The root of the problem

parsniphead

Be warned if you stumble onto this thread today as a huge rant is pending. January is always a tough month but this one has been a corker. I know it's my own doing and if I didn't spend time worrying about others all the time it would have been easier.

So I got confused about the renewal of the road tax which left me with a dilemma. Do I declare it SORN for a month and have enough money to cover all my dd's or pay it and desperately sell stuff to cover dd's. Stupid me I took the wrong route and paid the road tax and have left myself well and truly up the creek.

I only decided to do this as I have to take DH to and fetch him from work every day. I didn't have a car when we met as mine had clapped out and I couldn't afford to run one anyway. When he moved in he suggested we get car as he was much further from work and would have been a horrendous journey without me taking him to the station. What I didn't realise was that I would end up paying all the costs of running it as he pays for his train pass. If I had declared it sorn it would have created all sorts of rows etc.

Anyway I put some stuff on eb4y which ended yesterday which needed to sell to cover my dd's. One item had loads of watchers and I thought it would sell (I know it's stupid to rely on this but desperate measures needed). No it didn't sell which sent me into panic last night and resulted in DH getting stroppy and saying he would have to pay this months car insurance. He did nothing but shout that all these things he had to pay for were adding up and he was skint. Yeah right with a few thousand in savings and no debts. I currently have £1.96 to cover monthly car insurance, food shopping and gas and elec for the rest of the month. The joys of stat maternity pay. Don't get me wrong he has been giving me a little extra every month but the cost of the car is crippling me. Don't mention petrol.

Just to give you a good laugh the current car was brought so DH's son's girlfriend could come on holiday with us. The old car was cheaper to run but there wasn't enough room for her with the baby seat. I'm paying a fortune for someone else to come on holiday.:rotfl:I would cry if I didn't laugh.

On top of that I have had a number of emails from the eb4y watchers offering a much reduced figure for the item - cheeky beggers. I told them where to go. I could accept but I don't like ebayers taking the mickey. I have relisted.

I'm going to stop now as I could keep going on moaning about one problem after another but I need to find some positivity from somewhere.

Sorry for the massive post. I needed to get it off my chest so I could get on with my day.

Itsadogslife_2

Oh Parsniphead - feel free to rant away, it is your diary, and if it makes you feel better - why not

Cars can be such pains in the bottom - VW wrote to us to say that the cambelt needs changing. Contacted another garage and they said that VW were being over cautious and he would leave it another 6 - 12 months yet. It is about £400.00 and so it is a lot of money but I worry that if we don't do it, and it goes, it will cost more than £400.00 to put right I now have OH so much on board he wants to wait a bit longer :cool:

parsniphead

Thanks Itsadogslife. I'm feeling more positive this week. I just get a little frustrated and tend to be VERY impatient.

Cars are the biggest pain. I had an old Rover which was a real workhorse, I had it for 10 years and it was about 4 years old when I had it. I never had the cam belt changed - never seemed to get round to it. You can guess what happened:mad:. Car ended up scrapped for £125. Never mind. It's a pain and a drain on your finances and dealers do tend to push things but don't leave it too long. Mind you I guess I was pushing it a little - one cam belt in 14 years:rotfl:.

What a lovely sunny day. Cold but crisp. I hope the week carries on like this a little as I need to get the garden sorted so I can prepare for the veggies.

The Grape is heading off to Kindergarten on Weds for half a day so I need to make plans to make the most of that time.

I will head off now but come back later with my plans for the time. If I put it on here I have to do it.:rotfl:

parsniphead

So after much umming and ahhing I decided the baby free time is going to be spent doing a plain old spring clean. I want to get as much done as possible in the time so hopefully I can spend the afternoon in the garden - weather permitting.

But that's tomorrow and I have a whole day in the house with no plans today so I'm going to do as many small jobs as possible whilst entertaining the nipper. First things first though so it's the morning ironing in a minute.

I also want to relook at my debts some time today and have a re-jig of my budget if possible, not that there is much room to re-jig:o. I have downloaded a budget sheet which I will start filling in with figures for next month and hopefully will come under with all of them by the end of the month.

On top of that DH has booked a weeks holiday in Wales for the easter week so I need to start finding some money to cover the petrol for that plus a little to spend:eek:.

Have a good day.

parsniphead

So while doing the house work and entertaining the nipper parsniphead has been doing a lot of thinking.

