My journey to a debt free life

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  • Cherryfudge
    Cherryfudge Posts: 9,868
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    Thanks for visiting my diary! You've been very productive, especially as you aren't feeling well... hope you are benefitting from the silicol gel, it's not something I've ever heard of before so I'll keep my eyes open for it.

    A couple of thoughts: could those lottery monies go into something that actually is guaranteed to give you a return? I'm thinking if you have a mortgage, overpaying even a little bit saves money in the longer term. I can see that it would be more than a bit upsetting if your number came up, though.

    Your DD's food bill is amazing! One of my colleagues is also a vegan: she says she feels much healthier now and she's very fit and active. I see you eat dairy and eggs - are the eggs from your chickens? I got a chicken coop last year and the plan is to get chickens this year - though there's now a possible hitch as we're going to be away for three weeks later in the year and DD (our reliable pet sitter) now lives out of town.

    Other than that - have you had a look on the Old style boards? They are fantastic for recipes. The one I always end up recommending is a very old one: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=826653&highlight=weazl
    I think a bit of sunshine is good for frugal living. (Cranky40)

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  • Onebrokelady
    Onebrokelady Posts: 7,329
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    Thanks for visiting my diary! You've been very productive, especially as you aren't feeling well... hope you are benefitting from the silicol gel, it's not something I've ever heard of before so I'll keep my eyes open for it.

    A couple of thoughts: could those lottery monies go into something that actually is guaranteed to give you a return? I'm thinking if you have a mortgage, overpaying even a little bit saves money in the longer term. I can see that it would be more than a bit upsetting if your number came up, though.

    Your DD's food bill is amazing! One of my colleagues is also a vegan: she says she feels much healthier now and she's very fit and active. I see you eat dairy and eggs - are the eggs from your chickens? I got a chicken coop last year and the plan is to get chickens this year - though there's now a possible hitch as we're going to be away for three weeks later in the year and DD (our reliable pet sitter) now lives out of town.

    Other than that - have you had a look on the Old style boards? They are fantastic for recipes. The one I always end up recommending is a very old one: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=826653&highlight=weazl
    Hi the Silicol gel is brilliant stuff,my stomach feels back to normal now after nearly a week of feeling sick,the sad thing is I have now caught my daughters cold and feel yucky with that,I have to go back to work tomorrow so I’m hoping I won’t get any worse
    I’m thinking of using the lottery money as a savings fund for Xmas as this is going to be hard to budget for now I’m being careful with my money,I am not buying any more magazines either at £6 a month so that would be £22 a month savings towards Xmas,I haven’t cancelled it yet though :eek:
    Yes my eggs are from my own girls,I started off with ex battery hens but I can’t afford the vets bills for them so I now have some I got from a local breeder,it’s hard work in the winter looking after them but it is nice having the eggs and at least I know I always have egg to eat if nothing else:rotfl:
    Thanks for the link I will go and have a look at the boards later,I’m just off now to cook some tea
    Original Debt Owed Jan 18 = £17,630 Paid To Date = £6,080.1 Owed = £11,549.9
  • enthusiasticsaver
    enthusiasticsaver Posts: 15,461
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    The odds of you winning the lottery are so small I would cancel. As you say you have spent £4000 on it which could have gone towards debts or your emergency fund. I would restrict direct debits to just utilities and debts. You seem on the ball with moving them over to your new account. Having a Xmas savings account is a great idea.
    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Debt free Wannabe, Budgeting and Banking and Savings and Investment boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
  • How about checking out your local library to see whether they do emagazines. Mine has over 170 available online.

    That way you can have your magazine fix without the pain of paying for the pleasure.

    I too have IBS and something called Bile Acid Malabsorption. When I get stressed, the symptoms go haywire. For me, the less processed food I eat, the better I am.

    Also is Boots the cheapest place to get your medications? I have a prepayment certificate for my medicines but buy vitamins etc on the net. If the IBS is still bad, talk to your doctor and see if he can prescribe the gel. I found a visit to the nutritionist really helped as she introduced me to the FODMAP diet.

    Good luck with the debt-busting
    Pauline
    Don't get it perfect - Get it going
    Better Than Before
  • The odds of you winning the lottery are so small I would cancel. As you say you have spent £4000 on it which could have gone towards debts or your emergency fund. I would restrict direct debits to just utilities and debts. You seem on the ball with moving them over to your new account. Having a Xmas savings account is a great idea.
    I’ve sorted some of my direct debits but some of the others haven’t been paid yet so I’m just waiting for that then they will be done,I’m going to cancel the lottery dd as it really isn’t practical or a priority and I need that money now for my savings
    Original Debt Owed Jan 18 = £17,630 Paid To Date = £6,080.1 Owed = £11,549.9
  • 117pauline wrote: »
    How about checking out your local library to see whether they do emagazines. Mine has over 170 available online.

    That way you can have your magazine fix without the pain of paying for the pleasure.

    I too have IBS and something called Bile Acid Malabsorption. When I get stressed, the symptoms go haywire. For me, the less processed food I eat, the better I am.

    Also is Boots the cheapest place to get your medications? I have a prepayment certificate for my medicines but buy vitamins etc on the net. If the IBS is still bad, talk to your doctor and see if he can prescribe the gel. I found a visit to the nutritionist really helped as she introduced me to the FODMAP diet.

