DFSD's motivational ramblings...

debtfreesomeday

So...

Just processed payment for a whopping £541.68 off the credit card, so it'll be coming out on pay day or just after. :j:j:j

Balance now £1737.86.

Finally it's under 2k! Feels like a long time coming.
It will be under 1k with November's payment, then will be paid off in January; February at the latest.
:T:D:T:D:T:D

Then we start 'operation overpay the loan'. :rolleyes::o:rolleyes: I feel a new diary coming on for that one... :cool:

DFSD

debtfreesomeday

Oh heck.
Just realised I've made a big bloomin' mistake in this month's budget.

I've paid an extra £104 to the credit card as that is the amount we will be paying for our sofas monthly from next month and I thought instead of saving or spending that amount this month, I'll put it towards the card instead.
Stupidly, I did this with the assumption of it starting after October's pay packet. It's not, it's gonna come out on the 14th - which means we're gonna be £104 short in our budget.
Oh S**t. Looks like I'm going to have to find an extra £100 from somewhere now if I don't want us to go overdrawn.

Will have to sit and rethink budgets and see if we can 'borrow' some from the petrol and food budgets. Or, we could borrow it from the tax and insurance savings pot, but this would then mean we're likely to be short in that pot.

:doh::wall::doh:

Stupid, stupid me.

Chocforever

Hurrah on the sub £2k balance! You are making really good progress.

Are you able to do any mystery shopping on a lunchtime or weekend? It is good for bringing in a little cash and some treats.

debtfreesomeday

Hiya Chocs

I registered with a few mystery shopping companies ages ago but it seems that there are never any MS projects around here! A shame, as poor service and lack of attention to detail are two of my major dislikes!

Chocforever

What a pity. Yes, it does seem that some areas are better than others for work and, of course, it depends how many others are already mystery shopping in that area. Recently I have found that there is more competition for work in the city where I am employed part time, but they seem short of people near to where I live so I'm still picking up jobs.

Looks like plan B for the £100...

CF

debtfreesomeday

Yep, we'll have to revert to plan B I think! Thanks for the suggestion though Chocs X

Plan B has been formulated: Next month I shall pay £100 less off of the credit card (as I paid the £100 extra this month). Normally I wouldn't be very happy with this, BUT it's actually not going to change our 'credit card debt free date' at all. It'll still all be paid off in Jan / Feb. I feel happier about this than 'borrowing' it from another savings pot or worrying all month that I'm not going to be able to make the £100 extra. Of course, I'll still try to, but running out of money-making options lately.

---

On another note, personal life is stressful again lately and I can feel myself getting more and more anxious by the day. Work is a major contributer, but the main issue is my Mum's battle against her illnesses. She is in need of serious surgery, and is in bad pain daily now, but you know how long these things take to get investigated, confirmed, arranged and then actually done on the nhs. It's particularly bad in the area where my parents live as it is quite rural. Trouble is, if this operation is not done in time, things can turn life threatening. We are constantly chasing up appointments and doctors but it's so frustrating and unbearable to be going through. She has very little quality of life at the moment. I'm sure an animal would not be allowed to suffer like this with no productive treatment.
I am angry, terrified, incredibly nervous and living on my nerves at the moment.

DFSD

Edited at 2.20pm. I just heard that my Mum has been rushed to hospital after collapsing.

I'm sat at my desk fighting back tears and the incredible urge to jump in the car and drive the 250 miles home, but I'm unable to as I don't have the car and hubby's work is reliant upon having transport. I will wait for news as usual and hire a car if I need to as soon as possible. The budget is no longer of the slightest importance.
It feels very rude of me to ask, but if you are able to, please send a little prayer my Mum's way.
I'll update when I am able. DFSD XXX

Chocforever

Oh, DFSD, my heart goes out to you and your Mum. I hope your Mum's health has stabilised. Very best wishes,

CF

debtfreesomeday

Thanks so much Chocs.


Well, I did go home, the day after Mum was taken ill, to look after my Dad and to make sure Mum was ok. She is still poorly, some days and nights in agony, some days it is manageable, but has now been 'bumped up the list' for further investigations and surgery. We are chasing the hospital up again today.

Trying to focus on other things at the moment to keep going.

