Im not going to be an Ostrich anymore (or in short F1s debt diary)

PinotGrigio41

Lovely to read such a positive post and to hear from you F1. Don't be silly either, you haven't been letting anyone down, you need to look after number one first !!:D

I don't have time to write properly now but I will be back tomorrow.

In the meantime you take care and have a lovely evening xx

kerri_dfw

Hi F1, you've been missed. I'm glad you told Vanquis where to go, harrassing you is downright horrid! *big hugs*

Box_of_Fluffies

Hi F1, good to see you back and on such a positive note too. Well done on all you've achieved in the last week or so. :j

Psoriatic arthritis, you poor thing and add to that the fibromyalgia and no wonder you don't feel yourself at times. Good that you've finally got a diagnosis. Shame it's taken 4 years to get it.

hp48910

Hi, been away and busy too but great to catch up with the diary and glad to hear progress is being made.
Take care;)

f1widow

Arrgghh after saying that I would post more often ........ that idea went down the recycling Centre :rotfl:....

Well I think it has been a case of "The Good, the bad and the Ugly" here over the past few days

1. Its DS and DOH's birthdays (8th & 12th) so I feel very guilty dipping into the money Ive earned from ebay etc - needless to say I have not used any extra money (if that makes sense or am I just trying to justify myself!:D)

2. EBAY - Ebay sales this week £25 (ish) - and 2 non payers :mad: (one from two weeks ago and one from last week) - so DOH wanted new phone so brought him second hand one out of that money earned and no extra towards it yippee - brought a cake topper for DS out of week befores earnings as this will be the very first year in his 11 years ive made a cake (omg - how is this going to turn out) - but on looking at cake price to buy the topper and my ingredients im still up on money - have also brought some rice paper toppers for DOH's cupcakes for Monday.

3. Shopping was down by almost a half this week :j - this included extras such as wrapping paper for boys gifts and icing for cake - meal planners are working yippee BUT on the down side we have family coming at the weekend and will have to feed them all so shopping end of week for next week will be up :mad:

4. Lovely letter from Tax Credits to say our payments will stop in April oh joy :mad:

5. meeting with Money Advisor today went ok(ish) he still thinks that an IVA/bankrupcy would be appropriate for us long term - he is going to try and write to my sole creditors and see about writing them off etc - that then would leave 2x huge ones for the two of us jointly - I cant see them writing them off personally.

6. Some of the money I had "put away" has had to be used to fix car £68 - DOH can at least do his own mechanics so this saved us BIG TIME but it has still meant spending :mad:

7. DS's birthday - good old CEX - traded in some games etc and got a great price was able to put it towards the IPOD touch DS wanted so £30 spent there - we would have normally spent about £100 without thinking - he also has some smellies which I brought a few weeks ago when it was BOGOF / 2 for 1 - so brought normal items and put the free ones etc away in cupboard

In the next day or so Im going to post up some questions on getting PPI claims / charges back as Im a little stuck on these but until I get my head round what to say I cant ask (iykwim)

Sometimes I do feel like Im making headway and then other days I feel like Ive done nothing - I still cant get my head round putting money away in "virtual pots" as as soon as I think of putting it in something crops up - ie birthdays, car, extra bills and Im terrible at spoiling son but have made what I consider to be a real effort in not spending too much as I always want to compensate for being a bad Mum who is always ill

Anyway Im off to get on with some bits - will try and post pic of the cards Ive made in a bit xx thanks for listening xx

kerri_dfw

Hi F1 *waves*

At least you had some money put away to fix the car in the first place isn't that what it's there for? the same for the "virtual pots" they're there for when things crop up. If you start to make a list of all the things that crop up when they do, then you'll soon be able to work out what they cost you and when they're likely to crop up this way you're putting money aside for them so it'll be less of a shock when they do.

Well done on the present buying, sounds like you've made some real savings there

With regards to spoiling son, does he like cake? You could spend the afternoon baking a cake and then eating it together whilst having a chat and a catch up. Good old fashioned quality time spent together that way
xxx

roamin_in_the_gloamin

Making great headway there F1.....Doing fantastic to have sorted the Birthdays as well. Do the "outlaws" have to be fed proper meals, or can you wing it with sandwiches and sausage rolls?
MY DS never ever wanted bought cakes.....he loved the "train crash" ones I made.....make three sponges, somehow they never ever came out the same shape size etc, so I used to slap them all up together with loads of butter icing and cover the lot in melted chocolate - they resembled a train crash so that's what he called them - still asks for them today. No one ever got what I would term as a proper slice of what looked like cake but boy were they enjoyed!! I came across "CAKE LOLLIPOPS" earlier this year while Dougaling all over cyber space....now them I could easily make you start with squished up cake - that can be PLAN B if Plan A goes to rats on you. Look forward to seeing your cards
xx

Box_of_Fluffies

Hi F1,

What a busy week. Well done on the birthday pressies and cakes. I'm sure they'll be enjoyed all the more because you made them.

Just think what you'd have spent if the pots weren't there. Maybe the pots weren't used for exactly the purpose they were designed for but imagine if you didn't have the pots at all. Where would the money from them then?

f1widow

Was proud of this one so thought I would share this with you - Mums bits for Mothers Day



In past years I would have brought something for Mum for around £10-£15 - this year £4.75 for paper pack for her cardmaking (ordered with free p & P - yippeee) - handmade card (from my stash) and knitted bookmark (pattern curtesy of the lovely Roamin) - and I know she will appreciate it all xx

Its only a quick nip in as its DS's birthday but thought you all might like a pic

Its amazing how aware Ive become of things since lightbulb moment and realised not just to rush and buy something and end up with no money for food etc
Will put a pic up of sons and hubbys card tomorrow - forgot those xx oh and the cake!

Oh and as for feeding the five thousand at the weekend its going to be "sausage surprise" (tins toms, celery, carrot, onions, bit of garlic, splash of worcester and some herbs and sausages - sausages fried off then all in casserole and in oven for 40 mins (ish) and a chilli - both will be served with rice - both quick"ish" and cheap (especially since hubby is off to our new aldi's tomorrow night :j)

Thanks for all the support - its much appreciated x

roamin_in_the_gloamin

the sausage surprise sounds great......shame I have to start the recipe with make the sausages........haha - saving it tho' for the next lot I have. Bookmark looks gorgeous, well done. Aldi will save you money...just don't try to buy everything the first shop! looking forward to seeing the cake, yummy