Buddiebabe's new beginnings....

Seaxwyn

DON'T DWELL ON THOSE NEGATIVE THINGS!!! I know how depressing it is.

I'm in the same boat - my earnings are not enough to cover our regular outgoings including debt repayments. But nevertheless, quite often I do get through the month OK. We can do it.

Once all the new year business is over we should have a brainstorm about any extra things we can do, but let's not stress now.

I'm going offline now (got to find something to wear now I took that dress back to Tesco!) so Happy New Year, have a fun evening, and this time next year we will both be congratulating ourselves on our successful debt-busting 2011.

buddiebabe

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hope you had a good party Seaxwyn and that you weren't suffering too much today.

I had a great night last night around at friends really enjoyed myself but today hasn't been so good... have been rather fragile and am only starting to come back to life now

I've updated my snowball calculator tonight and my debt free date is 61 months away :eek: which hasn't really changed much at all! I had a closer look at what it broke down to paying every month and i was quite depressed when it says that from now until December 2011 based on what i have put down as paying out every month £747.00 it doesn't even cover the minimum payments but im not going to let it get me down!!!

Need to maintain this PMA that i have found from somewhere??? Maybe im still drunk from those lovely home made cocktails....

I have signed up to the NSD challenge and have set my target as 7 for January - today has been the first one :j only 6 more to go!!!

I have also signed up to the PAD challenge and have paid £10.00 today (well its sitting in an envelope ready to be paid to santander credit card when the banks open)

I've also signed up to the grocery challenge and set myself a target of spending no more than £120.00 this month on food. So far i haven't spent anything... probably due to the shops being closed but still have some bread left and going to OHs parents for dinner so won't need much today! The intention is that when my OH gives me money on Thursday im going to put the £30.00 into a separate bit in my purse... in fact... im going to find a separate purse and keep the shopping money in that and then if i don't have the money i can't spend it... it should also mean that i won't dip into my money to buy things that i just can't afford to buy!

I paid £15.00 towards my tv licence today so have started saving for that.

I have also put away £1.00 in my shoe fund shoe so all in all today has been quite good.

Going into this new year i have the following:

£55.00 cash in my purse (£20 of that was xmas money to buy myself something nice with so may do that if i see something i like)
£12.00 cash sitting on my computer desk freed from my terumundi
£80.00 in my bank

£147.00

I don't want to pay it all towards the debt as i know i'll end up struggling when i get back to work and things need to be paid for. Ideally i would like to keep £30.00 in my purse at all times so when i get my wage from my 2nd job i will see what i have left and if i've got less than £30 i will top it up.... it should also help me keep track of my spending.

I really need to keep a spending diary but don't actually have a 2011 one but do have a 2010 that i found when i moved my computer desk so as long as i don't look at the day and just use the dates.... it should be ok.... shouldn't it??? I've got a 2011 calendar sitting on my desk so it will be fine! Am going to spend the next half hour scoring out the year and day so it will be fine!!!

Am going to head to bed now and get a good nights sleep.... after finishing my diary

Buddiebabe x

buddiebabe

Hey

Well im still up and this is becoming too much of a regular occurance im never going to be able to get up for work on Wednesday

I didn't make it to OHs mum and dads for dinner as im still not feeling great. Think im getting the cold as i feel all shivery and quite queasy

I did however manage to re arrange my fridge, freezer and cupboards today (but flung out a bag of out of date food in the process - what a waste) i now have a list of everything that we have for eating in the house.... well the kitchen... there are still boxes of sweeties and chocolates in the livingroom from xmas but they don't really count as food so its ok!

We do need to do a shopping and i think today will be that day... before the VAT increases go on. My OH doesn't give me money until Thursday but im just going to take £30.00 out my purse and use that then return the money on Thursday.

I have made a payment every day and today paid £5.00 to RBS MC2 and £2.00 to Santander.

I have also put away £1.00 every day since the start of the year into my shoe fund.

Im thinking that my PADs will need to get smaller as i really don't want to leave myself short for my bills which is what always happens.

I have made a list for going shopping 2moro so i just need to stick to it now! I have a voucher in my purse for £5.00 off when i spend £30 so although i don't want to spend the £30 id probably get better value if i did.

