2024 will be my year - income, debt, physical and mental health progress!

SandeC

So after around 8 years, I'm back on MSE! To save going through the details of where I was back then, I'll leave the link to my very short-lived diary that you can go check out if you wish - 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5364757/sandecs-journey-to-debt-freedom/p1

Things have really changed since then, and I'm in a much better overall situation - go me! I'm now married, been together since April 2018 and we got married in August last year, I've got a job that is sooo much more rewarding that the previous one, and I'm managing my finances a hell of a lot better - my credit rating has gone from 135 in 2017 (that's as far back as I can see!) to 571 today. It's been a bit up and down but it's one hell of an improvement.

It hasn't been all plain sailing. I was discharged from the DRO and steadily got myself into more debt, peaking at around £10k. That was about 3 years ago, and I'm ashamed to say that I was hiding an awful lot of it from my husband. I did put my big girl pants on before we got married and sat down with him to tell him everything. It was flippin' scary, but I did it, and I've been open and honest with him ever since  

Right now, I'm sitting on around  £6k of debt:
c£5k Council Tax
£617.56 Rent arrears
£33.50 CC1
£194.76 CC2
£72 Housing association repair recharge
£306.82 Lowell
£49.02 S1mplyB account
£? Water arrears - not too bothered knowing this as it's an extra few £s on top of my monthly bill for 2 years, last payment will be this month!
=£6273.66

I'm proud to be able to say that these are all being paid off and I haven't missed a payment in 2 years! Although the payment of the Council Tax has only just been arranged and I've made one payment so far.

Income is always a worry. The bills are always paid, and we generally have a little left over for leisure. I have switched jobs and am now a teaching assistant in a SEN school, and have been there for 3 years now. I absolutely love it, but the money isn't great, and my daughter is 16, so I don't actually need the holidays off. It's just a little perk! I have recently been struggling with chronic pain and mental health issues, so I've been having a lot of time off (currently signed off until the end of the week, with reduced duties advised on my return). My ability to meet the needs of the children I work with isn't great at the moment. Hubby has epilepsy, and struggles with his mental health massively. He's in and out of work more than I care to admit and it stresses me out more than I will ever let on to him. He's currently off sick with his current employer, and I don't think he intends to go back.

We're waiting on the mental health team to see him, and trying to figure out what kind of work he could do. I'm currently waiting on blood test from the docs, and looking at a diagnosis of fibromyalgia at the very minimum. I've started doing Pilates (following YT videos as I can't afford to go to classes) and I'm going to my first Slimming World session tomorrow to try and shift some weight to take some pressure off my back (I've got a 12 week voucher from the school I work ats insurance scheme). I want to start swimming again as well but I don't have the funds at the moment.

I've been applying for work from home, or at least hybrid remote, jobs, but heard nothing back so far. I've been thinking about taking up doing nails again, but what I really want to do is start making tarantula enclosures to sell. I have some design ideas, just need to get some prototypes and a good business plan set up. I have a few tarantulas on my list that I want to get in the coming months, and will be building enclosures for. They will also be part of breeding programmes later down the line, generating more income and ensuring certain species are more readily available, meaning there are less wild caught animals within the hobby  I've started selling some bits on V1nted in the last couple of weeks and I've made £15.50 so far. I've also signed up to survey and cashback sites. 

I've just switched broadband provider, saved myself £11 a month and also got a £90 gift card from the provider and £61 cashback. CC1 will be paid off at the end of the month, I'm balance transferring CC2, which has a better interest rate in general and will be paid off within the interest free period. 

DD has a school trip to Norway in June, which is just over £1k. I've paid the deposit, but I'm behind on the first instalment and it's going to have to go on the CC I think I need to sort her passport out ASAP. She also needs new boots and clothes for the trip, so I'll have to sort that out somehow. 2 months of no Council Tax now, but car insurance is due mid-March so the spare Council Tax money will be going towards that. Car insurance is worrying me - I've got 2 accidents and 3 points on my license so I know it's going to be astronomical. 

