £12 or so profit. We're still around £41 overdrawn, but it's payday tomorrow so the bank account should be a little healthier for a while, not for long.

I'll update the loan and cc figures tomorrow when the salaries have hit the bank account, unfortunately the CC balance has gone up yet again but it's unavoidable at the moment and will be dealt with once the loan is repaid.

DFSD

Chocforever

Glad to read you are feeling more yourself. Feeling drained after food poisoning is rubbish (though better than the being sick stage!)

Well done with persevering with Ebay. I may be away next weekend so I have not listed anything. It is still a bit early for the gift type things in any case.

I won a small amount on a games offer yesterday. Then won a bit more and then lost it. There are hardly any decent betting/games offers now (a bit like the bingo, it has largely had its MSE day) so I've decided to stay clear now because I get tempted to spend money. I went to close my main betting account and thought there was about £20 in there. There was £100 so that will be nice when it arrives in my bank account later in the week.