NST December: Debt Destruction December

f0xh0les

KerryWoman so glad it went well for you today and that you were not alone.

Massive hugs.

Fmess

SFD achieved, think that’s 10 now

Took the car to the garage and they said I must have damaged the window screen and caused damage to the heating elements (has not worked since I tried it in the first week after purchasing it last month). I explained to the lady that I hadn’t done anything to it, I rarely use the boot and it had never worked whilst I owned it - she blamed my dogs (they haven’t travelled in the car yetbut she could see the dog bed in the boot), putting something too large in the boot for example of Christmas tree (haven’t bought one!), my husband (I’m single) and my kids (don’t have any)!!! Then she simply said they’d try putting in a claim but the damage was obvious and it’d cost £370 for a new heated window screen. I cried, then I called the sales department of the same company, who sold me the car and they couldn’t believe it and said that if the claim was rejected, they’d look into it as they remember me reporting the fault soon after I’d collected the car. Fingers crossed, I won’t have to pay.

Apart from that it’s been a lovely day!

laurenh1

Hi all

Today is NSD #11.

Not much planned for today- picking my brother up from the station later - need to get hubby to put his bed up.

Looking forward to kids getting home from my MILs & hoping for a rubbish xmas film to snuggle up with!

Hope everyone has a lovely chilled day before madness begins tomorrow!!

dolly84

Fmess wrote: »

SFD achieved, think that’s 10 now

Took the car to the garage and they said I must have damaged the window screen and caused damage to the heating elements (has not worked since I tried it in the first week after purchasing it last month). I explained to the lady that I hadn’t done anything to it, I rarely use the boot and it had never worked whilst I owned it - she blamed my dogs (they haven’t travelled in the car yetbut she could see the dog bed in the boot), putting something too large in the boot for example of Christmas tree (haven’t bought one!), my husband (I’m single) and my kids (don’t have any)!!! Then she simply said they’d try putting in a claim but the damage was obvious and it’d cost £370 for a new heated window screen. I cried, then I called the sales department of the same company, who sold me the car and they couldn’t believe it and said that if the claim was rejected, they’d look into it as they remember me reporting the fault soon after I’d collected the car. Fingers crossed, I won’t have to pay.

Apart from that it’s been a lovely day!

I hope you get this sorted out.

Our plans today are for me and DH to cycle then we are cleaning the house from top to bottom. The kids need to clean and declutter their rooms so there may be some things for donation after that.

f0xh0les

Fmess wrote: »

putting something too large in the boot for example of Christmas tree (haven’t bought one!), my husband (I’m single) and my kids (don’t have any)!!!!

Well that solves the child seat problem, not sure I could wedge all mine in there at once though:rotfl:

Glad they seem more sympathetic than the horrible lady. :T

Toni'sfriend

I'm not doing very well with this challenge!! Think I got into holiday mode a bit early. Oh well, it is Christmas.
Just going to brave Aldi but only need bread so not too taxing. Then I must give everything a quick tidy and wipe over.

f0xh0les

Today is DS4's birthday, so on the cards today is - Paddington 2, and a chinese meal out. The present haul has delighted him, and DS3 is snuggled up on the sofa reading one of the new Tintin books . It is nice that they share, and also nice to know it keeps them still and silent for 60 minutes+ Thank you Tintin

Debt - less than £300 on the credit card. Just had my statement and I can afford all of what I have to pay off in January, I usually pay it off as soon as I get the bill, but will wait until I have sorted the 2 car insurances in the first week of January before paying it off this time. I took the early Christmas payday money and shunted it into a holding account so I do not spend any, will shunt it back on 1/1/18 and carry on as usual.

Expunge - still no Fakebook

Clear - will get starting on that on Boxing Day - I am forcing myself to wait on painting the newly plastered walls and ceilings until Boxing Day. Clean- will get on with cleaning up skirting boards and architrave after cake time tonight. Also clearing out kids drawers and moving clothes down a child again/ sorting out what they will never wear. No point in cluttering up drawers with things they will not use. Central Heating and warm coats and tumble dryers mean kids do not need as many clothes as I think they do.
They really do wear 20% of their clothes 80% of the time.

Explore - still plan on going to see deer tomorrow - so the kids can tell them where we live, to tell Rudolf when he flies past.

Mental Health Good, will be glad when it is all over - remind myself it is only really 2 days

Budget - Doing ok, January money is in separate account so can't be spent, will shunt it back after Xmas and cc bill paid off.

Evaluate the year - doors turned and rehung/ double glazing/ top two floors replastered/ all from saved housekeeping money, no debt taken out.
Everybody happy.

Remember those less fortunate - donated some kids coats they dont wear/ grew out of.

Lauralozzle

Today should be a NSD so that’s 7/15.

Had a lovely evening last night as my dad came around and he paid for Chinese.

Will take two loads of clothes down to charity bins tonight. Had a nice walk today, best I’ve felt all week so hopefully I’m at the other end of this cold.

I’ve had a look at the budgets and we are over on our grocery budget, but I think that was to be expected as we were getting Christmas presents out of that too. I love Christmas but I’ll be happy when things are all back to normal.

I’ve decided for 2018 I will budget for Christmas throughout the year. It’ll make it a lot less stressful.

Other than that I’m just plodding along!

Gratitudes
For the energy to go for a walk
For plenty of food in the freezer
For Christmas presents to be ‘nearly’ finished
For the weekend and spending time with my family

mothernerd

Kerry Woman do whatever you need to do for yourself for the next few days. I slept all day, the day after my father's funeral. Treat yourself - simple good food, quiet walks, hot baths, curling up with a good book. If you are spending time with your family or friends (I know this was not your original plan) enjoy yourself but don't feel guilty if you have to withdraw for an hour or two.

If you are staying by yourself, do all the things you enjoy, watch happy (or sad films, sometimes they are cathartic), reflect on the good times with your mother ( you might want to write some down for younger members of the family). Think about your plans for the new year (and again, factor in lots of little treats, days out, simple pleasures).

We are all here for you and thinking about you.

Sorry for being awol. I am cycling between mega tidying and shopping sessions, followed by complete exhaustion and occasional despair (none of which seemed to be a good mood to write in).

After Wednesday's mega- get evrything done -shop, I had a missed call from mum with another list of small items which necessitated going all over everywhere. Did that on Thursday alternating going round shops that might have one of the items with a recccy round a relatively empty shop.

Big confession I have bought a dress, in a sale. Did not buy it because it was on sale but the price reduction made me feel less guilty. Approximately every 10 years or so (although it has been longer this time) I feel the need for a red dress. Usually this coincides with a time when I am feeling confident/ looking good/ thin. For Christmas I sometimes buy a sparkly/ bright top from the cs to lend normal skirts and trousers a festive air - said item the languishes in my wardrobe for months/ years until I re-donate it.

Atm I am trying to practice 'being brave' as I have a few big challenges next year. Most of you would laugh at some of the things I consider 'brave' - no bungee jumping or abseilling but anything that is outside my 'comfort zone' or something that scares me a bit. So I deliberately went into a shop to buy a red or sparkly dress. It's cherry rather than post box, in a similar style to a couple I have/ had previously. It has a large pattern (another no no for me) of cranes and flowers.

An I ready for the red dress. Most definitely not but I will wear it on Christmas day and hope the confidence follows.

I had one thing left on my list on Thursday. I looked on-line and saw that Christmas opening meant it was open until 10pm (I had come home because the town centre shops were all closed/ closing). I got as far as putting my boots back on but my legs refused to go anywhere. Which meant yesterday I still had one outsyanding shop to visit. Stayed awake all night tidying ready to go first thing. Took Beloved with me ( DS1 had another parcel to come, handed that chore back to DS3 because I was going shopping and he asked Beloved if anything on their list could be obtained from there and she said all of it).

