Don't Panic!

October_Starter

Where to start..

Hi.. :wave:

This is a breakdown of my financial situation and then I will go into the long old story about how I got into it!

Outgoings - £993.27
Mortgage: 317.64 (variable rate)
Rent: 430.00 (inc bills)
Car Insurance: 17.00
House Insurance: 20.88
Phone: 38.99 (can vary)
Loan Repayment: 160.42
Subscription: 8.34 (25.00 every three months)
Income - £1365-£1865
Wages: 1100.00 (With overtime +300.00-500.00)
Mum: 50 (sometimes 75.00 to help me out)
OH: £215 (towards rent)
Here's my story.

Up until just before I was 31, I lived at home with my mum (now 76). Being the youngest and only girl, mum has always been my responsibility which isn't too much of a hardship considering her age. She has wanted to live near my aunt since I was 15 but it's 300miles away from here and I didnt want to leave my school/job/friends etc. Before my 30th birthday I broke up from a long term relationship, changed jobs and had a health scare. It made me realise my life was passing me by and I had nothing to show for it. I decided I would like to own my own property and as I was going through a low patch with no friends to speak of, I decided to give my mum what she wanted and get a house near my aunt. The house prices were reasonable and I had visited a mortgage advisor who got me a mortgage of £65000. I had planned to save for a year to get the deposit but my mum and my aunt became really pushy and before I knew it, I had bought a house. It cost me all my savings, all my mum's savings and £1000.00 loan from my aunt. This left nothing for me or my mum to fall back on.

I tried for a year to get a job near my house to no avail and it was getting expensive having a house sitting empty. I started having more of a social life and started seeing someone. My mum in her old age was getting very controlling and it was becoming more and more difficult. It was decided that she move into the house and I rent a room in a shared flat. That way my house was well looked after, she could be near my aunt and I could get my independance. (She doesnt like this arrangement at all!)

My mum only lives on her state pension and pension credits so she doesnt pay any rent. She tries to help me out though by giving me a small sum of money every month.

Once on my own I guess the sudden freedom for the first time in my life got the better of me. I was spending money like I had an infinate amount and the guy I was seeing happily spent it for me and I happily let him. The BC was going higher and higher and I couldnt get the amount down. BC didnt help either. My limit when I moved into my flat was £2800. When I got near it, they made it £5200 and then when I got near that they increased it to £9200!! Not really encouraging me to sort my financial situation out. It was a first cc so the interest was a massive 27.9%apr:eek:

In January the guy dumped me, leaving me devestated. In an effort to show everyone I was coping and over it, I went out constantly and started drinking. When I wasnt out, I was working. I was spiralling down and down.

Then I got together with my OH. He was so supportive and it turned out we had very similar financial situations. Both had BCs mine about 200 more than his and we both had accounts with B'clays. He was on a reduced interest plan with BC which ended in September so we went to the bank for him to try and get it extended. While he was on the phone to them I spoke to a personal banker. She gave me a lot of information about loans. I decided to get a £5000 loan at 9.9%apr to be paid off in three years. I cannot tell you what a relief it was to clear my cc and be able to budget for the first time. £160.42 a month and all my extra overtime could go into savings to pay the loan off early. It was such a good situation that my OH did the same but for a longer period (5years, £105 p/m).

My OH moved in with me at the beginnning of this month and transferred to be able to work closer to home. His hours increased and we were saving to get a place of our own.

Everything seemed to be falling into place and we thought we were doing well budgeting and saving and looking towards the future. I was trying to get a new job, ideally for more money and less hours (I work 46-60hrs p/w) but the last three months I have applied for over 20 jobs with no luck. It was fine though as at least I had a job!

Last week my company told me that my level of management was being removed and we were going into consultation. It sounds like they have made up their minds as notice periods will be just before Christmas.. (:mad: thanks!). I have a slim chance of promotion into the new management level but it's a joke of a job requiring a lot of travel, amounting to lots more hours but no overtime. I am now desperately trying to save money and find a new job.

