Everything Must Go!

princessmoo

Thank you for your positive thoughts people!
tradcob - thank you love, I'm trying to keep smiling and keep on trucking but sometimes it feels like I'm shovelling snow in an avalanche.
milocat - I'll keep an eye out for the co op ones. I usually make my own, but OH is never a fan and always craves "real" pizza in the days afterwards. Tough luck! On the subject of handbags, I'm really into 50s fashion and spend most of my days drooling over reproduction dresses and blouses, kidding myself I could ever afford a £150 dress or a £50 pair of shoes. It has, however, had the unintended benefit of stopping me from spending on the high street so that I can get myself into a position to buy an "investment piece" earlier. Quality over quantity.

Had the loveliest thrifty weekend day out. We went into Glasgow and went to a buffet for lunch (cheap because we went during the day and didn't eat breakfast or dinner - OH was a big fan of this technique :P ). Then we wandered round the christmas markets, I treated myself to a £2.50 cup of mulled wine and a few tumblestones and we bought ourselves a few cheap cans of cider that night. Comparing £50 for a rare day out to the £50 we would regularly spend in a weekend in on takeaway and booze I'd say that was a far more fulfilling use of our time. Will have to keep an eye out for more ideas for thrifty days/nights out - been hearing fun things about groupon.

Dandy and Lion (the two male guinea pigs) had a very peaceful day yesterday, but appear to be much more grumpy with each other today. Thankfully my ladies are very placid. We've been storing their carrots in a cardboard box and they've been keeping a lot longer than they normally would, so I think I might go ahead next time and buy a bigger bag.
I don't think we'll need to do a shop this week, but never say never. I really do need to get better at planning meals, but I'm reluctant to try until my moods stabilise a bit. My problem is, I buy all the stuff for a dinner that never gets cooked because I can't get out of bed that day. By the time I've got back to normal, the food's gone bad and we've spent a tonne on takeaway again.

I think we're going to plan for one takeaway/meal out a week on a Saturday. I think cutting down is a much better idea than cutting out because we don't seem to be able to stick to that.

I'm not pushing the budget thing now. Too much stress about this time of year, maybe I'll capitalise on the "new years resolution" mood in January and try and sort it then. For now, I'm just saving what I can. Like Tradcob said, small changes make big differences. We can do this.

Tradcob

Hi princess moo, not heard from you on a while, hope everything is well and you have had a good christmas?

princessmoo

Long time no moans people!
Well we're moving from our 425 a month P.O.S. flat to a much smaller, and more importantly cheaper, flat in about two months time. This is a short term thing until OH can get new job with a bit more money. This is going to free up a lot of money that will go towards paying off the debt.
Our debt has stayed about the same since I last posted, which for us is a hell of a victory. Takeaways have been a rarity, and though we had to give my sister a bit of money we're actually doing pretty well for money. Both of us have started to realise that just putting things on a credit card isn't sustainable.
I've cut down on my alcohol now which has saved us a hell of a lot of money and I'm eating a little less than I was (not necessarily better, but for a compulsive eater it's all about baby steps).
We managed to resist the temptation to buy a PS4 over Christmas - we're both big gamers and have been salivating over it since Fallout 4 came out. OH bought me an older Fallout game for Christmas (which he hasn't stopped playing since...) so although money is tight, we're both keeping occupied. Similarly, I've managed with our little Chromebook rather than buying a nice powerful PC. This might not seem like a big deal, but I've always had PCs or very powerful laptops and adjusting to only being able to use a browser was a bloody big deal.
I've been reading the Comping thread and I've got really into that - so far I've won a tonne of goodies from Zizzi and not much else, but it's keeping me busy and distracting me from my health. I don't think I've ever been this ill in my life. I'm absolutely useless and barely get up off the couch most days. I'm in constant pain in too many places to count and my "digestive system" is absolutely fudged. I'm sick of it all and have given in and got a doctors appointment. Hopefully there's a magic pill I can take to cure all of it and I can get back to working. Somehow, I doubt it...

princessmoo

So we're moving, which sounds expensive but it's £50 a month less in rent and it means I get a garden to grow veggies for the guinea pigs (and for me - trying to eat healthily again). I've kind of just accepted that we're going to go further into debt - even on OH's new higher income and our lower rent, next month we'd have to give up smoking and drinking completely to have £70 to eat for the month. It's depressing but it's life I suppose. At least my side hustles are bringing in a little.

