oh my life...... Light Bulb moment.

Solwaysaver wrote: »

MiMi66,
I've lurked for a long time now but having read your posts from the beginning today i thought i'd come out of my cosy cupboard and join you. Reading your posts i thought it was a thread i must have started and forgotton about! Yet another single mother of over 10 years, 2 daughters, oldest left home now, youngest just finished 1st year of uni. Yes tried the dating thing but can't afford it!
My debts around the 23000 mark built up of what?? Not alot to show for mine.
I also love books ( have a bit of a library going on !), walking and would love a dutch bicycle .
Oh and i'm 46 and a nurse! So if you don't mind i'll hop on board, was getting a bit dusty in my cupboard anyway!
Jules x
Ps think my username should've been solwayspender :rotfl:

Hi Jules!! Hop in the same boat as me - nice to have company - and as above - I am sorry I haven't written back before - as said - head has been firmly buried in the ground and I have not wanted to venture out of my bubble. A dusty cupboard sounds a dark place to be - a bit like my earthy head buried place!!

Isn't the Summer holidays a stretch on finances!! And with finances that are already strained to breaking. I find myself thinking about selling up but just so frightened that I may go from frying pan to fire. And I can't really downsize as I am in a very modest semi anyway. Tatty but I love it - and the children do to. So I am awaiting pay ay but sadly current monthly debt is at the point that paying it all off means not much money to live on for Sept. And my daughter heads to uni - and there will be associated costs of set up.... How do people do it???? there must be so many people like us struggling I think? God forbid if they put up the interest rates....

Dating - argghhhhhhhhhhh. Need I say any more. Can't afford it, don't have the waist line or the clothes, or the cash to make sure I can go halves, and seriously couldn't cope if I met a 'bad apple', my tolerance isn't great, and I think I have opted to opt out rather than test my romantic resilience.:rotfl:

So - I try to take small inexpensive pleasures - have taken up yoga which is a delightful way to bury one's head (and work on the waist line 87cm needs to get back under 80cm so I can fit into my old clothes and therefore not need to replace wardrobe- at moment I am unintentionally looking like a shabby sheik vintage woman, and unfortunately am at an age where that doesn't get carried off all that gracefully or elegantly.

Also by throwing myself into work - have done an extra 12 hours on NHSP this month - keeping wolf from door money. Just wish the extra work was reliable.

And my beloved bicycle - I am off work for two weeks - and it hasn't stopped raining in Devon!!!!!!!! Arghh and double arggghhhhh. She is lovely though and I am so glad I have her.

I have just advertised a couple of items on gumtree - a tent and a cot - fingers crossed as the extra pounds will make the difference.

I hope everyone else following my trials is doing OK? Keep focused - and don't panic - that's what I keep saying to myself.:eek::p

Well, this month the debt is decidedly going the wrong way! School hiday period has hit hard.
Hi Chesky - my daughter gets a small grant for uni. And thank heavens she has a brilliant attitude to money. I long struggled with the idea of asking her to pay board and decided against it as she has been so good at saving and not throwing away her small earnings that I know she will need every penny at Uni. As for being more open to cost savings? I guess we all differ in what is really valuable as a standard. Having watched Mosley's documentary this week on the meat industry I feel very validated in my views and the fact that I buy small quantities but ethically 'grown' produce. I think you might have the wrong idea. Cheap huge quantities of food that is produced like something out of a cruel nightmare is not for me or my family. So if that is what you call being resistant I am happy to take that title. Resistance is not such a bad thing when up against fundamental wrongs I think?

Thank you Debt free2012 - positive thinking is all! On a happy note I have has some unexpected news. My home bordered two properties that have HUGE trees on the fence line in their gardens. Lalandia? Spelling wrong. Anyway I have had many conversations with both neighbours who acknowledge that I live in a black out ( more war references!) but who refused to cut the trees back. I couldn't afford to do it, so accepted it as philosophically as I could. Anyway. Both neighbours have sold and moved and new neighbours (both of them) have come and asked me if I minded if they cut the trees back and put fences up instead!
Yahoo!!!! So happy!!! I didn't quite bite their hands off but certainly had teary eyes when the first neighbour with the hugest trees came to see me. It would cost many many hundreds of pounds and I am so grateful they are doing this. So maybe not entirely debt related but it means whatever I can save through to next summer I could put towards tidying up my place outside so the lovely neighbours don't have an eyesore of my house to look at! (And it might just stop it from falling down in a mass of flaking paint and rotted garage doors).

So debt. I don't know. Sometimes I panic, sometimes I am accepting. But mostly I am trying my best to get things straighter.

The kids and I have discussed Christmas already. Reconciling them to a smaller but beautiful loving Christmas which they are on board with. We are going to do a modest Christmas but one full of fun and games and time and food ('good' food). Aren't I a bit bonkers mentioning Christmas in August! Anyone else thinking ahead yet?

My intermediate goal is to have my debt down to £18500 by April 2015. I think if I can the pay off £4/5000 a year (gulp) I will be debt free in 2019. Focused. I think it helps? Realistic pace I hope?