Kate's Journey

Kate_fixing_it

And the great mood continues! Have I maybe slept through Monday and woken up a day late?

The amazon black Friday deals (IMO) are awful! Nothing of note and not great discounts either, however, I have ordered a gift for DS2 from Game for 32.99 (and used quidco ) that was £52 yesterday! I'm not sure if it'll be a Christmas gift or if it'll be kept for his birthday in February but I'm delighted!

I'd also like to thank the universe for another helping hand. Every year at work we have a secret santa draw and anyone that dares to hint that they don't want to take part is treated with the same disdain as someone who announces they enjoy drowning puppies on weekends. I was told to pull out a name and keep it secret. Unfolded the paper and lo and behold my own name was staring back at me :-)

Now I like the principles of a secret santa draw but the last 3 years I've gone out of my way to carefully choose and received utter !!!!. On one occasion an almond based product (£3 and 3 for 2 in Boots) despite being VERY clear that I have a nut allergy. This experience and the fact that I'm not particularly fond of most of my colleagues means I was ready to become a social outcast and say I wasn't taking part but I wasn't quick enough and the draw had begun so thank you universe, fate and each and every God out there! I have budgeted for this expense so I shall be paying an extra £10 off my debts and popping one of DD1s gifts into the pile on the day to rewrap when I get home and I get something I really want...a little step closer to debt freedom

Kate x

bess1234_2

That is so cool :rotfl::rotfl: will be thinking of your secret santa. Love your positivity. I'm a lurker , back to lurking. But had to comment- totally cool

Kate_fixing_it

Thanks Bess I know I sound a bit miserly but why buy a gift for a person who can't give me the time of day unless they want something? The universe decided it not me so who am I to argue

Kate_fixing_it

Here we are...hump day! Once I get through today at work it's a downhill into the weekend or it would be if it wasn't month end and all the drama that throws up.

Yesterday was mostly a good day apart from someone not pulling their weight in the office which means I now have a mountain to climb before Friday but I'll do it - I always do

The thought that when I get up tomorrow my debts will be a whisper over 9k in total is making me smile. I can squeeze another £160 from the coffers and get it under that mark before my next payday, for a start there's over £100 if items on eBay and most have watchers

The other thing that's giving me cause to grin is my savings account. I'm well within the overdraft and I have transferred my spending money for London into it. I've squirreled away an extra £40 so every time I log on of the four balances (current account, savings account, loan and credit card) one has a positive balance in 3 figures! Ok, so it won't be there in 10 days (I'll be getting ready to leave but until then I can gaze and smile and imagine that before I know it that'll be the norm for me and it'll be heading for four figures

And more reason to smile, as if I needed it, yesterday I acheived my first NSD without any conscious effort! It simply didn't cross my mind to spend. I realised at 5.15pm that I'd been up 11 hours and not spent a bean! I didn't see that coming and it feels so good! I'm hopeful that I'll do the same again today, I have no reason to buy anything, I have everything I need materially and I'm feeling motivated and positive about the day ahead. I'm still on the tail of that zero balance credit card for Christmas and I'm just plotting the gift list around my London trip and my longing for a big fat zero.

Kate x

Kate_fixing_it

Just popping in quickly to have a little happy dance as of this moment I have already paid off £480 sinxe payday! There's another £78 going out tomorrow which takes me up to £558 and I'm not done yet! There's still 26 days until next payday, the bills are all paid after tomorrow, I have £100 in my saving account for London and present buying and I'm feeling grrrrrreat! :j

Kate x

heyjude2013

That definitely deserves a happy dance! Well done Kate.

Have a good rest of your day,
Jude x

beanielou

Happy dance indeed :j

Kate_fixing_it

What a week! I'm not sure I've managed to sit down for more than half an hour all week! There's over £550 paid off the debts, the car has been filled for the month and the Christmas shopping is well under way. Ultimately I bought nothing from the bĺack Friday sales which im rather proud of.

