On a Mission

Mummy_bear · 27 July 2017 at 9:06PM

Thanks everyone. It is a little frustrating the total debt payment for July could've been closer to £1100 (indeed this will be what has been paid) but I have to look at the positives, almost £500 less in debt going into August is still great.

Went to the community gardens today and definitely secured our growing beds. So excited about this. My mum is helping out on the project as my work commitments will mean I won't be free in the week to tend to it. She's been sending me pinterest links for things we could grow.

By next year I hope to have a good crop to make my sweet chilli tomato chutney.

The kids are excited too. Bonus.

Opened up a new savings account specifically for the emergency fund. Offers 3% interest a year after opening it so fingers crossed we'll get a nice amount in there

Going to the bank tomorrow with DS to exchange his pennies. He's very excited. Also putting in a check for DH for £22,a refund on his motorbike tax. This is likely to be put towards an OP.

Been spending a lot of this week reading lots of DFW diaries. I'm obsessed. I hope I can be half as inspirational as some of you.

MB

Mummy_bear · 28 July 2017 at 8:02AM

Morning

Just checking in to say that finally I'm getting surveys through from PA. I've been signed up for about 5 weeks and every time I checked I got nothing through.

Well yesterday I actually got an email to tell me there was a survey. Completed it and once reviewed should hopefully pay put £5. Got another email this morning for a £1 survey.

Also I've discovered DH has been recording eat well for less on SKY. Haha frugal living is rubbing off on him!

Got loads planned today.

MB

Mummy_bear · 28 July 2017 at 9:47AM

New balance's as of 28th July 2017

Lloyds CC £1393.20
Next £237.95
MBNA CC £4230.58
Barclaycard CC £2655
My overdraft £112.65
Tesco Loan £10,225.92
Santander Loan £5565.11
DH overdraft £700
TV -DH purchase £670.90 £33 paid off
M&S Loan £8065.76*
Bicycle finance £187.5*
Other £571.89*

*(not strictly accurate, will update once I have accurate figures)

Total Debt as of July 9th - £35055.74
Total debt as of July 14th - £34842.02
Total debt as of July 17th -£34473.53
Total debt as of July 18th -£34468.93
Total debt as of July 19th - £34353.93
Total debt as of July 21st - £34971.87
Total debt as of July 24th - £34969.57
Total debt as of July 27th - £34649.45
Total debt as of July 28th - £34616.45

Total cleared since 9th July - £439.29

MB

Mummy_bear · 28 July 2017 at 2:20PM

After doing my first PA survey last night I've already earned £7 ready for cash out and £5.50 pending. Wow.

Very pleased with this

MB

wishingthemortgaheaway · 28 July 2017 at 4:59PM

I've done well on Pa this week, over £11 in the pot already. Going to try and get it up to £20 by the end of July - we'll see.

I love eat well for less. Normally makes me feel a lot better about
My own shopping habits.

The only thing though is, in order to get all their very best value items, you have to visit a lot of different supermarkets. I haven't got time for that, but it does highlight where savings could be made.
Did you see the spin off shop well for less?
I would love them to try their approach (for either programme) on someone from these boards. If they could save some people on here money then they would have risen to the challenge

Mummy_bear · 28 July 2017 at 5:25PM

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

I've done well on Pa this week, over £11 in the pot already. Going to try and get it up to £20 by the end of July - we'll see.

I love eat well for less. Normally makes me feel a lot better about
My own shopping habits.

The only thing though is, in order to get all their very best value items, you have to visit a lot of different supermarkets. I haven't got time for that, but it does highlight where savings could be made.
Did you see the spin off shop well for less?
I would love them to try their approach (for either programme) on someone from these boards. If they could save some people on here money then they would have risen to the challenge

PA is fantastic. I seem to have a flurry of surveys through and currently at £14 earned in total :j

Even at our worst we never food shopped that bad! So it certainly makes me feel good.

My mum is that bad though, I've taught her some good habits over the last couple of years but she's still a brand addict

Don't think I've seen shop well for less. I need to look out for that.

I use the mysupermarket app to create my shopping list and it compares prices against all major supermarkets so I can see where the bargains are. Generally my shop is always cheaper at Aldi

wishingthemortgaheaway · 28 July 2017 at 6:23PM

I've seen someone else talk about my supermarket, so going to investigate when I get home. Whilst away (at the moment with hubby on a gig) we have a choice between a small co-op and booths. Neither of which are money saving.

Mummy_bear · 29 July 2017 at 7:51AM

Wish, it's definitely worth a look. Having just read your diary I think it would be a useful addition/tool to your already good MSE mindset.

Well it's a sunny morning. ..for a change. I can actually hang washing out rather than use the dreaded tumble drier.

Managed another £1 PA survey before getting out of bed!

Also received an email off Amazon with a £10 voucher for completing a survey about a TV series I watched on Prime. Happy with that. Will put that in the birthday pot I think.

Clearing out our bedroom today ready for my Uncle to plaster it tomorrow. Going to take the opportunity to really look at my clothes. I know I have items I could sell. I have to accept I won't get to pre pregnancy weight from 6 yrs ago!

Only managed one Ebay sale in the last week. After fees only about a 33p profit

still 33p more than I had I guess.

Been thinking about my new growing beds. Going to look into vegetables I can grow from off cuts of the veg I already buy. E.g. we used spring onions yesterday, I've kept the bulbs and going to see if I can regrow them. Should save money instead of buying loads of seeds. Need to look into what else I can do this with.

MB

Mummy_bear · 30 July 2017 at 12:42PM

So whilst our room is being plastered...a task likely to require finishing tomorrow. ..we've been sat down working some figures out.

Each year we don't put anything away on a monthly basis for the one off payments. E.g. playstation network fee, Amazon prime, house insurance. Its not that these have ever been paid for on credit cards either. It just always the case that for those months we've been skint. I don't want that to be the case as it means there's nothing spare for the just in case moments, particularly as we're only starting our journey to building an EF.

So we've decided to put £50 away each month for these things. I'm going to try and fund my half of it by doing surveys on PA. This weekend's earnings on PA have been £15 already so hopefully that will be achievable goal.

Also with things like insurance any cash back earned through TCB will be put into that pot. Eventually we'll hopefully increase the pot enough to pay off car tax in one go and then eventually car insurances in one go.

MB

charlies_tribe · 30 July 2017 at 9:25PM

Just wanted to post and say thank you for posting on my diary yesterday. I will try to contact customer service and see what they say, thank you.

We have started with similar debt levels and you are doing fantastic already, i'm sure you will soon have it all gone!

Good luck with the plastering. Dh did half our living room ceiling and gave up! think we might have to get someone in to do it.

On a Mission

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