Diary of a Foolish woman wanting to mend her ways

alwaysworried_2

Well the title says it all.

Bit of a background story. 11 years ago, I got myself into debt hubbie found out, was completely raging (he was well within his rights to be) and we took out a loan to clear it off.
Well I'm back to square one, this time to the tune of approximately £15000:(

I can't tell my husband about this. I'm so ashamed I've let him and my 2 kids down again.
I need to try to do this on my own. So after a week or so of feeling completely depressed, thinking my family would be better off without me, I've given myself a kick up the a$$ and decided to start my own diary.

I don't expect to update my diary on a regular basis, because all my bills come out at the beginning of the month, and at the moment I don't have much extra cash to throw overpayments to the debt.

Money is going to be tight for a the next 6 months or so, but after that it will be a bit easier as 2 bills will be paid. Well I say 2 bills its really one bill and the other is my sons holiday that I said I would pay for him. He is paying for some of the trip himself, but I have approx £600 to pay and the school are letting me pay that up, it's got to be paid for March.

I'm going to eBay some things and when the weather gets a bit better do a car boot. someone please advise me,but if you list things on eBay for 99p is it free? I don't have anything that is very expensive so starting at 99p will be a start
I do have (now please don't shoot me) some real ivory carved ornaments which I would love to sell, they are very old they belonged to my grandmother and she told me to put them by for a rainy day. This is the rainy day, and I don't particularly like having something like that. I was considering throwing them away but I don't think my Grandmother (god bless her) would approve of them going in the bin. Thing is, I don't know if I can sell them because they aren't dated and I don't have any certificates for them.

My shopping will be done at Aldi, B&M, pound shops etc. I'm hoping I can make some real savings here. There is me, DH, one teenager who has hollow legs and one 7 yr old. At the moment I could easily be £80 per week for my food shopping so hopefully I can get that down.

I've posted on the PPI board and claiming mortgage exit fees board for some advice as I'm not sure if I can claim these back, but there is no harm in asking.

So please feel free to give me any tips etc on my diary and join me on this bumpy ride!

please-let-me-be-lucky

Hi and congrats on starting your diary.

Just wanted to confirm that, yes, listing things with a 99p start bid are free, however this saturday and sunday is free listing weekend so you can start things higher. There will still be final value and paypal fees either way though.

Good luck on your journey and don't beat yourself up about it. The main thing is that you are dealing with it.

PLMBL Xx

alwaysworried_2

Thank you for the advice PLMBL will be looking out some of the things I want to sell on eBay later today.

Well yesterday I was a complete wreck, broke down to my sister and told her about my situation. Of course she was shocked but was very supportive.

Yesterday I'm afraid wasn't a NSD, went food shopping and I was about £51 I did however buy myself a bottle of wine at £3.33 and battery's at £7.00. Those aren't normally in my shopping basket I only bought the wine because I was going to my friends for a little while and the batteries I bought for the toys my youngest will have at Christmas and they were on offer 16 batteries for £7.00.
Also had to get petrol for hubbies car as I was driving that yesterday, but today will need to get petrol for mine.
Hopefully wont need to buy anything other than bread and milk during the week.

My youngest usually goes for school dinners, but this week I will make a packed lunch for him, so the £6.00 I'm saving I will pay to a bill. I normally prefer him taking a school dinner in the winter because I tell him to take the choice of one of the hot meals, but recently he has been choosing the sandwich option, so I will just make him the sandwich and save myself some money. Might even buy him some sausage rolls to take.

later on will work out exactly what I owe and update my signature.

alwaysworried_2

Well total debt amount updated. I had originally thought it was about £15000 so a bit less than that but I still feel physically sick.

Why was I so stupid to get into this mess again!!!!!

mummybearx

Awwwwwwww sweetie, sending some ((hugs)) your way

You have made the first step, added it all up and you now know where you stand.

Join up to the grocery challenge on the old style board. Lots of helpful advice on there.

