The ultimate incentive to get debt free, can I do it by New Years?

Tete_en_l'Air

Cinny91 wrote: »

This is my 2009 list so far, I'm getting there!:

1. Save into thousands, not hundreds.
2. Get all presents money neutral.
3. Become a mini domestic goddess.
4. Go to bingo, and win (aim high!)
5. Have a holiday in Kent in my dream house.
6. Say yes more and learn how to say no when I mean no.
7. Go on a hike every Sunday.

You've already achieved no. 3 by the sounds of it. Love no. 6. Really must get back to my list.... Merry Christmas my dear x

Cinny91

Tete_en_l'Air wrote: »

Can't speak for Cinny, but Dinah and I have both had pretty spend-thrifty pasts and in some ways I think it's good to get into some debt at a young age because you know how awful it is and work to change your spending habits before it's too late.

I haven't been much of a spendthrift growing up, but when I earnt my own wage I went abit reckless with it, I was constantly sick of having no money even though I was earning a pretty decent wage. I actually found MSE while I was trying to find reviews on aldi makeup! Changed my ways completely.

Thanks Tete! I just want to be abit more tidy with my baking, slightly more Nigella about it all. Pulling out my nicely buffed chrome jam funnel rather than attempting to ladel it in and swearing at the sleeping dog when it all goes on the side.

Tete_en_l'Air

Cinny91 wrote: »

Thanks Tete! I just want to be abit more tidy with my baking, slightly more Nigella about it all. Pulling out my nicely buffed chrome jam funnel rather than attempting to ladel it in and swearing at the sleeping dog when it all goes on the side.

'Tidy' and 'baking' in the same sentence?! I made some gingerbread biscuits last night and it took me as long to clear up as it did to bake them! They are nice though even if I do say so myself. And even if the reindeer shape looks more like a cockatiel

Cinny91

haha, I can be pretty tidy when I'm making cupcakes and scones, recipes I know by heart but I was making biscuits with my sister the other day and made a massive mess too. Makes it more fun! Ours were just big gingerbread men and little ones, which then we iced together to make Mary and baby Jesus biscuits.

clearmydebts

Love the lists ladies! I will have to do a 40 before 40 as I am 31. 9 years gives me lots of time to get through them though!!!

Dinah93

Well finally some money making news, in the festive spirit HSBC have decided to give me the full £170 of charges + interest I applied for from my CC, an incredibly easy process only took 2 letters! Now I just need the big barclaycard £460 to come through too!

Also got through £51 from Amazon today, however in preparation for my 20k in 2009 challenge I am going to be handling my money a bit differently. I am aiming to keep my bank balance as close to 0 as possible all month, so when payday comes I have the full £1500 of overdraft (almost exactly what I get in wages) left to transfer to savings. And then I start again at 0 for the next month. Currently I am around -£100 because my monthly family loan payment just came out, but aiming to get that back to 0 asap. Although I need to take out my £240 I give to mum to cover my food and towards the bills each month too, but thats the bulk of my expenses for the month save petrol, and won't have to do that until the second week of Jan as OH filled my car up when he borrowed it yesterday.

Won £10 on the lottery on saturday (grandad puts a ticket on for me each week) so that will help, and have a £17 mazuma cheque to pay in in the new year, and expecting circa £85 to arrive on the 27th ish from my mystery shopping for the month. Also managed to get 3 jobs at the airport en route to Ireland on the 28th, there were 3 more jobs but the website went down before I could nab them! Going to call on the 27th if no one replies to my email as the airport jobs often struggle to go, especially if the website is down( ! ), so they might assign them to me anyway.

Merry Christmas all, have a fantastic day tomorrow x

Pilchard

Hello all

Hope you're all having a fab christmas. I am but everyone's watching Dr Who at the moment and it's not my cup of tea!!!

Dinah, hope you're having a fantastic first christmas with you're OH and are looking forward to many more.

Enjoy the rest of the Christmas holidays!!!!

:xmassign: :xmassign: :xmassign: :xmassign: :xmassign: :xmassign:

Dinah93

Hi all, Merry Christmas Pilchard, got your pm, can't remember if I replied but already have the certificate otherwise it would be circa £30+ per month on prescriptions. Got £70 today from grandparents, so that's going to be cashed then go someway towards paying off my rent without touching my pay! Have exactly £70 in amazon vouchers already stored up, so going to get the books I said I would get with those and its a win-win.

Anyway, its late and not a day for money making, going to go curl up in bed with OH and warm up. Hope you all had lovely days too. D x

Tete_en_l'Air

Morning all, hope everyone had a great day yesterday! I've been a very lucky girl just testing out my new laptop! (Seems to be working wthout having plugged the router thing in, so I think I'm leeching off someone else's internet )

That's great news about your charges Dinah, has inspired me to look through my old statements and look into it maybe, but although I was in debt with my head in the sand for a few years I don't think I actually defaulted that much or incurred any charges - I just kept increasing my OD limit to avoid them! If I could claim back all the interest I've paid for my ODs I'd be able to go on safari or something!

My Christmas Dinner went very well yesterday and I only shouted once during the making of it! Grandma gt me a £20 'book token' (WH Smith gift card) so I think I'm going to get cookery books! OH got me Jamie's Italy as well and is expecting something from it

I got a bit of money too for Crimble and was also thinking of putting it straight into savings! Very MSE aren't we? Might put half in savings and see what's in the sales. Still working on looking at my savings amount for 2009, want something realistic so I don't just throw in the towel in March, but a bit of a challenge as well. Anyway these are all just musings.... I've another week to sort it out. Hope you have a lovely time on the Island when you go over, lots of love xxx

Cinny91

Hey everyone, hope you all had a nice christmas!

Went sale shopping with my sister today, spent over £100 but I got some really nice things I'll use/wear. We set off at 8 this morning, mainly because we're crackers, and got home at 2. Paid off my board until I get back to work so haven't got that to worry about until then. No doubt I'll be trawling more sales tomorrow, not very MSE but I did get next years paperchase christmas cards, got to count for something. Right?