All in all I don't think I'm in an unmanageable place, but sometimes I get overwhelmed with it all and it helps me to write it down. I don't think I've missed anything but if I have I'll update later.

SandeC

Well, a nice little surprise this morning! I checked TopCashBack to see if the £61 I'd got for the broadband was tracking yet It is, and it's actually £68!

I read an article on here about mobile prices going up by 7.9%, so I'm going to wait until the end of March when the new price comes in to effect and look at changing  

SandeC

Not a bad day today overall.

Went to my first Slimming World session, it seems like a much nicer group than the one I went to a few years ago, which was really cliquey. This time last year I was over 19st. At the beginning of December I participated in the Our Future Health research program, they weighed me at 17st 12lb. Tonight I weighed in at 18st 3lb. I think a 5lb gain over Christmas was pretty acceptable haha! There's still lots of Christmas goodies in the flat though, so I need to be careful! Hoping for a 4lb loss in the first week. I'm going to need to get some healthy snacks in before payday. And it's MrC's birthday on Monday, he wants cheesecake and my cheesecake is NOT slimming friendly!  Overall target loss is 3st 10lb, I think that's very manageable! 

Made another sale on V1nted, only £1, but it's £1 in my pocket and something else out of my way. It's packaged up ready to post tomorrow. I'll walk to the drop off place, get my SW Body Magic in  Also, I hit £10 on Branded Surveys this evening, not sure whether to cash it out now or keep it going. I might cash it out and put it straight in the savings for the car insurance.

Also seem to be having issues with one of my teeth. It's not painful but something's not quite right. I've not been to the dentist since before Covid, MrC called to make me an appointment last week but they have struck me off, as I suspected, and they're not taking on new patients. So I'm going to need to look into that, I'm sure finding an NHS dentist is going to be like finding rocking horse poop. I'm going to need to look into whether or not I can get a HC2/HC3 form thingy too for help with prescriptions etc.

I've been worrying all day about how we're going to make it until payday, I've just this moment realised that it's actually only one week away! We can definitely manage that, so I can sleep easy now. Speaking of.. it's 2.42 in the AM, I'd better head to bed 

SandeC

Not much to report, but here to stay accountable!

I went to town with my mum and daughter today, we went for lunch and I had a really nice grilled chicken salad and no pudding - go me! Mum bought DD boots for her trip to Norway, so that's one expense I don't need to worry about.

I'm supposed to be going back to work on Monday, but even just meandering around town for an hour darned near killed me, I don't know how I'm going to manage wandering the school grounds all day along with physical interventions. The anxiety about going back and having to deal with the pain alone is killing me. I've applied for a few more jobs, but haven't heard anything back yet. I'm tempted to stay off sick until I find something else, but I'm notoriously bad at getting jobs  

I've signed up to a few more sites tonight to try and boost the income a bit, I'll have a proper look at them tomorrow as it's getting rather late now! No new V1nted sales which is annoying. I've got quite a bit more to list though, I could probably do that tomorrow. 

The new CC arrived yesterday and I've successfully transferred the balance of the other one, so that's something crossed off the list. Had my new credit score in, it's been hit pretty bad but hopefully I can sort that relatively quickly.

Think that's it for now. I'll check back in a few days, if not before.

SandeC

It's been a bit longer than I wanted to leave it, but I'm posting an update now! 

2 weeks into SW and 5.5lb lost in total, not bad considering MrC's birthday celebrations went on and on and on! Got the 4lb I'd hoped for in the first week!

c£5k Council Tax
£517.56 Rent arrears
£0 CC1
£0 CC2
£338.58 CC3
£72 Housing association repair recharge
£286.82 Lowell
£103.52 S1mplyB account
=£6,318.24

Had to put some bits on the credit card, MrC is off sick and he had pittance this month for some reason. Also had a couple of interviews and needed some new shoes and a shirt so I put that on the S1mplyB account. So my debt has gone up a bit but it's okay, once UC and COL comes in I'll get the extra paid off so I'm back on track. Although still haven't done my daughter's Norway payment or got her passport sorted. Also had £181 Council Tax go out today which I wasn't expecting and messed me up, but I checked the payment schedule and it's there, so not much I can do about that. 