So I thought I would get some support from you lovely people and write a diary for this difficult part of my life. My new moto is to keep positive and every cloud has a silver lining (Thanks to Fudgie's diary).

My grandfather used to say "When there doesnt seem to be any hope left, something always turns up". I am hoping and praying he is right.

Soooo that's my lot. I will try and keep you all updated and I hope I haven't bored you with my loooooonnnngggg first post. :rotfl:

October :j

October_Starter

Good Morning Diary and Diary Readers! :wave:

So yesterday I had a rare day off from work and I sorted out somethings and put my first item to sell on E B of A! :beer: I am so proud of myself cos I have to admit I was nervous. I found out that I get 20 free listings a month though so I have a few other bits and pieces I am going to try and sell. You never know!

I am going to try and save everything I get from E B of A as it can go towards paying my loan off early. OH and I did a big shop yesterday but it didnt cost me anything as he paid! Yay for teamwork. He has offered to pay the rent should the worst happen and I lose my job. Bless him.

I haven't looked for any more jobs recently so need to get onto that this week and stop burying my head in the sand. I am also ashamed to say that my weightloss is non existant. Really need to start working on that, especially as I have lots of healthy foods in now. I also found a cookbook amongst my vast mass of belongings so want to try out some of the recipes. I find that my OH and I always end up having the same meals week in, week out.

The other shameful confession I have is... I have 7 euromillions lotto tickets next to me that I still havent checked! My mum and my OH laugh at me because I dont like checking them. While they are sat in my purse there is the slight chance that I am a millionairess :rotfl:. The moment I check them, that hope disappears. I know it's silly and I dont normally leave it this long to check them but with things being a little stressful of late I have been buying them and then forgetting about them. So who knows, maybe my next diary entry will be that I have won the old lotto! (I wish!:rotfl:)

I think that is all I have to tell you at the moment. I am keeping positive and I am looking forward to see if I make any money

October xx

October_Starter

Ok.. So I know this isn't millions but I won £3.30 on one of my lotto tickets! I am so chuffed and it's going straight into my holiday change fund!

October xx

October_Starter

Good Morning Diary and Diary Readers :wave:

So yesterday was good. I won £3.30 on the lottery and then met my friend for a drink. We went to a cheap pub and as we both didnt drink alcohol the drinks only cost £2.50! We also made them last so we didnt spend anymore than that.

I am working on an NSD day today. I made my lunch and the OH's lunch too. I have a voucher for a free coffee so going to get that in a bit.

On the E B of A front, I have three people watching my first item so fingers crossed that will sell. It would be nice.

My loan repayment goes out today, I need to get more accurate figures on my signature so I know where I am better. That's all for now. Might add more later. :T

October xx

October_Starter

Hi Diary and Diary Readers! :wave:

Well my NSD yesterday didn't happen . However, I invested in a little notepad and I am keeping a diary of everything I spend money on. I am hoping it will show me exactly where my money goes so that I can fix things.

I am struggling this week as I am not getting enough sleep. I am working 11.5hr days and finding it hard to keep my concentration levels up. I am managing to keep positive though, just a little concerned that it will fade due to tiredness. Going to try and get an early night tonight as the OH is out and not there to distract me.

I am working long hours this week because I have a three day weekend. The OH and I are really geeky and love anything to do with comics, games, sifi etc. I bought tickets ages ago for MCM Comic Con at the London Excel. It's this weekend. The OH paid for our hotel so it just leaves the petrol and food to worry about. I am a little concerned. My OH is really into a game called Magic the Gathering. It is a card game but some of the cards (onecard!) can cost up to £50.00. He isn't stupid with buying them but they are going to have a massive section of Comic Con and he's already said he is going to use his CC to get some. I expressed my concerns but he thinks he will pay off the balance over three months. As I said before, he has his own £5000.00 loan and after he paid off his c/c he had about £600.00 which was going to be used to get his computer back up and running and then the rest saved to pay off the loan earlier. He has spent all the extra and now wants to use his CC. I said to him that the loan was pointless if he is going to run up his CC again. He is just going to put himself in an even worse position. He assures me he isn't but it still worries me.

