I'm tired of having no money!!

newpennypincher

Just noticed I had an old signature on my page. Its so depressing to see that since then the debt has definitely, moved, its just moved in the wrong direction!

Had a nice day today. I'm off for a week so we went to pick up BF's son and then to pick up some stock for my Eb*y shop. I'd say half of it is fit for the bin and the other half will do ok.

Spends today - £60.00 - groceries - I had to put these on my credit card as the joint account is empty. There'll be no more topping up the joint account next month.

£7 - fish and chips - I know! Not exactly healthy but very nice.

£9 - Cos*a coffee - I'm addicted but getting better. Down to about 2 a week now.

£10 - stock for Eb*y shop.

Bought some yellow stickered steak in Mr T's and ingredients to make my own biscuits. Bought a huge pack of potatoes and enough mince to make a massive shepherds pie. I'm not sure if I read somewhere that you can use oats to bulk out a shepherds pie or if I imagined it - and if you do add oats, do you use normal porridge oats or some other type of oats? I don't want to end up with beef flavoured porridge!

I'm going to go and try out that biscuit recipe now, I'll be back in a bit. Hope everyone's having a good day

justjohn

Out of interest how much do you spend on lpg, logs and coal?


Our house runs on oil heating and logs. max of 500 pound on logs and 3 tanks of oil (1500 pound ish for oil)

PinkPoppies

I find lentils good for bulking out lots of mince based meals, cheap and healthy too

I have been meaning to make biscuits for ages but never seem to get round to it! Maybe tomorrow!

Horseunderwater

1st thing to do if not done already is to list all essential bills/debts on some paper with due dates. Mortgage; council tax; TV license; Utilities(heating, water, phone) House insurance buildings & contents; Car expenses(MOT, insurance, service, fuel & VED) & food.
Then do same for non ess debts that's the CC's/Store cards, Dky TV or equiv, mobile contract that sort of thing. When you have done that - look at your guaranteed income = wages only - Does that cover the essesntial bills debts if not a part time ev job may be needed. The Ebay shop - does it cover its running costs - all fees for shop/paypal/postage/fvf's/stock outlay? Are you registered with HMRC because all net realised profits need to be declared. You're in business & not hobby selling own items.
I do not want to sound like I'm teaching you to suck eggs as granny used to say, but you have to be hard on yourself & honest too.
I truly hope you can do this too, but sitting down - doing the numbers helps.

newpennypincher

Hi, I'm back, these hobnobs are lovely. I don't know how to post links, but is a recipe I've seen on the OS boards loads of times. Just search for twinks hobnobs recipe and you should find it. I'll have to say thank you on the thread because these are yummy! My waistline probably won't say thank you though.

Justjohn - we don't use anything at all from about April/May till October, but in the Winter months we spend about £200 on LPG which is purely for the central heating. Mains gas hasn't reached us yet (living in the sticks!). We usually buy about two loads of logs each Winter which is about £120 and Coal would be about £400. I was lucky last year, my youngest managed to get me a load of old wood which kept us going for a couple of months.

I have solar panels on the roof, but there's something wrong with the pump because they don't work. The plumber I had to take a look said that because the system was so old (probably one of the first ones around) he doesn't think he can get the parts for it. He said I'd have to pay about £2000 for a new system. Mind you, now that I'm writing it down, he could have been trying to make a small job into a big one - either way I'm stuck for now!

Pinkpoppies - it might have been lentils I read about and substituted oats in my head. Lentils sound a more sensible option

Horseunderwater - BF and his son are off out mountainbiking tomorrow so I'll have some peace to work out my figures. I'll walk up to my mums house in the morning (take some biscuits with me), have a coffee and walk home. This will be a 3 mile walk which means I won't feel so guilty for eating biscuits. Then I can concentrate on my budget etc.

I keep checking my Eb*y shop but no sales so far.

newpennypincher

Morning :coffee:!

Not a bad day here today. BF and his DS2 have gone off biking and I'm sat here hoping they don't come home with cracked ribs this time.

Didn't have a brilliant night last night, I had a migraine just as I was going to bed and didn't sleep much as a result. On the plus side, I had plenty of time to think about money - my brain's been buzzing all night!

Good news - I made two sales last night - after I went to bed

Right, I need to get cracking before half the day is wasted. Here's my list of things to do today:-

1. Package up two parcels.
2. Hang the washing out (if it stops raining!)
3. Walk to town and visit mum.
4. Prepare lovely shepherds pie (with lentils)
5. Work on my budget.
6. Hoover down the sides of the sofa

I'll be back later with some figures, hopefully

newpennypincher

I'm back and OMG am I unfit - the walk to town and back nearly killed me but I felt proud of myself after I got home. Had a lovely lunch with my mum followed by a couple of home made biscuits

My mum is housebound so I try to get there once a day if I can. I'm only human and I feel resentful sometimes that my brother lives so far away. He gets to live his own life with no responsibilities other than to come up for an afternoon a couple of times a month. A day off is never just a day off for me, it always has to be planned around other people. It drives me potty - and then I snap out of it just like that!

I lost my dad to cancer a few months ago and I miss him like mad every day so every second I get to spend with my mum I count myself lucky. I took my dad to every chemo appointment for nearly a year and I thought my brother was the lucky one, but really I was the lucky one to get to spend that time with him.

I'm sorry, I don't know where that came from. I took my dad's stuff to the CS yesterday and it still feels very raw. I didn't tell my mum but I sneaked one woolly jumper out of the bag before I took them in - I didn't want to let them all go

I feel really sorry for BF, he's been so supportive but he doesn't need to hear me moaning again - so I'm glad I got that off my chest before he and his son get back (hopefully with no broken bones!).

Lets get back to the positives - things achieved today:-

1. Walked to town and back.
2. Had lovely lunch with mum.
3. Cleaned down the sides of the sofa and found the sticky source - an old Ma*am sweetie
4. Shepherd's pie on the cooker, smelling very nice too
5. Washing blowing in the wind.
6. Second load in the machine.
7. Hoovering done.
8. Spuds peeled.
9. Budget done (more of this later).

I've also just noticed that I have a teeny weeny little green tomato on my tomato plant. This is a huge achievement as I'm the least green fingered person you'll ever meet.

Ok (deep breath) - here comes the money bit:-

I will put what I owe in my signature but this is what will be going out this month:

Wages - £1,270.00

Outgoings - transfer to joint account - 370.00
Life Insurance - 10.54
Mortgage - 460.71
Mobile phone - 38.00

Total outgoings 883.25

Minimum payments on cards 309.00

Grand Total 1,192.25

This leaves me with £77.75 for everything else. On a good month I can also make about £200.00 from my Eb*y shop which is what keeps my head above water. This is registered and all above board.

BF and his son have just walked in - muddy but in one piece thank goodness I'd better get the spuds on. I'll be back later to add a signature hopefully.

newpennypincher

Signature added but not sure if its showing.

Don't know if my plan to made the mince last for two days with lentils is going to work. They've come home so hungry, they may just eat the lot

PinkPoppies

Really sorry to hear about your Dad

Fingers crossed for lentil shepherds pie success!

nearlytherenow

There is some great advice on the old style section of the forum about stretching mince and making it go further. I've found it really useful in the past.