I'm now housebound for the weekend with a little girl who is really suffering with chicken pox. I was planning to stay in today anyway and have a stack of art materials for the kids. Once they are in bed I'll be putting the decorations up or rather Santa will but for now we'll be treating the pox with love and cuddles and oceans of calamine lotion. I'm a bit sniffly and croaky myself so a weekend in the warm will do the three of us a lot of good and another NSD isn't going to hurt anyone.

Last night being Friday and the end of a very long and stressful day I surprised my hubby (and myself!) by not hitting the wine aisle on the way home. There was a bottle of gluhwein in the cupboard so after a few cuddles a glass or two of that followed by a couple of games of cards was on the agenda. I had a lovely evening and unlike Saturday mornings of the "olden days" I've been up since before 8 and no hangover! Itthink this might just be the future for me.

I think I honestly have made permanent changes. I'm so much happier and more relaxed knowing I have control of parts of my life again. I know I can't control everything but feeling so much more organised has reduced my stress levels no end which can only be a good thing.

Kate x

Kate_fixing_it

Wow I am utterly exhausted! Both bathrooms and my bedroom are spotless and I officially have nothing else to ebay up there! I've been up to the loft and got the decorations out, I am not risking climbing up there and waking the kids up later on. On the final climb down the leg started protesting so instead of pushing on through I'm now sitting with my feet up and watching the care bear movie with Pox-Girl who seemed much happier after a long warm bath but she's now complaining about the fact that she can't go to school on Monday!

I'm half debating a nap but really need to get some dinner on soon. I know I've achieved quite a bit today but there's still so much to do maybe I can have a hunt around for some posh coffee pods to wake me up. There's actually a Costa just 5 minutes up the road but little miss has no intention of getting dressed so homemade it is - and I'm eager to grab my 15th NSD for November and hit the target

Maybe just a half hour nap then... it's good to rest my leg, that can be my excuse and I'm sure Pox-Girl will join me if I ask

Kate x

Kate_fixing_it

Okay so no nap after all. I got off my backside and decided I'd clean the kitchen for 10 minutes, then I decided I'd just do the dishes, when that was done it seemed silly to not wipe down the surfaces and suddenly I have dinner on in a spotless kitchen and totally forgot to make the coffee! Lol! It was considerably more fun than watching the Care Bears for a second time

I'm now thinking I might as well start on the lounge and no doubt that'll go the same way. ..all ready for Santa's early visit but first I WILL have that coffee especially as I found some Costa caramel latte pods during my cleaning

And whilst I was doing the dishes the letting agent complaint popped into my head. I checked the calendar and yesterday was their 15th working day to provide me with a final decision! No prizes for guessing I heard absolutely nothing. I'm so glad I already sent everything off to the ombudsman. One more nail in the coffin (I hope!) Whilst I'd love Mr Ombudsman to award me enough to clear my debts I'd be grateful for anything I can throw at the debts right now.

I've also received a response from HSBC regarding bank charges. Over the last 13 years I've paid over £5000! I'm utterly disgusted at myself (and a little annoyed at them) so my template is ready to ask for it back. The CC debts were run up by (mostly) daily living and the bank have been aware of my situation from the day I opened the account - two days after ex-husband left. I'm not counting on it coming back and I'm fully aware that they won the court case in 2009 but I'm not going to get anything if I don't ask and I might just get lucky.

Still waiting to hear back about the loan PPI and from the mortgage company but I've got plenty of time and if/when I get something back it'll be an even bigger percentage of the remaining debt paid off.

And my final note for the day (promise!) I've reassessed the budget and the bank account situation. I'm waiting until tomorrow so that I can hit my NSD target of 15 for November but I will be paying £23 off a CC tomorrow and therefore my total CC debt will be £6999.09...under the 7k mark! I'm doing my happy dance again a little voice in my head is telling me it's 5 paydays until my birthday and it's perfectly feasibletthat I can have total CC debt under 4 figures by then and total debt (including the loan and overdraft, currently 2k each) under £4k. The only thing that is stopping me is my own lack of self-belief and that's diminishing by the day.

I CAN do this, I WILL do this and once it's done I will NEVER get into this position again.

Kate x