On a mission to free myself of debt...

miggy

You managed all of Ciara's thread - wow! Plus a 60hr week. No wonder you haven't been shopping you didn't eat or sleep either, I guess.

WRT the day you have to shop again - have a Plan, and a list, and stick to them. Trawl though the Old Style thread for cheapy healthy basics (lentils come to mind) and plan how you will use them. Menu planning is a great tool for cheap eats.

Also look for where you can buy more cheaply - somewhere on this site I think there are links to supermarket price comparison sites.

If you are available early evening, shop then. Exactly what time will depend on your local shops but here, Tesco reduces short-dated food drastically at around 8pm. Loaf of bread for 10p, that sort of thing. Also very good for fruit & veg and sometimes for milk, fish, meat etc. If you have freezer space, make the most of it.

This time next year I can see you being rich! LOL. But you will still love saving money.

Exerbusi

Hi Miggy!

Yeah, I did manage the thread - all 10,000,000,000 posts! What struck me most was the change in her as a person and the turnaround in her life - not the money. I was introduced to a lot of metaphysics by an old client and basically Ciara's thread was metaphysics in action it seems!

The nature of my work means shopping late on is really easy to do. I have started to do that anyway as Tesco is much quieter then. I really want to make it a whole week without spending, but it looks like I need to buy petrol. I am going to keep my shopping to less than £10 - lots of veg, little meat and plenty of starchy carbs! I am confident I can make it go far!

The good news on the money front is that I have decided to go for the HSBC offer of 4.9% on my credit card as opposed to the shocking 19.9% I am currently paying. Silly me didn't check the offer and have been stung. Last time I do that! I also have just over £300 about to mature in a saving account at the end of this month which is going straight to the credit card!

I am going to up the credit card payments with the money I save by not buying lunch!

Is it sad that money saving is taking over my life?! I was thinkin of money saving schemes in bed last night and on the drive home today!

I will be debt free within 18 months - it's my mission!

Exerbusi

YGM Fish75!

You could be a legend in this forum with this info!

Exerbusi

Well I have had a really positive day on the money front today.

I finally managed to get a minute to sort out the loan - I shaved £312 off, and the bank manager stopped £100 of charges that were due to be added to my account.

The charges were not actually my fault - I warned HSBC I was going to need an overdraft extension and they didn't give me one. I found this odd considering I had reduced my overdraft from £1500 to £800 over the course of a few months.

I was hoping to have a NS week but lots of running around in the car meant I had to buy some petrol, and whilst I was at Tesco I bought some shopping for the week.

Being especially careful and shopping at night meant I scored a few bargains - cheap bread, meat, veg etc. I bought a weeks worth of shopping for a measly £8.16! I budgeted myself £10 , but by taking advantage of the following bargains...

Tesco finest multigrain batch bread 38p (usually £1.33)
Cabbage 50p
Bacon 75p (usually £2.79)
Tesco Value chocolate mousse 28p
Pizza £1 (usually much more pricey)

My indulgence was honey at £1.46. That was the Tesco own-brand, but believe it or not I actally prefer it, and I have tasted plenty of honey in the past! I already have cupboards full of rice and pasta so didn't need to buy them in.

I am going to make a claim on my phone insurance as the back of my phone has fallen off. After that I have to reduce the CC interest level, get on the case with regards to claiming bank charges back and then cancel my phone insurance.

My money saving is going great, and I get paid on the 15th so all is looking good!

Next month my outgoings should be reuced by approx £70 per month, so that is more money that will go towards debt repayment!

Exerbusi

Another NSD today!

I managed to get a free breakfast and lunch thanks to some good timing at work, meaning I didn't have to eat the food I took with me!

Going to eat the food I didn't need to eat today later, then claim on my phone insurance. After that I will cancel it, saving me £6 per month.

Hoping I will find out more about the reduction in my outgoings in a few days too.

sparky0107

Exerbusi wrote: »

Another NSD today!

I managed to get a free breakfast and lunch thanks to some good timing at work, meaning I didn't have to eat the food I took with me!

Going to eat the food I didn't need to eat today later, then claim on my phone insurance. After that I will cancel it, saving me £6 per month.

Hoping I will find out more about the reduction in my outgoings in a few days too.

Welcome Exerbusi
You seem to be doing well with your outlook on your debts, I have PM'd you on another matter. Once again welcome & Good Luck.

You need to post your SOA statement of affairs www.makesenseofcards.co.uk , also try the snowball calculator this tells you your debtfree date paying minimum payments off, but you can play around with the figures, and it gets quite addictive, as does this site, www.whatsthecost.com you will need your outstanding balances & APR's also the minimum payments, try keeping a spending diary also www.spendingdiary.co.uk this will help you see where any spare cash is going.

Take care

Exerbusi

The problem with my SOA is that my income varies somewhat! I am paid a retainer by my job and then I can supplement it with additional incomes.

Generally my income is around £1300-£1500, but it can be as low as £950-£1000. As long as my outgoing don't exceed that, I will be smiley!

Exerbusi

Worked again today and didn't spend any money again! Pay day in 4 days, then at the end of the month my savings account matures. I will stick that into my current account and try to pay off my overdraft first. Other than my loan it is my most expensive debt so needs to go ASAP.

The maturing savings account comes at a nice time - the exact halfway point between pay days! That means I will be able to benefit from 3 sets of income in 4 weeks! Excellent!

miggy

Hello again,
You continue to make great strides - are you in competition with Ciara?! Talking of whom, I googled 'metaphysics' but Wikipedia didn't go into enough depth, so I'm not much the wiser . I take it you mean her story is one of things coming together and working out (with help from her sister)? Or along those lines? Or am I totally off course?
I too did well from Tesco bargains this week, bagging lots of end-of-day fruit & veg including punnets of four figs at 10p each which suits me fine.
Well done for everything, especially sorting out the loan.

Exerbusi

I dont have a chance of beating Ciara! I don't have a wealthy relative to help out either!

Metaphysics is basically linked a science of 'one and all' - the theory is that all beings and the universe are all part of one big being, and by feeling good about ourselves and having positive thoughts we emit a sense of wellbeing, which in turn attracts good things to us.

There are various sayings used in everyday language that affirm metaphysics, such as 'Smile and the word smiles with you' etc. It is also called the law of attraction. It was made more famous by two publications/dvd's....

1. The Secret.
2. What the Bleep Do We Know?

Worth watching both of them. I don't necessarily buy into all of it, but the principles are a good guide to live life by I think.