Finally I have woken up

sillyinthepast

I have been reading the diaries and wow they are very inspirational. I finally had my light bulb moment this week.

A bit of back story - 3 years a go I was on here on the mortgage free wannabe thread. Dh had a good job everything was fine. What I didn't do stupidly was plan for anything that could go wrong. Dh is on long term sick and it's all come crashing down. We were coping with the lifestyle we had - 2 cars on finance a bit on store cards/credit cards, paying the mortgage. Now we aren't. I have spoken to step change who have advised a dmp but I want to try and not go down that route. We can do it - just but it means a complete lifestyle change.

The mortgage company have been fantastic and we have cut down our mortgage for a short while. It means we are now £4000 in arrears. Our total debt is about £22000 not including the £140000 mortgage.

After the bills (full mortgage payment included) fuel and food have been paid we are left with £300. We have 3 children and 2 dogs. We have no savings left at all.

I have a meeting with a financial advisor today (free) to discuss things. I am a carer for my disabled son but I think I may have to go back to work full time which I have no problem with but I worry about my son and husband and if they will be able to cope.

This diary will be for me to write in each day with the ways I am saving money and slowly paying debts off.

sillyinthepast

So I went to tesco this evening as lidl was closed and I managed to get there at the right time. I managed to a weeks food shopping for the 5 of us on £27. I will need to buy milk but I have everything for lunch on Sunday too.

I spoke to the financial advisor and we went through everything. I am not going to go on a dmp. It's going to be hard but I'm going to put 100% in and try everything I can before we go down that route.

marcsshell

Good luck hunni.

sillyinthepast

Thank you marcsshell xx

Not a lot of progress today. I signed up for the kids free pass on martins email. I don't know if I will use anything as it seems I have to travel to get to most places. I did sign up for a free local Easter egg hunt on Friday and a free local family day during the holidays so that will get the boys out and won't cost anything.

I have sorted out craft items and have a bit to go on eBay. I'm hoping to make £100 I will put them on tomorrow if there isn't a free weekend coming up.

My mum offered us some money today a couple of hundred but I politely declined. At the moment we can cope and as we have no emergency fund I would rather her keep it and if need be (fingers crossed we don't) and something goes wrong I know I could ask her then.

We have a prearranged family day out on Monday which is costing £80. I am waiting to see what the family wants to do as the weather is ment to be horrendous. If it's cancelled I am going to pay it on one of the bills. The family only meets up once or twice a year otherwise we would not be going on expensive days out.

I have just been informed that there is no cake for the lunch boxes so I'm going to whip up a tray bake and maybe a few cookies.

marcsshell

It is so difficult getting out of debt but you will get there. I've been there myself and we went down the IVA route after going citizens advice and weighing up the three options open to us.
I think I could have told my dad and he would have helped us out but I don't think we would have learnt anything. It was a really long hard 6years and it's something that I wouldn't want to go down again so at the minute we are putting a plan in place so we can build up savings.

What's the kids pass? Don't think I have signed up to martins email lol. Could do with looking into things to do with my 2 girls whilst myself and hubby are off.

Ohhhhhhh send some cookies and cake my way Xx

sillyinthepast

Marcsshell the kids pass is a free one month app that gives you discounts on lots of places. Sign up for the email there is loads in it.

I totally agree with not taking money off parents/family. I know we could call mil and she would pay everything off but we don't want her too. We got in to this mess so it's up to us to get out of it.

I have had a busy morning. I've cleaned thoroughly downstairs and just have to hoover upstairs and wipe the bathroom over. I have decluttered a few cupboards and have out a few bits on a local Facebook for sale site. I have a chilli cooked and ready for dinner so I will just make rice and cornbread to go with it later. I am having a baking afternoon now. I have a cake cooking to make cake pops - I have never tried them before and some Easter biscuits ready to decorate. I usually buy Easter treats like mini egg cakes but in the essence of saving money I am doing them homemade.

The weather has changed here so I'm having to hang my washing up in the bathroom rather than the line. today is a NSD

Huskyrunner

good luck sillyinthepast

try online surveys maybe? I use them and they do help when cash is tight couple of hours a day can bring in an 50-150 per month

sillyinthepast

Thanks huskyrunner I will have a look at some survey sites any you recommend?

Today has been nice and chilled I spent quality time with the children and also managed some time to relax. I had another lightbulb moment today. The dream is to live on a small holding somewhere and have a simple, self reliant, natural living life. We will never be able to afford the dream and if we do get to the point where we can we will be to old. I have bought over the years lots of stuff to help live the dream - wool for blankets, fabric for clothes, stuff to make soap and candles and so on. Well do you know something? I'm going to start living the life I have always wanted. It doesn't matter if I live in a village and not on a farm I can still grow food and make everything that I want to. I'm going to do it!!

I have some payments to make tomorrow and I forgot to get cream for a meringue on Sunday that and a pint of milk is all I will be spending this weekend. We cancelled Monday as the weather is meant to be horrendous so we will be doing it in may.

We went to the Easter egg hunt and the boys got loads. They got about 50 creme egg sized eggs each! each child there got about the same but there was only 15 children that turned up. I put £5 in the charity bucket. Everyone had a great time.

The weather is meant to turn overnight so I am going to spend a bit of time at the sewing machine tomorrow. Have a good weekend.

Huskyrunner

Haha loads being honest

OpinionOutpost.co.uk (i earn around 10-15quid pm month of this)

global test market (30 quid every 2-3 months)

yougov.com very slow this one pays out 50 quid every 12 months

uktoluna (depends what you put really)

one poll.com

and isay.com

Its all a matter of what you put in some months will be nothing but other months can be massive earners

end of feb i had 50 quid off yougov

this month i have had 35 off toluna, 22.50 off opinion outpost and i am waiting on 40 and 25 from one poll and opinium research

sillyinthepast

Thanks husky runner I will check them out tonight.

Today was a good day spend wise I went to mr t do get the few things I needed and that was it. I did get some soda crystals for £1 so I can make some washing gloop this week. I haven't tried it before but I have plenty of soap so for the sake of £1 I'm goi g to have a go and if it doesn't work I haven't lost much.

Everything is ready for tomorrow and I'm looking forward to a relaxing day. The lamb is out defrosting and I can't wait. Lamb is my favourite roast but it's go so expensive we only have a roast with it every few months. I will make a pie with the leftovers.

I cut some of my husband and dads shirts up today as well as some old pyjamas of my boys. It's my sons 14th birthday next week and I'm going to make him a quilt. It will be very New England style with blue and red stripes and checks. I've got him a few other bits and I need to get him some aftershave. I got him a designer brand from b&m at Christmas so I will pop in this week to see if they have anymore. His main gift is an Xbox game which I managed to get in the sale after Christmas.

We have sausage casserole for dinner which is in the over and I need to make some overnight cinnamon rolls for breakfast tomorrow. The boys won't get out of bed until about 10ish so I'm going to get up early get the veg done and take the dogs out. When I get back I will have a shower and put clean pyjamas out and spend the day watching films, playing games and lots of crochet.

It's not all rosy here at all. Dhs wages haven't gone in. He has his pay statement and he should be payed on the 28th so I expected it on Thursday. If it's not gone in on Tuesday then I will panic. Our bills don't come out until the 3rd so hopefully if it hasn't gone in we will have a few days to sort it out. I'm trying to be optimistic but it's hard.

Huskyrunner

do you not think the term

dhs wages is abit well wrong