Battling Debt and Mental Illness — and (hopefully) Winning!

AspiringButAnxious · 14 February 2016 at 11:58AM

Thanks ccl

Yesterday was... Expensive. I bought some sweatpants for £8 in Tesco, because my 2 current pairs are on their way out. Would have bought 2 pairs, but they onlt had one pair my size in the colours I liked. I also saw a gorgeous pink jumper with white stripes for £12 and couldn't resist. Feel a bit guilty, but I love it and it's been over 2 years since I last bought a jumper. I also spent £5 on junk food, which was stupid and counter productive.

I also felt really tired yesterday: I think it's all the upheaval of the week catching up with me. Annoying that my reaction was to pep myself up with junk food,but it was just one day and I'm back to making healthier choices today.

Just ordered £5 from SB, so that's good

scubaangel · 14 February 2016 at 4:32PM

It might have been an expense but occasional new clothes just as a treat are a good thing. Plus if you only spent £4 more than the two pairs of sweatpants would have cost you so its a quite small overspend.

The junk food was a one off and you know you'll get back to being healthier now, a little bit of occasional junk does no real harm in the long run.

Well done on the SB, I still tend to save for the bigger cash outs - use it towards paying for my bigger annual bills and I feel like small cash outs would just get frittered (or rather paid off my credit cards leaving me without the cash to pay things like my car insurance and tax in a lump sum).

AspiringButAnxious · 17 February 2016 at 12:18PM

Thanks scuba

Oddly, I find smaller payouts more motivating — I shuttle them off to one of my savings accounts before I can spend them. It means I don't have to wait too long for the next one!

The past few days have been pretty good, but not spectacular. The volunteering work is going really well — I have a small article and a big one, from an interesting angle, lined up. I finally got around to typing up the changes to chapters 3-5 of my novel, which is good. I also posted on my blog and made some healthy oat bars yesterday

Nothing much is happening on the money front, though today is SO day, so that's a bit more off the loan. I also ordered £30 Pp from GTM last night, so that will be a boost.

The plan for the next few days is to focus on rewriting the short story I'm working on and to get going on my volunteer writing. Hoping I can keep going and do more and more...

AspiringButAnxious · 19 February 2016 at 11:31AM

My £5 from SB arrived

It will be going towards paying off my credit card, which I put my £6 competition entry on, plus £2 for a wonderful mental health arts journal called Doll Hospital which lets you choose what to pay — great for people on benefits, like myself, who can't afford the £5 recommended donation. I hope to be able to pay £10 for future issues, once I'm earning a little more through self-employment.

My counselling session was cancelled today, because she's ill. I'm a little disappointed, but mostly relieved — I have a manic week next week, so having a couple of extra hours today has been great. I also want to plough through loads of tasks today, including:
• Giving my short story a final polish and entering it in a comp
• Writing a list of questions to ask the Business Champion I'm meeting on Monday, mostly on how to market myself as a freelance writer and how to promote my ebooks
• Drafting a press release for the nonprofit for which I'm volunteering
• Making rewriting notes on at least 1 chapter of my novel
• Freewriting around a short story idea I thought of last night
• Brainstorming ideas for a blog on the website for my ebooks

The main problem is there's a lot of thinking involved! I'm hoping my head will clear soon — I don't wake up properly for at least a few hours — so that I can get going...

AspiringButAnxious · 22 February 2016 at 11:42AM

Actually did everything I intended on Friday

but haven't done much over the weekend. Been really tired, partly thanks to stress — got loads of appointments this week, starting with seeing a Business Champion this evening for advice.

Paid £62 I owed my mum this morning, thanks to spending so much in Tesco and the dog needing worming and food. Painful! Also paid £18 credit card balance, which was mostly short story competition entry fees, and added £30 to Rainy Day Fund.

Emailed the writing course people about my grant application on Friday, which has made me less stressed about that because I have done all I can. Just got to keep my fingers crossed!

Loads to do this week, in addition to the appointments:
• Finalise press release (and send to publication who mentioned they would be willing to run it, once H approves it)
• Draft big article for voluntary work
• Draft smaller article for voluntary work
• Draft another article for voluntary work
• Draft essay for nonfiction writing comp (it's free entry and last time I entered, they published my piece even though I didn't place, so really want to meet the 6th March deadline)
• Finish draft of short story I started at the weekend (started means 2 paragraphs — I didn't lie about not doing much!)
• Post on blog
• Type up changes to chapters 6 and 7 of novel, on which I made rewriting notes on Friday

So, busy week! I'm hoping it will be a watershed and lead to huge changes in my life. I know that sounds melodramatic, but I'm sick of feeling stuck.

AspiringButAnxious · 22 February 2016 at 9:17PM

Awesome, incredible, amazing news: I got the grant! The full £500 I asked for! :j

:j
I'm soooooo happy — doing the course will benefit me both personally and professionally. I still have to pay £250, but have been able to budget for it without plundering my savings. Also got £30 due from SB soon, which can go towards paying off the £100 deposit I had to put on the CC to secure my place. I'm very grateful — I really needed a "win"

Also saw the Business Champion, which went well. She pointed me in the direction of loads of useful information and gave some great advice. I'm feeling more confident about being able to come off ESA and support myself from 1st June, when I have to stop doing permitted work if I stay on benefits.

All in all, a wonderful day!