    Good luck with the debt-busting
    Pauline
    Hi, I didn’t know the library offers that service,I will certainly look into it thanks,
    I have meds on prescription for the IBS and also I’m on painkillers due to a chronic pain condition,I used to have a prepayment certificate but my meds cost me less now so it’s not worth it anymore,I get two months supply at a time which works out at under £10 a month,I had a 3month certificate and sometimes i didn’t get two lots of meds out of it so it was a waste,I used to be on 7 different meds but I’m only on two now so it costs less
    The silicol gel was sort of an emergency buy because I had a really nasty D&V bug last weekend which left me feeling nauseous so I wanted something to stop that feeling,I probably won’t buy it again ,I was impressed with how it worked though
    Original Debt Owed Jan 18 = £17,630 Paid To Date = £6,080.1 Owed = £11,549.9
  • Onebrokelady
    Onebrokelady Posts: 7,329
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    edited 5 February 2018 at 12:21AM
    I have had a busy couple of days,I haven’t done anymore debt wise apart from sorting out-some direct debits,however I withdrew the money that would have gone on the council tax because I don’t have to pay it this month and along with some money that came in that was owed I now have £450 in my emergency fund, I would normally have spent this by now but it’s going into a savings account next week when I get chance to open one,Im actually enjoying squirrelling money away and Im busy looking at other things I can do so far I have decided to
    Cancel the lottery at £16 a month
    No mags at £6
    These are being put into a savings pot for Xmas along with some money I get for renting out my garage to my nephew for £32 month so I will have the princely some of £54 to save every month for Xmas and birthdays etc,its xmas and birthdays that get me into trouble so to be able to budget for them will help a lot
    I think Im going to struggle some months because of the way Stepchange work the wages out on a flat month I earn £1170 and on a good month with my unsocial hours I earn £1250 so they have added them together to come up with £1210 which is the average,but on the flat month it will be very tight so I might have to use the £54 that month but we will see,Im speaking to my colleague who does our rota omorrow to make sure she knows I need at least one Saturday and one Sunday a month to be able to live and afford my bills,she usually manages it but needs reminding every so often,everyone hates working weekends so in theory I could get more but she likes to share them out
    Apart from all that I have had a quiet weekend,I have put spent any money for the last two days,I met my mum for lunch yesterday but had to come home early because I was ill with awful stomach cramps,I was ok by the evening though
    Today I felt a lot better this morning so I cleaned my landing and stair carpets as they were looking a bit grubby then I dusted and hoovered downstairs followed by the ironing (Im determined to keep on top of it no Ive got rid of the ironing mountain) then I did a bit of crafting in the afternoon,I have so many projects to do that they should keep me busy for the rest of the year
    Im back at work tomorrow so have to be up at 5.15 am which means I had better go to bed,I have a terribly runny nose and keep sneezing though so Im not sure I will sleep very well
    Original Debt Owed Jan 18 = £17,630 Paid To Date = £6,080.1 Owed = £11,549.9
  • Onebrokelady
    Onebrokelady Posts: 7,329
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    edited 5 February 2018 at 7:50PM
    Started posting an entry earlier but was disturbed so had to close the page and lost it all,so here we go again
    I went back to work today full of cold and feeling rotten I did manage to last until 2pm and then came home,Ive now lost my voice, its my day off tomorrow and I dont t have to go anywhere or do anything other than stay at home so I!!!8217;m hoping that a day at home in the warm with a couple of nights sleep will help me recover enough to go to work on Wednesday,I am on formal monitoring for my sickness at work because I have Fibromyalgia so my levels have been higher than normal in the past,the annoying thing is is that at the moment my pain levels are under control but I had a nasty virus before Xmas that took me out for a couple of days and now this,I think I must be run down and Im wondering if all the stress Ive been under has made it worse,hopefully I will recover soon and get back to normal
    I did manage to contact my payroll dept today and change my details to my new bank so my wages should go in there next payday,so thats another job ticked off.
    Tomorrow I am going to sort the rest of the direct debits and call my creditors to let them know I am entering a DMP,I havent recieved any paperwork from Stepchange yet though so Im hoping everything is ok and it will come soon as I want to get this sorted ASAP
    This evening I am just chilling at home and Im going to try and have an early night,I woke up at 4.15 this morning and I didnt need to be up until 5.15 so I lost an hour there ,heres to a good nights sleep
    Original Debt Owed Jan 18 = £17,630 Paid To Date = £6,080.1 Owed = £11,549.9
  • Onebrokelady
    Onebrokelady Posts: 7,329
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    Really fed up today,I went to change the DD for my council tax online and when I put in the account number for my new bank account it said it wasn’t a valid number,I used the number she wrote down for me and now I’m worried she has written it down wrong,I’ve used this number on the form to have my wages paid into this account so if it’s wrong I’m going to have to do it all again,this is why I didn’t want to do this in the first place because every thing I do always goes wrong and becomes a pain in the !!!! which I then have to sort out
    I still haven’t got any paperwork from Stepchange so can’t progess with that either and I can’t access my BC card account because I have forgot all the log in details,I tried to reset them by following the reset link but it just took me round in circles,my account has now been locked because I tried to log in too many times so I now have to phone them,I can’t phone them today because I’m not on my own at home so I have to wait for everyone to !!!!!! off out
    On top of that I am really ill with what feels like the cold from hell,I draw the line at saying it’s flu but it’s pretty dam close,I just need to get this sorted and the waiting is doing my head in
    The positives of today is I haven’t left the house so haven’t spent any money yet,I do need to go to the shop later because we need loo roll and bread,the thought of walking down there is not nice given the way I feel but hey ho needs must and all that
    Original Debt Owed Jan 18 = £17,630 Paid To Date = £6,080.1 Owed = £11,549.9
  • Chrystal
    Chrystal Posts: 1,841
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    If there's other people there ask one of them to go to the shops for you.

    It sounds as though everything is going pear shaped, but it WILL get sorted out, just keep your chin up and try to stay positive. ((hugs)) X
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