We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
What a great post. I totally get the demoralising parts, but WOW, there are so many positives to take from this. Having that conversation re: budget, the smokes, the snacks is probably the biggest part of this - bigger than the superb savings you've managed to secure. Mindset change is the biggest win here. Wishing you and the family well.foxandflowers said:Life update: Covid = 1 Me = 0.
Have spent the majority of the last week since working the polls absolutely dying. I am back in work today and still feeling rough, but thought I had better come in if I wanted to keep my job. So I was up bright and early, showered, drank two coffees and a lemsip (actually a lidl version of lemsip), and now I've been in the office for less than an hour and have a headache behind my right eye already. My task list is overwhelming so I am ignoring it and posting here instead.
We are almost out of food, and definitely out of money. I have a portion of lasagna from the bowels of the freezer for lunch, and I get my child maintenance money tomorrow so will have to do what I can to stock up on food then. Made another £37 on Vinted, have posted all those parcels and am now just waiting for them to turn up so I can withdraw the money. I don't know if I need to put fuel in the van for this weekend, as one of the boys is on holiday abroad, so not sure if we are having the other one or not. I foresee a future of beans on toast and pasta bakes.
Made the most of the time off and sat down with Mr Fox and showed him the budget. Explained that if he wants to smoke, that's fine, but I cannot afford more than a pack a week, so he needs to cut down. Also told him that the snacking has to stop. I have budgeted £100 a week for the 4 of us, I buy some crisps and chocolate with that money, and once those are gone, I cannot keep nipping to the shop for extra bits. We switched the dog to raw food, and that seems to be going well, so that's saving a small fortune. £40 a fortnight instead of £90! Sometimes I think there must be so much more we can cut down on, and sometimes I think that I have almost nothing left that brings me joy and if I trim the fat even further, then what is the point in carrying on? We discussed moving again and came to the joint conclusion that we have not learned anything really, financially. So we would free up some thousands of pounds, and waste it all, and end up in a worse house, in a worse area, with nothing to show for it. We will be staying put for at least five years, and very very slowly working on the house, and then see where we end up. The most important thing is to learn to live within our means, budget properly, not borrow any more money, and slowly dig ourselves out of the hole we are in.
Luckily we can take advantage of free hobbies. I have enough cross-stitch to get me through the next five years and have been enjoying stabbing things. Walking the dog on the beach is one of life's great joys and that is also free. So is watching a movie from my vast collection on my external harddrive, so is reading a book, so is doing a puzzle, so is watching Taskmaster with my daughter. It will get better. It has to.
PS. Stepson HAS A JOB as of Saturday night, working as a barman in one of the locals. Thank God. The sooner he starts contributing the better.
PPS. I had Wales and West Utilities come out last week too. They replaced my regulator hose. Four months after it started, I no longer have intermittent gas. And it was free. My favourite price!
PPPS. Have fixed my Gas and Electric for the next year. Unit rates are down - Gas was 7.80p/kWh to 6.14p/kWh and Electric 27.75p/kWh dropped to 22.66p/kWh. I almost certainly still won't put the heating on until December.
