A Ditherer's Diary (again)

Naomim · 9 May 2017 at 1:38PM

In other news,
I went to buy MrM's monthly travelcard and the card was declined. I usually put by £300 a month to cover house insurance, car repairs, MOT, birthday & Xmas presents so this month I have had to withdraw the £300 to cover his travel. He needs it as we both commute and it's cheaper than buying daily/weekly.

So MrM now knows the true extent of the overdraft. He's not smoked for a week which is a fab achievement so far and if he can keep it up it will start to make a dent in the finances.

I had a job interview last week and I've not heard anything back. They said they wanted to move fast to get someone in so I'm assuming I've not made it to the second round of interviews. I'm feeling quite sad as I really wanted this job.

I have a few more bits to put on ebay, just some of DS's clothes but not expecting too much for them. It's his birthday in a months time and no idea what to get him. He knows we don't have much money at the moment so I'm sure he isn't expecting much. We have Merlin passes from last year so thinking of taking him to Thorpe Park with a friend as we can get a half price ticket for the friend.

I also sold a few bits and pieces at the weekend at a Childrens Nearly New sale in aid of Cancer Research. They get to keep 25% of what you make and not all of my things sold so I'm only expecting about £15-£20 from that. Anything is a bonus

I must also remember to register for my NUS card. I bought an online course a while ago but not done anything with it. With the NUS card I can get discounts all over the place. I should also renew my Compare The Market insurance to get the 2for1 movies. Last year I bought 1 day UK travel insurance for £2.50 and got the 2 for 1 movies for a year. I saved a fortune with that thanks to this website! :money:

That's all for now I think. A trip to Ald! tomorrow for the weekly food shop and doggy to the hairdressers. I've been putting it off but he's a shaggy,smelly mess and needs a good bath and haircut.

N

Naomim · 15 May 2017 at 2:23PM

Afternoon, just a quicky as I'm at work.

I didn't quite get done all I wanted to in the week. I collected my CRUK money and made £21. Now I've mislaid the envelope that had the cash in!
I've applied for my NUS card so that should be with me in a few days.
I also bought one days UK travel insurance for £1.11 and got my Meerkat Movies back. Taking 11yo to see Guardians of The Galaxy 2 on Tuesday as he missed going with a group of friends due to him having a hacking cough.
Still got stuff to get on eBay. Must try and do this on Wednesday.

Still not heard anything back from the job interview so thinking I definitely didn't make 2nd round. Shame they could have let me know.

Back to looking.

Naomi x

GeorgianaCavendish · 15 May 2017 at 3:31PM

Oh no! I hope you find the envelope with the cash in!

Well done on getting your NUS card and Meerkat cinema sorted, what a good idea to buy 1 day's travel insurance and get the offer

There was a thing on the BBC breakfast news this morning about lack of feedback from job interviews. One of the experts they had on suggested candidates email for feedback on their interview performance, they might like your proactiveness and keep you in mind for something in the future even if you didn't get it this time?

Naomim · 18 May 2017 at 2:18PM

Nothing got done yesterday. The dog had his booster injections at the vets. He's such a wimp he screamed as if she'd cut him with a rusty knife! Seriously, she said she'd never known a dog to cry as much. He was playing it for all it was worth, even turned his nose up at a treat (unheard of).

I spent £97 at MrT's too but this is a big shop to stock up bits in the freezer and then the rest of the month I shop in A!di.

Sadly I didn't get anything done for the rest of the day, my friends 15yo DD went missing so I spent the afternoon driving around looking for her before I had to collect mine from school. I'm happy to report she was found by police around 4.30am this morning.

On Friday MrM & I are going out for a meal with his football club. He's a manager for an U12's tea m but has been invited onto the committee. Looking forward to it but hope it's not too expensive!

Naomi x

Naomim · 13 June 2017 at 1:49PM

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted. I hide away when I know it's all going wrong. I know when I'm in control of the finances I feel better but I just can't keep control at the moment.

I had another job interview yesterday and have had positive feedback so hopefully I'll be put forward for the 2nd round of interviews. Luckily I am employed but I work 4 days and they can't offer me full time.

I just don't have any other way of making money. I have an unused sleeping bag up for sale on eBay. 10 watchers no bids yet but hoping with festival season starting it'll go!

I'm feeling really desperate about money. Thursday is my DS's 12th birthday. I've bought his birthday presents and spent about £100 in total. I'm hoping we can get in a takeaway for his birthday. I've told him that I have bought him some presents but that we really have NO money. It's very hard to make kids understand when we've never really "struggled".

Today the bank messaged me to say we'd hit the overdraft limit. I get paid on Thursday which will make a bit of a dent. I just don't know where to start with this debt. I can't see how we used to manage earning less and why we can't do it now.. We don't live an extravagant life-style.

I just don't know what to do to get us out of the s**t.

Oh and I still owe £400 for DS's ski-ing trip which I'm sure was meant to have been paid by now. I'm paying £100 each month when the child benefit arrives.

