The clearer picture

So I've not really blogged on money for a while. That's not just because I haven't thought to or because I've not got around to it but mainly because its a bit of a raw issue in our house at the moment. On the one hand we have a fairly healthy bank account - because we have extra mortgage to buy the land next to our house. That is due to all happen quite soon - so we'll have to work on that, fence it off and maybe put an extra door in the kitchen. That's the happy news. The slightly more stressful news is that we're about to go down to just one income. And the scary thing is that that one income is actually mine. My income can range from between £110 a month to £750 a month - yes - and it's not all that predictable until the very last minute. Joel's contract is about to end on his job and there are just not many jobs out there. He's looked and he's tried...and is still looking and trying- but we're also having to think outside the box on how he can be working with some business ideas to start bringing some money in... but it's not a very comfortable time. Actually its been a tough time - and mainly because we feel a bit like we're living in limbo. On the one hand we can afford a few things at the moment - not much, but we're able to do things. Our printer broke last month and we were able to replace it, we've put money aside to buy Holly a bike for her birthday... But we're also feeling like we should be saving every penny possible for the summer when things could get really tight. We've made the decision today not to take our trip to Italy in the summer. Its a friends wedding and we've already bought our eurotunnel pass and all the insurance...but we figure we'd be wiser to make a loss on all of that rather than try to afford the petrol and accommodation. We were planning to camp for most of it but even so - the cost of eating while away seems to be so much more than when you're home - not ever sure why!? But as much as we'll be gutted to cancel that - we're just not in a place to cover that sort of cost. So instead we've decided to plough all our efforts over the next few months into paying off the credit card - the longstanding aim! So its all been consolidated... 1 card... no interest... and the target figure stands at £-8701.93. Yep. Our aim is to have it paid by October... not sure why we picked that but the sooner the better :) So here starts what feels like a brand new adventure... here's where we find out how little we can really live off! My quick sums tell me that with £421 for the mortgage £93 for council tax, £150 for gas, electric and water...£30 insurances and thats pretty much the end of my possible £750 wages... Oh man.