Putting My Life Into Order

catandy

plans in place for spends with me being back at work.

aim is to work to and from work whenever possible to drop some lb and £ and give me some chill out time - should make a dent of 60 odd pounds per month saved so I'm going to move the money across each time I walk so I can see the pot of money growing. also planning to take sandwiches for lunch so saving money there as well - dont need to spend anything not even on a drink, h2o levels about to be topped up as part of my fitness drive didnt go and spend on shoes or bag for work, they can take me as they find me for now when I get my first wage I will go and spend a bit on me then to celebrate!

mobiles i have dropped down a tarrif for me and DS1/ DS2 today freeing up another 21£ per month, unfortunately vodapone wouldnt let me drop down any further but its a start. only other household spend to drop now is the internet bill which is still on a business contract for another 12 months and is currently being covered by the company, when i take that over it goes to a normal household line and i shop around for the best deal i can get.

with my new budget for my DMP to work to from next month (first full month of it) I've got £580 total for groceries I've done some ball park figures today on what I have been spending and want to bring that down to a maximum of £380 less if I can which means emergency fund pot will grow a bit quicker. also means I can start putting money aside to do some f/f further down the road in this journey.

I'm thinking of doing a revised SOA just to see what else I can cut back on. All in all I think I'm doing ok and have got my head in the right place to do this but theres sure to be something that I can cut back on.

catandy

I plan to save 15.30 this week by walking 9 out of my 10 journeys for work and have already moved the money into a saving pot so I've got to do it now. lunch is already packed and ready for my first day - I've done a trying on session of all my clothes in my wardrobe suitable for office wear to see what still fits (diet definately in order..) and I've even charged up my mobile fone (something I never bother with when I'm working from home). Tomorrow is going to be an eye opener - first day office based employed job for over 15 years - gulp!

catandy

first day over at new job and I succumbed and spent money on bus fares cos it was tiddling down all day around here - not good. tomorrow is another day though so I'm not going to beat myself up about it - I've duly moved the money back out of my savings pot to cover the amount and hated the feeling of the balance going down and not up

pay day at the new job is this friday so I should pick up wages for the rest of the month (even though I wont have worked it) just hope I dont end up paying emergency tax as I dont have a P45 or the company have a P46 they can give me to fill in. Next month is obviously going to be mega tight as Im only picking up a half months wages but I will manage - I'm getting good at doing that now

I'm making a bit of an extra effort with surveys and swagbucks at the moment, anything to bring some extra money in - I'm just 1 pound away from a payout of 50quid from one of the survey companies but I just keep getting screened out on everything - grrr

catandy

really dont want to go back to my second day at my job - dont know why maybe cos I'm working 37.5 hours non stop and am timed to take breaks for loo and getting a drink, I work in telesales so anything when I'm not on the fone talking talking to people counts as being unproductive. ive also had an email from them overnight asking me to take my own data and headset in to use at work as they know I have them from my self employment and it saves them buying them for me.... me paying for their business perhaps (or taking the p***):eek:

also didnt walk again as its raining so more money wasted on bus fares. well at least I've made sarnies for my lunch so I wont be wasting money there.

Ok big breath - and get on with it!:)

catandy

really bitty couple of days - spent most of yesterday morning when i should have been at work giving a statement to the police and doing an ID parade for a suspected manslaughter that I was a witness to on Tuesday evening which has left me really shaken - you just dont expect to see things like that go on on your doorstep. Work got really ***tty with me yesterday so the police officer I was dealing with took my mobile off me to say that I would be back with them when I had finished helping them with their enquiries... dont think its really enamoured me to my new employer - espectially as I'm yet to produce any results - I think at this rate I'm not far off being unemployed again.

other news is there is a mess up with my housing benefit between the time the new rates came in 5th April and 17th April when I returned to work, currently I am showing as liable for paying full rent even though I was in receipt of JSA for that period. I'm going thru an appeal again but I cant phone them from work (that would surely be the straw that broke the camels back so my lunch 30 minutes today is spent sitting in a quiet corner and trying to get thru the call centre to find out what is going on.

feel like giving up and crawling into bed and staying there - nothing, absolutely nothing goes the way it should do and with no problems or hitches and just so sick of it all now.

only thing that is going right in fact is the thing that has given me so much headache to date, the business with my ex. we've got another 2 customers who are live and using the system and have sold 2778 usd so far this month. full kick off for the new contract is 1st june and we've got another client going live on the same day as well.

got to get sorted and get to work before I do get sacked!

catandy

and ive finally made a decision and stuck to it - I've stood down from the company as a director and my kids have done the same. Ex and his kids are welcome to the business and all the stress that goes along with it. Ex moves out first thing tomorrow morning and takes some of the furniture with him (stuff he paid for) that wasnt going to be the deal but hes leaving early cos we've had yet another almighty row.

dont know whether to laugh or cry at the moment. totally bewildered by it all

dawnybabes

Nothing constructive to add except some ((hugs))

catandy

well I made it to the end of my first weeks work ok and I got paid :T - short months wages as only worked 2 weeks of the month but its ok I can manage to pay everything bill-wise next month.

I walked to and from work yesterday and saved £3.40 by doing so plus felt more awake and energetic so all good there. Bit achey today from it as I'm not used to route marching 6 miles daily but I've got a feeling that I'm going to become accustomed to it. DS1 and DS2 have made their weekends entertainment - going into town to watch the gay pride march, house party tonight at a mates house then DS1 is working all day Monday in a olympic wrestling tournament which basically means he rolls around in the mud for 6 hours half dressed.... :rotfl:each to their own I guess!

Aqua CC came back yesterday with regards to the offer I made them saying that I need to double the amount I am paying them for it to be acceptable and not freezing interest or fees. All the others have now accepted and I've made first payments to everyone including aqua so they get what I'm offering and no more. they are first on settle list as the amount is never going to go down if they keep adding interest at the rate they are doing. Infact the amount I owe them each month is going up by £30 which really doesnt make any sense at all. Next stop is a letter to the FOS I think and see if that does any good.

good news is flat has returned to a state of peace and harmony with no stress or rows as ex left at 7am this morning, taking the sofas and the bed that we shared until we split up many moons ago with him. that means Ive got my bedroom back so I'm thinking of walloping the walls in there with a nice fresh coat of paint and moving my bed settee into there so ive got a bedroom again - first on my list of must buys is a proper bed, closely followed by a sofa

it feels like we've turned a corner - things will get better now. DS1 and DS2 and I were standing outside when ex drove off dancing like mad things - the postman and anyone driving past must have been giving us really stange looks

lushplus4

That's brilliant news :j:j:j
he's gone!!!

You can now have a fresh start for real
I don't post here that often but am still reading your diary and am glad you are moving in the right direction.

catandy

thankyou - you know i feel like a different person - no treading on eggshells and thinking about what i say or do before I do it - bliss

I did paint my bedroom - very MSE'ish with a half pot of left over paint that was used last year - also had a mad cleaning session and rearranging everything so it feels like my home again. sorted out loads of stuff that I'm taking to a car boot tomorrow so hopefully will make some pennies that way as well.

going to make whats left of the bank holiday now as its absolutely gorgeous outside, going to lie in the sun and catch some rays