Putting My Life Into Order

catandy

im not paying for the software - ive just pretended i didnt hear it - same with the 'daughters' shop / new fridge freezer.

doesnt help much cos i know it will be asked again but i just need to get my head straight and i cant worrying about all this again..

Rainbow_Bridge

Hi catandy,

You have to get to a point where you insist that people meet you in the middle. I was forever saving people and instead of them returning the favour they would just take more. It doesn't work.

You are a very kindhearted, hard working women and they are frankly taking the MICKEY.

You are worth far more than this and the only way they are going to learn is if you stop doing anything for them, until you get something back in return. At the moment their utter selfishness is getting rewarded and there is no incentive for them to change.

You can do this, it's very liberating xx.

catandy

Ok another day and more thinking about ways to save, plans put into action and so forth...

I do my training course tonight on my part time job that I can start from home which means I can start earning some extra :T - it wont be a huge amount, worked it out at an extra £150 per month but that will come in as a big help with getting the CC's down - currently I'm making minimum payments on each of them and barely scratching the surface of the amount o/s.

S1 and I did some research into funding for college yesterday and although the EMA has been phased out his college gives out bursaries to families on low income (I've looked at the figures and my income classes as low). The form is filled in and ready to be put in so fingers crossed for that - that would give him £600 to last him this year at college which wont cover the whole of the year but it will make a good start!

S2 has agreed to sign on and as part of that he has 12 weeks to find an apprenticeship/ place at college/ job or they assign one for him. I think its fair enough and he's already set up an interview for a job :T

I have worked out that I'm due a tax refund of about £300 so I need to finish my figures this weekend with HMRC and wait on that coming through. That needs to go off the CC again. Flat mate is also due a tax return so I kicked him up the !!! to start his return as well - that way at least he can pay me something towards his board and keep!

I cleaned out my car yesterday and found just short of £9 in loose change - you can imagine what state the car was in :rotfl:

surveys are an ongoing project, as is swagbucks - I'm not going to make a fortune doing either but I've set a target of £50 surveys per year and the same on swagbucks - will all save me spending my hard earned cash. I'm also looking at bulk online shopping and maybe even joining costco - I need to do a proper comparison of prices to make sure its worth it and I'll get round to this over the weekend.

Ive got a mass listing day on Ebay/ Amazon planned - probably Sunday particularly if its raining.. I'm also going to take in a couple of bags of unused clothing to one of those places that pay by the KG - shop has just opened in town so I'll get rid of some of our junk that way.

menu planning is working out great - ive started to remember how to cook from scratch... isn't it easy to rely on convenience foods and they actually dont taste very good at all.

flat mate/ business partner and I need to sit down some time and discuss how to move the business forward. This will cost more £ and I've already factored the big spend in but we need a definite plan of action on how to drive things forward so we have the best chance of some sort of return. At the moment the business seems to be just 'drifting' - he works on it daily, I do something every day but theres just no structure or organisation to what we are doing at the moment.

I also need to sit down sometime and make some decisions regarding my job - I'm self employed and hire out my services to various companies. I'm quite good at what I do in my industry so I get approached often by new companies with new offers - I need to work out what projects I can take on / what I can earn best from and what I have most security with... all 3 are important factors to me so its a bit of a juggling act.

....................................................................................

Ive not said any more about the software/ food shopping/ fridge freezer from yesterday - if and when its mentioned again I will face it then but I cant be bothered to make discussions/ justifications for the sake of it.

ok - today ive got a busy one - working f/t on one project, project briefing from another company that I start working for next week at 10am - training course on my new part time job at 4pm and some housework/ tidying up to boot when I can fit it in - lets get on with it then!

........................................................................................

finally a question for you - did you cut up your credit cards? I'm thinking of cutting up the most expensive interest one I have so I can pay it off and never spend on it again. good or bad idea?

fallenwiccan

catandy wrote: »

Ok another day and more thinking about ways to save, plans put into action and so forth...

