Little man...and, 'yes', I've a feeling he will have. Well, I just want it over with now, it's been fun but this last bit drags.
day 92 - no gambling.
What has been fun? Having a heavily-pregnant wife? My wife and I are both terrified of child birth - it is our first child - I just cannot understand how the baby can fit inside her, let alone get out. When is your wife's due date?
The fun part is from when you know to about 8 months.Then it stops being fun because you want it to be born. Well, that's my opinion anyway. due date is Feb 14th, but you should allow 3 weeks before just in case. So we're two weeks away now.
As for being scared of the birth, obviously I'm not qualified to say but my OH had no pain relief whatsoever last time (our first baby) and actually enjoyed the process. She's a little quirky at the best of times, so she's not the best benchmark, but she's quite a hippy (unlike me) and was all into the 'natural function of being a woman should be experienced as Nature intended'. This time she's having a home birth (unfortunately for me, although I've said nothing).
Hi...just had a read through your diary...I feel your pain with claiming the tax credits etc, I had that a couple of years back and was waiting and waiting and waiting!! At least you know that you have a nice chunk of cash coming your way that will ease the financial burden! I wish I was getting a few grand through to pay a few debts off 😉
can't believe your wife is having a home birth!! Well done her! I had a terrible time with my first baby so it would never cross my mind but if the first one was easy enough I'm sure it will be an amazing experience!
Well done on getting this far in your recovery...it sounds like gambling is a million miles away from your thoughts.
Lots of Love
Shorty xx
Day 93
no milk today
No milk today? A day off work or has your wife gone into labour? Any news from HMRC? They were on strike today!
Should be 'no gambling today'. God only knows what was going through my head. Not done on purpose!
no labour yet. No news from HMRC. Didn't know they were on strike, but confident that it'll delay my claim even longer.
Day 94 - No gambling today.
6 days and counting.
Hope your OH is doing ok and preparations for home birth are all in place.
The tax mam has a great habbit of taking the good out of things, but it will come.
Keep strong bud.
Day 95 - no gambling today
Thank God - some movement today.
Tax credits have been sorted. I'm due a payment of £2400 tomorrow, then a further £400 in 3 weeks. I've made an official complaint against child benefit today, who've been sorting THAT claim since June last year. They owe me around £600.
In a week or two I'll be able to make a rough guess as to a debt-free day. for now, though, I will do my calculation on this page. Italics is the original debt, bold the new one. I want to see these figures decrease over the next few weeks. I'm starting by paying off my friend who lent me £1000. My dad will wait a week or two longer.
Debt 1 - £6k (friend by standing order) £5725
Debt 2 - £1k (friend, by March this year) £00 paid off
Debt 3 - £2.5k (Dad, when tax comes)
Debt 4 - £3k, Cc
Opening debt: £12,500
Current debt: £11,225
95 days... fantastic
Debt falling.... brilliant.
You are really making great progress, thats 11% reduction in debt with the Tax to come to pay your dad back, if you can keep going like this 2012 is going to be a fantastic year for you, this can be the start of some great times for you.
Thanks for your post yesterday, i feel like sirmoansalot lately, need to do as you suggested and do something with the family to have some quality time.
It is good to see your debt reducing and it is certainly good news that HMRC are going to pay you at last. What happened about your NatWest overdraft and what about your Virgin credit card?
You're a sharp one, Pelle!
NW overdraft is now the loan from Dad - he lent it me in case NW suddenly 'recalled' any more of my overdraft. So, I'm quits with the bank (actually £87 o/d, just checked).
The £3k cc debt I have IS the Virgin card - I transferred it from my NW one. This is 0% interest until Sept 2013, so the debt is not a priority at the moment.
It does feel good to have a little breathing space.
Went crazy and spent all that money today.
Actually, that's a complete lie. I did no such thing. But it's certainly the pattern of what's occured before, and this time is no different in that it has crossed my mind (unfortunately, and shamefully). Cash injection of £2400 came in this morning, and at 3pm I passed a slot machine arcade (not my thing anyway) and wondered about playing one of the bandits. I also went into a strange stupor in the pub yesterday and examined all the rules on their in-house poker/roulette/quiz machine (£70 jackpot). I didn't play, thank God, but I know it's the influence of being out of the woods as far as critical debt is concerned.
Is there something about gamblers that 'likes' to be on the edge of disaster?
Anyway, I will not gamble, SHALL not gamble, and I will continue to come here to gain strength.
I 'forgot' £500 off my debts yesterday, so my totals are:
Debt 1 - £6.5k (friend by standing order) £6225
Debt 2 - £1k (friend, by March this year) £00 paid off
Debt 3 - £2.5k (Dad, when tax comes)
Debt 4 - £3k, Cc
Opening debt: £13,000
Current debt: £11,725
I think you are on to something with the likes being on the edge. I think in a very sick way I have missed that feeling during the last few months. I think there was always this sense of how well in control I was in that no matter how much I lost I could cover over the cracks and move on from disaster to disaster without being found out.
Reading that I realise how big a pr+#k I sound and actually was while gambling. Loosing bill money and covering it up is not something a good partner/husband/dad would do. Having your family miss out on things cos you had a bad weekend in the bookies again not showing strong qualities as a person. I guess putting the best foot forward is the only way to go now. Try in some way to make it up to the important people in our lives.
They deserve that. So do we, that's the thing I don't feel comfortable wit at the moment though.
Hi Jim,
Thanks for taking the time to post on my diary earlier. Debts seem to be manageable for you right now and at least your not in the hands of NW. Imagine if all investors went to the bank and withdrew all their money (like the bank is with you), it would bring the financial world to a complete standstill. The greedy bas t ards make me sick.
Well done on the 96 days, look forward to hitting that century on tuesday 🙂
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