Kate's Journey

Kate_fixing_it

Crazy day yesterday but I almost managed a NSD then after some upset with DS2 and realising we had no milk I spent £2.37 on 4 essential items at 9pm! Still it wasn't the £70-80 of the pre-DFW days so I'm not beating myself up.

The letting agent situation has escalated. I had the complaint ready to send to the ombudsman at 2.30. Had a meeting with a colleague and returned to an email from them at 2.41pm...19 minutes before the deadline I'd given them!

The email states the complaint should have been in writing and had two attachments. One was a complaints procedure (and doesn't look official) the other was a scanned copy of the letter they've sent me dated 15th November saying they'll reach a final decision in 21 days.

However, they haven't stuck to procedures stated by themselves on several points. Just so I'm clear I'm putting them here:

1. Complaint was not acknowledged within 3 working days of receipt
2. Email contradicts letter.
3. Email and letter are from a person who is named in the complaint not from a senior person who is not related to the complaint.

I'm not arguing with them further. I've sent the scanned documents to the ombudsman and have the others to post. I'll forward the new stuff with my points to the ombudsman on Monday and send copies in the post.

I wasn't hopeful on this getting anywhere but now I have the evidence they haven't stuck to their own procedures I'm feeling a bit more positive about it. I think it's going to be a long fight but I'm certain I'm in the right. I just have to wait and see if the ombudsman agrees now.

And back to the present... today we're off to the local country park with the littlies. The leg has been ranging from discomfort to moderate pain all week but there are plenty of benches for little rests and God himself couldn't get DD2 off the adventure playground when she's not ready so I'll be sat on a bench until she's done.

Tomorrow's plan is festive movies and a bit of cake baking.

In all I'm still feeling positive and hoping for a fun weekend with my family and a good rest all ready to start the fight for debt freedom again on Monday

Kate x

Kate_fixing_it

It's been four days since I updated and feels like ages!

No major changes except I broke the £1000 barrier as of Monday I have paid off £1115 I'm proud I've taken control of the situation but in another way it's given me a kick up the backside, if I hadn't got into debt I could have saved that! Three months of that could have bought my car six times over! Ok so my car is pretty old but I adore it and this basically means I could have saved my entire salary quite a sobering thought. This time next year...

The leg has decided it doesn't like the cold and is protesting loudly but despite the pain it was quite nice to float away on my cloud if supersonic painkillers and be waited on by hubby it also helps the budget as I refuse to use the debit card when I've taken the drugs (learned THAT lesson when a £140 grocery online shop turned up and I had no memory of ordering and the large majority of it was useless in the summer) and obviously I can't drive in that state so a NSD was dropped in my lap

I've had a little panic about Christmas looming but soon sorted myself out. Stress isn't going to buy and wrap the presents and all I need is a plan. So this weekend is Christmas prep. The town lights are being switched on this Sunday so there's a free day out and to get into the festive spirit I'm going to ask the kids to write their letters to Santa. Every year I go a little crazy and buy pretty much anything and everything I see that they might like only for most of it to be discarded by New Year. In fact if you ask the little darlings on Boxing Day what they received they probably couldn't tell you anything that was off-list.

So a note to gifts large and small...if your name's not down you're not coming in!

Hubby doesn't want anything so it'll be the traditional Christmas jumper and bottle of aftershave (if it's on offer!) and fingers crossed a zero balance credit card statement. I'm 100% certain that'll make him happier than 20 pairs of golf shoes! And I might throw in a print out of my credit report - I've just checked it and there's a zero balance store card I forgot I had sitting on there from last year!

My trip to the big smoke is now 17 days away and I have a budget already set for London spends but mostly I'm looking forward to seeing my friend's face at the sights and sounds of a place she's never been. Every day I email her a picture and a link to something we can see or do and her excitement is electric. The perfect tonic to a rough time at work and just as good as any pharmaceutical in regards to my constant pain - you can't be miserable when your actions make another person smile that much.

So in all, eyes are on the prize but feet are firmly in the here and now. It's a huge shame that it's taken a debt of £10, 000 to open my eyes and make me live in the present but I get it now, I really do. No matter how much I buy it'll never make me happy but I can spend my time and be the richest and happiest girl on earth.

Kate x

Kate_fixing_it

Thursday morning and as I'm not working tomorrow I'm considering that as far as work is concerned today is Friday Payday is Monday and I'm proud to say I've been converted! I've set budgets, written meal plans, planned treats and days out and of the last 20 days I have not opened my purse on half of those days.

There's a little money left and as I've not had a haircut since June I'm off to the hairdresser tomorrow. It's not particularly cheap but not excessively expensive and I have budgeted for it. Aside from 3 "nights out" at SW (which is free as I'm a target member) it's the only thing I've done purely for me. I've even quit wine night on Fridays (which used to spill over into Saturday) in my runaway weekend my parents treated me to a bottle of wine and a few weeks back I scraped the pennies from my car ashtray for a bottle of lemonade to mix with an ancient bottle of martini from the back of a cupboard.

