DFSD's motivational ramblings...

debtfreesomeday

Thanks WABL - some great points for us to think about. It really helps to get someone else's spin on things sometimes.

Yeah, we both work 8am-5pm so no shifts here either!

Thanks very much
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debtfreesomeday

Not updated for a few days now - had a nice long weekend off work which was very welcome. My parents came to stay - it was wonderful to see them. They also very generously bought us a new dryer, so lovely of them :A, I feel so bad I'm not able to afford everything and my parents are still helping me out financially at my age. It has had plenty of use already and we were able to do 5 loads of washing yesterday! :eek: Finally caught up with the laundry!
They also bought lots of groceries with them and Dad did some jobs around the house for us, so I feel thoroughly spoiled, looked after and, yesterday and today, extremely home sick.
There were lots of tears last night about coming back to work today. It is making me so miserable and depressed, but I have no choice but to carry on here for the foreseeable future, so I'm just getting on with it today. At least it's only a four day week.

Onto moneysaving things, thanks to Mum and Dad our freezer and cupboards are bursting with food , so we won't need to do a shop for a while yet! Car is also full of petrol as of yesterday. I have spent money over the weekend on household stuff, some more christmas presents and bits and pieces. Splashed out on £7.50 for a bag for myself for a wedding we have coming up, will also be used for any subsequent wedding we go to!

I've also paid another £11.77 off the credit card so that our debt repayments make up £900 this month as per our snowball.

Think that's all for now. Back to my boring day... :sad:

debtfreesomeday

Have realised we've only paid off £800 off the debt this month, not £900 as I thought we had. Can't afford to pay another £100 off the CC this month now though so will have to live with it! Will affect the snowball slightly I guess.
Next month we start the £103 payments for our sofa (for 12 months). As I don't want to reduce our cc payments, will definitely be paying the £900 off next month.

I've listed another book on Amazon today (£6.49, undercutting the present lowest price on the marketplace by £1.59!:cool:).

I've also ordered a Graze Box for delivery to my office on Thursday, using a code on here for first box free, second half price. Might cancel before the second though and just have the free one! :o:T

DFSD

wam73

Hi DFSD,
Sorry not posted for a while. Been really busy.
After reading your post about having children, all I can say is go for it. I am a single parent. My daughter is 18 now and I managed on low wages, Help with working tax credits etc. Babies don't need to be expensive like the last poster said. It's the love and time you give them. Having a child may also help you. Have you looked into maybe changing your job to a part time one and see if you can get any help from the Goverment. You may find a better Job one you like and still earn the same with a wtc top up.They also help with childcare charges if you and your partners wages are low. Just a thought. xx

debtfreesomeday

Hi Wendy

Hope all's well with yourself.

Thanks for your thoughts - your comment about changing jobs / going part time made me really excited! I never really considered that to be honest, but it's something I'd love to do. As you may have read, this place is driving me down now...
I think we're going to just concentrate on getting through the rest of this year, then start repaying the loan. Once we're halfway through repaying that (9 months out of 18 months it will take us to repay) then we're going to look at finances again. At least the loan will then be repaid before any children may come along then - we'll also be nearly £500 a month better off so I'll be able to afford to go part time. This is the decision I feel easiest about I think...

DFSD

debtfreesomeday

Well it looks like we're going to need a new tyre on the car. Noticed it was looking a bit bare at the weekend, so going to get it checked out next weekend. That's another £80 or so gone! :mad: Going to take it out of the insurance / tax pot I think and up our contributions to that again next month - maybe up it to £100 a month to cover car things like this too. The car is still under warranty so shouldn't theoretically cost us too much at the moment, but I know we are due a service in the next few months. :eek:

Also been looking at making some cheap and lovely Christmas gifts this year. I quite fancy the idea of making 'gifts in jars' - ie. cake and cookie mixes, chutneys, chocolates etc - and think these will go down well with our family and friends. There's some great ideas on the 'special occasions' board. Also like the idea of Christmas Eve Hampers which I'm going to do for my family and hubby, although they'll have boxes instead of hampers as they're cheaper! :rotfl: Will fill it with things like pj's, socks, a mug / hot chocolate, bath bomb, cookies, alcohol miniatures, reindeer food (oats and coloured sugar!) and maybe a book etc - will have to have a scout of the local pound shops! I want to make Christmas special this year - my family, once again, have not had an easy year.

DFSD
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wam73

Ah I'm glad I may have been some help or at least gave u some excitement :-)
Last christmas I did Hampers for my family and litterally only cost me a few pounds. I used Coupons for smellies for my mum, She loves olay products and boots are always giving away vouchers. Saved up all the free gifts I could get and made colour coordinated pressies. There really are loads of freebies out there if you can find them. Had a real cheap christmas. Not doing so well so far this year only got my Avon lipgloss lol

debtfreesomeday

Looking over our 'Snowball' last night, I realised that we will be paying the loan off a lot quicker than I thought!:T:eek::T
I had calculated it as taking us 18 months once the credit card is finished, but actually it was 18 months from when I did the snowball! This means, once the credit card is paid off (realistically will be Feb next year now - I was aiming for end of this year but not going to magically find another £600 from anywhere to achieve this ) then it will take us 12 - 13 months of overpayments to pay that loan off. :j I'm really pleased about that - it means we can then start thinking about having children without too much worry of how we're going to afford maternity leave and childcare etc. Our plan is now to start trying this time next year .

Once that loan is paid off, we will still have the last loan to pay, but this can't be overpaid. We could save up to pay it off, but I feel quite relaxed about continuing to pay the £216.73 a month until it ends in 2012. This is easily manageable.

So it's another year and a bit more of living like this until we actually can start to get our lives back on track - that should be no problem, as long as nothing goes wrong in the meantime - fingers crossed!

DFSD

debtfreesomeday

This morning has been a competition entry morning - have entered quite a few over the last few days so hopefully there'll be a few wins!

Last night I withdraw £10 cash out of the cashpoint as I needed some change to pay for a birthday gift and lottery ticket at work. I honestly can't remember the last time I used a cashpoint... I was standing there and forgot what to do for a minute!
The £10 has been taken off my 'leftover money' pot - so now have £50 left which is more than ample as I've bought everything I need to -maybe just a couple more birthday cards to buy this month and 1 gift I forgot about:o.

I have also started saving my £2 coins again - so far I have.... *cue drum roll*... £2!!! Have instructed hubby to save them as he gets them too. The thing is, as we never spend much money now, we never seem to have any change!

My free Graze box should arrive today too, although not feeling in the slightest bit hungry today. May keep it for snacks tomorrow.

DFSD
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debtfreesomeday

Two wins to report already! :j

I've won a Vodkat Cocktail Kit and some St Hellier Cider goodies - both on instant win 'spin' things! :eek:

Oh, and my Graze box arrived - not impressed - the 'freshly washed grapes' are filthy!

DFSD