BachFlower's Debt Free Diary

BachFlower

Hello :hello:

I have just joined today, and have decided to start one of these diaries. To be debt free seems a tall mountain to climb, but I have to do something about it this year. The financial stress and anxiety has been high for myself and my family for a few years really, and this is motivation enough for getting cracking !! I'm ready to take action.

My first resolve is to not let things get any worse than they are right now. Spending will be reduced to essentials only for the rest of this month, with no more seasonal silliness!

My to do list to complete before my next post is to get my diary and handbag organised. The paperwork situation in general is chaotic in our house, and I know I have to tame it so I can tackle a budget, and comparison switches and all the myriad mse projects that lay ahead :T GO!

lincs1205

Hi Bachflower, Welcome we're a friendly bunch on here and there are many people more experienced than me who I'm sure will be along to say hello soon.

Happymac

Love that you have to get your handbag sorted!! Good luck x

mum2one

do u fancy doing my handbag - it got that full that I got the purse out and used another hand bag xx

BachFlower

Hello! Well that took a little longer than expected... I'd forgotten how long it takes to copy out addresses and passwords and all those other things that lurk in diaries. My handbag has never looked so streamlined, and I feel nicely compact when I pick it up now! If only the body to go with was the same!

I even found a postal order for £10.55 in there. Whoop!

Okay... a little more about our dire finances. Through part-renovating our endlessly hungry Victorian seaside flat and some pretty awful overspending we've accrued about £35K of debt. I'd been shuffling payments on cards and coping (just) with keeping up, until my husband had a health and stress crisis at work last year, and decided he could not stay in his teaching job with extra responsibilities that gave us around £40K a year. After 6+ months off on doctor's orders, his pay reduced by half and he was facing no job in September. We took the decision to go to Step Change and draw up a personal payment plan with them. Paying a little over £200 a month via them took the pressure off, but I still feel like things are slipping. Also, it will take 10 years plus to pay it off that way. Hubby found another job (lower paid) teaching in a different school, but he has a major operation in the next year, and there is nothing to fall back on.

I know I need to and want to both step up my own earnings AND lower our expenses. It would be soooooooooooo lovely to have this feeling of constant pressure gone!

I sell old things on ebay, mainly ephemera, and have done so for about 8 years now. I've chugged along with it, but there is potential to do much, much better, and with my son now at secondary school I do have the time necessary. My health and energy has improved since joining Slimming World last summer (I've lost over 2 stone so far), and I feel on the brink of diving in and proper going for it. I also have a sideline source of income that I bet will be controversial (it involves online gambling sites)... but I'll talk about this later!!

I'd been considering working with a business specialist life coach at the local alternative therapies centre, but it would be about £90 a month, and I think posting a diary here might be just as, if not more so, motivating :j

I believe there is a tonne of expertise here at mse forum, and I'm already getting a nice warm fuzzy feeling, it feels like the place to be and the place to get help, thank you for being welcoming already xx

My next to do list is to prepare at least 3 listed items for auction, make space on my desk / packing table, and give my keyboard a proper deep clean with a toothbrush when the computer is off!!! (an old toothbrush that is)

Nighty night xx :wave:

Onwards and downwards... with both debt and weight!!

p.s. wasn't Martin impressive on Christmas University Challenge? :T

BachFlower

Good afternoon

I've got two ephemera lots and an antique Chinese bowl scheduled, a shiny keyboard, and some space to breathe around my desk. Yay.

Uppermost in my mind is that I've been feeling nearly ill with guilt about the £200 or so pounds I wasted the day before I joined here in the January sales on clothes that were unessential. I couldn't get over it, but now I THINK I'VE HAD A BREAKTHROUGH LIGHTBULB MOMENT. I've made the decision to stop being a 'collector', and sell my stock in its entirety instead. This is a huge mind-shift for me, as although I knew that skimming off choice pieces and hoarding them was holding my business back, I couldn't let go. The difference now is thinking what is better... a decade of debt and being tight, with a cupboard full of beautiful but useless 'things', or an opportunity to clear the debt much faster? Obvious isn't it??!! :T

I can't wait to wade in... I so want my family to be proud of me, and by golly if I got us out of our hole they would be.