December clear out I have a plan which is working so far. It's a modification of the minimalist 'pack away everything you own and only retrieve what you need. I have mentally subdidvided into next two weeks/ next 3 months/ longer. I think most of those minimalist floks were young. They don't realise the sheer amount of stuff required to get an old crock through from one day to the next. I did not see any point in packing away glasses (2 + case), wallet (money/ cards for library etc/ keys to get in at mum's) phone, pills (currently 5 pills, two medicines, 2 creams/ gels + general moisturiser to stop dermatitis/ eczema taking hold).

Two weeks covers Christmas, restart of craft and CBT sessions - so anything I need for planning/ howmework/ implementing those. Embroidery - I have some things I want to work on, a couple of large pieces of material and some scraps (in case of a customer order coming in) but probably only need one A4 tray/ drawer of embroidery threads + any in use for the current wip (bagged with item and pattern in most cases). I also ahve a couple of deadlines - if I do not turn the old black dress into a pattern in the next 2 weeks, it's going (2 torn sheets turned into cleaning rags instead of things I was going to make them into (some time/ never).

The 3 months is the vaguest category as I have to leave 'enough' for whatever I need and atm i don't know what that is. A lot of the craft stuff has been transferred to the wardrobe as it's well sorted and easily accessible in it's current storage (it's the miscellaneous stuff floating around that needs tackling).

The over 3 months category was painless too. Any clothes that don't currently fit (some have only just gone too small and looser items in the same size still fit but even dramatic weight loss in the next few months won't mean I need them), summer only things and a couple where I have a nearly new item and a use up item so will save the new for next year and wear up the old.

I have reclaimed 2/3 of my bed (one of the reasons I couldn't sleep was that at one point my bed was covered as high as my head, mainly with different size boxes, so that I could clear the floor and move things around).

Planning a couple of relaxed pottering NSD days. Think I have reached the point where if it's gets done fine, if not it will ahve to do (only expected guests are their friends and they have different standards - accept who they are, feed them, give them a bed/ mattress, let them watch anime/ play games/ set their own waking and sleeping hours).

If my legs get stronger I will go and tackle more of the kitchen (I have brought the pea wigwams aka my Christmas trees inside to dry and I went down to put something in the oven). Otherwise I will packa ll the remaining stuff and then transfer my 'sorting trays and boxes' to the bed and carry on from there (multiple small items for craft/ sewing/ embroidery/ useful box/ household - spare curtain rings etc). My energy levels, concentration and co-ordination are low atm but I can still sort buttons from pegs/ needles/ threads/ beads/ drawing pins etc.


Review of the year. A year of change and actually very positive change.
Financially better than I expected though perhaps not quite as good as I had originally planned. Social life has expanded but encompasses mum's needs as well. Not done well on exercise and healthy eating overall (good in parts) - RL and chronic lack of time got in the way. So many admin bits to sort when mum's partner went into care and I started to care for her. Also felt that peoples were waiting for me to fail - so glad to ahve the doctor's endorsement of the excellent care I have given and vast improvement in mum's health.

Partner's family are much less in evidence these days which is a great relief as mum is reverting to 'our' values rather than adopting 'what they do' and treating me as an alien. The ones who have stayed are the ones I like/ get on well with. Have been able to facilitate mum having more contact with former friends (again pushed aside in favour of partner's family and their 'needs').More later - checking back on previous threads.

So much to be grateful for (some negative bits of Christmases past) . For the last few days I am grateful for finding most of the things on my (and every body else's) lists (I can live without chestnuts), for all the helpful assistants and taxi drivers and pleasant people I have met, for getting to the cemetery, for having a big pile of books to read when I get the chance, for not worrying much about 'things that have not beeen done' because I have worked to the limit of my energy, for my room looking a lot better, for feeling brave enough to buy a red dress, for DS3 starting to take his health seriously, for all the turtles, new internet friends and the excellent gel the doctor has given me (would rather it didn't mention both rheumatism and arthritis, prefer to stick with having creaky knees and a sore shoulder).

Fmess

f0xh0les wrote: »

Well that solves the child seat problem, not sure I could wedge all mine in there at once though:rotfl:

Glad they seem more sympathetic than the horrible lady. :T

Obviously they advocate travelling with children and husbands in the boot! :rotfl: