The Quest

Lula-Hula

So, here I am slinking on in the dark hours to declare :

The Quest 2009 is officially open :j

I have just spent £455.17 on CC1 :eek: but ... it was for the flights ( & bags, & seats, & insurance etc. etc. :rolleyes: ) for our Aug 2009 holibob (new word thanks to clio :cool: ) & I dont care because I have a treat ahead & I'm now willing to work as hard as I can, spend as little as possible in order to clear that CC by the end of the year. Also the fact my very dear & generous grandmother gave me a sum towards the cost so ... they have actually only cost me £55.17 .

I still need to save up for spending money - apartment so no meals included, which I'm aiming to be around £500 & the cost of covering the bills, funds & CC payments while I'm off work, probably another £300 :eek: . Thanks to selling the car & money-gifts I have £300 + in the savings/emergency fund & I calculate that if I save CB every month until August then I [strike]should [/strike]will have enough to cover it.

We're off to the coast later today so wish everyone a year full of good fortune, good health & good wealth, thanks for keeping me company on The Quest :A

Lula xxx

moo2moo

Fantabulous Lula thats definately something worth working towards. Happy New Year too!

I spent all day yesterday wading through the filing cabinets sorting them out so that I can actually shut the drawers. I've got all the figures together for a new SOA too, just need to fill in the SOA calculator and away I go. It has been quite enlightening. Some of the changes I've made over the past year are finally going to make sense. Hopefully I can persuade the gas company to drop our direct debit from £80 to £30. They seem to screw up every year. Last year they gave us a cheque for £200 due to ovepayment then 2 days later a delivery of gas followed by a £50 per month increase as our monthly payments weren't enough to pay the bill and apparently their computer is never ever wrong.

Also need to persuade the OH that he really doesn't need a hot sandwich every morning at work as thats costing over £1200 a year and he treats it as a bit of a snack rather than a meal. T'would make a fair difference to his rapidly expanding waistline too.

If I can persuade him to be very very very frugal July 2013 is an achievable debt free date. But it seems an awful long way away.

[Deleted User]

HAPPY NEW YEAR Lula and Moo2 and anyone else who lurks on Lula's thread.

Well done on booking your holiday for later in the year and it's nice to have something to look forward to

Feeling slightly worse for wear this morning but I think that I am more tired than anything, hopefully it will wear off later on in the day.

Catch you later,

Tea
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Bowski_1011

:bdaycake: Happy Birthday Lula!!!!!!

I hope you and DD have had a fabulous day at the Coast...

From the Bowski's :beer:

Lula-Hula

Hey everyone & thanks Bowski had a good day out & got a free lunch too

Hope you recover soon Tea, & £1200 on sandwiches Moo that has definitely got to go.
Going for a wander so see you ll soon .... xx

Lula-Hula

Hello,

I am still feeling rubbish with no energy but as my appetite seems to have disappeared I could be on the way to a bit of weight loss.

I am feeling really negative about starting back at work on monday & this morning I was tempted to ring the boss & tell her I wouldnt work monday or tuesday. I could manage financially but as DD goes back to school then & I'll probably feel much better in 3 days I'm just going to grit my teeth & get on with it. It could be really busy so I would earn extra or it could be really quiet :rolleyes: so not worth taking the risk of losing another 2 days wages.

I had my first NSD of the year today & also did my first clunk inot my sealed pot. I had £10 of £2 coins left over from last year so have started off that challenge well

Karma has balanced things out though as the hoover blew up today, so need to replace that :rolleyes: . I am an utter cheapskate when it comes to appliances so will heading for the argos or tesco sale .

My sis came to visit this afternon & we had a good chat n chill session & she gave me a fab trollbeads bracelet :heartpuls . The beads are hideously expensive; starting at £20 :eek: but I've already been surfing & found similar designs at nearly half the price. This could be the new love of my life & I might reward myself with a new bead each time I achieve a new debt target .

DD1 also visited & gave me some bath goodies & a really pretty necklace so I feel very cherished & my girlie needs are all topped up .

I've paid £25 to CC2 so have made the minimum payment on that. The next payment is due in 5 weeks so plenty of time to save up for that. Oooh foofighters gig that I went to last summer is on tv :cool: - excuse distraction .

