The long haul supporters thread...

TEK_2

Yes Going to use money out of holiday budget to make things easier for the time being. Will try our hardest not to use CC & then try & claw back holiday money in the new year. Most of the presents we buy are for nephews & nieces & DD, the ones that we buy for adults won't cost us as much. Staying in through most of Xmas & we are both working the odd day too,so will save a bit of cash there, but the main thing is spending Xmas Day with family, you can't put a price on that! Thanks for reading & back soon!!

In_Search_Of_Me

Cant use cc as all low lob so thats sorted! seriously hacked off though as been an expensive month and thats with not getting christmas presents Have now got to pay 80 to have front step fixed - alas not a simple job as door at the bottom rotten as well so deep breath was hoping to pay an extra 100 off at end of month but not to be...at least it motivates me with storecupboard challenge!!

Heffi1

I really must start looking at the storecupbaord challenge, I know I have things lurking that have not seen the light of day for ~ ~ well who knows how long so I will go off and investigate some more.

Later every one xx

In_Search_Of_Me

found a packet of stuffing...expired nov 08!!

sallymander

Just a quick pop by, lol to the stuffing ISOM and Yay :jHeffi, just had a look at the sig and considering what you have been through well done!

Sally x

Triggles

I have to agree that December always seems to be a rotten month for finances! We've had two big hits in the last month, so I'm hoping we just got December's hits a bit early and that's it now. Our car broke down last month, costing over £500 to repair. And now this month, we've finally managed to get a friend in the states to go over and clean out our storage unit and ship stuff to us, so we're not paying £200+ per year for storage on stuff we can't access. Unfortunately, even though we pared down the amount of stuff to ship, the states has changed their shipping to priority only now, and friend went ahead and shipped the stuff without telling me the actual price - and it was $445!! :eek: Which I now have to reimburse friend for, obviously, as she went well out of her way to do this for us!

Seems like it is going to take forever to pay things off, but I am hopeful once things really get going, it will be better. Right now, we're still sorting out details for the DMP and hammering out stuff with the creditors.

Happytogetdebtfree

Morning triggles wow pricey shipping. Why is it the one month that requires spending means everything that will cost cash to deal with happens. Roll on 2010 I'm ready to get numbers reduced and Xmas out of the way. Good luck with dmp x

Heffi1

sallymander wrote: »

Just a quick pop by, lol to the stuffing ISOM and Yay :jHeffi, just had a look at the sig and considering what you have been through well done!

Sally x

Thanks very much Sally

mumto2monkeys_2

Hello fellow long haulers!

Well, the food budget is stuffed. Ignore that part of my signature, it means nothing!!! I have decided that, after our week of convenience food, takeaways and self indulgence, it is best to write-off the damage and set a new budget for the next few weeks when I shall have more time to organise myself and cook. Being stressed at work is at the root of a lot of what we owe, so acknowledging it has happened and trying my best to get back on track should hopefully prevent me from going Christmas crazy, saying sod it and blowing a fortune on the cards.

I've paid off some more card, which means our card debt should be under 10k now. I'm really pleased that it feels like I'm starting to achieve something. (I'm not dwelling on the total of the loans though...)

My big debate at the moment is that I'm considering taking up a course which will cost me around 2k a year (not including crazy book buying habit that always kicks in when I start new things) for 5 years. I feel so naughty for even contemplating adding that kind of expense onto our outgoings when we owe so much. It will also be incredibly tough to do it and work full time - though I certainly have no choice about that. However, it is like unfinished business. If I do this, and do it well, it could put me on track for doing a job I've always wanted to do. It won't make me any more money, but I would feel like I was where I am supposed to be. Tough choices, big commitments.

On a plus side, hubby has promised me a festive day today as he wouldn't put the tree up mid-week as he said he would. He was making big promises about mince pies, Christmas music and snowballs (advocaat kind, how 80s!!), just to get out of doing it on Thursday. So, I now intend to hold him to it!!!!! Yey :j The work has finished, first day off since the start of November, woo!

Have a fantastic day everyone.

mumto2monkeys_2

Triggles - I sympathise about the car. I've been making reasonable repayments for the last couple of months, but I know this is all going to grind to a halt when February arrives and it's MOT time. It's scary how much they cost to fix, especially when they're original value declines so quickly. Sorry to hear about the shipping too. I'm feeling positive now, but realise there's two and a bit weeks until Christmas and the money isn't looking too bad at the moment, so something is destined to break, fall apart, leak or collapse as my life is never that straight-foward...