The Quest

Lula-Hula

Hello & welcome to my quest for freedom :wave:

As you can see from my new sig below I have managed to clear a grand :rolleyes: total of £203 off my cc debt in the last 6 months.

I've actually paid £1,700 :eek: towards my debt but due to little things like interest, car repairs, dentists, new tv's etc... etc... or just plain using the damn card :mad: I've paid off a pathetic amount. Even more pathetic when I think about how much extra I could have paid if I didnt keep buying clothes, shoes & accessories ( for us & the home ).

I'm not going to dwell on what's been before because this is my 2nd LBM & it gets serious from now on. There is so much I want to do & experience that I could easily be doing if I wasnt paying off stupid credit cards.

I want to go to Australia, I want to have a home in the sun, I want a boat, I want a car that was born in the 21st century, I want to go to yoga classes, I want to lose 10lbs, I want not to have to work 50 weeks a year, I want to have savings , & most of all I want a credit card statement that does not require a payment !

My rent, council tax, water rates, AA, home & life insurances, tv licence & tv/phone/internet are all on direct debits.

Gas & electricity on prepayment which I top up weekly - overpaying to save up for winter .
Car insurance due in December, need to save hard for this although usually only about £170.
MOT & service due in November, need to save hard for this...
Road tax due in May, will start saving for this in January.

My current saving funds I'm declaring below & will update as & when :

Car - insurance/service/mot £ 25
Home - furnishings/appliances etc. £ 10
Dentist/Optician £ 40
Presents & cards £ 40
DDs hobbies/lessons/hol.clubs etc £ 90
Clothes/Shoes/Accessories £ --
Holiday (s:rolleyes:) £ 50

I've struggled with grocery budgeting, mainly by shopping in tesco & being seduced by bogofs - hence the 5 bottles of shampoo in the bathroom :rolleyes:. I'm going to allow a maximum of £50 a week which includes cleaning stuff & toiletries & anything left over will go in a pot towards the debts.

I cant get a completely new life while I still have debts, they curtail my freedom & I dont like it, so on with The Quest ; Day 1 of my target 15 NSDs achieved

Comments, opinions & general chat very welcome, I wouldnt have got this far without you all

Thanks & G'nite

lula x

Skippycat

Just wanted to say a quick hello and to wish you the best of luck with your quest :beer:

Lula-Hula

Thanks Skippycat,

Wow, that's some haul of treasure you got there :j

Well Done

Lula-Hula

Morning everyone,

lousy weather - would love to stay in all day BUT have to go collect payment & next workload from private :shhh: customer ( that's where my holiday fund comes from )

I also have to go & collect hamster's cage from petshop. They didnt ask for payment when I went in before as that was when we first found out she'd died but I'm now wondering if I'll have to pay for the time she was there . DD quite keen to get another one, but I'm not sure yet.

Went on the OU website last night & have registered to do a spanish course :eek: . It s about 8 hours study a week which I can easily fit in, unlike the 16 hours my last course required. Actually, I think I didnt find the time because I found the course so boring :rolleyes: , never felt I was actually learning anything useful. As I did do a spanish o level way back in the day I'm hoping I wont struggle too much. I would like to complete a degree, just need to choose courses very carefully.

DD going round to a friends today so I can work flat out. If I dont have to pay for hamster then it'll be a NSD, if I do have to pay then I'll get more milk & bread which I was going to wait for until tomorrow

Will update later...

lula x

[Deleted User]

Good luck with the Quest.

Tea
x

Lula-Hula

Good afternoon

All going well so far, customer paid up so the holiday fund now £70 - actually it's really only £20 as the first £50 is in the form of a lovely crisp £50 note I got given for Christmas last year & refuse to break into. I get it out & look at it, then put it away again Aaaah if only I'd done that with my cc's :rolleyes: .

I went into the pet shop to retrieve the cage & the lovely lady refused payment - bonus - but did tell me she was getting some new babies in on thursday...will probably have to take DD in there on sat .

So, I havent spent anything & a bit miffed too as I was going to get a choc bar along with milk & bread but have had to make do with nutella on toast, no wonder I'm putting on weight :rolleyes:. I've put the car away in the garage so will have to walk round to collect DD from friend - money saving & exercise all in one go .

