Eager Elephant's Effective Everyday Excursion ...

Eager_Elephant · 28 December 2013 at 10:30AM

Spending Diary:

Current Money:

A1 = £787.56 (but with DD's of £420 approx to come out over the month)
A2 = £186.24 - this is petrol/car parking only
C1 = £94.88 - this is childcare account, £41.66 goes in every Tues from Tax Credits.
H1 = £81.83 - this is food account
L1 = £208.13 - this is DH's account but he has DD's of £95 to come out plus he needs to pay for acupuncture. £143.40 will go in each fortnight - next pay 8/1)

So I think I have enough to pay most of my rent but we won't have anything to fall back on. I am going to send a payment every couple of days to my rent to try and get me back on track.

So the great bedroom clear up starts today and fingers crossed I can make some money. (Forgot to say we tried selling stamps on ebay but they did not sell - these were foreign ones so maybe people prefer English. Will try again)

Eager_Elephant · 30 December 2013 at 9:27PM

Eager_Elephant wrote: »

Spending Diary:

Current Money:

A1 = £787.56 (but with DD's of £420 approx to come out over the month)
A2 = £186.24 - this is petrol/car parking only
C1 = £94.88 - this is childcare account, £41.66 goes in every Tues from Tax Credits.
H1 = £81.83 - this is food account
L1 = £208.13 - this is DH's account but he has DD's of £95 to come out plus he needs to pay for acupuncture. £143.40 will go in each fortnight - next pay 8/1)

A1 = [STRIKE]£787.56 [/STRIKE] £494.69
When I checked my account on 27/12 I had £654.58 in it but when I checked on 28/12 it was up to £787.56 but by 29/12 I was back to £654.58. Doh I had forgotten the Kindle Fire we brought DD for her birthday which hadn't gone out yet.
I also had to get diesel for the truck - £40.91 (it was empty but when I went to start my car on 29/12 it wouldn't start and it sounded the battery had died and on my car it is not easy to get to so I thought I had better put more in as i would need it to get to work but this morning my car started:T - it did cough and splutter a bit though).
I also paid £90 rent yesterday and today my Halifax c/c payment came out - £28.98.

A2 = [STRIKE] £186.24 [/STRIKE] £182.74.
Paid £3.50 for car parking today.

C1 = [STRIKE]£94.88 [/STRIKE] £34.88
Paid childminder £60 which was bill for November, have not received December's bill yet.

H1 = £81.83 - This is still the same.

L1 = £208.13 - This is still the same.

I forgot to mention that I had £83 cash in my purse (this was mainly from Turkeys we sold). I have spent £7.50 on some Migraleve for DH as he had run out and today I paid £10 to the baker for all his left over bread for the geese (some of it is new stuff so we always use it as well which saves buying bread:j)

I think that is all - I do have a bill for £170 to pay which is DS' transport for the next term but as I work in the same town as his college we don't get best use of the bus pass so this time I am thinking about getting a monthly smart pass which would save me about £50 over 12 weeks.
Need to visit the bus station tomorrow and find out if DS qualifies for the children's pass as he is a student.

Eager_Elephant · 1 January 2014 at 9:00PM

A1 = £494.69
No spends from this account yesterday or today

A2 = £182.74
Still the same, i went to work yesterday but went to a car park which a lady had told me was free when the college broke up, when I got there they had installed machines which charge £2 for all day which is £1.50 cheaper than my normal car park. I was fine with this and when I tried to pay the machine spat my money out and came up with an error, I noted the website and when I got to the office tried to pay online but there was no facility so I tried to ring and no one answered so I worried all day about getting a ticket but nothing so that was an :money: way to park!!!

C1 = [STRIKE]£34.88[/STRIKE] £76.54
Tax Credits went in yesterday.

H1 = [STRIKE]£81.83 [/STRIKE] £49.27
Spent £5.36 in Sainsburys on 2 quiches and some soya milk and then went to Asda for some bits and pieces including alcohol for DS who was off to a party (the alcohol comes out of his allowance which he has not had for Dec or Jan yet so I will count it in my spend) - £27.20

L1 = £208.13 - This is still the same.

