DFSD's motivational ramblings...

Chocforever

Nice to see you have some interest on the Ebay items already .

I've had a couple of Amazon sales this afternoon (not the stuff I put on today - I had about 8 items left from last year). Sunday is a good internet night. It's also nice to be able to get the postage and packaging done on a non-work night.

I'm very jealous about your tea. I hadn't put enough liquid in the slow cooker so the beef resembled shoe leather! I must be in a better mood today because I wasn't too bothered. Still ate most of it - I like well done food :rolleyes:. And I found a bar of apricot crumble chocolate to munch on so that is keeping me happy .

I had a nasty bingo bonus experience a while back when I didn't understand what was going on. I looked on the forums here and I think someone summed it up well when they said you should just ignore or opt out of the bonuses because they aren't really worth anything. I am sure there are exceptions around (like BB I guess), but I suspect it is a good general rule. Another one to cross off the list. We will find other ways to bring the money in.

yukkibear

Well done on listing, the money makes it worth it when the bids start coming.

debtfreesomeday

Morning all...

Monday again. 2 hours into the working week and I'm bored out of my mind already! Just worked out it's still two weeks until payday too. :mad: I hate the long month of January.

I didn't sleep very well last night, I had all sorts of numbers going round in my head, trying to work out this and that.:rolleyes: I suddenly remembered we need to get our car serviced in Feb (sure have been done by now really but I'm playing dumb if they point that out!) to keep the warranty valid, but I'm not sure how we're gonna pay for it yet. :eek: There would've been enough in the car/tax/insurance pot if the insurance had gone down like I thought it would, but it hasn't. :mad: This year will see us building that pot up considerably, and will also become the savings pot for any house/car repairs too. By the end of the year we should have about £800 in there after paying out for all the insurances and tax etc.

I was hoping not to have to spend any more money in the next couple of weeks, but I guess I was being optimistic as we need some fresh salad and veggies in already. Have made a little list and will pick them up some time this week. I think I'm going to pay the £21.50 into the bank account that I have in the coin jar at home. It's silly being sat in there if it can help a little with the overdraft.

Off to earn some more pennies then, I hope Monday flies by.

DFSD
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debtfreesomeday

AAARGHHHHH! Bloody delivery people!

Hubby just popped home for lunch, which he never does usually, to find the parcel that I cancelled on Friday waiting on the doorstep. They told me it was out of stock and I was due a £35 refund! He also had a phonecall from Home delivery network to say they were coming in half an hour - even though that was also supposed to have been cancelled too! Bloody people! I guess I now won't be getting a refund for the £35 then which kind of mucks up my budget even more, but at least I don't need to take a day off to have the other parcel redelivered. It was a stroke of luck that hubby had to pop home for something.

DFSD

Chocforever

What a pain. If the £35 is from those lovely people at M and S, you could still take it back for a refund, I think, if you don't want the items anymore. if they have messed you around on the delivery, there is a phone number with the parcel summary and the operators have authority to cancel delivery charges where appropriate.

I do not understand how delivery firms operate. They apparently track their parcels, yet cannot say whether it is out on a van to be delivered, not even got to their depot yet etc. They have all of our contact details in case of a problem, but don't seem able to actually use them to tell us the delivery will be delayed. You have got me started now....!

I had leftovers from the two things I cooked yesterday and did not go to plan. In the interests of saving money and minimising waste, I combined them tonight and made something absolutely revolting :rotfl: So a bit more chocolate has been demolished!

I managed to set up a £10 a week standing order into a new bank savings account in my version of the sealed pot for Xmas 2010. Nothing like being organised is there :rolleyes:. I figured it was only about £1 a day and if I can avoid the coffee bar at work, that will easily pay for it. I will be grateful in 12 months time!

Hope you have a better day tomorrow,

CF

debtfreesomeday

Your combined leftovers sound very, err, 'interesting!' :rotfl:Sounds like something I would do to be honest, as I hate waste, especially food.

Well, after all the hassle with deliveries yesterday, half of the 'cancelled' order was wrong anyway.:mad: Unfortunately it's not M&S, it was Habitat, and there isn't one near me, so I'll have to repackage that tonight, send it off and wait patiently for half of the money to be refunded. Their online ordering leaves a lot to be desired. They still haven't answered any emails I have sent, not even ones of complaint which I find appalling. I was going to call them last night and complain about the order showing up when cancelled and being wrong item etc. but decided I could do without the stress and hassle to be honest!

Well the bank balance is still not yet overdrawn, but I think it may be tomorrow when our sofa payment comes out as they'll only be £20 or so left in there then. Anything else due out from now on will go into the overdraft.

We have, so far, been savvy with our petrol usage this month though - there's half a tank in there and we should only need to fill up once more before payday, so we will be under budget by about £25 - £30 within that allowance. It'll chuck a bit extra towards overdraft-damage-limitation I guess.

We are running out of a few things around the house ad really need some fresh veg in now, but I've remembered we have about £12 left in Sainsburys vouchers given to us for Christmas, as well as approx £13 left on our Nectar card, so we shall pop to Sainsburys one evening and pay for the bits we need with those.

Ebay items are doing well - I think 4 or 5 have bids on of up to about £20, a couple without bids have watchers on and there's 5 days left on them. :cool:

No sales on Amazon yet though this New Year. :rolleyes:

10p on scratchcard last night - I can no longer do the other one as have no balance in that account, and not putting any more money in it.

Oh, and lost 5lbs this week after being extra good :j (apart from a 'blip' on Sunday!).

Have a good day all
DFSD
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Chocforever

Your ebay items are coming along nicely. And wow, that weight loss is amazing.

Nothing much to report here. I was so hungry this morning after my disasterous dinner but managed to keep away from the canteen and coffee bars. A friend took me out for lunch which made a nice change and was much appreciated.

When is your payday - is it 31st or do you get paid sooner?

wantabetterlife

Hi DFSD, just catching up on your diary and wanted to say congratulations on the budgeting and the weight loss :j:j. I was wondering when you are sorting out your budgets you talk about pots of money, are these different bank accounts for all these things, such as car, groceries etc or how do you organise this. I find this part of the whole budgeting thing hard to get my head round , i was thinking of getting jars for each area of the budget and at the start of the month putting that months budget into each pot. Not sure what to do and was just wondering how everybody else manages. Thanks
WABL

debtfreesomeday

Hi both

WABL - The pots I talk about is really only one pot in which we put £100 a month towards car tax, car & house insurance and car expenses - it's actually an e-saver account which is linked to our main bank account, so it's literally just a case of transferring it on screen to the e-saver. As soon as it's needed then, I transfer it back instantly and can pay for things out of the main account then.

The petrol and groceries, I just allow £300 per month for, but leave it in our bank account and keep a record of how much has been spent every time we buy either one.

Hope that helps!

Chocs - payday is 25th this month, so only about 10 days (ish)! The bank account is still in credit, although I know it won't be by the time everything has come out, but we should be able to make it back next month I hope.
Lovely treat you had lunch bought for you!

DFSD
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debtfreesomeday

Well it's been a bit of an adventure getting to work this morning! There's been quite a nasty accident on the way to work and the road was shut, so hubby dropped me off as close as we could get the car and I had to walk for 30 minutes or so in the snow - in suede boots! My feet are freezing now and my boots are now on the radiator, drying out. I hope they're not ruined.

Ebay items still creeping up, which is good. Sofa payment has come out of the bank account - only 8 more of those to go and that's another debt paid off.

Brrr, can feel the chill making its way up my legs now, off to make a hot drink and try and fend off another cold.

Will post later
DFSD
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