When I think back to a year ago I was drinking upwards of 2 bottles of wine each and every night! God knows what I was doing to my liver and let's not consider the financial implications! I'm not even sure how I managed to function on a daily basis with that level of alcohol intake but every day I was up by 6am, went through the motions of work and being a mother, ran 2-3 miles and then pulled out a wine glass to help me relax. As I broke my leg I haven't run since April, I've been at my SW target of a 3 stone loss since August and these days my relaxation is a hot chocolate or a herbal tea and an early night with a good book.

The Christmas present stress crept up on me again last night so I grabbed a cuppa and a calculator and set to work.

The original plan was £400 a month off debts (including minimum payments) and £400 a month "pocket money".Christmas had to come from pocket money. Last year I spent over £1000 I didn't have on presents and as my previous post states most were forgotten by New Year.

As I messed up this month (in a fashion) I've had little or no pocket money and I don't feel that I've missed it so I'm halving it. Also some annual bills are only paid over 10 months so I have more left over next month (a whopping £120 - or two and a half weeks groceries as I now call it )

So the figures added up mean I can afford £600 for debts and I'm working to a budget of £200 for presents. DS2s is carefully hidden already so I have 3 children, parents, baby brother (aged 32 ) and hubby to buy for. Some of which will come from my London trip spends. My 6 year old Christmas Tree pretty much died on Boxing day last year but I savily bought a new tree in February and all seven feet of it cost me £5! I've got a huge holly bush in my garden that I can trim for decorations and a stack of odd white socks to turn into snowmen with the kids.

As hubby has been mentioned I have a note to add there. Last night he told me he was proud of me. That might not seem like much but it's not something I ever heard as a child or ever really. He's proud I faced my debt issues, he's proud of me for taking control of my health and weight loss and he's proud that I went from two bottles of wine to almost nothing. It's not often we have that kind of deep and meaningful chat what with refereeing the kids, juggling a full time job each and making sure the house keeps running and there's food on the table each night. In fact before my runaway weekend I wasn't sure we'd still be together on my DFD but here we are still together and happier than ever. We're no longer two people who live in the same house and share a common interest in the children (that's how it felt) we're a partnership that rode out the hurricane and came through closer than ever.

Now, it's time I was off to face my "Friday" and take another step towards being a happier, healthier and less in-debted Kate.

Have a great day everyone.

Kate x

beanielou

How lovely of your OH

Kate_fixing_it

beanielou wrote: »

How lovely of your OH

He has his moments For the first few weeks I felt very alone in the mess I'm in but he now refers to it as what WE owe as opposed to "Kate's shenanigans". It's a big leap forward for us both.

He's been in the kitchen all day making pastry so we have chicken pie made from what's in the cupboards and fridge for dinner. It seems we've both changed beyond recognition over the last month and I think I like us both much better this way

Kate x

Kate_fixing_it

It's day two of my 3 day weekend and I'm feeling good

There's no cash available in the bank but I have £21 in my purse in case of emergency, food in the house and a little petrol in the car. Most importantly everything is paid.

Payday is Monday and I've already sat down and calculated what goes in and out and when and if I'm honest it looks good. I have to do all my Christmas shopping this month but I'll be making the most of amazon black Friday week starting on Monday.

Christmas is in fact starting in this house today. Children will be writing their letters to Santa and tomorrow we're off out to the free event in the city centre for the lights to be switched on. Next weekend the bargain tree will be going up courtesy of Santa sending his elves when everyone is in bed if individual bedrooms are tidy means another weekend off alcohol and a very late Saturday night for me but the faces on my children at the magical appearance of the decorations is worth the 3-4 hours of work and it's no bad thing to have a sober weekend.

I also have plans for a few festive trips out with friends just for me. The Coca Cola Christmas Lorry is going to be in town in 10 days just a few minutes walk from my office (I've never seen it), there's the trip to London in 13 days and of course we need to visit Santa at some point

Last year the lead up to Christmas was only limited by time available and hangovers being suffered. Everything was planned around commitments to others and pleasing people who I either wasn't that keen on or who didn't appreciate it. This year it's all about having time for the people I DO want to spend it on and staying in budget. I'm actually more excited and much less stressed than any Christmas past!

Now I'm off to write my own letter to Santa...dear Santa, I have not really been that good this year but I'm turning things around. If I've made my way onto the nice list this year I would like, a smile on my face and love in my home and if you could sprinkle a little magic and have us snowed in over New Year so I'm not tempted to hit the January sales that'd be fantastic

Kate x

Kate_fixing_it

Sunday morning and feeling excited! In less than 14 hours my salary hits my bank account and I can beat my debts with it

Gone are the days of looking at payday as the start date of a spending spree with little or no thought of the following three or four weeks.

Today the thing that's exciting me most is getting organised for the week ahead and the afternoon and evening of entertainment ahead. I have a four year old who ran to me this morning full of beans and asking if we can go to see the Christmas lights yet I've managed to distract her with Peppa Pig on TV but there have been at least 3 "can we go now?" moments in the last hour.

