£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

Treadingonplaymobil · 15 September 2017 at 7:23AM

Week 31: Day 6

Had a good coffee yesterday - I think the work will come off. Not amazingly well paid (and not until next year), but something I love, and it might lead onto other things.

No childcare on Fridays, so will be hanging out with DC3 today and getting final bits for DC1's birthday (sweets to decorate cake, party bags).

List largely unchanged from yesterday, since I'm am having the world's least productive week.

to do today
1. bake sourdough (attempting fancy new recipe involving overnight proving).
2. make dal for dinner
3. buy wrapping paper and ribbon for DC1's birthday presents.
4. organise the tupperware cupboard!
5. clear some more of the list of non-urgent-but-essential small jobs/emails etc that has carried over every day for the last week because I've been too busy to look at it.
6. check with school how much I owe for DC1's lunches from the first couple of days of this term (I think I also owe for the last few days of last term too) and pay for them.
7. many laundry.

to do this week
1. keep the packed lunches coming in on budget. Going surprisingly well.
2. pick up the social media again, which has fallen very much by the wayside recently, and does help increase income.
3. ebay old pram now that DC3 has stopped using it. It's got a broken part, but might get £20 for spares as it was a really expensive one originally (nine years ago! One of those 'buy better, buy once' incidents, where we researched obsessively for weeks and ended up with the perfect pram, which has survived all three DC and only broke a couple of weeks ago Good timing, as DC3 is 3.5).

to do this month
1. keep the total spend for the month below £3,500 (last month was miles better than the previous average £3,900, going to try to repeat the feat).
2. get my new website finished and launched (crosses fingers, toes and eyes).
3. just work as much as possible and make some money back to recover the enormous shortfall that faces us this month!

debtaghh · 15 September 2017 at 7:31AM

Just wanted to say I really enjoy reading your posts. I have no idea how you get so much done in a day and seem so dedicated.

Treadingonplaymobil · 16 September 2017 at 6:03AM

Week 31: Day 7

Once again, I could basically write the same list for today as I did yesterday. I am getting so little done at the moment while this website is under development. Although (drumroll) I think I am on my last big list of jobs for it today - lots of image sourcing and text editing - and then it will be down to final tweaks and testing before it launches.

The budget continues to be hugely stressful this month. I can feel myself reaching that f*$k it point where the month is so short of reaching the budget that I figure I may as well carry on spending on whatever I want, since the amount on the CC is going up so much anyway. It is really reminding me how all this happened in the first place, but it's not making those feelings go away. We just have so many expenses that one (or two. or five) more spends on the card starts feeling quite insignificant.

edited to add: I am sitting in a different room as I type this morning, and it turns out that this is the room where my usual spider's bigger, beefier relative lives. I hate spider season!

Honeysucklelou2 · 16 September 2017 at 6:38AM

Blackcurrant torte is a good recipe for any lurking frozen berries or a glut. I make it a lot in winter as I freeze pounds of blackcurrant from the garden. The only was I can get children to eat them!

Exciting news that your website will be ready soon.

apple_muncher · 16 September 2017 at 8:06AM

I have heard that spiders do not like conkers. No idea how it works - maybe put them near windows/doors? Might be worth a try...

Busy_Mee1 · 16 September 2017 at 8:08AM

Hi TOPM. I am sorry that you are finding your money issues so stressful, but please don't give up. Stick to your plan and budget and please please don't spend carelessly on your credit cards. Things will get better provided you keep control of this.

Have a good non spendy weekend

Suffolk_lass · 16 September 2017 at 10:09AM

Hi TOPM, I just wanted to cheer you on from the sidelines a bit. You are doing really well.

Please take a minute on a coffee break to explore how much the replacement part for your pram would be.

We bought a second-hand Silver Cross pram (for £50) when our Son was expected. We bought replacement solid rubber tyres, a few leather straps to replace some knackered looking ones, and a tin of coach paint. We sold it on eBay twelve years later for £350 - I am sure it was the way we described it that enticed people to bid, In your case you could buy the part and then market it in a really positive way as I'm sure the comments about it being well-researched and top of the range will encourage people to want it. Grandparents often want one to keep at theirs so pitching at that market is good.

Just an idea.

By the way, my account is currently overdrawn and the the other one is precarious. I announced to Husband yesterday that I would mostly be using my CC for any more spends this month. Half way through.

:( What can I say?

HairyHandofDartmoor · 17 September 2017 at 12:15AM

Hi treading. Just wanted to say that I understand your situation. My DH and I built up huge debts when our children were small and had a few light bulb moments, which then flickered and went out.

We were the poorest in our family, and felt too ashamed too admit we couldn't afford to do/buy things. We also didn't want our children to suffer.

Well, a family bereavement and the recession sent us from just about managing, to not managing at all. How I regretted our £58000 debt then!

We've managed to hang onto our home, but our children have suffered and so have we. We are clawing our way out ten years on, but deeply regret our earlier 'laid back' attitude to our debts.

Well done for facing up to it. Don't do what I did and wait for disaster to strike. Cut your spending and get those debts down while you can, because you don't know what's around the corner and it's best to be prepared.

enthusiasticsaver · 17 September 2017 at 7:07AM

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

Week 31: Day 7

The budget continues to be hugely stressful this month. I can feel myself reaching that f*$k it point where the month is so short of reaching the budget that I figure I may as well carry on spending on whatever I want, since the amount on the CC is going up so much anyway. It is really reminding me how all this happened in the first place, but it's not making those feelings go away. We just have so many expenses that one (or two. or five) more spends on the card starts feeling quite insignificant.

edited to add: I am sitting in a different room as I type this morning, and it turns out that this is the room where my usual spider's bigger, beefier relative lives. I hate spider season!

You have said several times that it is so tempting once you have overspent to just carry on spending thinking once you perceive you have failed to keep within budget you may as well fail big time. This is common as it is easier to stick your head in the sand and ignore it rather than confront it. I would try to think of it as a climb up a mountain with hollows and dips along the way. Either you end up in a dip or you roll all the way down meaning you have to cover a lot of the ground you have covered all over again. One months setback is just that - a setback. Going back 10 months to the attitude you had then to carry on spending even though you know you are over budget means putting your debt free date back a year rather than a month.

I discovered a huuuge spider last night under my study desk and I hate spiders too so I am typing this on my iPad in a brightly lit room in the vain hope spiders hate light and won't appear. My feet are firmly up on the couch though as I hate the thought of them crawling over my feet. I told my husband last night we are pulling furniture out and hoovering this house from top to bottom today. He just rolled his eyes and says the spider will be long gone. I would really love to be so nonchalant

redofromstart · 17 September 2017 at 9:02AM

Those workshops sound excellent TOPM, what an lovely happy good karma thing to do.

£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

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