I know I don’t have much money left this month considering we have this big event. I have already told myself I am not going to spend money on things I really don't need. I want to get a souvenir but I am going to go into a draw for a DVD to be signed by Daniel Radcliffe and hope I get that. I am definitely not going to go crazy and I want to try and make sandwiches and meals so we aren’t spending a fortune on food. I am really excited about it though and I am looking forward to seeing all the different stalls, displays, talks and people dressed up. Its going to be super busy though so I am prepared for crowds and lots of walking. I may even drop a few pounds (weight not money!:rotfl:).

That’s all I have today, so far anyway! Hope it is a good one.

October xx

monz

Aww have fun at the Comic Con x

October_Starter

Thanks Monz

October xx

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary
Keep posting!

theemptypurse

your working 11.5hr days - Make sure you make the time to take care of you ..p.s I did laugh at you buying notepad to record spends keep up the good work

October_Starter

Hi Diary and Diary Readers :wave:

Thank you for your comments and welcome to my diary of ramblings!

Everyone on this forum inspires me so much. You have achieved such massive amounts in only a few years that it makes me think once my loan is repaid I am going towork on paying off my mortgage early. I am going to try and follow your inspiration and work on the bigger sums like my mortgage. Getting ahead of myself at the moment though!

I was feeling very positive this morning but work has really got to me. I took a temporary step up back in May and was promoted by a manager that was two line managers above me. My direct line managers obviously did not like this decision and I was pretty much bullied. I was made to work on things that I obviously couldn’t do or was made to be on call on my only days off. I lost two members of staff all at once with very little notice and I worked really hard to cover their hours myself. I was working at one point 23 days with only one day off – this day I had to be on call so wasn’t able to do anything where I couldn’t answer my phone. The hours totalled 184hours paid time plus another 20 hours unpaid. I worked so hard I burnt myself out. It came to my day off and I was shouted at by my line manager because I refused to work it. She demoted me on the spot. Int he end I got signed off for two weeks. In those two weeks my line manager went through my work, ransacked my work space and got congratulated on a job well done. On my back to work interview I had two hours of criticism and promises of help which I never received. The bullying was swept under the carpet and I was deemed as incompetent. I had put it behind me and it was another push towards getting a new job. However, this morning a newsletter came out praising the other person who got the temporary position and it just made me feel like crap. I worked so hard, I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard in my life and instead of recognition I got bullied and demoted. Then three months later they say we are going to be made redundant as though we are a problem for the business. It is heart-breaking that these people can get away with it. I know I would probably have a case but I don’t have the energy, strength or finances to go into a lengthy battle against a very big company. Especially as now it would just look like backlash from the redundancy announcements.

I try not to let things get to me especially regarding work. I am working so many hours and I am so tired all the time it makes keeping positive so hard. I love to bake and have been exploring new recipes but I get home at 8pm having been at work since 8:30 and just have no energy. I spend most of my days off catching up on laundry and doing the weekly shop. Leaves so little time to do the things I enjoy or spend quality time with the OH. On a positive note though, all the extra hours are money in the bank so I really shouldn’t complain about them!

Sorry, lots of ranting and not enough positive energy in this entry. Let’s see.. Well my goals in the short term are to pay off my £5000.00 loan. Two months payments have gone through now and the balance stands at £4758.51. I have £500.00/£1000.00 for my emergency fund and I have £120.11 which is also in my savings but I may need for the weekend as I only have £92.34 to last me until next Tuesday. Seems a lot for only six days but I have to pay £45.00 for parking at the Excel, petrol to go to and from London, food while I am in London and then whatever souvenirs I want from the weekend. Gosh.. writing it down like that makes me even more anxious about it.

Ah well.. budgeting and not using the old Credit card is the aim, so even if I have to dip into the £120.11 at least it won’t increase my debts.

This is a ridiculously long post and I apologise. Have a great day everyone! :j

October xx

monz

You can do it!! Dont let them get to you thats what they want xx