Hypno's kick up the backside debt diary....

atypicalblonde

great stuff on your productive day so far Hypno! Now go place a matched bet!!

hypno06

OK, important things first. I bought Thorntons choccy covered marzipan bar and a bar of dark chocolate.

best £1.18 I have spent all day.....

Am trying to open a new account to do a matched bet but the computer doesn't want to play, so I think I may have to move out of my lovely cabin in the garden into the house where the internet signal may be stronger. Oh well.....

I give my children up to £2.50 a week (they are 11 and 12) but they do have to do chores to earn this and if the chores are not done then cash is not handed over. They are fairly aware of how money does not grow on trees so don't generally ask for too much more. Besides, they know that they are lucky to be able to ski and do karate, guides etc.

They are quite good at saving their money now and have each recently bought a tv/dvd player for their rooms (bought ex display off ebay and even went through quidco :rotfl: ) so I am bringing up two little MSEers!!!

DD is quite looking forward to having a paper round when she is old enough because she knows how much others get paid, but my only reservation is that we don't have street lights in our village so in the winter it is really dark. I expect therefore that I will have to accompany her (for my peace of mind rather than for her's I suspect) but if it helps her to earn money, then I don't suppose I will mind.

atypicalblonde

that choccy sounds yummy.... are you feeling a little more galvanised now after your productive morning? Am just about to regsiter for mystery shopping - yippee I am really excited about it now!! Have you got any more bits you can ebay at all? Your kids sound great and it is brilliant that they are learning the value of saving early on - I think that is the problem nowadays as so many of us don't want to save and want to have it there and then! The paper round will be great for her - I was a coffee shop waitress and loved getting my £3.20 an hour! I am 20 now and have never forgotten the feeling of my first pay packet for a hard day serving tea and cakes! x

Seaxwyn

Hi Hypno

They sound like great kids and mine are the same - very good at making the most of the slim resources they have, and very supportive of my DFW efforts too.

It is challenging to watch them metamorphose from children into teenagers. My twin DDs have in the last year changed from nature nuts who only wanted to climb trees and catch insects to shopaholics who spend every spare moment in our ghastly local mall. They do very well to eke out £2/week and the bits and pieces of money they can gather from elsewhere but i dread the day when they demand a proper clothes allowance as many of their friends have.

I did a paper round throughout my youth and loved it. I understand your fears about the dark unlit village but I coped well in similar circumstances when I was young - I'm sure your DD will be fine.

hypno06

It is quite frightening to hear just how much some of their peers get. Many of them get their child benefit as a matter of course! No way in the hypno house - that puts food in their bellies!!

I felt much better having done some stuff, but after I had finally managed to open a new betting account and put some money in, the odds were not good enough to do anything, so now I really need to wait until later in the week to see if things improve.

Oh well, at least I got the ball rolling.

Next job is to write a letter of complaint to Talk Talk - they owe me money and it is about time I had it back!

BTW, choccy was delish.....:o (have salad for dinner to compensate :A )

Snaggles

Surely chocolate has vitamins in it???

Marzipan is made of nuts - so it's virtually a health food...... :rotfl:

hypno06

And chocolate is a bean so is vegetable - at least one of my 5 a day taken care of!

Plus, I am a dark chocolate girl and that has extra health benefits.

When I used to do weightwatchers I was great - I was allowed 18 points a day - those Marzipan Thorntons bars are 4.5 points each, so I could have no point soup and salad all day, plus 4 bars of Marzipan Chocolate, all within my allowance!

(and I used to wonder why I had an eating problem - thankfully sorted out now!!)

taxi73

Hi Hypno...well done on today...you have achieved loads!!!!.....glad you enjoyed the choccy and well worth the money...

Snaggles

I did weightwatchers too (can you tell from my avatar lol!), and I was terrible for saving 'beer points' by not eating properly through the day....tut tut......the funny thing is, I've had about 3 drinks in the last 9 months and haven't missed it a bit (well, maybe a little bit ), so I could have just had more chocolate!

hypno06

Last night I found a hard back notebook that I bought to use as a spending diary a couple of years ago - I did the first 2 days and then gave up!!

So, I have ripped out those two old pages, and will be using it as from today as my spending diary. I've not actually done one in a while so it will be useful I think during this tough patch to help me keep on the straight and narrow and also to see just how much I am spending on that chocolate (it is my equivalent to fags or booze ) as I do feel that I am spending too much on it, but I always manage to hide the amount in the bigger scheme of things!

Yesterday afternoon I applied for a Barclaycard 0% for 12 months card. I don't think I will get it as OH was rejected for an M&S card earlier this year, but as all my bank accounts are with Barclays, I thought I may stand slightly more chance with them. I am working on the basis that if I get the card, even for a small amount, I can transfer some of my high debt over quite happily, but that if I get rejected, I won't be any worse off. I will let you know how I get on, but as said above I don't really have any great expectations of it.