My funds are all depleted apart from £10 in the car one & £30 in the dentist one - we need a check up so I have work to do. The one I'm going to struggle with is DD's clubs/hobbies one as Brownie subs are due next wednesday & recorder club the week after so if work is quiet then i might have to dip into the savings/emergency/holiday fund :mad: . But that's what it's there for & this time last year i would have paid for groceries on CC1 in order to have the cash for clubs :eek: so I have learnt something :rolleyes: .

bye for now
lula

moo2moo

Happy Early Morning All!

Sorry to hear you're feeling carpy Lula.

I can't quite get my head around the whole sealed pot thing. Why have £10 sitting in a tub in the kitchen when that could reduce a debt by £10 and also reduce the amount of interest you paid on it. By way of a far more confusing explaination if you put £2 into your sealed pot each week then you'd save £104 a year. If you followed the theory of the payment a dayers then you'd reduce a debt by £94 (paying £10 in interest at 29.9% APR). On the otherhand if you were to pay the same amount to Supermarket Christmas Saving Stamps then they'd give you between £1 and £6 extra cash in November too . Either way your money is worth more. Wilkinsons operate this scheme all year round and give an extra £1 for every £19 of stamps you buy.

I've revised my new SOA for 2009, including the £5 a month Child Benefit increase that kicks in this month. Must get it together and start a diary of my own rather than hijacking other peoples. Will put that on my list of things to do. I'm enjoying my last few days as a slummy mummy before going back to work by decluttering. Spurred on by my stupendous efforts in the wardrobe (still more to do in there though) I've begun on the unsaleable E-bay carp. Thanks to Flying Fresians suggestion of Music Magpie I'm £23.92 better off and the house has one box of stuff less lying around. I still have a LeapPad Book reader and around 30 interactive books to rehome but they're going for peanuts on E-bay so its not worth sticking it on there. I may well try Amazon. Does anyone have any pointers?

I'm off to perfect my impersonation of The Staypuft Marshmallow Man with a 30 minute stint watching DD1s riding lesson. DD2 is staying at home with OH thanks to yesterdays collision with a doorframe which has left her with a very swollen sprained thumb. Perhaps the next time shes reminded that the laminate flooring in her bedroom was not put there as a private indoor skating rink she may actually listen.

After that its a trip to Mr. Ts for petrol, milk and spuds. I'm going to spend January reducing the amount of food I have stockpiled in case of seige. I started yesterday with a freeze dried pack of coffee with a best before date originating from the previous millenium. I think thats the worst of my confessions for today. I'm going to aim at £20 per week for all supermarket purchases every week in January to cover the 4 of us, the cat and the dog.

sarahb123_3

Hi Lula, just popping in to wish you a very belated happy new year to you and all on your thread, and happy birthday, I hope you enjoyed them both. :beer:

I think it's a good idea to join the sealed pot club, I know what moo means about the payment a day or putting it into savings but to be honest personally I am not that organised and I love putting the odd bit of change in my pot, I have been saving since the summer in my huge piggy and it's almost to heavy to lift now and that is money which would have been frittered away which I can spend on something fabby at the end of the year (hopefully my sylph like self).

I will be needing some clothes by then as I have joined a [strike]highly optimistic[/strike] very sensible thread about only spending £100 this year on clothes. So I say keep saving in the pot, a few pence a day is neither here nor there but it does add up and think of the fun you will have spending it, it's almost like free money so no guilt;) Hopefully no more of your household appliances will blow up, it's no fun spending on them:rolleyes:

Hope you are feeling a bit better today, am very jealous to hear your appetite has disappeared

moo2moo

Morning All.

Todays my first official structured day back at work which explains why I'm still in PJs avoiding going in. I love my job. Really really really love it but its freezing outside, minus two to be precise and my car has frozen up on the inside (again). On a more positive note OH is on holiday until next Saturday so is supervising (I use the term loosely) the DDs meaning they don't have to go with me. I'm planning to be in early so that I can get my 6 hours in and be home early afternoon but the heating doesn't go on until 7:45 and the place will be like a fridge, thats assuming I programmed it correctly for the right number of days holiday, if not it'll be like a fridge whatever. Must stop procrastinating and go for a shower the minute the hot water kicks in.

Won £1.20 on the free scratchcards today and promptly lost 60p of it but at least my accounts won't be closed because I only ever take the free money and run.

[Deleted User]

Morning Lula,

Hope that you are feeling much better this morning and all ready for work.

Belated Happy Birthday for the other day, I'm sorry that I missed it but hope that you had a fabby time and got loads of pressies

Will catch you later,

Tea
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