Just keep swimming

itcouldbeworse

And so where to begin.....................................


I'm not really a newbie, I used to have a diary and posted regularly but then life took over, things went wrong and it all got out of control, not that I'm making excuses I know I need to get a grip and now that I feel my head is back in the place it should be I feel ready to take control and I know that part of that is by having a diary and getting things out of my head and written down.


The title of my diary comes from Finding Nemo, epic film and I just love Dory and I love the part when she says " When life gets you down, just keep swimming." (or words to that affect).


So who am I............. I'm married to a wonderful hard working man, who I love to bits, we have to fantastic kids, one of each flavour aged 11 and 13, we live in the countryside and have various pets.
I work in Education and DH works in agriculture, he is self employed which can be hard sometimes.


I'm mainly going to be concentrating on my debt and what I have to pay for, DH takes care of the household bills, mortgage, cars etc, I tend to take care of the domestic stuff, although if he has extra cash after a good month or knows I have big bills coming up (xmas, school uniform etc) he always makes sure he gives me some money. We sit every month and do household budgets and work out what we have to pay out etc and try to work as a team, we shop around for the best deals and use cashback sites when we can.


My monthly income/outgoings.


Income.
Wages min £1000 - max £1300
Child benefit £137.25.
TOTAL minimum £1137.25


Outgoings.
Min debt payment - £410
Fuel £100 (DH pays insurance, service mot etc)
kids allowance £40
Breakfast club for DS £35
Pets £50
Clothing/hair £50
Misc (school trips etc) £50
Groceries/toiletries/cleaning stuff £350


TOTAL £1075


I also do surveys and ebay, although I don't make a huge amount from this.


I will be back shortly with a list of debts etc, kids are wanting lunch.

itcouldbeworse

OK, i'm back.Everyone has been fed and DH has gone to work, both children have decided to cycle into village and meet up with friends at the park, so I will have a couple of hours free to catch up on housework and bake some cakes.


So back to the debt, I owe a lot, not going to make excuses it is what it is and needs dealing with.


Tesco CC £7200.
Halifax CC £5400
Barclaycard £5200
PO CC £1050
Next £450
Very £65
H&M £30


TOTAL - £19395


Scary when written down in front of me, some CC are on low life of balance and 1 is on 0% but that is only for another couple of months, so this needs dealing with. July wages will have a little extra than my minimum as I worked extra hours to cover exams, so my plan is to pay of H&M and hopefully also VERY and close these accounts, I also want to put £250 away for school uniform.


I will continue with surveys, I don't have much to ebay at the moment but will list anything I find that isn't wanted. Meals plans will be made and scrimping will continue.


Off to do the ironing and put school uniform into wash.

belleandthebudget

Dory is the best cheerleader. Best of luck!

itcouldbeworse

Thankyou for popping by belle.

itcouldbeworse

Afternoon,


Its been a hectic day at work today and tomorrow I have a meeting with my boss to find out what I will be doing in September, fingers crossed my hours stay the same but I will have different challenging children to work with.


I stupidly managed to lock myself out of online banking last night, rang them today and they are seding new login details.


Today has been a low spend day as I needed some sandwich bags, we are having a boring tea of pasta bake with garlic bread, all from stores so can't complain.


I have done a few surveys, but none re near payout sadly, I will keep on plodding with them though, listed 1 item on ebay.


Very dull day today.

mum2one

Agree re surveys they seem so few and far between, but every penny helps, I try to get vouchers I can use towards jan sales for Xmas/bday presents.

Do u use swag bucks - not much but plodding along averages £5 to £10 a week.

As for debts - have u used the snowball calculator - just need min payment/ %, balance and amount for debts - works out the best way round to pay them, type in snowball - should lead you to a link xx

itcouldbeworse

mum2one wrote: »

Agree re surveys they seem so few and far between, but every penny helps, I try to get vouchers I can use towards jan sales for Xmas/bday presents.

Do u use swag bucks - not much but plodding along averages £5 to £10 a week.

As for debts - have u used the snowball calculator - just need min payment/ %, balance and amount for debts - works out the best way round to pay them, type in snowball - should lead you to a link xx

Hi and thankyou for posting.


I used to do swagbucks, but didn't really get it, will have another look and try.


I have used the snowball calculator and have my debts listed, makes very depressing reading. Will need to double check but I think my debt free date was sometime in 2018:eek:, which is just too far away.

itcouldbeworse

Its 1 week until payday and everything feels stagnant, I'm desperate to pay off some money, but darn't even pay £1 due to not having online banking at the minute, I'm paranoid about going overdrawn and hate the fact I can't check my account, did check at the cashpoint on my way to work this morning but it's not the same.

DawnW

Do you have anything you could sell? On ebay, facebook local selling pages or gumtree? Or look at doing a car boot sale, rope the kids in - they will think it fun.

mum2one

the first time i tried with swagbucks, I gave up, but came back and worked slowly through it, I usually have the video running in background then check surveys, I dont bother with the free offers as there usually sign up/cost money.
xx

itcouldbeworse

DawnW wrote: »

Do you have anything you could sell? On ebay, facebook local selling pages or gumtree? Or look at doing a car boot sale, rope the kids in - they will think it fun.

Hi DawnW, thanks for posting, I have a few bits to ebay, a couple are large collect only items, so I will list those in the summer hols when I'm at home all day.