An Enchanting Fairytale........ Part One.

elly68

well done for jumping back on the wagon and pleased the new job is going well .im on a declutter mission as i have an unexpected day to myself today so im off downstairs cupboard is next on the agenda .
if you come up with a plan let me know i could use all the ideas i could get lol

Enchanted21

Hi Girls, thank you for the lovely welcome back.

I have to admit I'm having a real struggle with our finances of late. I'm guessing we have tipped over the £40k . How that has happened , I don't know? But the fact is, I have to deal with reality. The question is ...... What am I going to do to pull it back?

I'm going to have to be more savvy with our pennies. It's only a numbers game...... And I can play this game, I know I can!

I'm going to start by setting myself a grocery challenge for October. I think £220 should do it. At the moment, it is standing at £90/£220.

The obstacles lying ahead.......

Sister's birthday gift.
Sister's birthday card.
Mum's birthday gift.
Mum's birthday card.
Grandma's birthday gift.
Grandma's birthday card.

My half of the London trip money £135.
Train Ticket Sheffield to Darlington £25.
Money for main meal out in London..... Celebration. £60
Drinks in London £20
Tube travel in London £25
Other meals and drinks £40.

Car Tax £75.
Money for kids to spend at Grandparents £20.


Lots for me to think about.......

School is great fun at the moment. I've definitely met my Wizard of Oz scarecrow on my travels..... He is the class teacher....... Scatty, crazy, funny and I'm guessing maybe (gay)? He is such a great influence on the kids and I'm loving my time working in his class. He makes it a pleasure coming into work :-)

I wonder whether I will meet my Tin Man and Lion whilst I'm here? Who knows?

All I do know, is that I'm still aiming for that wonderful place, somewhere over the rainbow. I will get there, I just know I will :j

Have a fabulous day, everyone and take care.

Enchanted Xx

Enchanted21

I'm still kind of wondering how I'm going to achieve all of this? Its certainly a doozie of a challenge.

I would happily forgo the trip to London, but my sister has already paid out the money and it's to celebrate her 30th birthday...... In a lot of ways I feel like I have no other alternative. To say no now would be to completely let her down. So I must continue to plod ahead.

In other news, I used an old Laura Ashley card to buy my Mum a beautiful picture frame and I still have £9 on the card, so I'm thinking I might get my Grandma one too.

I have saved the money for the car tax and put it into a separate account ready for Hubby asking for it.

I'm getting there..... Slowly but surely. It feels never ending..... And with Christmas around the corner too.........

Enchanted21

Grocery Challenge currently at £180/£220.

Enchanted21

Why oh why am I awake at stupid o'clock with stomach ache??

Not feeling too great, shivery, nauseous and major stomach cramps. Just what I don't need!

On a positive note, I've worked out we only have 24 payments to make on both our loans, this will then free up £498 a month. This will eventually make a huge difference.

Hope everyone is ok? Take care.

Enchanted x

Enchanted21

Have had to call in sick today. I really don't want to be passing this bug onto the kids at school :-(

On the sofa, wrapped in a blanket, with hot water by my side and an assortment of pens and notebooks. I'm going to rest, plan and get better :-)

Enchanted21

Whilst shuffling around the house in my sorry state, I have managed to complete a few loads of washing. It's raining steadily here, so I have needed to use the tumble dryer. I'm pleased that I have at least managed to do something.

Sleep seems to be a lost cause for me today. I remember thinking to myself as I dropped the kids off at school this morning, that I would have the whole day to sleep and recover, but I seem to have a course of adrenaline pumping around my body...... I'm exhausted, but no sleep is forthcoming? It strange, now the opportunity is lost. I'm to pick up the kids in an hour! Uuuurrrrggggghhhhhh! What's the bet, 10 mins after they return home, I feel the need to put my head on a pillow?...

I've also done some reckoning up...... It seems that the debt owed is £40850. Roughly what I imagined, I think I was hoping I was going to be wrong :-)

And it seems that after every bill is paid each month, we have £160 a month for food and petrol. NOW..... This is not enough by a mile, but I have based the month on a four week month, which means when it's five weeks we will have an extra weeks wage..... This I will have to watch very carefully.

I have looked at November and it seems like that is a five week month, so what I'm proposing to do is to put that week's wages aside and use sparingly. I've also done an online T shop, buying only value brands, let's see how that goes.

I still have to come up with the goods for London..... Heaven knows how I'm going to accomplish that! Baby Steps...... Baby Steps......

Hope your day is going better?

Enchanted x

Emzilla

Hope you feel better soon Enchanted. I know what you mean about the sleep. I can go with only a couple of hours sleep for days on end when I'm ill and still can't manage to sleep during the day.

Hope you can get some more sleep tonight.

Emz xx

Enchanted21

Thanks Emz x

I'm hoping it just a one off. I'm going to give myself a break tonight and I am already off work tomorrow, as my usual weekly day off. I'm just going to take it easy and rest the best I can.

Kids picked up from school, another wash in the machine, homework laid out ready to start and a home-made pasta bake defrosting.

Really hoping I'm going to get some sleep tonight Xx

Jox

Hi Enchanted, just popping by to say hi, not read the whole of your diary but from the first page to the last the debt has gone from 35k to 40k, sorry I haven't read all the posts to see how this happened, maybe just life?? It is an expensive business!

If it was me I would really have to tell my family that I am in so much debt that I can't participate in expensive outings.

I had to do that a few Christmases ago when I was 9k in debt and I bought everyone a hand cream from Boots!

I'm usually really generous which is partly how I got into debt so it was hard for me to give so little, but I printed little quotes and inspirational sayings onto labels (at work lol) and stuck them on the handcreams just to make it feel a bit more personal!

Good luck with your journey and I hope the debt reduces in good time.

Have you posted a SOA or used the snowball website to see what debts to pay off first? (sorry if you've done these, I haven't read from the beginning).