STOPPING robbing Peter to pay Paul...my journey...

blubella

Quite a successful afternoon clearing some clutter and having a good old clean...didn't quite stretch to clearing all the junk from my bedroom but at least the lodger returned to a clean room and freshly laundered bedding.

Made some parsnip and carrot soup and some dirty beans for a few lunches over the next few days. Spent about an hour shredding confidential paperwork...shredder kept jamming but got most of it completed and then got brutal and chucked some stuff away! :j

Decided to have a weekend without bf...really looking forward to having some time on my own...yay! This may become a regular occurrence...shouldn't really say that should I!

enthusiasticsaver

Just read your diary and sounded like you were really getting to grips with reducing your debt.

A word of caution. Consolidating debt, which is what you have done by remortgaging is rarely a good idea in particular if the debt was on 0% which in your case it was. If you continually consolidate unsecured on to a secured basis you are effectively delaying dealing with the spending issues. Now in your case I understand you have incurred debt through dropping a day after the bullying issues at work but moving it to your mortgage is not paying it off but just delaying paying it again. Please think hard before doing it again as it risks your home should you lose your job or be unable to pay your mortgage for any reason. Please take this in the spirit it is offered. I used to counsel people in debt and the golden rule is DO NOT CONSOLIDATE UNSECURED DEBT in particular without addressing the cause of the overspends which in your case appears to be holidays without saving for them and your BF who does not appear to have much financial sense.

Otherwise well done on getting a payrise, taking in a lodger and stopping smoking. All good positive moves.

blubella

Thanks enthusiasticsaver for the word of caution. It was not a decision I took lightly and I thought thoroughly before taking it; but I was unable to remortgage without consolidating.

I am now in a position where I pay £10 more on my mortgage, my DEBT payments are manageable and I am overpaying my mortgage by £190 to get it down to pre-consolidation debt. It should take years off of my term!

If I lose my job then I would still be in the same position of potentially losing my home but overall I am happy with my decision.

enthusiasticsaver

OK it is great that this has helped you. The only reason I mentioned it is that often people in debt consolidate without changing their spending habits and a year or so later end up with the credit card debt again plus a loan or a bigger mortgage making the problem much bigger. If you are overpaying on the mortgage though now and the debt is coming down you seem on top of it. Hopefully no more robbing Peter to pay Paul. Good luck.

blubella

Morning folks..

Only one more day of work until the weekend..yay!

Have recently joined a thread to help motivate me to declutter all my junk...have been getting really frustrated at the little clusters of 'stuff' here and there.. things have slowly started to pile up and suddenly I have a mountain of 'stuff' accumulating in various spots..some hidden and others completely out there for the world to see!

Now i'm not OCD about everything being spotless and tidy but it would be so nice if everything had a place and I didn't spend half of my time rummaging around to find what I need..

I have lots of 'stuff' lurking under my bed, out of sight and all that ...old photo's, craft items, mobile phones, empty boxes and enough fabric to softly furnish 10 houses...ok that may be a slight exageration...but you get my drift!

Having read the kondo book some months ago (everyone has..haven't they..?) I commenced my decluttering journey with good intentions of having a completely (well, maybe not completely!) minimalist house. Tackling my underwear/ accessories drawer and then the wardrobe. Wow, what a difference it has made to finding things quickly and i'm pleased to say that it has stayed tidy... Sadly i didn't start the wardrobe shelves...two words 'complete chaos'?!

So this weekend my task is to list some items on the bay to try and make some monies to pay towards the DEBT cards! I have a pile of unwanted neglected clothes sitting on my sidebard...anything not listed will go to the charity shop... in 2 days I have already decluttered 61 items by binning, charitying or recycling... I am now the proud owner of a completely clear drawer in my dressing table !! (There weren't 61 items in the drawer...honest!!)

Have only just scratched the surface..really looking forward to having a weekend to myself and getting stuck in!

blubella

Dad has been over and has been helping me to build a shelf under the kitchen sink and drill various things to wall to help with the organisation :T

Doing pretty well..cupboard under sink has been pulled out and various bits chucked, cleaned, re-organised and placed into plastic boxes...looks fab, dead tidy!

Just started on the cupboard under the stairs...I can walk into it now :j x

blubella

Had a good weekend of cooking and clearing, always hate returning to work on a Monday morning ...booo

Started my grocery challenge on the 26th with a budget of £150 for the month..so far so god, have spent around £35.00 in 9 days and that's including the wine...yay :j

BF turned up with a tonne of apples so started the weekend well with apple, carrot and ginger juice. Had a large homegrown squash sitting around so made all sorts of yummy fare - gratin, raviolli, tagine..and still have a 1/4 left!

BF Dad dug up some truffles which we had with the squash and ricotta raviolli with a truffle butter sauce..delish.. and I even attempted a tarte tatin and used up some puff pastry from freezer.

Just started a food inventry to try and help with meal planning..BF thought this was funny! Does anyone else use them?

Well, i'm going to try and get a little more sleep before work! x

blubella

Brrrrrr...the nights and mornings are a tad on the nippy side now and I must admit that I have resorted to turning the heating on for a few blasts of warmth..think i may dig out an extra duvet for those chilly nights. Menopausal symptoms definitely do not help!

I am very proud to announce that have decluttered 251 items in the few weeks that I have been on my decluttering mission:j...I still a way to go but it's a start huh?! My lodger has also gone home for a week to declutter her own house.. there must be something in the air.

Had a SFD today and have really reduced my grocery spends this month, around £80 at the mo...was up this morning making soup from roasted peppers and a can of tomatoes...was a lovely lunch and and have enough for tomorrow too. Have started to use up the freezer contents before buying more food. Tis working quite well x

blubella

Went over the budget on my grocery challenge last month by almost 40 quid :mad:...determined to do better this month.

After much thought and deliberation I decided to end my relatinship with BF yesterday...I couldn't see any signs of him resolving the situation with ex and taking steps to move on; I was getting so frustrated by it all...it's nearly 3 years! I guess it has been on the cards for sometime if I am honest.

I was so worried that his poor budgeting and lack of income (due to giving most of it to ex) would impact upon my debt..and tbh it has. Overspending at weekends due to catering for the two of us has inscreased my outgoings significantly and I was getting worried about starting on that slippery slope...still digging myself out of the hole.

Anyway, today I am going to start afresh..it's a new month as far as my budget is concerned. I have paid £1760 off of my debt, closed the account and burnt the card! Life is too short as my Dad keeps reminding me.. and I can't deal with someone who is being taken advantage of and is unable to say NO!

blubella

Mrning all..

Was a slave to the kitchen yesterday..well, that is not completely true... but I couldn't sleep so got up early and started cooking rather than lounging around.

Used up the remaing half of a pumpkin that was sitting in the fridge, think i just caught it just before it needed to be thrown. Chucked all the squishy bits away. Have frozen lots of mini portions for the next few weeks, no excuses to buy nasty sarnies for lunchtime.

Made batches of:
Pumpkin and root veg tagine.
Pumpkin and coconut thai soup.
Spanish smokey beans, tomato and chorizo.

Cracked an egg into the smokey beans and had a few slices of bread for lunch, was absolutley delish!

Well, at least I have a few go to's..no excuses to purchase lunchtime snacks this week!.

Think I will get up now and make up some houmous for a healthy snack and cook up some rice to freeze, perfect to go with my tagine or into the soup.

Happy Monday x