Going to chill on sofa & read my book now ... bliss

lula x

Lula-Hula

Well, I managed my 2nd NSD , but didnt get to do the exercise as DD was brought home. I did fall asleep in the sofa though , probably the excitement of not spending anything :rolleyes: .

Checked my bank account & have a huge amount in there - £1.64 :rotfl:

Done another lightspeed survey & now have 1510 points .

Tomorrow I need to get bread & milk & make sure DDs school bag all ready for school, I always get all uniform, shoes & equipment at beginning of hols so can then forget about it, cant bear that last minute frenzy & expenditure.

Also need to get new tv cabinet type thing & have found a very cheap one for £10, which is lucky as that's all I have in my home fund :rolleyes:

G'nite
lula x

Lula-Hula

:hello:

Have finished work as not had much to do today which is nice in that I've spent time with DD before she returns to school but not so good for the finances.

We went to buy the cheapest tv cabinet in the land - £8.99 :rotfl: it's not very sexy but it does what its meant to & only took 10 mins to put together . Will buy a more stylish one when I'm debt free

I nearly threw the tv out of the window earlier as I cannot get the wii to work & I know it's something stupid like the wrong cable plugged in to the wrong hole but it's driving me ( & DD ) mad :mad: . This is the 2nd function that men are useful for :rolleyes: . Kinda wishing hadnt sent xbf to Romania before got new tv ...

Then a friend popped round to ask if DD wanted a tv/video player for her room as she was getting a new one for her DS. I absolutely disagree with tv in her bedroom, then realised - no aerial so will only play videos I can therefore control the viewing, & I could always sell it . Tried to offer friend my huge old tv & cabinet in return, but she didnt fall for it . Now wondering how long it will stay in house until I can find strong person to help lift it down stairs / steps & into car... Another failed attempt at wii connection & I'll probably kick it downstairs.

Apart from tv cabinet I also spent £3.74 in co op on bread, milk, & a sausage roll & cake for DD - total spent £12.73. I also think I've cracked the white vs wholemeal bread thing with DD, have been trying to get her off expensive hovis bob for ages & pointed out that co op 'beige' bread was 50p cheaper & had no bits in it... she went for it .

Men coming round to examine old stone larder tomorrow, which is going to be removed for kitchen refit so I have to clear it out, not much food in there but it does double up as my painting & decorating cupboard & unfortunately the tardis/greenhouse still in the shed :eek: no idea where to put it all.

Hmmm may have a solution to the tv dilemma tho... could dress my nice tanned 'assets' in a wonderbra & smile sweetly .

Off to find some space now,

lula x

[Deleted User]

Hey Lula,

£8.99 isn't bad for a cabinet...good find there.

Good move about the bread thingy, my DD won't even touch it despite how hard I try.

DS won't eat the cheap stuff but will eat Kingsmill Everyday one, which isn't too bad.

cady

Good luck with your quest i hope you get all the things you want!!!!

Lula-Hula

Hi Purpletea,

I'm chuffed to bits about the bread thing, DD is nearly 9 though so it's been a long time coming :rolleyes: .

Hi Cady,

Thanks for encouragement, I'm sure i will achieve it all eventually, I just might have to live to 238 years old though...:rolleyes:

I've managed to clear out the kitchen cupboard, chucked out flour from 2005 , but have just eaten the organic tropical fruit salad due before May 2006, the fruit was still recognisable but the juice was a bit thick & suspicious .

What was my lovely clean & tidy living room is now starting to look like Steptoe's; :eek: apart from the old tv & cabinet, there is now a collection of kitchen equipment gathering & my bedroom is going the same way I now have a hamster cage, 10 tins of paint (yeh, you never know when there might be an urgent deocrating emergency & I am ready for it !!) box full of brushes, scrapers, rollers etc. bottles of meths ( that's a running out of rioja emergency ) polyfilla....

I'm a tidy, order loving minimalist wannabe & I want to cry; the work doesnt even start for 3 weeks, lasts for 2 & it's DDs birthday right in the middle of it. :shhh: but that's a good thing as I now have the perfect excuse for not allowing a sleepover :cool: .

At least I'm having a good purge of unused stuff...salad spinner anyone ?

Back to school tomorrow, daily idle small talk - ugh, & routine, regular meal/bedtimes, clubs & hobbies stress, stress, stress, & the school sent me a text welcoming DD back. More like they cant wait to start filching money out of me again :rolleyes: .

Best get my grumpy self off to bed

G'nite
lula x