Am going to go to bed now and try and get some sleep will post again after my shopping trip if i make it out the house

Buddiebabe x

Forgot to say i had a NSD today ... woo hoo thats 2/7 so far!!!

chevalier

Hi there Buddiebabe, I am a glutton for punishement, and I have read your diary from this time last year ie Jan 2010.

I have a few random thoughts for you.

What do you work at? Both jobs? Can you get something different that pays more money? What about OH? Is what he pays you a fair proportion of his wages to the household bills? I am not saying he should pay half of the household bills, but he should be paying the correct proportion.

What about mystery shopping? Could you do this in your lunch break so that you got a shopping fix, but one where you would be getting some of the money back?

One thing that really really helps me when I CBA (can't be ars*d!!!:rotfl:) is to set a timer for 15 minutes and then work really hard for that 15 minutes, and then relax for 15 minutes, and then repeat. (not my idea have a look at memory girls thread she is awesome). It is actually quite amazing how much you can get done in 15 minutes, and it is a good motivator for keeping going, knowing that your 15 minute rest is coming up in x minutes. You just have to remember to start working again when the relaxing 15 minutes is up:rotfl:!

If you are consistently not covering your outgoings, is there any reason for not going on a DMP? Is it worth having a play with the Debt Remedy on CCCS? It doesn't commit you to anything, but might be insightful.

As for the clutter. Ah how I struggle with this one! I am trying really hard to get rid of loads of clothes, but the local ebay look a like is not that hot really, and you only get to list 50 items at a time! I probably have that many books to list alone:eek::eek::eek:

Good luck with 2011.
take care
chev

buddiebabe

Hey

Chev you must be a glutton for punishment either that or your mad!! Even i wouldn't want to re-read my diary... i've tried it a few times but get depressed then can't be bothered to do anything else!

I work for a local authority and at the moment am not sure how safe my job is there so am just hanging in there at the moment.... there are no openings for promotion and it doesn't pay the best wage but there aren't that many jobs around in our local area as alot of places have closed down so there are so many people fighting for the same jobs and although i'd probably be able to get something further out of town the travelling costs (which are high at the moment) would be so much worse that it wouldn't be worth my while. My 2nd job is in a shop where i work as a supervisor and i like it most of the time... the wage isn't great but it keeps me going week to week.

I did a mystery shopping job once and made £10 from it but it ended up costing me £24 in tax as i'd registered as self employed and i now have to fill in a tax return every year even though i did that job once so i wont be going back to doing that!

OH gives me £100.00 a week and as his share of the bills including food don't come to anything near that im entirely grateful to his contribution. He only gets around £200.00 a week so i feel guilty taking half his wages as it is.... although he's always saying he will give me more but its not his fault im in this mess so i won't take it from him... its just not right.

In Scotland it would be a trust deed i would be signed up for and im very wary about doing that as i could loose the house if it didn't become protected and although im struggling every month i get there.... sometimes i have no idea how i do it but i do and i made the mess so am determined to get out it my way.... maybe im just being silly and stubborn but why should someone else pay for my mistakes... its also helping me to realise that money doesn't make you happy it would just make life a bit easier but when you get some you always find something else creeps up that you need to use it for!

I've used the 15 min thing before except i used to do 15mins tidying in one room, then move onto the next not having a rest until i'd done my 15 mins in each room.... your idea sounds so much better

I haven't listed anything on ebay this year yet but have a whole house to get through.... i live in a one bedroom flat which could be doing with having an extra 2 - 3 rooms so all the stuff i have in the room i have fits!!! I will try and get something on ebay before the end of today

Buddiebabe x

buddiebabe

Well im still feeling pretty rubbish.... but managed to make it to superdrug and morrisons today to get the shopping i needed.

Spent a grand total of 42p cash in Superdrug as i had 3 £5 vouchers to use so bought 3 x 12 andrex toilet rolls, 3 x 2pack fiesta kitchen towels and 3 packs of paracetamol so i managed to get quite a bit for my 42p :T

In morrisons i spent £23.75 cash total was more than that but i also had a £5 voucher for there 2!

