Mrs. P's Diary

MrsPorridge

Thanks for your encouragement Hopeful1.

I have looked at the payment a day thread and when I first joined MSE I used that all the time. Now if I have any extra left over I make a payment off my Egg card, which I can easily do online. I agree with you that the payment a day does make you think. Its that that has now stopped me buying drinks from the vending machines etc.

MrsPorridge

Thursday

Feeling much more positive about things today - taking it one step at a time.

Absolutely delighted as some Ebay items have finished and I've added another £117.21 to my total (siggy updated). That whole amount will be paid straight off the Egg card.

Eight items did not sell but I have relisted them with a lower price - I think I was a bit too over-optimistic with the prices I put on them first time around.

I have got more items finishing tomorrow and 6 have bids on so will have more to add to the pot.

Came home to find a cheque for £9.10. I get one of those fortnightly publications and to cut a long story short I had to send them a cheque and I sent too much! I telephoned to ask for a refund a couple of weeks ago and as I had heard nothing I thought "that's the end of that then" (its my fault I should have checked how much I owed not just guessed - see there are still improvements I can make in my MSE-ing) Well, today I got home to find the cheque. So that will be paid into the bank on Saturday morning.

Hopeful1

MrsPorridge wrote: »

Absolutely delighted as some Ebay items have finished and I've added another £117.21 to my total (siggy updated). That whole amount will be paid straight off the Egg card.

Wow!!! :T That's great - well done you!! Can i ask what sort of things do you sell on ebay? I keep asking my OH to sort through his playstation games so i can put them on musicmagpie, but he never gets round to it. I have warned him not to leave it too much longer as i have very itchy fingers

MrsPorridge

I sell all sorts of junk from around the house, clothes, ornaments, books, DVDs, bric a brac. DH is a great hoarder and its only lately that he's let me sell any of his stuff - at the moment plastic soldiers - I cannot believe what they are selling for. Three more of them have just ended and netted just over £100.:eek:

I have also been known to buy stuff in charity shops and re-sell on Ebay for a profit - but that doesn't always work.;)

MrsPorridge

I say "junk" and its not really of course! Its all stuff I bought because I desperately needed it!

MrsPorridge

Sunday

Have beaten my target and am over £500 on the Ebay challenge.:j However, there are 8 more items listed on ebay and then that is the end of my "big ticket" items. All the other bits and bobs I will find to list (and I know I can find some more around the house), will only be worth a few pounds, but they will all add up so I will keep going to the end of December.:j

Transferred £150 from Paypal into my current account on Thursday, once that has cleared will make an overpayment to the CC. An Ebay purchaser is sending me a cheque for £140 so once that is received and has cleared I will make an overpayment on the CC.

Haven't had a good weekend MSE-wise - I think because I knew I had the extra money coming from Ebay I sort of slightly lost control. It could have been a lot worse and I haven;t used the dreaded CC. However, must get back on track.

The main thing I'm overspending on is food. I was doing quite well with it. Still doing the menu planning and batch cooking but the last few weeks I've been buying extras food stuffs we don't really need but bought because we "fancy" them. Also had a couple of fish and chip takeaways as well. All above is not very good for my weight loss efforts either which I am struggling a bit with so much so I didn't weigh myself last Monday and am afraid to tomorrow.:eek:

Horace

Well done on the Ebay challenge and being able to make overpayments on the CC.

Don't be too hard on yourself on the food score either - we all have to buy what we fancy now and again. I do it - today at my local corner shop I bought myself some cadbury chocolate fingers (they were half price) and very yummy they are too:D It is the only snack food that I have allowed myself for an absolute age.

I shall be good tonight - I am eating out of the freezer again, last night I got some minted lamb steaks out (two of them) - I will cook one tonight and the other will be done tomorrow with different veg or I may cook both tonight and have one tomorrow sliced in a sandwich or even put back in the freezer:eek:

MrsPorridge

Tuesday

Not much to report MSE-wise - still plodding along. 8 items left on Ebay which end today - 2 have bids on them which at the moment will net around £18 - its better than nothing. There will be a lull for a couple of weeks while I scout around and try and accumulate more Ebay items:D I always check out charity shops in case I can buy something cheaply there and sell it on for profit - is that wrong do you think?:rolleyes: However, I did hear on the radio this morning that charity shop donations have dropped. I used to send everything to the charity shop - now it all goes on Ebay.

Paid the penultimate instalment of £125 for DS' trip to Italy:j Once that's gone it will be easier. I have been trying to use the family allowance for that but haven't quite managed it. There have been some expenses new shoes etc., for DS. Will use the family allowance for the final instalment - will have enough money in there by then. The Fonebank cheque for £52 should arrive this week and that will be paid into the Abbey current account. this account just has the family allowance going into it each week. That means there will be enough to pay the final Italy instalment and enough in there by Easter as I will have to pay for 2 days childcare approx £25 per day:mad: Oh, the joys of being a working Mum:j

MrsPorridge

Wednesday

I've just spent the last 10 mins ranting on about how much money I've been spending and how much I have been out of control and just pressed a button and lost it all.:eek: :eek: :eek: I;m not going to repeat it all because I'm over it and hey, I want to be really positive.

Things I am going to do to improve matters:

1. Up DH and my weekly spending money to £40. This is to cover extra food such as milk, fruit etc. I am going to take the money out first thing on Saturday morning and will use this diary to note down what we spend it on and keep a running total. Any left over by the Friday will go towards my October 2009 holiday fund. This will begin the first Saturday after 28th Feb which is pay day.

2. Change my Ebay account to my Abbey National current account which only has the family allowance going into it. This because all the extra I have earned on Ebay has been swallowed up in my normal current account with extra bills etc., and me being a bit of a spendthrift because I knew that I was getting the extra money from Ebay.:mad:

3. Change everything over to DD as the bills come in. Most of this has been done now. Still need to change the oil, council tax, house insurance (due April) and DH's bike insurance (due November).

4. Attempt to build up an emergency fund of about £250 - £300 to cover any emergencies. This month we have an unexpected bill for DS' bike of £120. Of course the Ebay money is going to pay that.:mad:

5. Find more things to Ebay - they will be small amounts of money but it will all help.

6. Try and get a student teacher to lodge with us after Easter.

Positive things already done

1. Still haven't used the CC at all this year.:T

2. Changed a lot of bills already onto DD:T

3. Built up £50 in my emergency fund:T

4. Made extra money on Ebay:T

MrsPorridge

Monday.

I've overpaid £241 on the CCs today. Almost paid off £1K its very slow going but at least its going down:j