£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

Jjrobo04

I know the feeling your going through im in a similar sort of debt except i am roughly in around £150000 worth of debt around £50000 of that is because of gambling and im being hassled threatened for the money iv ruined my life, i dont even care if i live or die, i have a 5 year old daughter who i love so much i know iv let her down iv been having counceling for 2 years and not gambled since but the people i owe money to are making me do things illegal things to try work off the debt my family bailed ne out of what they could but im still in a mess i just want to start fresh i work hard im good to my daughter i just dont know what to do im scared i need help i just dont no where to turn anymore im struggling more and more everyday

savetosave

You need to speak to the police. If you think you’re in trouble now, how much worse will it be if you are arrested. You won’teven Be around to see your child let alone fix the mess you’ve got yourself into.
This is in your hands

Sea_Shell

Hmm, call me sceptical, 1st post...

ellen_vannin

Jjrobo04 wrote: »

I know the feeling your going through im in a similar sort of debt except i am roughly in around £150000 worth of debt around £50000 of that is because of gambling and im being hassled threatened for the money iv ruined my life, i dont even care if i live or die, i have a 5 year old daughter who i love so much i know iv let her down iv been having counceling for 2 years and not gambled since but the people i owe money to are making me do things illegal things to try work off the debt my family bailed ne out of what they could but im still in a mess i just want to start fresh i work hard im good to my daughter i just dont know what to do im scared i need help i just dont no where to turn anymore im struggling more and more everyday

Your first step should be contacting one of the debt charities , more details on the debt free board.
Contact the samaritans straight away if you just need immediate help.

Jjrobo04

Not sure why because its my 1st post it makes it sceptical Bt thanks, i wish you coupd all understand how i feel, i never wanted this i was a good person i dont treat people bad iv always worked never earned much but worked, i was hugely addicted to gamling, thanks for feedback but i dont think debt charities or the Samaritans can help i called the Samaritans the other week when i was st breaking point and she barely said a word iv thought so much about suicide but iv not even got the bottle to do that sorry putting that post just didnt no where to speak

Treadingonplaymobil

Jjrobo04 please please please do post on the main debt free forum, you'll get so much support and advice, tailored to your circumstances. Believe me, there is nothing they haven't seen on there, and they will be able to help.

Treadingonplaymobil

Wins for today:
- Talked DH out of a new ipad (we had an opportunity to buy one cheaply, but it still would have meant stealing £100 from one pot or another to top up the savings pot I have in my business account for a replacement).
- Realised we need so little food that I don't get cheaper food shopping delivery this week (my current discount code works over a minimum spend), and rather than filling the shop up with things we don't need so I can get delivery on Fri I will pop to the supermarket for a top up and get a proper sized shop delivered next week some time instead.

Sea_Shell

Great news on the cars MOT. Although I don't want to P on your chips....it's still no guarantee that it won't fall apart next week!! Cars are fickle and costly things, especially as they get older.

I just don't want you to fall into the trap of "that's that done for another year" coz it's passed. Keep that pot topped up "just in case".

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 82: Day 4

Overslept this morning (until 5:40am :eek: :rotfl: ), which I always take as my body telling me that it just needs sleep, thank you very much, so I'm not too irritated, although it means getting a bit less done this morning.

MSE moment
I made tealights. We only use vegetable wax, so buying them is never super cheap, but I saved all the empty aluminium cups last time we went camping, ordered new tealight wicks on ebay (100 for £6) and poured them last night. It was mega quick, and pretty cheap (not much wax in a tealight!) - 6p for the wick, and by my calculations about 10p worth of wax. Much cheaper than the 42p per candle I was paying to buy them, even with the energy cost of melting the wax (which also won't be much, as vegetable wax only needs to get to about 50 degrees to thoroughly melt). It also pleases my eco side, as the aluminium containers get reused. I'm not pretending it was no work, but it was pretty quick. Things like this are a good way of sticking to my ethics without spending a total fortune.

New term!
DC3 started school yesterday, and was super cool about it. About five minutes spent being a bit shy when we first arrived, then absolutely fine and I sat in the next room for a bit (visible through glass) then went after half an hour or so and she couldn't have cared less. She's only going half days for aaaaages - another 2.5 weeks - because that's the school's standard settling in procedure, but at least we've made a start on getting back to normality.

Car
Still feeling relieved about the car. As you say Sea Shell, it's perfectly possible it will cost a fortune soon (at the very least the front tyres will surely need replacing in the next couple of months), and we'll keep saving at our £95pm rate. It will be October before the budget pot is back in the black, so hopefully no money will need to be spent until November, but even if it keeps running the £95 will go towards car savings for repair or replacement, as will any mileage money I get for work.

Credit cards
The balance transfer has finally gone through for the Santander card after DH phoned to make it so. There is still some balance on the Barclaycard, so once DH has been away for work next week his next job will be to transfer some of it to the Virgin card, so the Barclaycard is reduced as far as possible and accrues as little interest as possible while we pay it off.

Architect
I have contacted a couple of alternatives. OMG the joy of emailing and actually getting a response. Makes me realise how much our architect had trained us into not expecting a response within a week (as a minimum) to any email. Have gone for architectural technologists/technicians and surveyor firms as well as architects, as there seems to be a range of people who can do what we need, so will see how the quotes come back. Such a relief to be moving on from the old architect, there was so much ill feeling there towards the end.

To do this week
1. Try on uniforms and triple check the DCs have everything they need for the new school year (I am 99% sure they do, but panicking nonetheless as I haven't actually yet opened the bag of new uniform).
2. Check birthdays for September and write cards.
3. Make veg soup.
4. Make rolls.
5. Confirm balance transfer has actually gone through after DH phoned on the weekend.
6. Find a couple of alternatives to current architect to obtain quotes from.
7. Read planning officer email regarding drainage and establish how much of a rush we are in to sort a drainage query raised on there.
8. Properly clean and tidy a few rooms that are looking particularly grim:
(a) sitting room.
(b) dining room.
(c) kitchen.
(d) our bedroom.
(e) utility room.
9. Go through cupboards and menu plan appropriately - SO MUCH food in the house right now, although not much fruit and veg. Plan in food shopping deliveries/top up shops in town.
10. Make tealights (I saved all the empty tealight cups from the last batch we had, and bought some little tealight wicks, in an effort to reduce, reuse and recycle!).
11. Get rid of charity shop stuff lurking in the utility room.
12. Shop local for DC1's birthday presents, leaving time to order online for anything I can't find.
13. Pack orders for smaller business.
14. Contract work for next week.
15. Update work mileage tracker with journeys last week.
16. Restart social media for work, even if it's just one or two posts this week to get back in the swing. Have done a post! Now to keep it up.
17. Clear work email enquiries - lots of enquiries coming to nothing at the moment, but hopefully some clients will confirm work soon.

September money goals:
- £9.37/30 September rounding down pot.
- £3,684.18/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £2/864 income needed for October. (it's a start, right? :rotfl: )

Suffolk_lass

You are so good at tracking. I would have compressed that to-do list to 7 new things but you keep going. Well done.

I confess I pick up a bag of 100 tea lights in Ikea when we go (rarely). The aluminium cups are recycled here