Check the coupons and voucher board as well. 50p here, £1 there all adds up. I've found some free food as well using vouchers, there was one a while ago for £1 off a box of Jordan's porridge oats and the oats were down to £1 in tesco, so I got two boxes for free :T
Also check the freebies and bargains board, and there is one for Free things you have received today. People list all the companies they have emailed or written to and received freebies from. Again I have had loads, from £2 off air fresheneres, bleach, cleaning products, to money off shampoo, makeup, nappies, money off food coupons like yogurts, milk, bread. Seriously, write a list of all the brands you can think of, google their names and click on 'contact us'. I've written a nice email saying that I bought X and really enjoyed it, and almost every company emailed back saying we are sending you out vouchers :j

God that was an essay :rotfl:

StressedSteph

Hi AlwaysWorried,

Thought I would check in to your shiny new diary.

Lots of luck, stick with it. I have also just decided to put the children on packed lunches every day. They used to have three hot meals each per week, but I have calculated that this costs £54.72 per month :eek:. I am sure budget packed lunches with hm cake is lots cheaper.

Good luck hun. Have subscribed to your thread so will watch how you are getting on xx

alwaysworried_2

thanks Zepsgal.

I found out about hot deals and have had a wee look through that, see that a £5 voucher off a £35 spend at Aldi this week if I buy daily record on Thursday so will get that. Was hoping just to buy fruit etc because the freezers are busting, but if I buy chicken etc and stock up on meat it won't go to waste.

Ive also started to save £2 coins, so far have £10 and once I have £20 will pay that to the debt too.
Hopefully all these little changes will mount up.

sistafromanothermista

:wave: *subscribed*

Good luck on your journey :beer:
You and steph are in a similar position to me, so i will be with you all the way until the bitter end :rotfl:

:T

[Deleted User]

Snap, I'm with you, I had debts years ago and hubby found out, now I'm in the same situation as you with but mine are 20 thousand, will be with you lets help each other, we can do it.:o

dd1981

Hi

Thought I'd say hello! Mine and DHs debts are about the same as yours too so we can help each other along in paying them We have had lightbulb moments before but this week has really brought it home as we get paid on Friday and don't have any money till then- normally isn't this bad!

All the small things really help, especially packed lunches. We spend a fortune at work on food. We both work for a major supermarket and we got our statements of how much we have been paid, overtime, bonus payments and how much we have saved in colleague discount. Mine was roughly £500 saved from using colleague discount- however that works out that I myself, on my card not DHs, have spent £5k in work in the last year?!?! DH will get his today so will see the damage in his, not pretty reading but brings it all home so can only be a good thing

Good luck in your journey, will be following you along the way

Dd
x

alwaysworried_2

Thank you everyone for replying. Its good to know there is support on here, cos I think Im really going to need it.

Today hasnt been a NSD and its only 10am, however, I know I wont be spending anymore. Went to the £ shop to get toothpaste and some cakes for DS packed lunches (oldest DS has eaten all the fruit, biscuits and yogurts I bought to last them during the week:mad:). Also seen the Moshi Monster advent calendars there too so got one for my son and my niece so I spend £4.00. So saved myself 50p by buying the calendars there cos I was going to get them in Morrisons where they were selling them for 2 for £3. My sister will give me £1 back when I see her at the weekend.
I was looking at all the goodies and seen the boxes of Toffifee. Normally I would have bought a couple of boxes for myself but I resisted. So if I try to look on a brighter note, I saved myself £2.50. Good for the purse and good for the waist line (which I really need to work on).

Was very tempted to send that £2.50 to one of my debts, but I havent gotten all of my Christmas shopping in yet, and Im kind of panicking about it. So im not wanting to send any money no matter how small to the debts until I have everything in.
I have everything in for my youngest, just stocking fillers to get, but for my oldest Ive nothing in, nothing at all.
Was going to buy him a playstation game today but I have some DD's that come out on Wednesday and I dont get paid until Thursday, so I want to make sure I have enough in the overdraft to cover them.

I think I wont be able to make much overpayments until after Christmas, but I will wait and see, Im just so anxious to get overpaying.

I know my diary sounds so moany and downbeat, Im having a hard time about this and really do feel like a failure. I hope to feel a bit better after the new year when I can start to pay something more to the debts.

Hope everyone has a nice day.