I do my training course tonight on my part time job that I can start from home which means I can start earning some extra :T - it wont be a huge amount, worked it out at an extra £150 per month but that will come in as a big help with getting the CC's down - currently I'm making minimum payments on each of them and barely scratching the surface of the amount o/s.

S1 and I did some research into funding for college yesterday and although the EMA has been phased out his college gives out bursaries to families on low income (I've looked at the figures and my income classes as low). The form is filled in and ready to be put in so fingers crossed for that - that would give him £600 to last him this year at college which wont cover the whole of the year but it will make a good start!

S2 has agreed to sign on and as part of that he has 12 weeks to find an apprenticeship/ place at college/ job or they assign one for him. I think its fair enough and he's already set up an interview for a job :T

I have worked out that I'm due a tax refund of about £300 so I need to finish my figures this weekend with HMRC and wait on that coming through. That needs to go off the CC again. Flat mate is also due a tax return so I kicked him up the !!! to start his return as well - that way at least he can pay me something towards his board and keep!

I cleaned out my car yesterday and found just short of £9 in loose change - you can imagine what state the car was in :rotfl:

surveys are an ongoing project, as is swagbucks - I'm not going to make a fortune doing either but I've set a target of £50 surveys per year and the same on swagbucks - will all save me spending my hard earned cash. I'm also looking at bulk online shopping and maybe even joining costco - I need to do a proper comparison of prices to make sure its worth it and I'll get round to this over the weekend.

Ive got a mass listing day on Ebay/ Amazon planned - probably Sunday particularly if its raining.. I'm also going to take in a couple of bags of unused clothing to one of those places that pay by the KG - shop has just opened in town so I'll get rid of some of our junk that way.

menu planning is working out great - ive started to remember how to cook from scratch... isn't it easy to rely on convenience foods and they actually dont taste very good at all.

flat mate/ business partner and I need to sit down some time and discuss how to move the business forward. This will cost more £ and I've already factored the big spend in but we need a definite plan of action on how to drive things forward so we have the best chance of some sort of return. At the moment the business seems to be just 'drifting' - he works on it daily, I do something every day but theres just no structure or organisation to what we are doing at the moment.

I also need to sit down sometime and make some decisions regarding my job - I'm self employed and hire out my services to various companies. I'm quite good at what I do in my industry so I get approached often by new companies with new offers - I need to work out what projects I can take on / what I can earn best from and what I have most security with... all 3 are important factors to me so its a bit of a juggling act.

....................................................................................

Ive not said any more about the software/ food shopping/ fridge freezer from yesterday - if and when its mentioned again I will face it then but I cant be bothered to make discussions/ justifications for the sake of it.

ok - today ive got a busy one - working f/t on one project, project briefing from another company that I start working for next week at 10am - training course on my new part time job at 4pm and some housework/ tidying up to boot when I can fit it in - lets get on with it then!

........................................................................................

finally a question for you - did you cut up your credit cards? I'm thinking of cutting up the most expensive interest one I have so I can pay it off and never spend on it again. good or bad idea?

Hi I've been reading your thread with interest, you're doing really well.

If you're not sure on cutting up your credit card for emergencies why don't you put it in the freezer in a big block of ice, that way you really have to think if you need it. Make sure to delete it from any online accounts you have. My problem is I have the number memorised so I triple check myself before I spend on it.

Check with your S1 if his college is a member of the NUS (mine was) and remind him to get a card, the savings can go a long way and I remember lots of local shops to us gave student discount on sandwiches and things, never be afraid to ask.