Cash [STRIKE]£65.50[/STRIKE] £14.51
I purchased a diary for 99p - I did get one in August to see me through to next Dec but it doesn't have a week to view, more like 5 days to view and I just couldn't cope with it very well and rarely used it.
Plus DD's birthday is today and she asked for Indian as her meal so we had one delivered - £50.

Eager_Elephant wrote: »

I think that is all - I do have a bill for £170 to pay which is DS' transport for the next term but as I work in the same town as his college we don't get best use of the bus pass so this time I am thinking about getting a monthly smart pass which would save me about £50 over 12 weeks.
Need to visit the bus station tomorrow and find out if DS qualifies for the children's pass as he is a student.

I have been to the bus station and DS can have a childrens smart pass as long as he has one of their kids ID which costs £2 and lasts until they are 19 so on Monday we will be going to the bus station to get one - must remember to take ID.

Eager_Elephant · 1 January 2014 at 9:09PM

Happy 4th Birthday Diary!!
_party__party__party__party__party__party__party__party__party__party__party__party__party__party__party__party__party_

Well a lot has changed since last year but not much debt has been paid off - again!!

Last year I noted that I had only paid off £70 in 1 year but did not note the exact figures and can't find my old spreadsheet.

At the moment this is what I owe:

Barclaycard - £7341.11
Amazon - £2201.98
Abbey - £1021.26

Total - £10564.35

This does not include the Xmas spending which I did on the Halifax card.

I will update once the new statements are in.

It is pathetic how much time has passed and how little has been paid off the debt. Most of this year DH has been working and we have saved nothing - we have not had big expenses but still we spend all our money.

Well things have to change as DH has no job and my wages won't cover all the bills. I will be making a claim for Housing Benefit before the weekend ends - this should help with £100 per month.
Keeping fingers crossed that DH gets a job soon.

It will be interesting to see us manage on so little money - when DH does get a job I hope we will be able to use the money properly and actually pay some debts off.

Apart from the debts I have above - DH has debts of approx £26k - most of which are on token payments. We did talk about bankruptcy before and too be honest this is likely to be the best option unless we look at full and finals.

Well lets make 2014 a better year.

I won't join any challenges although someone mentioned NinjaSavingKats challenge - I had a quick read of the 1st post and it nearly scared me half to death:rotfl:
I like the idea of it so I might not sign up to but just try to do my own bits from it.

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

beanielou · 1 January 2014 at 9:17PM

I think bankruptcy would be the best option for your DH to be honest~~either that or a lottery win :rotfl:

Eager_Elephant · 4 January 2014 at 4:10PM

ARRGGHH:mad::mad::mad:

I was checking all the accounts ready to update for the last few days and what do I find????? DH has spent money we don't have.:mad::mad:

I took away his main bank card ages ago as this is where DD's etc are paid from and he kept spending.
He then had a sperate spends account with its own debit card. Since he has been unemployed he does not get any spends (but neither do I).
On Thursday I gave him his main bank card as he had to go to acupuncture (i was going to work), cost £50 (budgeted for).

When I confronted him he said that as I had given him the card he thought he could spend on it, the same day he got a text from his bank to say he had £280 in there so he thought he could do some spending.:mad:
No he did not consider any bills which might need to come out and no he did not consider the fact we need to pay rent as I did not in Dec due to Xmas.
The item he brought (only £34.95 luckily otherwise DD's would have bounced) he says we need when we do the kitchen up. I told him we were not doing the kitchen up until we had caught up on all the bills, the bathroom was done and he had a job so the item is not actually required right now.

He said sorry:rotfl:

I am pleased to say that I remained calm, only raised my voice a little bit and did not cry:T

Eager_Elephant · 4 January 2014 at 4:24PM

A1 = [STRIKE]£494.69[/STRIKE] £11.95
A lot of the DD's have come out over the last few days:
Sky - £53.25
Papers - £40
Barclaycard - £5
Xmas - £1
Credit Union - £1
Eon - £68
Car Ins - £24.88
BT - £26.50
Tv Licence - £12.12
Council Tax - £114
Rent - £90
Internet - £19.49
Mobile 1 - £10.50
Account Fee - £17

Still a few more payments to come out over the month but DH gets his JSA this week so will move that money over to my account straight away.

