The long haul supporters thread...

ltm07

Good for you dubgirl, things really are gloomy aren't they, I do hope your OH stays in work. I do feel quite lucky that we have yet to be unscathed by this recession. I did put in my previous post about me not doing as much overtime & to be honest there hasn't been a great deal of overtime going, so in some ways I guess I have fallen out of the habit of doing the overtime on the occasions there is some. The overtime on our job mainly revolves around how short staffed we are, rather than how much work there is to do & at the moment we are just about fully staffed & the work s also slacker than usual at this time of year. The gaffers are going to kick in the flexibility agreement on quieter days so the extra work we used to do for overtime will now be done for nothing. We were only supposed to do this in summer when the job is much quieter but as usual management try to move the goalposts! It is hard to argue with them though to be fair & I guess if it makes the company more efficient & saves money, then it does help our jobs to be more secure. On the plus side we may be entitled to a £529 tax allowance payment from 2002/2003. Had a call off a friend today & checked out the thread on here & quickly rushed down to tax office with OH before it closed, as the deadline for claiming is tomorrow. It does seem that we meet all the criteria but we won't get our hopes up. Hope everyone else is well! All the best!!

clarab_3

Hello peeps, its been a brilliant month for moneysaving, forgive me a little excitement!

First - Ive passed the point that if I just maintain my expected payments for 2 years - I will be debt free!! (of course thats not good enough for me and I want it sooner )

Second, I got £800 back from my credit card, and paid it straight against the balance.

And third - I made my first major cash purchase... A new sofa that I had saved for for 6 months and bought outright. I dont think the salesman that wont be getting his hire purchase arrangement fee was very happy, but it made me very very happy - my home has been totally neglected for 4 years!

Oh - 4th (not to be sniffed at in these times) - my job has been guarunteed for next 12 months.

So life is a little comfier, the light in the end of the tunnel is a little brighter and Ive started saving again (for emergencies, but when I get to £500 I will make a block payment to my debts)

Its good to see you all making such inspiring progress too - you keep me going and from thinking I'm mad

dubgirl

LTM I know what you mean about moving the goalposts, it is always what suits at the time. My bil job is not good at the mo and he and my sister relied heavily on his overtime, which is currently stopped, and some of his overtime was counted into his mortgage when they moved into a bigger and more expensive house last year! Just hoping that they are ok, he is doing working a 4 day week, I guess a better compromise than losing your job.
OH told me today that his company may look at closing up to 20 branches and are considering implementing a new delivery system which they have already piloted in Scotland and would save them money. This is likely to result in some job losses and OH works in deliveries. Guess we just have to wait and cross that bridge if we get there. Take care, have a good weekend, PMA x

PS Clarab well done

In_Search_Of_Me

morning all...can understand the reasoning behind overtime...I do notice that when I go all out debtbusting, working,babysitting etc that I end up spending more on fast food etc so in some ways counter productive...
Thankfully have some help at the allotment so betwen us hope to get things sorted...lots to do today with tidying, cleaning cooking etc....have a good sat all!
Well done clareb - going great guns!!

ltm07

Well folks, I am feeling more upbeat about things, as we have actually managed to clear £238 off debts this month! Not a massive amount but for saying we thought that we had actually added to debts this month it is a massive boost for us! I knw what you mean Dubgirl about relying on overtime. I have worked at our place 12 years now & overtime has always been on tap so to speak, but the company are starting to slowly eradicate it. Ther are people at our place who hav also bought houses in the best areas & some of them are worried sick. We very nearly moved to a better area before LBM but I'm so glad we didn't, we would probably be on the streets by now. For us hopefully we can continue to slowly chip away at our debts. To be honest if we can manage to clear £200-£300 a month this year without having to rely on overtime too much then we will be very pleased. Have a good day all! God Bless!

dubgirl

Hi, neither of us can do overtime, if I work over my hours then supposed to take it off as toil. I can do sessional work, but it is in my own time and job is stressful enough as it is without extra work. I do try and do one sessional report every few months and that way it doesnt get too bad. Some folks go mad and do 3-4 a month, think they are heading for burn out. I'm worried about sister and bil, I did say to them at the time last year if taking overtime into consideration for a mortgage was a wise thing, but was shot down in flames! They are trying to not spend as little as possible and have to say sister is pretty good with the money and has stashed away enough cash to cover 3 months worth of mortgage and bills in case bil loses job. That is sensible and hats off to her for doing that, we dont have anything left over at the end of the month to do that. dont know what we would do if either of us lost our job, but no point in worrying about something that might not happen. Got to focus on the positive and use your energy to keep chipping away and staying happy. Take care x

In_Search_Of_Me

oo am intregued dubgirl as wonder whether you are in the same kind of work as me...feel free to pm!! Not a good debtbusting day as spent ridiculous ammt on new home for bob but its too big so going back...couldnt get it all in the box though!! money off is money off ltm no matter how much and in the current climate paying off is good! Just keep chipping away and we'll get there in the end!

dubgirl

ISOM, I have pm'd you

poorbabe

Hi everyone, I've not been here for a few days but having done my budget for the month I thought I'd pop in for a bit of motivation.

I managed to pay off a little extra on my Egg card (or will have once it hits the account on Thursday) which was a nice feeling. Today I had to take the underground to/from work because the buses weren't running. Whilst I understand the safety concerns, I was a little miffed as it cost me £5.40, whereas the bus would have been £3. My transport allowance is £35 for the month and is based on me cycling to work at least 3 days a week and locally on Saturdays.

Mind you, since January I have been walking a lot more in an effort save the odd £1 on the buses and I rarely use the underground during the working week. I hope the buses are running tomorrow though. I've also managed to shop more sensibly and only buy things I'm actually going to use that week. Consequently whilst the fridge is looking a bit sparse, I've been mentally meal planning AND it actually works in that I've stuck to the plan so very little food has been wasted - first time in my adult life :eek::j

Whilst this 'growing up' lark (with regard to money, anyway) has been a long journey it's interesting to realise that I now automatically think about what I'm going to buy and whether I really really want it or could I make do or leave it for a while :rolleyes: A little irritating actually as this particular Aquarian was quite happy doing/buying things on the spur of the moment, so to find myself actively thinking things through before spending has been a little annoying even though it's helping me in the long run :rotfl:

Just hope I keep it up when the weather gets warmer as that's when I tend to be a bit more impulsive

thevinternet

poorbabe wrote: »

Whilst this 'growing up' lark (with regard to money, anyway) has been a long journey it's interesting to realise that I now automatically think about what I'm going to buy and whether I really really want it or could I make do or leave it for a while :rolleyes: A little irritating actually as this particular Aquarian was quite happy doing/buying things on the spur of the moment, so to find myself actively thinking things through before spending has been a little annoying even though it's helping me in the long run

Ain't that the truth!! Life is soooo much easier when you don't have to think about every bloomin' penny, I miss those days too. BUT it is much nicer in the long run to never have to worry about unpaid bills, credit card balances etc. I actually look forward to my statements coming each month now so that I can see the progress I'm making, how sad is that?!:rolleyes:

I'm very impulsive too, and I agree with you that changing your mindset is the hardest challenge of all, especially for us long-termers. That's usually a reason why we got in so much debt to begin with, I guess!:p

Anyway my Aquarian friend, well done on the 'growing up' as you put it - we'll just have to learn to be fun and spontaneous in other ways I guess!!:D

xx