Mini meltdown and light bulb moment

AleMrsT · 27 August 2017 at 5:02PM

I've sold some of the items I listed on ebay, £68.78 received so far but got to factor in postage costs out of that. Hopefully I'll be able to send some of the items through OH's work so the postage costs will be slightly cheaper, I've massively under charged on postage previously when selling through ebay so hopefully I've got it right this time! Got a few more items that are awaiting payment and I've listed the unsold items on preloved, so hopefully I'll sell a few more to bring the total up a bit more. With OH's PPI payment we've 'made' £399.55 so far. :j

All of it minus the postage costs and £40 for a gardener that is coming tomorrow to trim our front hedges down will be paid towards the holiday.

I have 3 days extra pay being paid in August's pay for over time I have done, plus any bonus that we get this month, which won't be a lot, but I have £100 to pay for my prescription sunglasses, and again any extra will go towards the holiday, meaning in theory we **should** be able to pay at least £400 towards the holiday this month. We do need to get tyres for the car though so we will have to see how we get on, but I'm pleased with the results of my small clear out, I'm sure if I'd spent longer sorting the house out I could have found a lot more[STRIKE] tat[/STRIKE] items to sell.:rotfl:

We also need to buy a new seal for the shower screen and a new panel for the bath, but hopefully those things shouldnt cost too much, and we don't have any trips planned or hospital journeys for this month.

OH is at work on lates today then early shift tomorrow so its an evening of ironing for me then an early start tomorrow as the gardener is coming at 9.

SHill · 27 August 2017 at 6:08PM

Can I ask have you been on holiday or are you going?

AleMrsT · 27 August 2017 at 6:10PM

SHill wrote: »

Can I ask have you been on holiday or are you going?

Hi Shill. We go on holiday in May next year.

SHill · 27 August 2017 at 7:36PM

really that sounds fantastic ...have a lovely time away

AleMrsT · 9 September 2017 at 12:52PM

OH used his PPI money to buy new tyres for the car which were very much needed, (recommendation on the MOT). I've paid off the balance of my glasses (£102.50) and also managed to pay £100 off the holiday and I still have money left in my account for the rest of the month. I've got £50 in savings for a meal out when we see a show which is OHs birthday present, and still have money in my normal account, if I have any spare at the end of the month I'll transfer it to the holiday even if its only £20 or so. Every little helps as the large supermarket chain says!

I'm going to approach the rest of the holiday balance how misstara has tackled her debt, instead of waiting until I've got a big chunk of money I'll make payments little and often when I have spare 'change' or have made savings on other things, then still try and make bigger payments as I was anyway. Once that is paid off, I'm going to look into whether I can make payments to OH's credit card from banking app, its not the same bank so unsure how it works but if I can do it then we should be able to tackle the CC head on to get the balance down. With the current payments on the second credit card, he is on track to clear the balance when the 0% deal ends anyway, so we're focusing on the interest accruing CC once the holiday is cleared, so the sooner we can do that, the better.

AleMrsT · 22 September 2017 at 10:52PM

I had put some money aside for a meal out on Wednesday when we went to see a show that I paid for for OH's birthday. He had checked the bills account before hand and said that the meal could be paid out of the bills account as we've done really well with keeping our grocery spending low this month, so I still have £50 in my savings account which I will pay off the holiday next week :j

In other news, I signed up to a weight loss group, its only £3.50 per month with an initial £15 joining fee, much cheaper than SW at over £5 a week.

Had a small panic earlier on this week thinking we would need to pay for a new fridge freezer, as it started making horrendous noises then a couple of hours later it was no longer cold. We emptied it and managed to take the contents to our friends so we didnt have to bin them, then we left it switched off overnight to defrost whilst I tried to get in touch with a repair company.

The company I've used previously no longer do fridge repairs, so we were looking at replacing it. We switched it back on and left it overnight and during the day, and thankfully it seems to have repaired itself. I'm assuming it just got clogged up with ice and the defrosting fixed it which is a relief.

