early 40s and not fabulous at all

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

The gas and electric look low. I would not be saving £100 in your child's saving account until your debt is gone and you have an emergency account. Can you reduce it? £100 is a lot to spend every month on clothes and shoes when you are in debt. The groceries and personal care is high as is the presents budget.

There is definite scope for cutting down on spends. How long do the 0% deals last for? At the rate you are paying your unsecured debts it will take around 4 years to clear. I reckon you could shave a year off by finding an extra £87 a month to repay £400 a month.

Thank you.

The direct debt used to be £59 for gas & electric, but e.on sent me a message to say DDs were reduced to £26 because of too much credit. I was thinking maybe I should up it a bit, at least to £30, I don't want to end up owing too much.

Sadly, the spends on non-bills are just an estimate for the future budget, not real. In reality they are much higher than what I posted. I plan to sit down with last 3 months worth of expenses... but I need to get my courage up to do that. I'm tempted to not do it at all, and just budget going forward. Not sure what's best.

The 0% deals are for 20 months - the 9K one and at 22 months - the £4.9K one. I've switched debts to 0% two months ago.

Thanks for lobbying on our behalf! I shall email them as well. And Lidl!

My ex paid child maintenance early this month, as he'll be travelling again. Halifax overdraft is now paid and the account is in green. I've also paid the £65 to Barclaycard #2 so my total debt is now at £13900. I'm leaving the Barclaycard at home and really, really hope I manage not to touch it anymore. I am unable to cut it. I know I need to do it though so I that's high on my to do list. I also need to list my to do list - immediate goals and long term ones. Work in progress

Thank you, I do realise it will take a while until I figure out a budget that works. I decided to forget about old spend and focus on the future. Entering all spending in the Spending Tracker apps really helps, it keeps me alert and focused on not spending. Hopefully the mood will last. I did cancel an older card with £0 on it yesterday and I'm constantly thinking about cancelling Barclaycard #2. I don't think it's enough to leave it at home.

On a different note, I went on a date tonight. I signed up (after a long break) on a dating app a while ago and talked to a guy who seemed nice. My child's at a bday party/sleepover so I thought why not.... I put on a nice red top and nice heels (ok not that high). The date was terrible. No connection, no attraction, not much to talk about - although I tried. We both tried. Eh well... At least he was nice and decent, and the place was good. Had a glass of wine, said pass to the 2nd one and now I'm sat on the train feeling deflated. At least I didn't spend the free evening alone :-)

Anyone else single on here? Where do you meet people? I'm fed up with online dating, it's soul-less and there are too many people who lie about who they are what they want.