Getting a Grip on 2013

Tete_en_l'Air

Aww Cinny, don't let them get to you - you're so much better than any of that kind of behaviour. And you're outta there now What are your new hobbies? I always end up MORE stressed with mine because I set myself timescales etc - silly me!

Cinny91

Thanks Tete I keep telling myself that, but at the same time I was imagining my boss having a heart attack in a secluded place where no one could help him yesterday. So maybe I'm worse!

And I've finally got a little guitar I have 4 chords kind of nailed, and if you put them together it makes a song, but I'm not fast enough for that plus singing yet!

starnac

Aww Cinny. Nearly there. This just proves you are waaaay better than them (I'll ignore the day dreaming you did )

Cool hobby. I'm the same as Tete I must admit. If I get a new hobby I stress myself as I want to be perfect straight away or I try to do too much!! Yay to learning a whole song!!

alioops78

Oh no Cinny I'm sorta sorry I asked now.

I understand where you're coming from with the sneakiness. Something happened like that with me over something that had me upset since January and has only just been resolved now. I still don't know who the !!!! was that 'dobbed' me in but what hurt worse was it was due to my Grandma dying and as she had been in care an 'off the cuff' comment of mine meant they looked into whether the council was supposed to have funded her care or not.

I personally would've imagined a lot worse than a heart attack so you're a better person than me already .

At least you know it's your last shift and you won't have to deal with anymore cr*p.

Enjoy your new hobbies and the destress they provide.

Alioops x

Cinny91

Don't worry about it Alioops! Have to say, I'm barely a month out of there and I feel like a different person. A lot happier, way less stressed, I don't get that knot in my stomach in the mornings and most importantly - Ryder is one happy puppy (and the house is clean!!)

I am coming back with my tail between my legs The more stressed and unhappy I was at work, the more I put my head in the sand with our finances and pretended like everything was okay. While I go and check in with my Doctor every now and then, I don't take any medication for my anxiety and depression. My depression has been the worst it's been for a while - and although I'm out the other side of it now I'm having to take account so I can repair the damage.

In July we had a big potential bill for OH's car, as well as it turning into a fuel guzzler and generally not being reliable enough for OH's work anymore. So OH decided it was time to look for a new car (and I cringe while I write this, so I don't need telling off!) and we have another 5 year loan around our necks. Although it is just in OH's name, he's aiming to pay it off within 2 years.

I personally owe my Parents £270 to pay the remainder of my insurance (not proud of this either!) I have enough in my savings to pay them off now, but my Mum has asked me to wait until the end of the month so I don't completely wipe my savings clean. Which is greatly appreciated as Freddie cleared my savings with his MOT at the end of last month, so while I'm a little bumhurt my savings are so low - I'm also fairly impressed I managed to get my savings back up to £280.

One good thing is after this weekend OH and I are finally on the same page when it comes to money. We both drew up personal budgets for August and promised to stick to them. I put some goals on mine too, because obviously I'm the nerd in this relationship (admittedly, not a very good one at present!)

OH is looking at getting a weekend or evening job to bring a little extra in. I have a potential second income but it isn't secure, and after how quickly my mental health deteriorated OH isn't too keen on me doing it. And while it makes me feel a little useless, I do have to agree with him. But I am going to start putting leg work in to bring our spending down, and have the beginnings of a "to ebay" pile. We've just come to the point now where we're 22 and 25 years old, and should be doing better than this.

There's £498.40 on the credit card today so my goal in August is to pay this off along side the £270 to my parents. So August's goal is to pay off (let's round it up!) £770.

Cinny91

Took a bag of clothes down to the 50p per kg places that are popping up everywhere - got £6 for my troubles so used £4 of it to get some toiletries while I was in town.

Checking prices of things for my ebay pile and I'm confident I have about £80 worth to put on. There's a new game exchange place that I saw in town, took note of their number so I'm going to call up and see what some things are worth before I take them down Also have my last blythe doll which is worth about £200, but I'm in two minds about selling her as she was a present from my OH.

It's a little comforting to know that the things we buy for fun are going up in value - some little wrestling figures we got post Wrestlemania for £4 are now selling for £25. There are some Pop! figures I desperately want to invest in because I know once they stop production they'll just sky rocket in price but it's not really something we have the money for atm. I might buy one when I get paid on Friday as I've given myself a mind blowing £40 blow money this month.

