i try so hard to stop spending, then so much shit comes along...

[iloveithere]

and i have to spend large amounts of money. Since Christmas I've tried so hard to cut back, but I've needed to pay for:
school shoes, school cardigan, essential repairs to the car, light bulb for the fish tank, music lessons, guides subs, vet bills (excess on the insurance)
I don't think i can pay out any more money, but i know something else will turn up. I had budgeted for the guides subs and the music lessons (but the school increased the cost this term so it was more that I expected)

Why does life have to throw up so many hurdles??????

[milk]

Its sucks :( You have my sympathies!

[spottymoo]

Totally agree it's pants
I've had to shell out for a whole new school uniform coat and school bag after dd had to unexpectedly change school.

Swimming comps that normally in April are now in feb so payment was needed by this week. I'll be glad when this month is over.

[Cookiepants]

I feel your pain . Trying madly to save up to boost my SMP when my wage drops only to have large unexpected bill (vet bill / car insurance excess) eat up the EXACT amount I have saved and leave me with sod all

[sixlive]

I find January very hard, its not so much Christmas its that loads of the kids clubs need paying for and we found we needed two lots of school shoes as well. Oh and we got a large unexpected tax bill (mistake by my old employer), there goes the new bathroom...

[pussycatdoll]

The thing is some of it isn't essential
Music lessons, fish tanks
When you're on the bread line those things are the first to go so you must be doing ok :)

[MyGoldenNotebook]

It's a car accident (everyone is okay - just bumper damage) that has done for us here. At least £350 gone and it's going to affect our half term holiday too as we will need train fares now. It's very hard and you have my sympathies x

[Meglet]

Same here, boiler repair, fence repair, something wrong with the car, roof leaking. It's always something .

[WireCat]

Happens here as well. I'm waiting for a month that so etching doesn't break down or one of the kids doesn't have a growth spurt.

[WireCat]

Something not so etching. Wtf!

[ArthurCucumber]

God, yes. Both cars went kaput at the same time - one of them terminally and we can't manage with just one so had to replace it. Ate all our savings and we keep the same shitty bathroom for another year. The car that didn't snuff it needed £700 of work done, dd1's school trip (agreed to before cars went bang) needed £245, and we also got an unexpected tax bill due to a screwup so there went another £258. Thank God we had a full freezer before this happened, because I only have £90 to feed us for a month. We can just hope to fuck that the boiler doesn't break or something - speaking of which, we're now piling on the layers as there's no way we can get another oil delivery before the Spring.

Many sympathies - feels so crap when you think you're getting on top of things and then something else hits .

[iloveithere]

I know we aren't on the breadline, and I really fell for those that are. I'm ignoring the leak in the roof and the tree that is so large it is knocking the fence down. I gave up work recently, for various reasons I don't want to go in to, so we have had a significant drop
in income, that's why im trying to stop spending.

[mashyup]

Just had to find £650 to fix the car - complete panic and dread- hate having no buffer of money for this, complete pants

[specialsubject]

ignoring the leak in the roof, but have fish and pets?

I'm worried about you now.

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

Pets are a responsibility, you can't just forget about them when things get hard.

Op I sympathise, just as I feel like we're on an even keel something comes along that rocks the boat again

[BrownSauceSandwich]

January is always a shit, financially

Don't give up on your good intentions. It might not feel like it, but if you've been cutting back in some areas, you've already made the crisis less extreme.

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

Also will you get a couple of council tax bill free months soon?

[iloveithere]

The roof only drips in extreme weather, and the cat is over 12 years old. What do you expect me to do, specialsubject, swap the cat for roof tiles??

[NormHonal]

Yes, same here, and just had to fork out for a tree surgeon because of the bastard storms as well as car tax.

We had a whole year of this kind of shit last year, it was never-ending. Everything broke.

[Whatnamenext]

Swap the cat for roof tiles

Sorry but the holier-than-though posters just seagull in don't they?
Jesus Christ people.

Surely she should use the cat to plug the roof leak.

[ArthurCucumber]

You should be harvesting its fur to produce economical, environmentally-friendly matting material for insulation and water protection . That's what we do.

Encouraged by the reminder of the council tax free months - I'd forgotten about that . And in our case it would indeed be much worse if, like others, we hadn't had a little buffer. It didn't cover all of it but it was a great start. Once we're over this hump we can start to build it up again for the next bloody time.

[iloveithere]

you lot are very mean to my old, sickly cat. Shame on you all!

[confusedofengland]

We are currently having a month (or two ) very much like this. We have had to fork out for: DH's tax bill, new shoes for DS2, cowboy costume for school at short notice for DS1, school trip (£15) at short notice for DS1, speech classes for DS2, travel system for DS3 as one from DS1 & 2 too old to use now, new seats for car as current seats only lapbelt & need one more seat for when DS3 arrives, big British Gas bill, my NICs bill of £250+. 3 birthdays. All in January. Would have had to pay £300 MOT bill for car but lovely lovely ILs paid it for us. Added to all this, DH has only had 2 weeks work in the last 3 months (SE contractor) and because I have to have ELCS & cannot drive DS1 to school, will not be able to take another contract again for at least 2 weeks post-baby, even if one is offered. Oh, and we don't get council tax-free months because we've only just moved, so have to make up our payments between now & April. Tough is not the word

On the plus side, we did manage to switch our 2 credit cards at 15%ish to a 0% credit card. And DH's 2 weeks work should pay everything (all mortgage, bills etc) for 1-2 months.

[iloveithere]

Well, I've had a little good news. I moaned that school music fees had increased. It turned out they made a mistake, so I get a £15 refund.

[DublinDoll]

Same, swimming lessons to be paid for, the boys do no other activities and learning to swim is essential but they cost €120!

Car tax due, can only afford 3 months which is €108.

DS1's feet are now a 1 and he's squeezed into a 13.

My microwave died at Christmas, I only really use it to heat and defrost stuff but I still miss it.

[MsAspreyDiamonds]

Just paid out 200 for a new room & 200 in bank charges as my dh forgot the pin, locked us out of our account & it went into unapproved overdraft. So by the time it was all sorted out we had iccured hefty charges. He has a habit of doing stuff like this.