_______________________

So, an update frome me on the moneysaving front is needed I think:

I was really bad. Then I was really good...

My mood and despair made my just want to blow it all and spend money and eat bad things, so, I stupidly whacked £150 worth of stuff for the house on the credit card :mad:...

...Then, I phoned up and cancelled my order an hour later after I'd seen sense .
I feel so much better about 'saving' myself £150 rather than having something new for the house, even if I have wanted it for a while. I guess I am learning to change my ways. I did, however, eat a load of cr&p yesterday, but planned my meals for today and will do so for tomorrow later today, and have logged it all on weightwatchers online which I am trying to follow. I feel slightly more in control now.

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I listed two more items on Amazon this week. Quite high value items (for me!) at around £20 each, not sure if they will sell but we'll see. Will be nice if they do. If not, I'll put them on the notice board at work - will also save on postage then too. Ebay will be a last resort but still don't have a camera. Have found a few other things to put on there too which I'll keep in a pile for when we do buy/beg or borrow a camera.

___

Hubby has said he is able to chip in an extra £30 for the next 2 or 3 months to buy Christmas presents with which will be a great help. I feel bad as he hardly ever spends money on himself, he gives it all to me to pay off debts / pay for house / buy presents etc. He used to be terrible with money, but is now amazing at saving it.

We have bought a few more presents, and have a few people ticked off our list as 'done' now, but have lots more to buy yet. I managed to pick up some bargains at a local discount store when I was home at the weekend, and bought 6 more presents for about £2 each. My Dad gave me a lottery ticket he had won £10 on, so I used this to pay for most of it. :T Hubby also bought his mother the perfume she likes whilst it was half price at boots - £12 instead of £24.

I now also have some jars and containers to make some foody presents in which I'll do nearer the time.

_____

Today I have transferred £7 over to Paypal from a survey account - I have had quite a few surveys sent to me over the past week or so. There's now £10 in there in total from surveys which I'll use as an extra CC payment when it clears. The more I can pay off that this month, the better I'll feel about paying £100 less next month .:undecided

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We've used £65 of the £150 petrol budget already this month, but hubby's fuel expenses of £36 have been paid into the bank so we've only technically used £29 so far . My lovely Mum and Dad also gave me £25 towards petrol at the weekend too which is still in my wallet. :A
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We have a sainsbury's shop being delivered tonight which should come in at around £44, plus hubby spent £3 in the store when we'd forgotten something, so only £47 out of £150 spent so far for the groceries budget.
The freezers are also pretty full, so we shall be fine for a good while.

___

I am off work today so have spent most of this morning entering competitions online! I have let that slip and harldy done any for months, bu I was quite lucky at one point so guess I should get back in it. It's hard to find the motivation to do much at the moment though.

I'm off to make myself a cuppa and read some more diaries now I think. Should help to keep my spirits up a little and keep positive with the debt-busting.

Hope everyone's well and having a good week.

DFSD
XX

debtfreesomeday

Just bought six more Christmas presents from the Avon website, plus got a free gloves and scarf set with a code from these boards which I will use as another present for someone, plus free delivery. Spent £30, also went through Quidco for 10% cashback. :T I have £30 in my purse, so will ask hubby to pay that in to the bank tomorrow for me to cover it.

Off to update my Christmas shopping list!

DFSD
X

debtfreesomeday

After coming close to getting myself into more debt yesterday by nearly chucking an impulsive, emotion-fuelled purchase onto the cleared egg card, I have been ruthless and just phoned egg to close the account.

I no longer have an egg credit card account! That had a £6,500 credit limit on it so will do my credit score some good in the long run too I should think! :j

We do have a Lloyds credit card which they sent us recently, with a £2,000 credit limit on it. This is not in use - ie. it's shoved upstairs in a file, along with the pin number which we have never opened and do not intend to do so! We are going to keep this for now for absolute emergency use only - hopefully it will never have to be used. Once we are debt free and have some savings in the bank I shall get rid of that one too, but for now, it makes me very nervous to have nothing in case we have a household or car emergency and are stuck. I shall think about getting rid of it sooner though... what do you all think?

I've just shredded all the documentation I had related to egg. I've had that card 6 years! Felt good to finally be brave enough to get rid of it and close the account. :cool: