Facing the truth

LostUnderTheWashing

Hello diary,

Well as the title suggests its time to face up to the truth and admit the amount of debt to myself.
So here goes. I owe £19,475 over 4 different credit cards :eek: I have no idea how this happened as i literally have nothing to show for it. So I have decided it really is time to knuckle down as a family and clear it. I have gone on a snowball calculator and apparently i wont be debt free until 2023. Obviously i want it gone quicker than that.

My plans are to try and live a bit more of a make do and mend lifestyle, the frugal way my mum used to manage when i was younger. I want to try to get my shopping bill down a tad which is one of our biggest expenses. We are a family of 6 so not expecting miracles but i think with some home baking and savvy shopping i may bring the total down a bit. I also need to get back into my surveys and put some of the vouchers away for xmas, i managed pick up some nice bargains that way last year.

I am also going to try to keep on top of this diary as I think it may keep me more motivated.

So day 1- a nsd :T Sausage casserole for the gang and left over stir fry for me (im vegetarian) . My OH gets paid tomorrow so its the start of a new financial month (5 wk one) so I have done a meal plan to last the month. I also found a £15 off £60 code for new customers from sainsburys so have stocked up on the main food stuff for the month- took the bill down to £85. Once my youngest two are in bed Im going to try to do a few surveys, that is if my elder two let me actually use MY Pc :rotfl:.

Joshuaa25

Good luck, credit card debt seems to creep up on everyone and a lot of the time with out being able to show anything for it!

Onebrokelady

Happy new diary,I love your name by the way I too have built up debt with the demon credit cards and thought I dont really have anything to show for it but this week Ive been noticing the things Ive bought that have caused the problem,today I used my food processor and was stood there thinking this is one of the items that put me in debt,I had to have it but Ive hardly used it Im going to be doing a lot more cooking now so Im going to make myself use it,some of my problems came from not having an emergency fund so when things went wrong like last year the washing machine finally fell apart I had to buy a new one on my CC,I have now learned my lesson and have managed to save a small emergency fund that Im going to keep adding to as and when I can,mostly my problems stem from not budgeting for things in advance and being able to save the money for things like Xmas and birthdays,so the CCS would come out ,its a bit of a viscous circle because you start off with no money so have touse your card then you cant save because you have to pay the card and round and round you go,Ive chopped them all up now and Im starting a DMP on the 1st of March so its cash all the way for me now,I couldnt get credit now if I tried

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary

Honeysucklelou2

Food / grocery budget is where I struggle too. How old are your children? I find, especially when the teenage years hit, keeping the cake tins filled helps, as does boxes of cheap cereal to snack or, or some of those small individual pizzas in the freezer.

Love the user name.

LostUnderTheWashing

Thankyou - I couldnt get credit now either, accept payday loans apparently which keep bombarding my email.

Its been a funny old day today. My DH birthday today which we had planned to have a nice walk in our local park and then perhaps a meal at a local pub this evening (kids eat free). However our 2yr old daughter has broken out in chicken pox and my back quite literally has gone. I bent down to change her nappy and felt it snap. Sooooooo, on the plus side we wont be going out for tea but having something out of the freezer money saved there.

Its payday so i have transferred the weekly budget i have set us into another account and then im hoping it will just be bills to go out of the main one and try to stay on track that way.

I have also got my youngest son (4) a cheap onesie from tesco that was in the sale. It will double up as PJ's but will also do for book week dress up - this is mainly because he himself hasnt had the pox yet either so im not sure he will even be at school next week and i didnt want to spend a fortune on a costume.:( My second son (8) has decided to go as wheres wally which we have most of the clothing for already (need his hat i believe). My eldest (10) is being a complete pain in the backside and says he doesnt want to dress up. However the night before he will decide he wants to after all, so when i can move i shall have a rumage and see what stuff he can use.

Im about to check the bank and make a small payment over to the first CC we are trying to tackle.

Mumoffourkids

I always seem to have a mountain of washing as well. I never ever get to the bottom of the three washing baskets we have in our house!

That's not good that your daughter has come out in chicken pox and that your back has gone. Not a good start to the day. My youngest two haven't had chicken pox yet either so I can see that happening soon probably. The other four have all had it. The eldest got it when I was pregnant with my second child and that was a bit of a panicky moment!

Hope your day improves and that your husband enjoys his birthday.

LostUnderTheWashing

I only have one washing basket that i never seem to get to the bottom off. My OH is actually the worst he will literally just throw all his dirty clothes in the corner of our bedroom and then bring it all down in one go :mad: it takes me ages to get through.

Feeling nervous my OH has the bank card and has gone to B&M without me. He is supposed to just be getting light bulbs but it will be a miracle if thats all he buys.

LostUnderTheWashing

Well I can finally move a bit more easily after I did my back in on friday. Now however i have a house i need to put back together again. I kid you not about every room needs a thorough clean. There are random piles of clothes everywhere and I have no idea which ones are wet, clean or dirty. Apparently nobody else except me can empty the bin either which is currently sat with more stuff on the floor around it than actually in it :mad:

Ive decided my life just needs a complete overhaul from top to bottom and in order to do so i think i need to set myself some daily/ weekly goals so i am going to list them on here. Hopefully this will keep me on track in more areas of my life over than just debt busting.

So here goes

Today:
1 Drs app to get dressing changed
2 Sort out the random piles of washing- hang up to dry or put away
3 Tidy rooms downstairs- 15 mins per room
4 Bake cupcakes for snacks/ lunch boxes
5 Gammon, mash and bean for tea tonight
6 Get my !!!! out of the door for work at 9pm
7 More importantly aim for a NSD
8 Check bank balance and if any change under £5 move it over to a CC

This week
1 We have a leaky shower so we bought a new bit to try and fix it but it doesnt fit so it needs to be returned
2 Check date of CC payments and do a general budget
3 Collect onesie from tesco for book week
4 Catch up on surveys
5 Catch up on Uni work as I have fallen behind and have an essay due in soon

LostUnderTheWashing

Quick post before i get kicked of PC by kids......they are already circling


1 Drs app to get dressing changed-- done
2 Sort out the random piles of washing- hang up to dry or put away- done except OH and eldest DC they can do their own
3 Tidy rooms downstairs- 15 mins per room- done
4 Bake cupcakes for snacks/ lunch boxes- done, although turned into a traybake
5 Gammon, mash and bean for tea tonight- gammon cooked and spuds peeled
6 Get my !!!! out of the door for work at 9pm- now have to be at work at 6pm
7 More importantly aim for a NSD- done yay
8 Check bank balance and if any change under £5 move it over to a CC- done moved a whole £2.87 across

This week
1 We have a leaky shower so we bought a new bit to try and fix it but it doesnt fit so it needs to be returned
2 Check date of CC payments and do a general budget
3 Collect onesie from tesco for book week
4 Catch up on surveys
5 Catch up on Uni work as I have fallen behind and have an essay due in soon

Onebrokelady

Sorry to hear about your back and I hope you DD gets over the chicken pox soon,did your DH only come back with the light bulbs in the end,I was supposed to go to check out our B&M today as Ive never been due to it being right across the other side of the city so a good bus ride away, I didnt go in the end because it was too cold,I might try and go next week