It has reminded me that we really do need to try and build up and emergency fund. This is on top of paying for the holiday and clearing the other debts. I do think though that without an EF the debt will only increase if we do eventually need a new freezer, so going to sign up to some survey sites and set up another savings account for the beginnings of our emergency fund. I think we'll aim to save £600 as an emergency fund, which is one months rent payment, rounded up. I think anything more than that is a little too optimistic, its taking forever to pay off the holiday so we need to be realistic.

I think thats all in the way of updates for now, so I'm off to catch up on some diaries then head to bed.

AleMrsT · 23 September 2017 at 10:54AM

OH has had a letter this morning for one of his PPI claims. He's being paid a refund. £645! :eek: :T We're so shocked! Thats nearly £1000 that he'll have had back and he's still waiting on replies from two other companies! I think he was expecting a couple hundred pounds at most! I'm so glad he sent the claims off!

Happy Saturday in the Ale house this morning!

AleMrsT · 1 October 2017 at 1:51PM

I've spent the last couple of days reading back through my diary from start to finish. What an eye opener!

Although my DMP is slow progress with still a long way to go before my debt is cleared, I have made massive progress in the way I approach money. 2015 seems to have been a good year for me savings and money managing wise, I was on a lot less wages than I'm on now but managed to have pots of savings for up coming expenses. The difference is that I was posting here regularly, sometimes daily, with my daily spends, making a budget and staying accountable.

I must get back into this habit, both in terms of keeping track of money and for my own well-being, as I've previously used the diary as a personal diary as well as a spending diary, and reading back through was very cathartic. I didn't realise how down I was and I'm so proud of myself for keeping a log of all of that and moving on from it all.

Medically I am in a much better place, things are plodding along smoothly in a similar manner to my debt journey, I still have regular hospital appointments but I no longer have to budget for work absences as I go on a Saturday now instead of a Friday as I no longer work on Saturdays.

Work wise I'm surprised how long I had spent looking for a new job, I think I was job hunting for the entirety of my diary! My new job is great, I love the work and the company and they're great with all of my hospital needs, I'm glad I got out of my old job but I do miss my colleagues and the office camaraderie, I was spending 8 hours a day with some of my best friends and I miss that.

I also do A LOT OF ironing! Every time I've posted I have said I have ironing to do! I think this is because of OH's shifts, I tend to so household chores and have the PC on when he is at work so that is the time when I write most of my posts!

In fact I read my diary entries last night whilst doing some ironing! I :rotfl:

Things I am going to reintroduce:

Each pay day I'm going to post and set a budget. I think this will be more difficult now we are using the bills account for most household spends, but OH is much more on board now so it should be fairly easy to keep track.

I'm also going to keep track of my daily spends and NSD's on here, which means I need to try and post every day.

I have also been trying to lose the same 2 stone for the entire time I've kept this diary. I did really well a couple of times but always lose momentum and it falls by the way side. This is still in progress, I am going to take my weight loss tracker off my signature and keep weight loss and fitness goals as part of the Facebook group I have joined otherwise I'm wasting 3.50 per month.

I've had a lovely weekend so far, I went out with a couple of my old work colleagues last night, I've been to see my niece in the harvest festival at the church this morning, then I'm off to see my friends newborn baby at 2 and I'm making a lamb roast dinner for me and OH this afternoon.

I've also made a plan for my aims for this week -

- put away the ironing I did last night
- clean the house
- log in to my diary every day and track my daily spends
- aim for 4 NSD's this week
- be as active as possible, more steps, 2 gym classes
- make a meal plan and stick to it!
- buy bread

Will check back in during the week to see how I'm getting on with my goals! I'm also going to change up my signature but will do that later as I'm off to my friends now.

Thanks to all of those who have followed my journey and kept me going for the past 3 years, and I promise I'll be back to posting more often from now on!

Much love.

MrsT x :beer: