Pick Yourself Up, Dust Yourself Down...

phoning CC card co Monday to advise of late partial payment, this is isn't the first time and I'm not sure they will too lenient with me, probably pass me to their collections department. Paying half required minimum payment, so I can fill car up with £20, and have £50 to last the next two weeks.

On the plus side, I had just over £7 cash in my purse, after paying parking and buying fresh supplies from the butcher for the weekend that left me with a £1, my workplace is linked to a charity shop, I was browsing and chatting to sales staff, they caught my eye - a pair of jeans brand new with tag my size - £1 ! Cannot resist and can justify ! No new clothes for months and then they were from the Next catalogue last Christmas, which I'm still paying off at 26.9 %.

My first standing order of £10 goes into my emergency fund on Monday, given things are so tight it's probably the wrong thing to do, but I need to get some momentum going to pick myself up - a psycological boost ? Saving instead of spending ..mmm now there's a turnaround.

I do have a partner in all this, he knows I have debts but not exact details. This man is wonderful. He pays all the essential bills - like council tax, electric, gas , phone bill etc. I buy groceries, clothes, pay for the running of the car. We are in the lucky position of having paid our mortgage off when we moved three years ago. Maybe I don't count my blessings enough ?

Feeling a little more up today, loads of things to list on ebay, but a bit more inspiration needed from my fellow PF'ers. I like the little progress bars they all have so I'm off to find one :)

Postives and Negatives

Our youngest has declared he wishes to cycle to school every morning, we're happy with that. Trust and independence for him, saves on petrol, wear and tear on the car. However it has cost £30 for a new lock and helmet, but those things can prove to be priceless.

Got accepted for an Esavings account with Natwest, I now have an emergency fund of ..wait for it....£1 ! It's a positive step.

Found an old savings account passbook I hadn't touched for 7 years, went in to local branch, updated account I had earned a whole 8p interest, minus 2p 20% gross tax, well that's 6p more than I had last week . Think I'll close the account and put the princely sum of £11.51 into my emergency fund.

Like reformed spendaholic, I have been suffering from procrastination on the mundane things in life. House is in need of TLC, the evergrowing pile of unmatched socks seems to be having some sort of baby boom. I have still to list a pile of unwanted items on ebay, karate suits, nearly new football boots.

I have been grocery shopping, but wrong frame of mind shopping. Lack of a menu plan is the cause. I have approx £92 for the next three weeks of food, can do it, after all compared to last month it feels like a fortune. So this week I have to sit down and work it out.

£87 sitting in topcashback.co.uk account, hopefully to be credited next month which will pay the most of the car tax.

Things are heading in the right way, slowly, but surely.

Can't spend a penny !

I've set myself a challenge, no spending from 24th of August until 30th. Why? because it's over 2 weeks til payday, all creditors have at least minimum balances, have food and petrol, but only £80 left. I 've attempted and dropped out of so many challenges on MSE -DFW that I want to prove to myself I can do something. Plus it will be a babystep.

Day 1 - Friday 24th - resisted 30p paperback in charity shop, have at least 2 books to read at home. If said book is available on Thursday 30th I will buy.

Today I will tidy this house up, catch up with the ironing then treat myself to an afternoon in the garden with book, followed by Chicken Fahjitas and X-Factor. Kids will be happy playing with their mates.

Marbles ?

The marbles refererence is for two areas of my life.

First my way of thinking - you know like 'loosing my marbles'. I'm not a very confident person, low on self esteem, not a very positive person. Not depressed, but want to up my game so to speak. Make my life better instead of lurching from one day to the next in total disorganisation.

Second, I have a marbles credit card that I owe a small fortune on. And I want to focus on clearing that debt, with the help of the MSE - Debt Free Wannabe Forum.

I'm 40 next year ( in 367 days to be exact) and all though it's just a number it's also a state of mind, I don't want behave like I should, just because I'm 40, I want to do stuff because I can.
Sometimes I think that Harry Enfield sketch where Kevin turns 13 is true, teenagers behave that way because society dictates they should grunt and declare everything is unfair for the whole six years.

So the next year I'm going to change the things I don't like and improve the things I do.

Here's my target list to begin with:

• Stop smoking, this is a big thing for me now. Stopped a year ago, for 4 months, but fell back into the trap late Summer 2006. I've been faffing around for the last month trying to stop, but find excuses and battle with the nicotine monster eventually giving in. I can't afford it, mentally, physically or financially. Mentally because I find myself to be one of those irritable, shouty, people when under the influence of the weed, forever wondering when I can have the next 'fix', hate smoking when I smoke, want to smoke when I can't. Stupid habit. Physically, goes without saying really. I know how bad it is. Financially, it costs a small fortune, on an average of 20 a day that's £1952.75 a year, at pre- budget prices. So justify that ? I can't.


• Psoriasis. I suffer mildly but enough to annoy me. Can't go swimming. This is stress related, but I'm sure diet and smoking don't help. So generally taking better care of myself would help. I don't eat much junk, however partial to chocolate (not every day) and crisps, and drink too much tea and alcohol.


• Stop drinking alcohol, might aswell, a couple of lagers a night won't be missed.


• Mealplan everyweek. This helps with the finances. Instead of racking my brains every night about what to feed the menfolk, plan, shop via Tesco, no impulse buys. Will eventually set myself a budget for the month.

My first task is to stop smoking.

Jo