Brettson

Hi! I've just caught up on your diary!
Super good luck with the move. The garden will be great to get out in especially once the sun is shining.
Can I give you my top pizza tip? I get the cheese & tomato flat breads, keep them in the freezer then when we have pizza, we take one out, put some toppings on and some grated cheese then in the oven for 10 mins. Flatbreads are often on offer for £1 each, toppings say £1ish? bargainorama and very low effort.
How did you get on with the dr? Did they give you some help? can you claim anything for not working?
My knowledge of this kind of stuff is very limited so I'm sure someone else will come along and give better advice.
I'll end with a big hug to you xx

princessmoo

Thanks Brettson! I tend to just make pitta pizzas which works out a bit cheaper for me, but I'll keep that in mind for a treat now and again.
So, OH finally had his LBM. (I feel proper MSE saying that.) He rang me up one day last month while he was at work and said "I've applied for a 0% credit card to transfer our debts on to."
So that means we have a 7.5k loan which gets paid off in about 5 years I think, and a Barclaycard with a 7.5k limit which I think we're close to. (Also an MBNA but that was just to take advantage of a balance transfer offer and we're cutting that up this week.) We're spending into the overdraft this month which sounds counterproductive but it's a good way of discouraging us from picking up more debt and keeping track of how much we're spending month-to-month. Although we're in more debt than we were (bloody moving always costs more than you plan for) we both feel more energised and motivated to really climb this mountain now. OH even bought own brand coke last night, unprompted. :eek: :eek: :eek:

princessmoo

Right.
For the third? fourth? month running now, OH's work have refused to give him the raise they agreed to. They've also not paid him for any overtime since the beginning of the year. They're treating him like absolute garbage, and on top of that the job they had me earmarked for is going to someone else (as far as I know, they haven't actually had the courtesy to tell me any of this to my face). I've made him join his union so he's got that little bit of extra support if the SHTF, but that's another monthly expense we can't afford. We're supporting two adults with long term illnesses/disabilities and four guinea pigs on 19k a year. We've already moved house once this year, I'm not doing it again.
My family history of coeliacs caught up with me, so I've had to eliminate gluten completely which adds about £50 to our monthly food budget without even blinking. OH is averaging about two seizures a week (after years of remission) which means I'm constantly on high alert when my head hits the pillow and I'm getting about an hour's sleep a night unless I take a pain killer and a few vodkas, in which case I feel like I'm endangering him and me (I can't take sleeping pills because I need to be able to wake up if he does have a seizure). My pain in my feet and legs has got so bad I'm struggling to get to the loo or stand up to do the dishes. The flat is a tip and we've both run out of clean clothes and clean dishes. On days when I can move I sleep to recover from the days when I can't, so nothing gets done. I know I need to get in touch with people about benefits, but I've had a lifetime of being told I'm not really ill, or that I'm faking it, and it stresses me out so much. My mental health has, understandably I think, taken a bit of a kicking in the past few months. It's been a long time since I've had self destructive thoughts, but I've had more in the last few weeks than I have in the past year put together. I'm eating like there's no tomorrow, if it's in the cupboard, I will eat it, be it blocks of cheese, tinned sweetcorn, endless toast and artery clogging amounts of chocolate. I've put on five stone in a year, I'm like documentary fat now.
OH's smoking will push us further into debt this month, but how can I tell him to stop with all the stuff that's going on? I'm trying to stop drinking, but it's just pushing me further into the painkillers. We're both on own brand vodka, we know we're only drinking to get drunk now. I feel like he's not going to start taking this seriously until we've got bailiffs at the door, but I will not get to that point. We're just going further and further into debt and I can't stop it. We can't cut back any further.
Boot sale week after next. I'm selling anything we don't use at least once a month. I'll start ebaying the nicer stuff this week. I've been trying to use up my jewellery making supplies so I can sell them on but my hands aren't what they used to be so it's slow work. When I can't move off the couch I surround myself with heat packs, make a massive cup of tea and get stuck into my surveys. It seems like my MSE habits are the only things that stop me feeling like a big fat failure.
Oh heck that was a mope. Ah well, on to taking pictures for my ebaying. That should keep us going for a few more months until stuff calms down. OH is already cutting down on the fags, if he keeps going like this he should be off them by then, then we've an extra couple of hundred a month to play with ie put on the credit card. :P
I'm sorry this one was so negative, it's just this stuff is beginning to bite.

princessmoo

One (great big plastic) box full of stuff for the boot sale gathered in just under half an hour, on top of the two ebay clothes boxes from the last few weeks. I'm hoping for about £100 from the lot but think that might be pushing it somewhat. Going to be working my way through my cosmetics stash as I've realised I've a ton of stuff I've never used. I'm pescetarian (I only eat a very small amount of *sustainable* fish) and really passionate about animal rights so I only buy cruelty free cosmetics and cleaning products. It's not really been a problem with money as there are plenty of frugal options, but over the last few months I've definitely seen my spending creep up to include more brands that I feel embody my animal rights stance *coughs* LUSH *coughs* Method *coughs* Original Source *coughs*. Need to remember that ASDA and Superdrug own brand are both cruelty free, and that I don't have a 50% staff discount anymore!
Half a tin of beans on toast and a big cup of tea for lunch - I always feel better after a good dose of carbs. As for the tea, well it's a Sports Direct mug kind of day.
Edit: Having read earlier posts in this thread, I've just realised we haven't had a takeaway in weeks. We're actually having one tonight with the leftover grocery money because OH found me a gluten free chippy! Gluten free might be more expensive, but it's definitely helping me cut down on convenience food.

gocurlygirl

Good luck Moo have just seen your posts,I think it is always more difficult to economize with special diets and unfortunately it is or seems more expensive to eat healthy foods,
Maybe with gluten free diet some of your health problems may ease,keep going you have friends here

gocurlygirl

:T :beer:Like the Sports direct mug idea-could do with one myself !:coffee: