DFSD's motivational ramblings...

debtfreesomeday

Not a very DFW weekend unfortunately. We had to transfer some money over from our 'savings' pot to make sure there was enough in the bank account for these unexpected payments as previously mentioned. We also needed a few bits and pieces, so had to spend some money. I'm guessing we'll be about £50 - £100 overdrawn by payday which is Friday. It's very frustrating and disappointing.

I'm also really down at the moment. One of my closest family members has a serious chronic illness which is particularly bad at the moment and it is proving very difficult for everyone to cope. Life in general is not good lately, it's extremely stressful. It makes it difficult focusing on money saving and weight loss when such horrible things are going on in my personal life. I feel like we all need a break. We need a lottery win!

debtfreesomeday

I'm feeling a little bit brighter today, and a little more positive thank goodness!

Well today I have managed to knock £30 off the egg card balance by returning some items bought on it, so only £45 or so to pay and that is then paid off. I have cut the card up but will probably close the account too.

I've also emailed a cosmetic company, complaining that a gift box I bought didn't contain the correct products. Hopefully they offer me a refund or some vouchers or freebies! :rotfl:Have also emailed another company requesting some free samples - we'll see if anything turns up!

I did another couple of surveys last night, earnt about £2. It soon adds up I find. I'm going to leave it until I've got about £25 built up so I can then cash it in and put it towards doing our garden in the Spring. I think I have about £9 in there at the moment and that's taken a month or so.

I checked the bank balance and, as expected, we are overdrawn - by nearly £18. :mad: Once two other payments have come out of it, we will be about £57 overdrawn before payday on Friday. It could've been worse I guess, but I'm just annoyed that it's due to the mistake made by our gym and it is not our fault! I have been trying so hard to keep us out of the overdraft at the end of every month. We won't have a lot of money to play with next month as we have to put £100 towards our car insurance as we now don't have enough in the savings pot. :mad: Oh well, we've been worse off. There's just so much I want to buy for our house and non-existent garden at the moment though and no spare money even to save towards it.

We're going to share the cost of a takeaway with our neighbours at the weekend. They too are DFW's! Will cost us about £10 but we would've been paid by then. :j

That's about all for today, unless I can find any more freebies or comps to enter! xx

debtfreesomeday

Today I'm feeling very impatient! I want these debts gone NOW! I stupidly even started looking at topping up one of my loans to cover the outstanding balance on the credit card, thinking I can then make massive overpayments to that loan. I then came to my senses when I realised how much extra interest that would mean I was paying and how much longer it would take me to clear it! I'm just so eager to get rid of this damn credit card and start to overpay our loans. I know we've made great progress but it's just not quick enough for me - when I get something into my head, I want to do it now, that's how I got into this financial mess in the first place I think!

Anyway, onto things I CAN do today to help my DFW status - we are having a stroecupboard dinner today as usual, although we're running out of fresh fruit and veg and I really need to buy some in at the weekend once we're paid.
I've checked the online banking - (£60 overdrawn :mad:) and I have another survey to do tonight to earn a few more pennies. I have also entered lots of comps online. I have been wrestling in my head as to whether to go to Tesco's or to go home for lunch and I've been very good and decided to go home. I know that in the current mood I'm in I'll just end up spending loads in Tesco's and buying bad food! I shall also go to the gym tonight to use our membership and try and shift a few lbs...

Tonight I shall finish our budget sheet for this & next month. I haven't done one for a couple of months due to moving house and Christmas etc, but we're slipping and I need to get us back on track.

It's not helping my mood that I keep thinking it's Friday today!!!

debtfreesomeday

Yay! I've had another Amazon sale this afternoon! :j It was only for £5.52 but I'd given up on anything else selling on there! I usually put it towards the credit card as an extra little payment, but I think I'll have to leave it in the bank account for now. I think every little bit will be needed this month! :rolleyes:

debtfreesomeday

As it's payday tomorrow, I've made payments to both credit cards online: £44.96 to the egg card and £255 to the virgin card. This means that once a pending refund is actioned on the egg card it is cleared (again!) :j I shall be cancelling that account as soon as possible! I've updated my signature to show our new outstanding totals.

I've also worked out our budget for the month and, although we don't have much spare, we're not as bad off as I thought we might be. So, I've also put my latest Amazon sale towards the virgin Credit Card too, paying off an extra £5.52!

I made an online order for ASDA last night, but this morning I received a voucher for £15 off with sainsbury's online, so I promptly cancelled the ASDA order and went with Sainsbury's! The same order was cheaper with Sainsbury's even before the discount. I find some of ASDA's prices have really crept up lately.

I have also entered lots of competitions this morning and have been checking for surveys, but none so far today.

AND I'm still thinking it's Friday today - that's two days in a row now!

DFSD

debtfreesomeday

It's Payday! :j:j:jand it's Friday! :j:j:j:j
What a long month that was!

I'm in a much better mood today - due to the reasons above. and the sun is shining, and, more importantly, my Mum is feeling well today too (she has a chronic illness and we have been going through a particularly terrible and worrying time lately). This is the first day she's felt ok for weeks and weeks now. I just hope and pray the good days continue for her and us.

So, today I have transferred some money to top the e-saver up enough for our car insurance, due in 3 weeks; I've checked our bank balance - hubby's bill / household money will go into my account in a few days by transfer, my wages in there today, so I've allocated money to everything that needs allocating to!

I've got a survey to do when I get home tonight, and I have to wrap the incorrect cosmetic products I complained about to send back - they're going to send me replacements and some freebies too.

Although I don't like ebay (after trouble with one dodgy buyer), I might have a look around at home and list a few things at the weekend as we have some stuff to get rid of. We also have lots for the charity shop and some stuff for the tip which has been dumped in our garage since the house move. I feel like a spring cleaning / turnout weekend coming on!

DFSD

debtfreesomeday

Goodness, Monday already. Where does the weekend go?

We had our Mr Sainsbury's delivery yesterday, so now there's lots of lovely food in the house to last us a couple of weeks, meaning no buying lunches or 'top up shopping' for meals. So far out of the £150 shopping budget monthly, we've spent about £75 - as it was a big shop, this will last us a good 2 weeks, with only a smaller 'fresh stuff' shop needed in a couple of weeks time.

I've lowered our petrol budget to £100 instead of £150 a month as we were not spending anywhere near that now that petrol has reduced in price a little and we don't really go anywhere too far away at the moment. We had to fill up at the weekend, spending £33, which should last us a good 10 days.

Now this doesn't sound very DFW, but I bought a contract mobile today. My old PAYG brick is on its last legs! Of course, I made sure it was DFW-stylee by going through QUIDCO (£60 CB) and choosing a cheapy £15 a month tariff with £65 cashback from them, plus a further £20 instant cashback = £145 cashback in total, plus unlimited txts a month and lots of inclusive minutes. I figured that I have been topping up by about £13 - £15 a month anyway so this was a good deal! I think it works out at about £8 pm over the term of the contract - a lot less than I was paying on PAYG.

I also have to do my car insurance through Quidco in the next few weeks - the best quote we got was £80 less than we're paying now, and we get £28 cashback (although annoyingly, it was £65 a few weeks ago! :mad:).

I have also realised that I will be in CREDIT on my egg card by about £20 once a refund has gone through. I wonder if I can get this back from them or whether I have to spend it as my egg card is cut up! Oops!

debtfreesomeday

I WON A WII! :j:j:j

Wow, this morning I paid a quick visit to the Cadbury's instant win website and won a Nintendo wii! I was just trying for some chocolate as a little treat for hubby, but I never expected to win anything else! We actually have one, so were considering selling it and paying off a bit more debt with it, but I know my niece has been wanting one for ages and her Dad can not afford one, so I will give it to her when it comes, I'm sure she'll be over the moon with it. I have entered a few more comps now this morning, you never know - I might be on a lucky streak for a change!

debtfreesomeday

Afternoon :hello:

Today is another NSD for me, brought breakfast / lunch and got everything in for dinner tonight. Most days are NSD's now unless I have things to post etc. - it's great!

I cancelled the mobile phone contract with the last company I was going to go through as I was inundated with pointless calls and emails the whole day from them and they drove me crazy! I have now gone through a different company on Quidco, same price per month and £40 CB through Quidco and £110 instant CB from the company. I went through all of my online bank statements for the last year this mornign and worked out what I spent on top-ups in the last year; it worked out to about £12 a month, the new contract is £15 a month with cashback so I've made a bit of a saving there.

I'm not sure what to do with the casback from the mobile - we should get it in two weeks - I'd like to use it as an extra payment on the credit card but we also desperately need a new mattress (we're currently sleeping in the spare room because of it!). I might strike a happy medium and use a bit to start a 'mattress fund' and use the rest towards the credit card.

I've entered a few more comps online today in the hope our lucky streak will continue!

skysky69

You seem to be having a lucky street at the moment - put the lottery on and we'll keep our fingers crossed! Can you possibly pm me or post the details of the deal you managed to get - my phone has to be charged everyday and i probably top up by 10 quid per month so that deal you have there is fantastic.

After your luck I'm off to check out the comps board!! lol!!