:eek::eek:Warning:eek::eek:

If anyone is reading it would perhaps be wise to leg it now.:p;)

So in a previous life I used to work in a posh ladieswear shop. Not high end designer, but expensive enough and had to dress accordingly. I caught sight of myself in the mirror today and have come to the conclutsion that being in lots of debt for such a long time has resulted in me thinking/looking poor.

Does this make sense to anyone? Even though I am totally sink and up to my ears in debt I don't consider myself poor. I have a roof over my head and food in my belly. I know the politicians( is there an axe welding smilie) of the day little to refer to us "poor" I don't see myself as it.

Another reason why I feel annoyed with myself is that I'm a professioal dressmaker so there is no excuse whatsoever to have hole in my clothes or wear shabby rubbish. Second hand can always be re-made into something nice.

So I have decided that it's time to start looking after myself and my home again which may help with the confidence problem. I'm going to scour the house the see what can be done to help start sorting this problem. I know shabby chic is in but not this time of shabby.:o

I have to go now or I will yap on forever.

Ta ta

parsniphead

Good morning world

So it was a good day yesterday. The spring clean was started (hopefully finished today, well downstairs at least) and I sold my item on eb4y which didn't sell last week for £60 plus p&p. I was really annoyed last week because it had loads of watchers but a number of them waited until it didn't sell then started to send emails wanting to buy it for next to nothing. So to all the dodgy eb4y emailers from last week I'm sending a big :p:p. The other item didn't sell but it's no big deal.

Anyway a quiet day in today apart from a quick trip to Ald1 to get some more cleaning stuff as I have run out. I have started to become a little obsessed as I have two cats and get worried about toxiplasmosis and the baby. I know I should stop being a worry wart but can't help it. If only the weather would cheer up a bit and I could put some washing on the line and spend an hour or two in the garden.

I hope you all have a good day.

parsniphead

I really must start spending a few minutes on my diary daily to keep myself on track.

It's been a busy couple of days. A lot of my money was spend filling the petrol tank on a very hungry petrol Astra. Over the weekend we changed it for a diesel Picasso. My work the difference. I went miles on £10 in the tank, plus it hasn't got big patches of flaking paint.:rotfl:It's only an old second hand one but it's so much more economical. Goodbye Nik Nak, hello Big Bug.

I have a couple of hours this morning as the little one is doing another settling in session at kindergarten. I have altered a pair of trousers (another bit of money to throw at the debts) and will spend the remainder of the time on housework.:eek: I need to find a way of being more organised. I tend to get things done then it all gets messy again. Too much stuff in a terraced house.

Anyway I must stop waffling on a do some work. Washing machine here I come.

parsniphead

Another busy morning with housework, washing etc. I just wish it looked like something had changed after all the work. I REALLY need to work on one area at a time:rotfl:instead of flitting from area to area.

I really wish to weather would pick up a little. I'm absolutely craving the spring which is my favorite time of year, it's so special. Plus I could get the washing on the line rather than it being on all the radiators.

I've been thinking of setting myself a challenge for after I go back to work. I have been living on Stat Maternity pay for the last eight months. I will be earning a little more than that when I go back P/T so I have decided to keep to living off the smaller amount and throw the extra at the debts. I'm used to living on next to nothing now so it won't be too hard to carry on. I'm going to spend the next couple of hours looking at my expenses forensically and see what I can do. I love sitting ang working out finances.....it's just a shame I wasn't always like this.:o

parsniphead

I can't stick at anything. My first post since January, where did the time go to.

To be honest I haven't had access to the net for a while and it's been good getting back MSE. I have been doing lot of thinking lately and realised that I throw myself into things which I know will be impossible to keep up then get disheartened when I fail. So on this return to my favourite site I am only joining one challenge and will see how it goes. Plus since going back to work after maternity leave there is little time left for too much else.

I have also realised that the never completing anything also relates to the house. So as I have the next 6 weeks off I will do some decorating and I will not buy any supplies needed until I have used what I have.

So off to do the front bay window. :wave:

parsniphead

Well I didn't get as much done as I wanted but made progress. The sprig is in nursery tomorrow so I want to spend a good chunk of that time decorating.

With the remaining time I really want to get my finances in order. Everything is plodding along fine on my DMP but is plodding enough really enough?

I have some bits and bobs to eBay which I find a struggle but will get them sorted ready for the next free listing weekend.

I also have LOADS of baby clothes to sell on So a bit more there to raise some cash.

My other big job for tomorrow is to update my snowball, this also has been abandoned for months.

Off to do a few more jobs now before bed.