Moved £287 into the challenge pot today. Have a long way to go but I'm feeling pretty motivated.

Tete_en_l'Air

Hi Cinny - yikes to the new car loan (what car did he get?) but glad you're not feeling so down now and have pulled your head out of the sand You sound very motivated this morning so I'm sure you'll be paying chunks off in no time!

Birdie85

I was wondering when you'd be popping back here to update! So glad to hear you've come out of the Bad Place and you're ready to take everything on again.

Not brilliant news about the car loan, but sadly, needs must. The car is necessary to your OH being able to get to work (safely!) and earn money so as long as you didn't spend £30k on a fun sports car then I think you're OK! What car has he got? Good on him for being so keen to pay the load off in 2 years too... I smell a challenge!

I have to agree with your OH that it doesn't seem like the best idea for you to work more hours but you could make sure that you spend so many hours of your days/mornings/afternoons/however it works off on earning money, either by ebaying, writing reviews, doing surveys, entering competitions, matched betting if you 'get it' (not sure I do!) etc. It'll make you feel like you've got a second job at home and then you can really enjoy your switch off time when you settle down to watch trash TV!

I can totally understand your reluctance to sell your Blythe doll as a fellow collector/hoarder. I've sold a few Barbies that I no longer have room for but there are a few left that I simply can't bear to part with. I think that whilst I don't *need* the money (i.e. the bills are paid and there's food on the table) I'd regret selling them. One is worth about the same as your doll (it's so rare I'm not even totally sure as it's hardly ever on ebay to check!) so I do understand where you're coming from! That is crazy about the rise in value of your wrestling figures though... you know, that could become a little sideline? Buy cool limited edition stuff, enjoy it for a while then sell on once the value has tripled! :cool:

Cinny91

He picked a lovely Volvo c30, it's the car we always spoke about saving up for in the future. It was like last week, on top of his normal commute he put in 800 miles and he couldn't confidently say his old car would have made it. Our drive looks a little funny though, this swanky new volvo vs. my little old fiesta! (although, who's the one with the debt free car? ) Tink can vouch for me though, it's very pretty!

That's what I'm hoping I can do - either make enough money in the afternoons or save enough in other areas that I'll feel like I'm making progress too. When OH told me he was looking for a second job I just felt so useless, because I know mentally I can't do that. We looked over everything again last night, and we're pretty confident we'll be able to afford to pay things off double quick as of September if we behave (big if!) We'll have to see how things go as life likes to throw us curve balls whenever we get in the right place with money!

We've also vowed to behave with the credit card. I'm the worst for this. OH uses it for expenses with work, and as we pay it off in full every month it's interest free with about £200 cashback a year in our favour. I was just really bad for buying things, using it for the cashback and thinking "I'll pop the money into savings when I get home!" and then forgetting So I told OH I'm not going to use it at all anymore, it's for expenses and expenses alone! I'm hoping we'll get to the point we can have an expenses account of around £500 that OH can dip into and re pay every month - but we're a long way off that yet.

And thanks for the nice messages! It's always good to know you're not talking to yourself

Cinny91

Went to the shops after work - we just needed some essentials like eggs, coffee ect. But this week was a big bill week for me so I'm basically as poor as a church mouse until Friday (when my new budget starts, why am I so happy about this?!)

Just one more week to get through and I'll have enough to go buy a big bag of Ryder's dog food, which will save us money in the long run. Just one more week of £6.99 for little bag _pale_ Need to have a bash at fixing his halti today too, he kind of chewed through it on the way back from the peaks on Sunday. I think I'll be able to stitch it up, but ultimately I do need one for walking him so we'll see!

Felt like I was very productive yesterday! Listed 8 things on ebay, cut the grass in the front garden, pulled everything out the spare rooms and reorganised it so OH has space for his exercise equipment but I still have laundry hanging space. Sorted our little stock pile too, so everything is looking pretty upstairs now.

Not a great deal planned for this afternoon. Want to sort the kitchen cupboards out so we know what we have, and can work a tighter budget food wise. Have some laundry to sort, and weekly things like changing the bedding ect! It's looking like it's going to be a really nice day, so I'll just walk Ryder to the post box after work as it's too warm for him to do much else. Poor bear!