Keeping up appearances.......

Piquant_2

grannyx2 wrote: »

Hello Mrs "not so" HappyNow, sorry to hear you are feeling a bit glum. However, appreciate the fact that despite this struggle you have managed to decrease your debt rather than increase it. That is an excellent achievement considering how difficult things have been recently.

Lots of Love Granny x

Wot she said....

You've done well Mrs H, it's not easy and there are days/weeks where it seems more difficult than others. I hope the saddle goes for more, horsy stuff is easy to shift on eb*y. I ought to put some bits on, I've got so many rugs that it's embarrassing:o

poohbear59

Mrs Happy, You have done brilliantly to have paid off so much in a month with all the expenses that you have at the moment. I hope you manage to sell your saddle for lots so you have someting more to either live on or pay off.

brizzledfw

Hi Happy Now

Good to hear about the train story. On a sleeper train to Brum via Bristol I hadn't realised that actually it stopped for about 5 hours in Taunton and I was meant to get off in the early hours and wait for a connection ...anyway to cut a long story short the train manager let me stay on until london. He was wonderful and it was such a lovely human thing to do.

Sorry to hear you think you're not making the progress you'd like to. I know the feeling HN! We are also stalling. Life is getting in the way! It's hard keeping up the rigid routine. Also when OH is away I always want to spend...it's a reaction to having him away and feeling a bit stressed and glum I guess.

Here's to a better August for all of us!!

Brizzle x

grannyx2

Hope you are feeling a bit happier now. Here's a little chap to cheer you up


BFN Granny x sprinkling some happiness your way

HappyNow

Thanks everyone for the good wishes . I had a little debt-induced sulk for a couple of days, and now I am back to kick it's a*se!!!!

So, payday came and went on Friday. All the usual bills are paid and there is enough left for us to live, carefully, until next payday. Last month I spent all our little savings pots on things they weren't intended for, and I can't replenish any of them this month. This month I have to budget to:

1) Pay the deposit of £300 for Little Miss Happy's uni house next year. I will get this back, but not for three years .
2) Master Happy has his 21st birthday this month. He doesn't want a party (phew!), but I want to buy something special to mark the milestone. He has often admired a particular watch, so I have decided to buy it for him. It costs £150. I KNOW that sounds mad when we have no money, and if he knew we were skint he wouldn't expect or want a flash pressie. But he doesn't know and I still want to keep it that way. So, I have budgeted for it out of this month's salary (by paying only minimums on the credit cards ) and it is fully paid for .
3) For years we have always celebrated birthdays, especially important ones, by going for a meal with my parents and we always pick up the bill. If I want to Keep Up Appearances we must do the same this time. Rather than stress about it I am just accepting it as an unavoidable expense and will try to enjoy it! I have organised it for a Monday night when there's a mid-week earlybird special price, so it shouldn't be too expensive. I will, of course, order the cheapest thing on the menu for myself, and my dad tends to buy the drinks. My Ebay sales will pay for this.

So, an extravagant month with some non-essential spending and it's exactly that sort of spending that got us into this mess in the first place. The difference, I suppose, is that this time I'm not borrowing to pay for it and, although it will slow down my debt-busting, at least it isn't adding to the debt.

grannyx2

and I bet another difference is you are concious of the spends and trying keep them as low as possible whereas in the past they just would have happened.

I'm glad you are feeling a bit brighter now, we have such a long journey ahead of us, its hard to keep happy all the time. Especially when we are shouldering most of the burden on our own. Hope this month goes to plan, you will soon be back on track.

Perhaps we'll even get rid of our coughs this month x

chevalier

Sorry why are you paying her deposit? Isn't that partly why she has been working? My parents couldn't afford to help me out in this way when I was studying, so maybe I am being a bit harsh, but surely this is part of being an adult?

PinotGrigio41

Been playing cath up again Mrs H. sorry you have been a bit down recently. I do hope you are soon back to your normal jolly self.

You really are doing very very well, please remember that !!

Box_of_Fluffies

Happy Now, sorry to hear you've been a bit down in the dumps recently. I have to say I've been feeling the same way but am back on form now. Like you, I've had to use most of my pots this month for things they weren't allocated for and can only repay some of them this month. The only saving grace is that I haven't had to use the credit card.

I love the train story. It's good to see there are still some caring people out there.

tatabubbly

Mrs Happy, you really are a lovely person, you can tell from all your posts!

I've been subscribed a while now and wanted to let you know that you can do it!!

I'm all about 'keeping up appearances'.. I'm moving in 5 months to a different country and trying hard to save up the cash. I'm in Ireland which is pretty bleak due to the whole economy thing and your posts really make me smile!

Makes me want to get my thinking cap on!