I've had 2 job interviews - the first one I didn't get and the other one I should hear tomorrow (today?). I've got another one tomorrow (today?) and one on Monday. 

Dr and physiotherapist think my pain is being caused by fibromyalgia, or I may need a referral to Rheumatology, but need to wait for the results of the blood tests I had done this week before they can do anything. I'm still struggling with a ridiculous amount of pain and painkillers don't seem to be working much. Even just cooking dinner is an issue. I'm not sure I'll be able to go back to work yet, but MrC is driving me nuts  so I'm going to try my best to get there. 

I've been looking at PIP but not sure if I qualify without a diagnosis. I think I definitely qualify for something once I am diagnosed. MrC has been helping me A LOT. 

I did a lot of comparisons and found a fairly reasonably priced dentist. The person I spoke to told me to send an email with all my information and they'd set me up and call me back. Surprise surprise they haven't. I'll give them a ring tomorrow (today?) and see what's going on. My tooth is really annoying me!

I'm going to try and update this at least every Thursday so that I'm being accountable! Bed time now, I have tarantulas to rehouse tomorrow and an interview to prepare for!!

SandeC

It's been a bit longer than I wanted to leave it, but I'm posting an update now! 

2 weeks into SW and 5.5lb lost in total, not bad considering MrC's birthday celebrations went on and on and on! Got the 4lb I'd hoped for in the first week!

c£5k Council Tax
£517.56 Rent arrears
£0 CC1
£0 CC2
£338.58 CC3
£72 Housing association repair recharge
£286.82 Lowell
£103.52 S1mplyB account
=£6,318.24

Had to put some bits on the credit card, MrC is off sick and he had pittance this month for some reason. Also had a couple of interviews and needed some new shoes and a shirt so I put that on the S1mplyB account. So my debt has gone up a bit but it's okay, once UC and COL comes in I'll get the extra paid off so I'm back on track. Although still haven't done my daughter's Norway payment or got her passport sorted. Also had £181 Council Tax go out today which I wasn't expecting and messed me up, but I checked the payment schedule and it's there, so not much I can do about that. Branded Surveys is up to £24, I've decided I'm going to leave it there until I really need it, a bit like a savings pot!

I've had 2 job interviews - the first one I didn't get and the other one I should hear tomorrow (today?). I've got another one tomorrow (today?) and one on Monday. 

Dr and physiotherapist think my pain is being caused by fibromyalgia, or I may need a referral to Rheumatology, but need to wait for the results of the blood tests I had done this week before they can do anything. I'm still struggling with a ridiculous amount of pain and painkillers don't seem to be working much. Even just cooking dinner is an issue. I'm not sure I'll be able to go back to work yet, but MrC is driving me nuts  so I'm going to try my best to get there. 

I've been looking at PIP but not sure if I qualify without a diagnosis. I think I definitely qualify for something once I am diagnosed. MrC has been helping me A LOT. 

I did a lot of comparisons and found a fairly reasonably priced dentist. The person I spoke to told me to send an email with all my information and they'd set me up and call me back. Surprise surprise they haven't. I'll give them a ring tomorrow (today?) and see what's going on. My tooth is really annoying me!

I'm going to try and update this at least every Thursday so that I'm being accountable! Bed time now, I have tarantulas to rehouse tomorrow (today?) and an interview to prepare for!! 

peb

Wishing you well.

So far as PIP is concerned strictly speaking you shouldn't need a diagnosis but as always it's not that simple.  I suggest you post on the benefits board for some tips. 

I really need to get back to the pool but struggling with the get up and go