We are screwed finiacally.

[misdee]

ok, i know i am spendaholic, and need to stop. i have over 8k of unsecured debt. most of that was from before Peter fell ill, some of it is due to spiraling costs with him being in hospital. All payments are being met, but now dd2 dla has stopped (we are going for reconsideration), tax credits will go down (not sure how much by) and i could well have screwed up massively. I can clear over 2-3k straight away if i sell my car and my collectin of bears. But Peter says not to, as we wont get their full worth. But i dont know what to do. I am pulling the belt in as much as possible (all i need to buy for the next week or so is veggies, milk and some bread ingrediants.) and will be ebaying anything that stays in one place too long. but I am so annoyed that i got too complacent again. Its so easy to bid on things without thinking and paypal it. i want to shut down my paypal account but i dont know if thats possible. DD2 could well be reinstated within 11weeks(!!!) but i know they could just refuse it totally.

I dont know if i want advice or just a rant.

lololol....like that rug

look like your face

I like Cod's rug, I might buy it!! lol

"cod's rug"

dont start tat rumour

pmsl!!

I have seen Nutty jumped on quite nastily on one or two previous threads about holidays/more kids/her exp.
I think she is probably upset by double standards
Neither Misdees nor Nutty situation is "more" worse than each others, they both have terrible bloody strains in different ways.

As someone who used to live hand to mouth and live on £25 pw week for food and trests, for someone to spend £200 on something non essential and then to declare themselves financially shagged would have sent me into orbit whatever the circs.

There are degrees of being hard up for sure.

Sorry misdee, but you are overstretching again.

\link{http://nrich.maths.org/content/02/09/penta5/stamp3.gif\Maybe this rug}, at Christmas, if you're good

Would it look nice in \link{http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=www.yurtski.com/yurt_night%2520(2).jpg&imgrefurl=www.yurtski.com/yurt.htm&h=416&w=640&sz=270&tbnid=DE3tMLqBHAtE9M:&tbnh=87&tbnw=135&hl=en&start=1&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2527yurt%2527%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG\this?}

i have been in living on 30 per week situation before. i dont want to go there. we lost our home before. peter went bankrupt.

there you go. want to know anymore i'd happily divulge.

I agree w/Socci's post 1.28PM.

And w/Piffle. Nutty has been jumped on quite nastily, especially considering it has taken her a lot of courage to deal w/splitting from a partner who was emotionally abusive.

And, yes, being screwed financially I would read as being unable to pay rent and buy food. Have been there, unfortunately, and literally sold all and sundry to eat.

It's not a good place to be.

and so have i.

Not a good time for either of you, it sounds.

Once you get on a roll flogging, it gets easier. It's just taking the first step that's the toughest.

i have to speak up in Nutty's defence here. She has been through some difficult financial times too so she does speak from experience. I also think she speaks a lot of sense. If you're broke then surely you are broke. My friend over the road is broke and maintains she cant pay for basics - they have no heating/hot water as she cant pay for the maintenance on the boiler but she asked if her dd could come over to mine the other day to heat up a M&S ready meal in my oven! Now that really didnt make sense to me.

FWIW and whilst I realise the subject is effectively closed and the decision has been made, I would have cancelled the playhouse and used the money to some other good.

fine, i'll cancel the bloody house.

look misdee there's no need to be quite that stroppy. I appreciate how you're feeling but just think what £200 could buy/pay off? Wouldnt it just ease the pressure a bit? I know it would for me and we're quite comfortable.

See, this is why I never buy all those money-saving and financial self-help books. I mean, you don't get out of debt by spending money making the book's author even richer buying books!

And that's the beauty of the internet, I get free advice there b/c I expense my broadband as a business expense for my side job.

misdee - I have no opinion either way on whether you should get the house or not, but if you don't I found \link{http://www.ekmpowershop.com/ekmps/shops/packaging/index.asp?function=DISPLAYPRODUCT&productid=489&gclid=CLKS79aCtYQCFQpvEgodB1NNDQ\this} house the other day which looked fun and would keep your promise without spending tons. Not suitable to stay out overnight I know, but could be a good stopgap until the money situation is easier (for example if the reconsideration works).

Even cheaper (if you're the arty type and have the time - I know life is busy at the moment, so maybe not!) would be to go to Currys or similar and ask them for an old appliance box and help the kids make a house/den out of one. If you can blag a HUGE quantity of fridge-freezer boxes there's some \link{http://www.mrmcgroovys.com/ideas.htm\fantastic} projects you can make for them (or con a friend/relative into making for you!)

I'm not arty at all, so I'd probably get the ready made one.. hehe.

I know, like many of us here, that I would go without and sell pretty much all my stuff before getting rid of anything of the kids that they still loved (even if it hadn't been delivered yet) - for me that's in the same league as raiding the kids' building society account. Last resort stuff. So I do understand that you'd want to keep that for them.

Hope I'm not out of line - just wanted to pass you those links as I found them the other night, then when I saw this thread I thought they might suit :)

Misdee, have you signed up to Freecycle? See \link{http://www.freecycle.org\here}. It's an organisation which enables people to pass on things they no longer need/want for no cost. You can post messages with items to offer or you can post a message indicating that you want something. Then others respond to say they either want what you've got or may have what you want. It's worth a try.

On the site, just click on the United Kingdom bit and then find out what groups there are in your area (or where you can access). I've recently recycled some pre-school CDroms which might otherwise have ended up on the tip.

Misdee

I think nutcracker was trying to be helpful but unfortunately came across in the wrong tone. Sorry, but I agree with her about the playhouse but do understand that you wanted to keep your promise to the kids, which I thought was very admirable!!! :)

I changed credit cards to a Nectar American Express which takes the full amount every month. I mainly shop at Sainsburys and earn extra nectar points whenever I use the card. I then use the points to get free shopping every now and again. When I used to shop at Tesco I had a tesco credit card for the same reason.

This won't make you a millionaire but it's handy when you've got enough points (through your normal every day expenditure) to get shopping and groceries for free!!!

Don't think £200 willmake much difference to am 8k debt so I would keep it for the reasons I stated earlier you will never fit the medical stuff in otherwise

erm piffelim agine my suprise when banning a bloke form driving when i looked to see his occupatin was "yurt maker"
how i snorted

cod
what the hell is a yurt???!!!!

scroll down to piffles link, a long established mn thing

ffs PARP