LHG - the next step

lionheartedgirl

I added everything up from the holiday and a spot of emotional spending just before I went and things are going to very snug for a while. But after several false starts, I am so determined to get this all sorted once and for all.

It's much easier now I'm back on PAYE and monthly pay.

I had a very MSE dinner last night (and lunch today) - some Heinz Tuscan Beanz that had been in the cupboard for a while. I hadn't realised just how long that while was but the best before date was...

June 2015!!

They tasted fine though and I'm still here. I'm using a few other things up from my cupboards and freezer over the next few weeks. Not only do I really need to be careful on the money front, but I'm also on a proper tidying up streak.

I have a CC 0% deal coming to an end very soon so I'm going to see if I can get a low rate loan to clear it off. I'll cut the limit right down after and keep it just for dire emergencies. I only have three now - one I use for day to day spends and clear off in full each month, the other two have balances on. I think I had 6 at my worst.

Hiddenidenity

We are all here to cheer you on x

lionheartedgirl

Thank you Hiddenidentity, it's nice having a little corner where I can come to talk about debt stuff and not have people wondering why I'm eating two year old beans for tea when I have a nice sensible well paying job :rotfl:

I have a little hangover - not a hurty one but a tiredy one from going out for my work do last night. It was good fun. Today I'd planned to do some garden/jungle control stuff but it has just started raining. I thought it was meant to be dry today and wet tomorrow so hey ho! I have plenty of housework to do as well and I'm at the stage where I just want it done. I got off to a good start on Monday and although I didn't do much, it has made a noticeable difference so that's a good incentive to keep going.

I've had a really cheap week and best of all, I just got paid for my gig which I wasn't expecting for a another week or so. It's all going straight to the holiday costs but still it's good to know I won't need to chase it.

Hiddenidenity

The weather has been truly horrible!

The forecast for here for most of the week is wet!

Good you've been paid Have a lovely weekend x

lionheartedgirl

Pretty much all my bills are paid and done and I pretty much have no more non-food money until I get paid again on 25th. I've had a cash only month so far and it has been really interesting being so properly focused on everything. I am meeting a friend for lunch tomorrow but that will be the last of my spends. She's worth it and there's nothing else I need to buy, I just need to resist the nice coffee shop on the way to work. I am so lucky to have enough money for everything else and not really be struggling in the way some others are. I really am very grateful.

One of my CCs runs out of its 0% at the end of August and I've been trying to sort out a cheapy loan to transfer it over. I was so sure I'd be DF by now that I closed my other big-credit-limit card last summer when I cleared that one off, but I could have done with it to do another balance transfer. The rate I was offered for the loan was really high, higher than what my own bank offered, and really dire customer service. So I was glad to tell the not-my-bank to chuff off.

It's coming up to a tough time of year and I need to keep focused on all the good things that are in my life now and not be rushing out to buy myself anything to try and make myself feel better. As we know, this is just distraction and doesn't deal with the issues at hand, it just increases the size of the debt problem.

Hiddenidenity

Could you not get another 0% card rather than a loan? X

lionheartedgirl

the last time I applied for one I got a stupidly high rate offered and for a low amount of £k I have £15k to move from the days where every time you opened your credit card statement your limit had been increased by £5k.

It makes me feel sick how much available credit I had at one point - thank goodness I had some degree of sense and never used it all. At least with a loan I'd know it was getting paid off. Any gig money would go straight in as overpayments.

In other news, my friend's new baby is gorgeous and she treated me to lunch on the agreement that I would pay next time. That's a result all round, I haven't seen her in ages - she is actually a friend of my ex but she is definitely a kindred spirit. Hopefully it won't be so long next time! The food was great, very reasonably priced and the bar/restaurant was very accommodating for the baby so we will definitely be back.

lionheartedgirl

dear lord what a horrid few weeks. I had an anniversary a couple of weeks after my last post, long term visitors will know about the wedding that wasn't and it would have been seven years this year. Some years it has passed without me even noticing, but it really knocked me this year. I still can't believe it all went on now, and it feels like another lifetime ago. but it seems there are still a few pretty deep wounds that are still healing.

I had a rotten birthday (cheered up no end thanks to another MSE-er) and I've had another asthma flare up that has knocked me for six, wrecking some running plans and generally leaving me feeling a bit down.

Black dogs are generally very welcome at mine, but there has been an extra one sniffing about, of the unwelcome kind, and this hasn't happened in a while. Half the battle is recognising it in time, and I think I have. I've taken some evasive action the last couple of days and hopefully I can settle into enjoying the autumn which I really love.

Money things are pretty OK apart from the flat tyre on said birthday. I'll catch that up in a couple of months.

Onward!

RosaBernicia

Hi LHG

Hugs to you, and a bone thrown for the black dog to chase someplace else. Good that you are recognising things and looking after yourself.


Rosa xx

lionheartedgirl

thanks Rosa, what a great way of thinking about the black dog. I will keep chucking bones elsewhere too and hopefully it will clear off pronto :-)