Naomi

enthusiasticsaver · 13 June 2017 at 1:58PM

I would think a £400 skiing trip could be counted as part of his birthday present. When did school trips suddenly get so expensive? My children had to pay half of these if they wanted to do them either from birthday or christmas money or pocket money. Sometimes they then decided they weren't that interested in the trips. :rotfl::rotfl:

EssexHebridean · 13 June 2017 at 3:29PM

wow - £100 on presents and a £400 skiing trip and you've told him that there's no money? No offence, but I'd be inclined to be careful about the message you'll send out with things like that - if he views that sort of value of stuff as "not much" value going forwards, where does that lead him when he's left school and in his first job, or off at uni if that's the direction he wants to take?

Enthusiastic when I was at school standard trips away were things like a week under canvas in Wales (hated every minute) or a day trip to France (about which the only thing I can remember was that I lost my baguette and Eiffel tower keyring on the coach on the way back!) - if I remember rightly a small contribution was required for those - I think there was a trip abroad for some kids in my final year or two, but that was priced out of our reach as a family and alternative stuff was arranged for the ones remaining at school. I suspect the pricier stuff has always been out there - but perhaps it used to be less of a "must-do" to send kids on them?

Naomi you CAN do this but I do think for the time being at least you need to cut your cloth a bit. It's fabulous that you want to give your kids expensive birthday/Christmas presents and let them join in things like pricey school trips, but honestly, at the moment, unless you can either increase income as you're attempting, or decrease outgoings, the budget isn't there for them, is it. I know this is not what you want to hear, but I think that's the way it needs to be.

As for your builder deciding to leave you in the carp and then apply for bankruptcy, being lined up against a wall is too good for some people. :mad::mad::mad:

Keep posting, Try to make it a daily habit even if the only thing you have to say is "NSD - well done me!" - it makes you accountable to yourself, and can also help you feel less isolated. It does help.

Naomim · 20 June 2017 at 2:29PM

EssexHebridean wrote: »

wow - £100 on presents and a £400 skiing trip and you've told him that there's no money? No offence, but I'd be inclined to be careful about the message you'll send out with things like that - if he views that sort of value of stuff as "not much" value going forwards, where does that lead him when he's left school and in his first job, or off at uni if that's the direction he wants to take?

Enthusiastic when I was at school standard trips away were things like a week under canvas in Wales (hated every minute) or a day trip to France (about which the only thing I can remember was that I lost my baguette and Eiffel tower keyring on the coach on the way back!) - if I remember rightly a small contribution was required for those - I think there was a trip abroad for some kids in my final year or two, but that was priced out of our reach as a family and alternative stuff was arranged for the ones remaining at school. I suspect the pricier stuff has always been out there - but perhaps it used to be less of a "must-do" to send kids on them?

Naomi you CAN do this but I do think for the time being at least you need to cut your cloth a bit. It's fabulous that you want to give your kids expensive birthday/Christmas presents and let them join in things like pricey school trips, but honestly, at the moment, unless you can either increase income as you're attempting, or decrease outgoings, the budget isn't there for them, is it. I know this is not what you want to hear, but I think that's the way it needs to be.

As for your builder deciding to leave you in the carp and then apply for bankruptcy, being lined up against a wall is too good for some people. :mad::mad::mad:

Keep posting, Try to make it a daily habit even if the only thing you have to say is "NSD - well done me!" - it makes you accountable to yourself, and can also help you feel less isolated. It does help.

Thanks, I think with the school trip, I got carried away with it being ski-ing and something we are never going to do as a family. The school offered a payment plan and I wasn't thinking about it (obviously :rotfl:)

The £100 on presents was 3 things. A pair of trainers I got from a retail outlet reduced to £45. A t-shirt and a baseball cap.

So I've been through the bank account and tried to forward forecast all of our regular bills. If we don't spend any extra AT ALL, we can reduce the debt down by around £250 a month. This is giving MrM and I both a cash budget to stick to so if we want to see friends etc it comes out of our own personal budget.

Obviously if I get a full time job my salary will increase and we could decrease the debt a lot quicker. I've applied for loads of jobs but only had 3 interviews. One was a no, one not heard back at all and that was weeks ago and one I've had positive feedback but they want me to wait until the end of the month.

I've also been thinking about other options. I have a fair amount of "spare" credit on my credit card with 0% offers (all my credit card balances are 0% at the moment). I could do a cash transfer to my bank account to get it to a healthier position OR we could look at changing bank accounts completely so we have no overdraft then pay the overdraft off like a debt.

I'm not sure if either of these would be a "workable" solution or even which would be for the best.

I sold a tent on ebay last week. £10.50 + postage :T
And I've been making packed lunches for MrM and myself. Today has been an NSD :j

Naomi x

EssexHebridean · 20 June 2017 at 3:06PM

Yay for NSD's and eBay sales.

The 0% card dilemma - are they definitely money transfer cards? I know you have to be careful with that because trying to do a transfer from the wrong sort of card can count as a cash advance which is bad on all sorts of levels...

Naomim · 20 June 2017 at 5:24PM

It's Barclaycard. I'm pretty sure it's money transfer but I would double check first.

A Ditherer's Diary (again)

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