Dear Diary 2012 'things can only get better!'

direstraits2012

Dear Diary

A few days ago I joined MSE and my first post was made in desperation. I truly believed that life can't get much worse right now.

It feels like I've been on MSE 24/7 since joining, reading and gathering a lot of advice on here and I feel stronger to tackle our situation head on. I need to start this diary so that I have a place where I can be honest, record our progress, be as miserable or as happy as I like, maybe make some virtual friends who are brave enough to follow my tale of woe and little by little start to rebuild my life with my hubby and our two boys. I want to look back and have a record of how we put our lives back on track.

So as I said, things can only get better from our current situation:

House repossessed 4 years ago
About 200k in debt
No savings
Evicted from a private rented house for two months rent arrears at the
end of November 2011
Homeless
Living with the in-laws short term but they want us out asap
Hubby working earns £28 p.a.
I had to give up work as we now live 10 miles away from the boys school so I take them.
I'm on a high dosage of anti-depressants

Well I've got to go pick up the boys from school now so I will tell you my plans when I get back.

Bye for now diary x

direstraits2012

OK Diary....

So over the last few days I've really pulled myself together. A straight talking MSEer suggested that I change my perspective regarding our debt. Instead of feeling unworthy, and lower than low I should try not to let our situation define me/us.

My hubby has been shouldering all responsibility and protecting me from most of the nasty stuff because of my depression. It is wearing him out. Now that I've left work, which was a major source of my stress and depression, I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I feel I can start taking some responsibility off hubby to give him a break. After all I will have the time now to concentrate on our future.

I had a good talk with him last night. He's about 90% on the same page as me. We disagree on two points. Telling friends and family about our dire financial situation and the possibility of him going bankrupt. I have confided in one friend and it was such a relief to tell her and have someone else to talk too. Maybe hubby will confide in a friend at some point. Regarding bankruptcy again time will tell if this has to happen.

Every day I want to achieve at least one positive thing and record it here. Today I've been busy! I've set up my diary here, started a financial journal and drove to the council offices to drop off paperwork they requested to back up our homeless application. Little baby steps all in the right direction.

Bye for now diary x

Northern_Lassy

Hello :wave::wave::wave:

I just wanted to wish you luck. Depression is horrible but now you have off-loaded the work stress you should be far better placed to take on the rest of it. Really good for you for tackling things head-on :beer:

direstraits2012

Thanks Northern Lassy for your support. We were worried that the stress of work would be replaced by the stress of less money but so far so good.

I mentioned earlier that I wanted to take some stress of hubby. Well tonight we sat down and I proposed that I totally take over the finances to see how I get on. He was really supportive. He went over our on-line banking with me and I feel good to go! So the challenge now is to make sure what little we have left gets spent as slowly as possible.

I've already lined up my positive thing for tomorrow - I'm taking my mother-in-law to the local market to get cheap meat, fruit and veg. The downside is no club or nectar points though?? Will have to compare the prices tomorrow.

So my new job is spending as little as possible and getting a roof over our heads asap.

Have a good day tomorrow x

direstraits2012

Dear diary - it's Friday!

I've woken up in a determined mood again this morning. Have started my positivity early today - I've just spent the last hour subscribing to threads that I want to follow for inspiration. I will be concentrating on a thread for newbies so that I can set myself up properly to keep me motivated.

I'm going to make a list of food in my freezer before I go out to the market later so that I can start meal planning. I will be reading like mad for ideas on how to save money that way.

Well I'd better throw myself in the shower and get ready for today's MSE battles. Will let you know what I've achieved later.

Bye for now x

Northern_Lassy

All sounding good! Hope you got some bargains at the market Keep us updated!!

direstraits2012

Dear diary

I've had my MSE head on all day. I needed petrol; there are three petrol stations along one road so I checked out their prices. They all were the same price so I chose the one which collected nectar card points. The old me probably wouldn't have even looked at the price!

I picked up my mother-in-law and went to the market. I spent £30 on meat and £4 on veg (my MIL bought my fruit bless her). I still can't believe how much meat I bought for £30 it was so cheap; six large minted lamb leg steaks, six large plain lamb leg steaks, 2kgs of boneless skinless chicken fillets, a tray of sausages (not sure how many), a very large packet of bacon (looks like about 20 rashers) and 3 large pieces of rump steak. My MIL has been buying meat from this man for many years and thoroughly recommended him. For £4 I got 2 huge red peppers for 50p each, 4 large heads of broccoli, and 3lbs of baby potatoes.

Tomorrow I will need to create my meal plans based on my purchases above. Until then I'm not sure how much more I need to spend to complete the weeks shop but I already know that it's going to be way way cheaper than it's ever been.

After school my son begged me to buy him a memory stick for his homework. I remembered that I had £13 on my boots loyalty card so we popped into town. Boots had a sale on and was lucky to pick up a £12 memory stick for £6 which I paid for by deducting it off my loyalty card - happy days!

It's my MIL's birthday tomorrow and I needed to get a 'mothers' card and a 'nana's' card. I shopped around today and found a nana card for 29p and a mother's card for 59p in the card factory - that has gotta be a record for me! I usually buy really expensive cards which cost around £2+

I resisted taking my car in for a wash and hoover at the local garage today - huge pat on the back. I actually drove there and parked up to wait. After a couple of minutes I drove away having I'd talked myself into washing and hoovering the car myself tomorrow morning - not looking forward to it but has to be done!

I was slightly worried that my hubby might have spent too much today because he was attending a social at work. I'm so proud of him because he really has entered in to the spirit of this - he only spent £4. So luv him

All in all a good day - I'm very pleased our joint efforts today.

Bye for now x

saterkey

Just wanted to say well done and keep up the good work, every little bit helps. Look into the samples coupons and competition threads also.
Julie

direstraits2012

saterkey wrote: »

Just wanted to say well done and keep up the good work, every little bit helps. Look into the samples coupons and competition threads also.
Julie

Thanks for your support Julie :@) - I will definitely look into the coupons and competitions - have you every won anything?

x

direstraits2012

Dear diary

Hello Sunday! So today is going to be a NSD and a productive day. I've just worked out my meal planner for the week:

Monday - Beef stroganoff (steak from market and packet mix in cupboard)
Tuesday - Sausage & Mash with onion gravy (sausages from market, potatoes, onions & gravy from cupboard)
Wednesday - Chicken in a creme fraiche sauce and rice (chicken from market and creme fraiche from fridge and rice from cupboard)
Thursday - Homemade lasagne made from spag bol in freezer (all other ingredients from cupboard)
Friday - Pan fried chicken with saute potatoes and cauliflower cheese

I may have to switch the meals around during the week depending on how much time I have but that's the meal plan done. I am amazed that having spent so little on meat from the market I will have to put some of it in the freezer for next week (some bacon, chicken and lamb). So won't have to buy as much next week. Happy days.

Bye for now - gotta go and feed the boys bacon sandwiches

one_hit_wonder11

Thansk for this post it is very inspiring, i suffer with depprsion but tend to just spend and spend (on anything) when i reach a low point.