Am stepping up the ebay listing pace... the aim is 10 more items scheduled before my next post here. I have zumba tonight after a 2 week x-mas break... this is at the local leisure centre, which for the 3 of us is £29 to join for the year. Must fill in the form for this, as we then can book things online, and save each visit also, it well and truly pays for itself. I've been doing zumba since October, and love it, it is so much fun. Very good for stress reduction. I'm not great at it yet, but getting better, and the class environment is very welcoming... anything goes, you can just go for it!

Onwards and downwards :j

Shahni

Congratulations on your light bulb moment, I'll be following your progress. You've inspired me to sort out my handbag this evening. I have so many old receipts, paperwork and general junk in there.

BachFlower

Thanks for that Shahni, and I hope you are experiencing some handbag zen too now!

Good evening :j

Well I've done what I said, and have another 10 ebay listings done, but it really seems to take so much more time than I'd like. There must be something I can do to speed things up... although I don't want the quality to go down. Maybe I'll try doing a concentrated hour first thing in the morning when my mind is fresh and see if that makes a difference. I'm nevertheless very happy with what I've got so far. I'll report here the total takings each week... I usually start everything Wednesday nights, to finish the Saturday 10 days later.

We have very little until next payday... which is going to be the case for many peeps out there in January I'm sure! Stocked up on cat food and parrot food today. (We've got one black & white moggy cat 'Blizzard' who only eats premium Felix pouches & dreamies, and one African Grey parrot 'Horatio' who is also fussy and throws about half his seed out of his cage uneaten lol) There are some bits n' bobs in the cupboards & freezer, and of course I might have a good sale or even a win!

I'll keep going with the listings as I have been... and am starting on a filing box for the great paperwork overhaul. Urgently, I need all the info for changing energy providers, as ours has just said they are upping our direct debits from £160 pcm to £250 to clear underpayment !!! Ouch that seems so much. Will read-up on here what to do next. Have tried to start being more savvy with turning off radiators and lights etc... and am setting the central heating thermostat at 18 unless we actually feel cold and have the need for our normal 21 degrees.

Am right now going to light some tealights so it feels atmospheric even though very dark

Vegetarian sausages, mash & broccoli for supper coming up later, YUM.

Ciao for now :T Gogogo!

BachFlower

Good morning diary,

Golly why is it so difficult to balance progress in different areas of your life? I suppose it is to do with focus and priority, but I wish I could achieve across the board more evenly! So I've lost another 2 pounds with slimming world this week, YAY, but my work stalled yesterday. I still have until this evening to add some more items, but then will the housework go to pot and my hour walk out the window? Need better juggling skills!

Our pet seagull is pecking on the window for a tasty morsel or two... brb ... ah happy Stanley, he gets the flavours of cat food Blizzard sticks his nose up at!

We used the last £10 in the bank (well, in the overdraft limit) last night for a bottle of wine and some ingredients. There is a cheque waiting to clear, and I hope it will by Friday so I don't miss zumba!

Onwards & downwards, GO! :A

NO-SPENDING-FOR-A-YEAR

Hello,


Just popping in to say 'Hi'


Your diary sounds SOOOOOO familiar, trying to oust debt, SW (lost 3.5 stone but put back on 1.5 since Oct, EEK!! that's gotta go again!!), need to organize and Ebay, stress!!
I'm a little tight on time at the mo but I'll be back - keep the faith hun, and take comfort in knowing you're not the only one walking in these shoes, Lou xxx

BachFlower

Hiya Lou, and thanks so much for that, it does indeed help to know there are similar struggles out there

Wow 3.5 is amazing... don't worry you'll get that other bit back, if you've done it once you can do it again eh, and it is great having a system that works so well isn't it xx

Well, d'ya know what, I think I'll just proofread what I have done already for ebay, scheduled for tonight, and then go for my walk, as it is gloriously sunny out there right now. Then I'll come home, tidy round, and may even find I'm in a better frame of mind to do a few more listings xx

Have a great day & cheers! xx