I now have a full freezer, fridge and my cupboards were overflowing anyway so am hoping that i won't need to spend any money over the next few days.

I was clearing out drawers in my desk earlier and i found alot of old lottery tickets that i had so i checked them all.... took me about an hour but one had the thunderball and one other number so i have £5.00 to get when i cash that in! Think it will be my payment for 2moro if i go to the shop to cash it in!

So no NSD for me today but its ok am happy knowing i don't need to go to the shops apart from to pickup my lottery winnings and to go to work 2moro nite!

Going to go see what i can do in 15 mins

Buddiebabe x

Seaxwyn

HI buddiebabe, how are you doing?

Your OH's wages seem very low, are his employers exploiting him? Or is there any way he could train for a promotion?

Do you know when the next free listing day on Ebay is? I really need to bring some extra money in, it's flooding out of my account this month.

Hope you are OK and look forward to catching up soon.

Seaxwyn

HI buddiebabe. How is January treating you?

Do you want to do an ebay challenge with me? I should try to sell some stuff but I never get round to it. Maybe if we chose a particular evening and each tried to list five things, or something like that, it would get me started.

Seaxwyn

HI Buddiebabe, how are you doing? I've just totalled up my debt and it's £255 MORE than the 1st of January. AAAARGH!!!! So I need to actually do the ebay stuff I was talking about. Hope you have had a better result in January!

buddiebabe

Hey

Well as its the 1st February i thought i'd better update so here's how things stand at the moment:

OVERDRAFTS - NIL

LOANS:

ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND £5020.80 now £4769.76

CREDIT CARDS:

DEBENHAMS £1250.00 now £1219.30
MBNA £3780.00 now £3770.00
ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND MC 1 £9765.00 now £9695.00
ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND MC 2 £4342.00 now £4318.50
TESCO £2180.00 now £2169.98
SANTANDER ZERO £330.00 now £275.00

TOTALS:
OVERDRAFTS - NIL
LOANS £5020.80 now £4769.76
CREDIT CARDS £21647.00 now £21447.78

TOTAL OUTSTANDING JANUARY 2011 £26667.80 now £26217.54

Total paid off since 1st January 2011 is £450.26 :j

Savings:

WORK CHRISTMAS ACCOUNT £0.16 now £10.16
WORK ACCOUNT £2.68 now £54.97
XMAS CASH SAVINGS £10.00
MY WEDDING SAVINGS £NIL now £51.27
CAR ACCOUNT £104.09 now £109.09
HOUSE ACCOUNT £110.00 now £95.01
PARK XMAS VOUCHERS £22.89 no change

Total savings £353.39 (Only £330.50 cash available)

Well i have actually met the target i set myself for January. I wanted to pay off £252.80 but really wanted to pay off £400 so have met both those targets which has really pleased me but it's also been hard work.

January has been a struggle and i think that February is going to be worse.

I've not updated this lately i've been finding it hard to find the time to post or update any of the threads that i have signed up for I've been feeling quite down lately but am trying not to let the negative thoughts get to me.

So good things this month:

- i've made a bit of money on ebay
- i've managed to put a bit of money away

Not so good things:

- all my credit card minimum payments have went up
- wages in 2nd job have gone down

I didn't manage to stick to my grocery challenge of £120 but only went over it by £2.76 so don't feel so bad about it.

My OH's car is now off the road so i've had to put him on the insurance... which has increased it but it means that everything relating to the car will be halved. Which is really going to be very beneficial to me as i don't need to put away as much for the car, although last month i only managed to put away £5.00.

We have so much stuff to do for the wedding and the saving for it is really messing up my finances but it should be worth it in the end

Seaxwyn we will really need to get some sort of challenge going. We should set ourselves a target of listing x number of items this month.... at the moment no idea when the next free listing day is going to be but i think im going to have to just start listing soon.

As for your debt increasing i always find January an easier month as i always get money for my birthday and it usually goes towards my bills but this month i've kept some of it for me.... not sure what im going to buy with it but will see how long i can actually keep it for before i need to spend it!

That's enough from me just now still got loads to do and no time to do it

Buddiebabe x