Rainbow_Bridge

Wow, you are going great guns, fantastic x.

catandy

busy day yesterday and the same planned for today... even though its the weekend and I only officially work mon/ fri

Yesterday ended up being a good day survey wise - about £3 in perhaps 15 mins of clicking boxes. already getting a bit bored of the repetitiveness of it all but will persevere as its ££ and thats all that matters at the moment.

my briefing on the new project I start next week took less than 10 mins and it makes sense to me so Ive got no concerns about that - just want to get stuck in and start earning some commission from it

I worked out ive paid an extra £25 odd quid off one of the credit cards this month without realising it which is the sort of mistake that I like making:p I did think about cutting my credit cards up but have decided not to, Im just going to put them out of the way so it takes an effort to find them and pay with them - havent yet thought of anywhere that will be a good enough hiding place, how can you hide something from yourself if you are the person doing the hiding??:question:

I received an alert from Equifax this morning regarding one of my credit cards, seems my credit limit had been reduced by £300 without me realising it, well if it had been dropped and I hadn't worried about it I obviously dont need such a big credit limit on it so ive logged in and dropped it down by another £100. Means I cant spend it

training for the home-based part time job was disorganised chaos yesterday, I had already finished a full days work so was wiped out and finding it hard to concentrate on something new, my kids were in and out of the room whilst I was trying to do it and flat mate went off on one in the middle of it cos he had lost something. I just blew at them all, told them to shut up and carried on regardless - which is a total shocker from me. you couldnt hear a pin drop when I let rip at them - maybe I should remember the reaction and use it again??:)

Once I finished the training I logged back in later to give it a go - its something I can do any time and I just need to be able to log into the pc. Well I spent an hour last night and just about 15 mins today so far and have earnt the princely sum of £5, its speeding up as I get used to the system so I want to set myself a target of £5 per day for this month. That would make such a big difference to everything.

Plans for the weekend? housework, shopping, more of the home working job, some promotion work on the business I run with the partner .... I sure know how to live uh? :rotfl:

catandy

ok so what have i been up to this weekend?

went to see family yesterday who ive just made peace with after years of 'blanking' each other. long drive there and back so got to fill up the car now :mad: but it was worth it i suppose to see them. i think its always going to be a bit strained to be honest.

also did a food shop yesterday for frozen stuff to last the week, just need some fruit/ veg and thats us done now for shopping for the week. should come in at £60 for the week which is a major improvement.:T Ive been keeping a spending diary as well which shows that ive had just 1 NSD since Friday when I started it (Not Good).

Part time job is going ok - Ive worked out I'm already on track to earn an extra £100 per month and that doesnt impact on my life time wise at all. as I get better at it I can probably up that to £150 a month with just getting a bit more organised.

things left to do today:-

1. check bank accounts to move money between them to make sure bills go thru tomorrow ( all major bills go out in the middle of the month)
2. finish off my tax return and get my rebate in process this really is a must do now
3. get daughters details on the sky bill im paying for her, im closing the account from next week. cant afford it any more for her.
4. may do a bit more at pt job or may just chill - havent yet decided

thats all for today.

catandy

Good start to the week so far..

all the big bills paid for the month:j

logged onto part time job this morning and very slow so will try again in a bit

got an email thru last night from a co that pays me to read emails - and made the princely sum of 10c which works out as 6p!! lol at this rate ill be retired before I clear all my debt!

oh well new project today at work (commission only), plus maybe another project to work round it on hourly rate and add some of the part time internet based stuff in and it will all work out ok.

gonna be a good day today!:T

catandy

Debt free date is Sept 2015 so 36 months away - just done a revised SOA and a revised snowball calculation.

now i know where i stand ive just got to get on and do it!!:T:T

Heffi1

Wow you have got yourself organised, I am impressed. Take some time for you though or you will burn out and your health is important right now.

I would tell both sons to get part time jobs to earn the money for treats, you are not a bank and the sooner they realise how hard it is to earn the money the quicker they will come to appreciate everything you do for them.

The partner I would be having a very tough chat with and asking him to pay his share, it is not fair for you to be subsidising everyone, that goes for the daughter too.

Keep going you are achieving so much, well done.

*subscribing*