I've got a mountain of "Sunday night chores" to get through today, lengthened further by a pile of clutter to be listed on eBay before the free listing weekend is over so it's going to be a busy day. Probably a good thing or I'm likely to be sat up until after midnight so I can wallop my debts the moment I see cash available in the bank and that'll only lead to waking up tired and grumpy tomorrow in addition to my usual Monday morning gloomy mood and the dread of a grocery shop after a full day in the office.

But enough doom and gloom. I've had a wonderful couple of days. I've taken everything just a little slower than my normal pace, I have no inclination to speed up again. The world isn't going to end if my house isn't "showhome ready", it's clean, tidy-ish and lived in. The ironing won't become crease free sitting there but it's not yelling and dancing around and it'll still be there in the same state tomorrow and the day after. What can't wait is this day with my kids. They (and I) will never be in this moment again. Tomorrow we'll be a little older and a little wiser and a little less in debt.

For now I'm going to fold the clean washing, put some more washing in, throw some dinner into the slow cooker for later, make Monday's packed lunches for the fridge, iron what clothing is needed for Monday, put the clutter up for sale and bundle us all up in warm clothes to watch the magic of the start of the festive season shine from their faces. I have a feeling a little of that magic might shine from me too.

Kate x

dktreesea

Hi Kate, What an Inspiring Blog! I am glad your hubby came around. He should appreciate you. Does he really think mothers of 4 children who work full time AND manage to cook a meal each night AND manage to do the ironing, all the while trying to recover from a broken leg are common? Not on his life! Not to mention having 4 children in school by the time you are 35. Congratulations on that. I was only just starting my family then. If I knew then what I know now, I would have started just after getting married, when I was in my teens.

Reading about your efforts to debt bust have made me a bit ashamed of my own meagre efforts. I don't have any personal debt - it's all to do with the business. But still... I could have paid a fair bit more off than the measly £60 a week I have cut it by since the beginning of January.

It sounds like you live near London? have you ever been to Legoland, out at Windsor? There are often vouchers available for it, and I can recommend it. It's nearly 7 years since we went, and our children still talk about it, even though one of them is at college now. Seeing my wee boy drive a car for the first time! I have photos, but wish I had video'd it. He says it was "One of the highlights of his childhood" :-)

Kate_fixing_it

Hi dktreesea,

What a wonderful post! I have to admit I have tears rolling down my face at your lovely words. We're actually in the Midlands but it means everywhere is easily accessible, London is an hour away on the fast train but I usually choose a slower train so I can relax for an extra 30 minutes and it saves a few pounds

I've never been to legoland but I'm hoping if I keep debt-busting at this rate we can book our first proper holiday in 6 years or have some big days out that don't involve imposing on friends for a bed! The kids rarely ask for anything and I'd love to do something like that with them but I'd like to be debt free and be able to fully enjoy it without worrying about the cost if you know what I mean? I enjoyed the trip away with DD1 but there was an overhanging feeling that I shouldn't be doing it throughout for me.

Posts like yours make me even more determined to get through this. The debt is never far from my mind, it's as if it has a life of it's own and is making up for all the time I spent ignoring it! However, I've realised it isn't a race to the finish line, it doesn't matter how or when I get there, only that I arrive eventually and no matter how small as long as as pay something off I'm in a better place than before.

Best of all I feel better. I'm not running on adrenaline, I'm not juggling money to make sure everything gets paid and I can sleep at night knowing I'll get there one day. I'm living in the present and making the most of every day as the gift it is.

I'm not sure how great a job I do of being wife/mum/employee but we all end each day in one piece and together so I must be muddling through ok and not a day goes by when I don't smile so I count myself very lucky.

Good luck with your journey, I don't think it matters what you pay as long as it's something and £60 a week is still over £3000 a year! No small sum at all, especially in the current climate.

Thank you again for such a lovely post, you've truly warmed my heart and despite the tears there's another huge smile on my face

Kate x

Kate_fixing_it

It's here! DFW Payday two!

I'm not even out of the overdraft but now I know that is not where my future lies. Two bills are already paid and this time next week ALL the bills and minimum payments will be done and I can reassess where we are.

Today is grocery day and petrol day and make sure you haven't forgotten anything day. I'm determined to be more organised this month so I can bag lots of NSDs and stick within my limits and of course maximise my debt repayments.

Considering I don't like Mondays (the Boomtown Rats are ringing through my head right head ) and it's grocery day and I slept in I'm in a good mood!

I checked the black Friday lists on amazon last night and there's nothing from the Santa lists so no need to spend on there. A few things have tempted me but they are not on the list so I scrolled past and then closed the app.

I think I had my first spending craving right there and then. Throughout my entire adult life I've always looked at the saving more than the item, that little gem hit me right between the eyes last night and I realise (FINALLY!) that it doesn't matter if you save 99% if you don't NEED the item and weren't going to buy it in the first place it's not a bargain. Talk about thick skull! 35 years old and I suddenly have that truth dawn on me! I was (and still am) shaking my head in disbelief that an apparently intelligent adult couldn't grasp that! I can't change the past but I can learn from it so lesson number three million learned!

Now, time to get going and face the day with a smile, a bit more wisdom and a renewed thirst for debt freedom. DFD 25th October 2014? No way! I can do better than that, just watch me!

Kate x