The single track road - life on a different path

MeandO

It's been a difficult week guys and gals. Been feeling very stressed and upset and the result today is what I commonly refer to as 'stress belly'. :(
Enough said.
Just on autopilot, and getting through the days as intact as I can presently.

On the money front, things aren't great, but I think they would be a whole lot worse without YNAB - ie. I would probably be overdrawn.

There is still money in the account and all the bills have been paid, but there's not a lot left so I'm having to be super-strict.

I really want to take DS out at the weekend for a fun day somewhere, I feel like we both need a change of scene and a break, but there is just no money in the account to allow for it. Maybe I'll plan something for next month if I can afford it.

I took him out geo-caching at the weekend. It was an absolute disaster. He's developed an absolute crippling fear of dogs for some unknown reason and even just walking past one is a nightmare and leaves him petrified and so now won't go out along the lovely local walking track near us. He also managed to step in dog poop which resulted in me, him and everything being covered in it - had to throw out a really nice pair of his trousers and his trainers have been scrubbed and washed and boiled to within an inch of their life. There were lots of Mummy tears on Sunday.

Child benefit and the last tax credit payment are paid next week, so that will be a little more in the account, but that will have to top up the grocery and petrol funds and I also need to buy a couple more tins of paint to finish the hallway.

I also transferred one credit card balance to a 0% one. Annoyingly, the 0% ran out on another so I was charged over £50 interest. :mad: Now transferred though.

apple_muncher

Hang on in there, girl, you are still recovering from being very poorly. Sending you lots of hugs xx

laurasavon

hope your feeling better soon

Do you have any soft play nearby? We have one that charges £2.20 and you can stay as long as you want to (an independent rather than one of the chains) or what about a trip to the local park? Or garden centre (ours has fish and other pets my little one likes). It doesn't have to be expensive to still have fun

MeandO

Thanks for the hugs lovelies. :smileyhea

Laurasavon - The garden centre is a great idea, thanks so much for reminding me about that. We used to take DS to a local one when he was a toddler as he loved to see the fish etc.
We often go to softplay but DS always likes someone to play with and Mummy can't fit through half the little climby holes and rope ladders!
DS is happy just sitting in the house all day playing with his toys, but me, I get cabin fever quite quickly. Guess it boils down to not feeling at home in my house much too as I didn't feel anywhere near as bad in the last house.

I had the day off yesterday as there's another issue with my boiler. Thankfully it's covered by the central heating cover policy I have but I had to use my last spare day of annual leave to wait in for the engineer - who then couldn't find the fault.
The OH and I then went out for lunch and I also picked up some Christmas presents - money I shouldn't have spent, but I will find the funds for it in YNAB later.

Off to work I go...

x

MeandO

Finances:
• Just closed the Mr T credit card account now the balance has been transferred to a 0%-er. Want to clear up the amount of credit available to me as probably won't look good when shopping for a new mortgage deal in a couple of years time.

• Tax bill paid off in full with earnings from business account.

• YNAB not happy with me... childcare bill larger than expected this month as hourly cost has risen (would've been nice if they'd given us more notice, but hey-ho).
Have overspent by £45-odd, but will add that straight back to the budget when CB and TC gets paid in next week as don't really want to take it out of car maintenance pot.
£33+ left for groceries, will top that and the petrol pot up next week too.
It's going to have to be a frugal (free!) week other than the groceries I need to buy today!

MeandO

Ooh, and £18.11 refund coming back to me from my last energy supplier after switching. Was hoping they owed me more, but I'll take what I can get right now! :rotfl:

Will help balance the YNAB budget a little...

Sat at my desk eating some of the lentil dahl I made last week, with some fresh cucumber grown in my Dad's garden and a wrap. Yummy.

stepuptothepl8

You are doing great stuff, chin up . I'm so sorry that DS has got a phobia of dogs, that does limit going out for walks. Poor little mite.
Can second going to garden centres, or pets at home type shops for free mooching. My DD will spend hours looking at wallpaper, so that's what we're doing for free fun at the moment (still no decision of wallpaper for her room tho!)

I've had to raid my emergency fund this month, so can relate to tight months. Hugs x

MeandO

Ooooh I could happily look at wallpaper too Stepup! I could spend days in DIY stores.

Never thought about pets at home, maybe we'll give that one a go too. Although don't want him coming out wanting a furry thing as a pet... :eek:

Feeling a bit down today about the the general state of my life and the happy ever after disappearing from under me. I found an old video from when DS was a baby earlier which upset me. How different things were then. Feels like it was someone else's life, not mine.
I still carry a tremendous amount of guilt around with me that DS doesn't have the life he could have had, with a happy Mum and a Dad under the same roof and perhaps siblings too. I know I'm torturing myself but I can't seem to snap out of it. I'm thinking of quitting FB, not that I'm on there much these days, but seeing a few people of my age happily remarried and loving life today has just made me feel a lot worse about my life.

Am desperate to get rid of this debt too. Just finding it so much harder now I'm fighting it alone on one income. I saw another poster talking about dealing with the 'toxic areas of his life earlier. I need to address these I think. I don't have DS tomorrow night and Him will be with his daughter, so I will get my work done, put some music on and maybe sit and look over my SOA and outstanding debt and see if there's a better way of me doing things. I'm not feeling like I'm making much progress at the moment and that is really affecting my positivity.

I basically need to find my mojo for life again methinks.
xx

MeandO

Just looked at the snowball calculator and it's telling me it'll take me 50 months until I'm debt free if I carry on at the rate I'm going.
Realistically, it won't take me that long as the money from the business will be going straight towards the debts, so I'll aim to cut it in half, to 25 months, then take a month of to tidy it up to two years! :rotfl:

It's a start I guess... Will try and keep this updated as payments are made as it'll hopefully keep me motivated to see the months being knocked off.

apple_muncher

Sending you hugs, lovely lady! And am glad to hear that the business income can be so good that it can help to pay down the debt. Go girl x