A2 = [STRIKE]£182.74[/STRIKE] £115.08
£3.50 spent on parking 2/1 and £60.66 for petrol (petrol should last 10 days). I could not park at the other car park for £2 as some of the teachers are back and I was not sure if I was allowed to so did not want to risk it.

C1 = £76.54

H1 = [STRIKE]£49.27 [/STRIKE]£26.20
£2.18 spent at Sains on 2/1 on 2 x soya milk for work and 1 bottle of squash for work.
£20.89 spent in Morrisons today to get some bits.

L1 =[STRIKE] £208.13 [/STRIKE] £2.00
Bills have come out of DH's account:
Car Ins - £42.71
Mobile 3 - £50.97 (usually £26pm but DH upgraded last month:mad:)
Sky Protect - £9.50
Debts - £18
Acupuncture - £50
DH Spend from ebay - £34.95:mad:

Cash £14.51

Things are going to be tight but I am certainly not using my birthday money to prop up any account like I usually do.
I have cleaned out my purse and I have expenses of £42 to claim back - I will do that Friday (when I next see the right lady).

Other than keeping track of my spends I am also doing MySurveys which pay well and you can cash out at 566 points for £5 Amazon. I have a little Amazon wish list (all things for the house to help with storage etc) going but I will not buy anything until I have the vouchers. I do other survey companies as well so hopefully these will build up.

I will keep on with Adpoints and Canvass from Nectar and have also installed their search bar - I will hopefully save these for Xmas.

I am also doing Swagbucks when I have time - it is more efficient to do my normal surveys first as they screen out quickly and also credit straightaway whereas Swagbucks take ages to screen out and things don't always credit.

beanielou · 4 January 2014 at 7:02PM

I don't know how you do it,I really don't.
Keep plodding.

debtfreewannabe321 · 4 January 2014 at 7:51PM

Have you looked into bankruptcy as a viable option? If you're not wanting to buy a house anytime soon perhaps its the way forward? We've totally screwed our credit up and have to wait 6 years before buying now

I'll be 40 when I take out the mortgage which is scary really.

How comes you have 3 separate bills for sky, but and internet? Can you not get all services from one provider who will give a package deal price?

You're doing great though, and get yourself a treat with your birthday money

Eager_Elephant · 5 January 2014 at 10:31AM

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

Have you looked into bankruptcy as a viable option? If you're not wanting to buy a house anytime soon perhaps its the way forward? We've totally screwed our credit up and have to wait 6 years before buying now I'll be 40 when I take out the mortgage which is scary really.

How comes you have 3 separate bills for sky, but and internet? Can you not get all services from one provider who will give a package deal price?

You're doing great though, and get yourself a treat with your birthday money

Thanks beanielou and DFW.

Bankruptcy is definitely viable for DH - I help people go bankrupt all the time, seems odd to have to do it for DH. I keep hoping he will get a job and we can offer full and finals and then I think what is the point when for £700 he can be well rid of his debts.

We do want to buy, firstly we will buy our council house and then we are hoping to get a farm so he will need good credit but to be honest bankruptcy is not that much worse on a credit file than 10 defaults and a CCJ anyway.

We have always done our tv, internet and landline seperately. The internet we have just reduced - we were paying £29.99 and the BT amount is because we were on anytime calls etc (from when relative loved with us at other house) but as we do not really use the phone it is now on evenings/weekends etc. I am still hoping to pay a year in advance to bring it down to approx £11.50pm.

The issue we have in my area is that we do not have much choice - we are so rural. I would rather stay with BT for landline as they are the ones that own all the cables anyway and our internet has to stay the same as we get a linked website and email address which we need.

As for Sky - I would get rid of it if I could :rotfl:

I have already spent £10 of my birthday money on a new bag (bargain from Peacocks). I really need some jeans etc but as I have put on so much weight from Xmas (too many roasts:rotfl:) I don't want to buy a pair in the next size up when hopefully in a month or so I will be back to my normal size:rotfl:

Eager Elephant's Effective Everyday Excursion ...

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free