The Road to Financial Security

SueP19

Pushkin wrote: »

Hi Sue - DS is 14 and I can so relate to the anguish you must have regarding your DD, it's kind of how I was when young which is exactly why I am trying to train DS now - not very successfully!


For now his bank card has been confiscated but that is treating the symptoms not the cause. Will try and talk to him when this has calmed down a little.

Hope your daughter appreciates how lucky she is having you pick up the pieces for her.

Thats how I learned to budget. I built up a £2k credit card bill in my mid 20s and was making minimum payments each month & not getting anywhere with reducing it. My father found out & after much ranting and anger paid off the debt. I then paid him back and I have always repaid the full amount on my credit card each month. It taught me a big lesson.

Oh cricky how i learnt to budget is far worse, OH was made redundant 6 weeks after we got married, i was self employed with a new business and no help. By 4 months later we had 2 CCJs. A real baptism.

DD has not had it easy since leaving home.

I wish i had an answer for you xx

Pushkin

Wow Sue that sounds awful -power to you for coming through the other side.

Pushkin

Lovely day trip to Lacock today, had a mooch round the village, sadly not much time to browse in the gift shops - effect of going with husband and son who hate shopping! A look round one of the only surviving UK cloisters & a pub lunch. DS really getting into photography (which is he one of his GCSE options) & spent a while taking photos. Disappointed we didn't take the dog with us.

Got home & did the ironing.

On a positive note - best ever step count this week of just over 100,000. Will be hard to match when back at work but pleased to have done it!

Pushkin

Back to work after my week off. Missed an invite to a 'Mandatory Business Briefing' (aka redundancy call) last week. Spoke to a colleague who was on the call and she told me it was to notify us they have cancelled the redundancy pool so we are now safe.

Very surprising news, suspect its due to the many errors they have made so far meaning it's easier to just close this down and start from scratch. They wouldn't answer questions about whether or not they are looking at our team still.

I haven't heard any of this officially and believe I need to. Emailed the manager who sent the invite for an update, no response so sent a chase up before I finished work.

Am sure this is just delaying things but have to admit feeling relieved.

amycool

What a surprise on the redundancy front!

Sorry to hear about DS. Maybe at 14 he just isn't capable yet of saving so just stop giving him savings he can access? I didn't get pocket money at that age (probably why I had a job at 15!) so can't really comment on what I would have done. I know my brothers would have spent it if they'd had it though!

Pushkin

Well I finally had the call today to confirm they have cancelled the redundancy pool (which was incorrect anyway!) and my job is safe (for this week anyway! :cool:). Should have been yesterday but they omitted me and another person and I had to ring up and ask why I hadn't been invited.

Whole thing has been a master class in incompetence and I had quite a rant at the senior manager today. Probably puts me on a list for the next redundancy pool but I just think it's terrible that they don't take more care with this.

So plan is to carry on with saving etc and work on my health and confidence issues as I am sure redundancy will come and I will then need to find another job.

On a positive note DH and I are doing soup week, I've had it for lunch and dinner each day this week with crackers or fruit if I'm still hungry. Am finding it ok to do, jeans feel looser and I feel better in myself as well since I haven't been eating junk food. Will eat normally at weekend and then do soup again next week. Our version of the 5:2 diet!

Pushkin

Out with mum yesterday morning to a fabulous garden centre near where she lives. Finally bought a few presents for Christmas so feel better that I've set the ball rolling.

Wow did it feel good to eat normally as well after nothing but soup all week (as well as fruit & a few crackers). Had a roast for dinner -yum yum.

Am amazed and proud of myself for having stuck to the soup Monday to Friday though and planning to do it next week too, DH and I are going to pop to W@itrose for some soup so we can get some variety.

Just swept all the leaves and crud off the patio and DH is raking the leaves. My back is very sore so I've come in, really annoyed by it and also suspect it's weight related so try not to draw attention to it.

Pushkin

Plodding along both work and money wise.

DH and DS are going to Germany next month to visit the Christmas markets. I am invited but they are leaving early Saturday morning and coming back Sunday - just sounds exhausting to me - and I'm grumpy when tired so I've politely declined. Anyway I did provide £150 for their trip out of the household budget. So bit more of a spend than anticipated.

Planning to go Christmas shopping at the weekend and am starting to get some ideas.

Weather has turned very cold last couple of days - have a feeling we are in for bitter winter - haven't had one for a few years. Will be a true test of our boiler & insulation fitted in 2014.

Very tired today, had a coughing fit in the night and made the mistake of looking at the news on my phone - so surprised by the US election I came downstairs to watch an hour of it on the tv. So early night in order.

amycool

Now I'm at home our gas bills are going to be colossal and no idea how much insulation we have! The house was built in 1960 so probably not much.

Sorry to hear you are ill - the news probably didn't help! I feel ever more distant from the majority of people as everyone seems to be getting more and more right wing whilst I get more liberal and socialist.

Pushkin

Amycool - don't know if they are still doing it but we had our insulation done for free by BG - some kind of government grant thing. Was a couple of years ago but worth checking if still available -it has made a noticeable difference to our house which is early 1970s.