Help - I'm a mess :(

flis21

Thanks mum2one, I find presents hard, I have a circle of friends and it is kind of 'expected' to spend £10 on each child's birthday present, which makes it hard when there are so many kids to buy for! I also know that I am v guilty of spoiling my kids, they both have their birthdays round Christmas and I always want to make sure their birthdays are special and not overtaken by christmas. Altho this is prob why i'm having so many probs at the mo. Did a big party for my son on the 7th jan for his birthday and that's part of the reason I'm so skint this month. Altho perhaps it did help with being my 'lightbulb' moment!

tibawo

Your contact lens seems quite high ... not sure which you have but i was on £25 for mine and when i went to another optians they were £12. So might be worth a shop around. I have now reverted back to glasses as much as i prefer lens to cut costs. I do have a few disposable ones for netball and thats it.

Know how you feel about the phonecall and many others will on here. No-ones going to judge you. They've probably heard a similar story to yours so many times. It's the way forward that counts.

flis21

glasgowsaver2011 wrote: »

evidently not



I was just trying to help

That's fine, I am grateful for all advice, and I did quite before when I was pregnant with my 1st and didn't start again till my hubby left last year. Annoyed with myself for starting again, but it's done now. As I said will try and cut down for the mo to save some money and look at quitting in the long term.

flis21

tibawo wrote: »

Your contact lens seems quite high ... not sure which you have but i was on £25 for mine and when i went to another optians they were £12. So might be worth a shop around. I have now reverted back to glasses as much as i prefer lens to cut costs. I do have a few disposable ones for netball and thats it.

Know how you feel about the phonecall and many others will on here. No-ones going to judge you. They've probably heard a similar story to yours so many times. It's the way forward that counts.

I know my contacts are high, I have the daily extended wear lenses as I had a problem with the all day / all night ones that I was on and it caused a major problem with my eyes. Will talk to my optician about whether there are any slightly cheaper ones that would still be ok for my eyes. I literally hate my glasses, not sure I could face wearing them all the time again now!!

Thanks, I know they will prob be fine and hopefully won't go ooh my god how much do you owe!!! I suppose part of me expects them to be as nasty as some of the recovery people are on the phone, but I'm sure they won't be! Will let you know how it goes tomorrow x

hp48910

DH uses S-savers for lenses and his prescription is £15 per month.T hat's for the gas permeable ones you can keep in for a month at a time. I did read somewhere that if you know your prescription you can buy them online for a lot less. HTH

flis21

I use specsavers for mine, but it was those ones that you can keep in all month that screwed up eyes up!! even had to wear a patch for a while to repair it!! I might be able to go back to the monthly ones that you take out every night tho, will make an appointment and find out x

downy2008

Looking at your level of unsecured debt, your income, and the fact that you do not own a house, the best solution for you is probably bankruptcy. Your benefits are paid to you to look after your children, and to house and clothe them, and it is wrong that that money is being used to pay off debt instead. I am not an expert on bankruptcy, but the probability is the OR will ask you to pay very little per month for a maximum of three years. It is not an easy option, but it is infinitely better than going through what you are going through at the moment.

Snow_Angel

I know everyone keeps saying about the stopping smoking!....but when you are ready there may be services in your area that you can access. I know you said there's a stop smoking advisor near you but you may be able to access group support too - that may help with your motivation and also help with your depression. There's lots of free advice and free service access through this link.

http://smokefree.nhs.uk/ways-to-quit/local-nhs-stop-smoking-service/

Good luck with all your problems and I'm afraid all the ideas I had looking at your SOA other people have already spotted!

mum2one

Re contact lenses, I'm guessing your on daily disposable, (yrs since I had contact lenses), but Specsavers seem to be the cheapest around, or I use to order mine online and then go to the opticians for the regular check ups.

I know that feeling with kids presents, - I try to hit the sales, so I have a few bits in hand for those emergency parties. If you paid £5 in the sale, but the item was £10, then class it as a £10 item.

May be worth doing a list of everyone that you buy for, if your expected to buy adults as well as kids, just drop into conversation - look I hope no one is offended, but I'm just doing the kids for bday, xmas, and penny to a pound, there be other people in the same boat, but there too pround to say it, once someone has mentioned it, everyone agrees what a wonderful idea it is.

Have you checked that you are getting everything you are entitled to. This water rates seem really high, could you get anything for low income etc.

Sounds good re selling on facebook etc, - also keep an eye on ebay, for free listings, there a hit and miss. I always think as a buyer brilliant, theres going to be more choice, as a seller, then I'm competing with everyone that has had a clear out.

If you do use ebay, - 10 day listing, list on a Thurs (ideally early evening), so it ends the following Sunday, that way - youve got 2 weekends for viewing, and end of the sale if someone really wants it, there be more inclined to keep an eye out for last minute biddings and add more.

I would go back through cccs, have you get the original ref number, if not redo the list, - sent a pm xx

McKneff

Scour the car boot sales for kids presents in the summer, there really are some bargains to be had, unopened Christmas presents go for 50p to a £1.

Boots at the moment have pressies at 50/75% off.

Ive done all my 2012 Christmas shopping last week in Boots for half price, £150 worth of pressies for about £60.
christmas card boxes for about 50p reduced from 2.99.
I have also bought some birthday present for the the first half of the year for my grandaughters and DIL.
Gawd, Ive saved a blumming fortune.

The budget will all go to pot in October when I contribute to my daughters wedding theough.