stopping-shopping

So I didn't succumb to the No Added Sugar sale, yay me etc ;) But I did get a £10 gift voucher from Boden in the post, and I spent it wisely and didn't use it as an excuse to buy stuff that would be more affordable with £10 off, which I'm certain is their marketing strategy behind the giveaway. I bought a top for DD1 which was £7.00 and free P+P thanks to another code, so that would be a totally free garment, huzzah! Only a short post but a positive one for a change, which is nice :)

Got an email this morning from No Added Sugar, they are a designer clothes brand for small people and they wanted to alert me to their clearance sale, which is kind of them. So I idly clicked the link and surfed a little, no that would be a mistake...I found £50 worth of beautiful baby clothes for the impending daughter all at hugely reduced prices, 65% off that sort of thing. I am sad that I can't afford to buy any of these things, but honestly do we need them? No. We've been given literally bags and bags of lovely baby clothes from our childminder and I bought 6 enormous boxes of newborn - 9 month clothes for £60 from a friend. Baby, as much as I love you, mummy is trying to reform her character and raise you in a financially stable home. I hope you won't feel impoverished or as though you're missing out, but I am only going to spend money on things for you which are affordable and necessary.

My maternity leave is looming and I still don't have a plan in place, other than living to a v strict and scary budget. We've definitely decided against an IVA for reasons mentioned last month : too expensive, restrictive and would cost us more than we owe! The DMP may have to be an option in September when we'll be paying for two small people at childcare again. In the meantime the strict and scary budget is going pretty well! I no longer have access to a debit or credit card and instead am on a £30 allowance. Here's how it works, on Monday's DH hands over £30 in cash and I have to spend that and that alone for the next 7 days. £10 goes on my bus fare home from work each day and the rest is mine to fritter away on rubbish. In a not very surprising move I negotiated an advance last month in order to buy some limited edition Urban Decay eyeliners ta daaaa http://www.temptalia.com/urban-decay-15th-anniversary-247-eyeliner-set-review-photos-swatches So for 4 weeks ...

A busy couple of days in the stopping shopping household. I managed to get a phone consultation with Payplan on Sunday. Spent an hour and a half talking to their rep Bill who was very thorough and seemed upfront and honest. He doesn't think an IVA is the best option for me/us as we would be repaying more than I currently owe and Dh's disposable income is factored into the debt payment. He suggests a DMP as the better option. Pros possibility of freezing interest. Only takes my disposable income into account when working out payments. We would be paying £100 less on debt than we are presently. Potential to be debt free in 4 yrs 9 months Cons Shags up my credit rating. Would shag up Dh's credit rating too as we are joint account holders on a v overdrawn bank account. IVA Pros legally binding on both parties so creditors can't ramp up interest etc All interest frozen. Debt free in 5 yrs Cons Shags up credit rating Shags up Dh's credit rating My name goes on the persona...

With a heart full of trepidation and angst I went to the RBS for the meeting today with Jack my "customer adviser" It all went pretty well! I was immediately upfront, probably too upfront but hey ho at least he knew where I stood and said "I'm in the poo and don't want you to try and sell me any products or further credit please" I went through my big debts and the impending issue of DD2 and basically asked for his suggestions on how to reduce my level of overrall debt. In a nutshell his suggestion is to approach our mortgage provider to extend our mortgage to 90% loan to value and then repay a big chunk of the debt. He feels that nuking the credit rating is too risky as we may need to remortgage / move in the future and lenders are being so hard core in terms of high risk borrowers that he thinks it's worth protecting the credit rating if possible. My initial reaction is "gaaaaah a secured loan to pay off all the rubbish I've spent money on is ...

I am having a tough time at the moment, the IVA looks like being a non starter and the payplan and CCCS people are all hugely busy with other new year destitute types. I found myself revisiting some very dangerous websites yesterday and was in exactly the right frame of mind to buy a Mulberry Roxanne bag in Antique Glace Plum leather for £200... ahhh the purse forum and ebay how I miss your temptations. I didn't buy anything yesterday though unless you count my chicken slice from Greggs at lunchtime! I feel very "at risk" in terms of my spending, so I've given DH my debit card and asked him to give me a cash allowance every week for the foreseeable future. I just don't trust myself not to have a massive splurge. If I had access to credit right now I would buy literally anything to get that brief glow of satisfaction and feeling of worth and belonging, only problem is that they charge 17.9% APR on it and the brief glow is replaced by hours of nausea and self ...

Apols for the non postage of the last month, but genuinely there has been little to tell you guys. Here's a brief pre festive update before I ask for your thoughts on my IVA quandry The highpoints would be Not buying presents over the agreed budget for Chrimble Total honesty with Mr E when I feel I'm having a wobble Not buying glossy enabling magazines ....well apart from the festive Grazia today *blush* Deciding to go cloth nappies with DD2 The lowpoints would be Bank account switch to co-op, complete effing disaster many direct debits returned unpaid and cause of uber stress. Buying 3 foodie type magazines and a green parenting mag "for recipe and nappy research purposes" Spending batloads on heating, as have been leaving it on low overnight. Ok so now to my problem, the IVA people have come back to me with a draft proposal and I am scared witless of it! They propose that I spend more on paying off my creditors over the next 5 years than I am currently doing...