DFSD's motivational ramblings...

elantan

isnt amazing how those few things all mount up ....

debtfreesomeday

Hi elantan :wave: - yes, it is amazing how little things all add up to become one big credit card balance! Unfortunately it was essential repairs though so not an option to leave it...

debtfreesomeday

Well today I have paid off a sizeable chunk of the new egg card balance - yesterday I paid £25 towards it that was allocated for something else within our budget which we didn't need after all, so that went on the egg card instead. Today I paid £110 off of it from the main bank account, as we haven't spent any money on groceries yet since pay day and only filled up with petrol once so had some money spare. If we have any spare at the end of the month I shall also use that to reduce the balance a bit more.

I also put an extra £50 in the online 'pot' to go towards our car insurance & tax due in February.

I did a few more surveys yesterday and I see I have a few more to do today when I get home, I have another £6.87 from doing those which could be transferred into my paypal account but I'm going to leave it there for a bit and build it up.

debtfreesomeday

Today has not been a great DFW day for me - bought an outfit to wear to a few upcoming weddings (but was in a sale with 30% off!), and had to pop in and buy a few groceries on the way to work this morning. Saw a storage unit for our bathroom whilst I was there, reduced to £18 so bought that too.
Surprisingly though, we're actually doing ok for money this month so far. I've worked out that once we've paid for everything, there'll be over £100 left in the bank account. I will use this to make an extra payment on the egg card as planned.

We really have to sit down and make a list of shopping that we need and buy in some groceries this week. We have 'stuff' in, but as we've recently moved, haven't had time to go out and do a big shop and are struggling to find stuff to take for lunches at work etc. I've been slipping back into the habit of popping out and buying bits as we need them, and, from previous experience, I know that's how 'extras' get added in the basket and we end up spending a small fortune! I must make a list tonight or get hubby to do so.

I have quite a few more surveys to do, but as we don't have the PC online in the new house yet I'm not able to do them (can't do them at work). Hopefully they'll all still be valid by the time we're online.

xx

debtfreesomeday

Well chuffed today as I sold another book on Amazon. :j It had been a bit quiet lately on there but pleased another has shifted, even though it is one of my favourite books of all time, but still, it's another £17.94 paid off of my debts.
I'll make a payment towards the credit card now for that amount (even though it will take ages for Amazon to transfer it to my bank account!).

I also gave myself a bit of a 'wake up' slap and transferred the balance of my egg card (at 16.9%) to my virgin card which is 0% until next August. Have updated my signature below to reflect that and can now concentrate on paying off the one card and cutting up my eggcard! IT WILL BE CUT UP! There was a balance transfer fee of 2.98% but that alone was cheaper than one month's interest with egg!

Apart from that, not much other DFW for me today really; have to get some shopping in so will spend some money this evening. BUT, I did send back the wedding outfit I bought the day before yesterday so that will be refunded back on my card. Decided I didn't really like it and I can probably pull something out from the wardrobe to wear anyway...

Now we're online again at home, I plan on doing loads of surveys tonight that have been sent to me - just hope they're all still valid as there's about £10's worth waiting for me to do in my inbox!

debtfreesomeday

It wasn't too bad a DFW weekend for us really, considering. We went to visit family friends for the weekend, so shared the petrol costs between us and hubby's Mum who came with us. Cost us about £40 in petrol, but we have half a tank left for the week now. We also went to the cinema with everybody which was approx £20 for three of us. I guess we spent about £70 all in, which could've been a lot more for a weekend in London!

We got some store cupboard groceries in on Thursday, spending £25 there, and spent about £25 in birthday pressies and associated party food for the birthday. All within budget so far. We also returned two items to a store that didn't fit the purpose we bought them for, so that was nearly £10 back to the card. At the moment, we will have about £80 left before payday next week if we spend no more. This will definitely be paid as an extra payment towards the credit card.

I've just seen another post on here mention about the '2 months of no council tax' early next year - I completely forgot about that - it will be about £210 for us which I'll pay off the credit card instead. How sad - I'm actually really excited about that prospect!

This week is a busy one for us and don't think we'll have much time to do a lot of planning, and then we're with family over Christmas, but the week after, I shall be getting back into the habit of planning our food shopping and updating our budget sheet regularly. Due to moving house recently, it's all run away with me a bit and I feel slightly out of control with it all.

On the money making front, I have done a couple more surveys onlince, but still have lots more that I can't access at work and our broadband is down at the moment - grrr. I re-listed some books on Amazon that had expired the 60 day period - will be nice if a few more sell. I also have a surplus item of furniture up for sale at work which will hopefully go soon. Unfortunately, our old house has still not sold though :-( It's only been a month but I really want it to go soon, it's such a lovely house and I hate to see it with no-one living in it.
DFSD
x

debtfreesomeday

I made another payment to my credit card today of £14.58 - just to clear the odd amount and round it down to a whole number. I like chipping away at the credit card with these smaller amounts throughout the month, in addition to the large amount we always pay, it's surprising how they all add up.
I'm looking forward to early pay day on Friday so I can pay another £300 off, plus any more through the month that we may save. As it's an early pay day this month, we're going to put the rest of our wages into our e-saver accounts until what would have been pay day, and move it back then. Otherwise we may struggle in January!

We're helping hubby's Mum with some jobs tonight so she's cooking food for us, so a free meal for us tonight.
I shall make sure I take lunch to work tomorrow too so I don't end up buying something.

Also, I may have sold a piece of surplus furniture we had advertised today too, so that's another £25 in the pot.
Still got loads of surveys to do, but internet at home still down so I can't do them! :mad:

xx

debtfreesomeday

I paid another £300 off my credit card today, :j which will be taken out of my account on Friday which is payday. It's great to update my signature and see the amount going down again! I'm looking forward to getting under the 4k mark in a couple of months.

I finally received my Amazon payment for the sale of a book today, and I also chased up a refund of £80 from something I bought online and returned two weeks ago - should be refunded tomorrow, apparently.

I have also bought lunch and breakfast to work so I don't buy any food and have taken food out of the freezer for dinner tonight. I do, however, need to buy about 15 stamps for Christmas cards today, although we haven't posted any abroad this year to family and friends, we're going to send e-cards to save money (but mainly because I didn't get organised to send cards before the last posting date!).

DFSD
x

debtfreesomeday

This is my first post in 3 weeks or so as we have been offline, but have managed to keep our finances vaguely in order. We have put away money for various one-off bills which we are expecting in the next couple of months and have not been overspending. As we have been staying with family over Christmas, we have not spent much on grocery shopping either. We are now trying to get back into the habit of ordering a big shop online every two weeks - would help if our internet was connected to do so though!

On the money-making front, another of my books sold on Amazon over the new year period for a profit of £8 which I've transferred to my bank account and paid off my virgin card immediately, plus a little extra (£5.96 to be precise!).

We have also sold an item of surplus furniture for £25 so that will go in the 'savings' pot I think or be used for petrol - not decided which yet.

I have also paid off the £3.71 remaining on my egg card today and shall be taking it out of my wallet tonight so the temptation to use it is no longer there.

We kindly had some vouchers given to us for Christmas for B&Q and Debenhams, so we shall put the B&Q vouchers towards our garden when we start on it in the spring. The Debenhams vouchers I shall use to buy myself some new clothes (which is a rarity!) when I have lost at least a stone - the diet starts as soon as all the naughty food has gone from the cupboards!

Also, I have lots of surveys to do as soon as we are back online which will add a few more pennies to the pot.

debtfreesomeday

Yesterday was a no spend day for me, today won't be as I have to post a couple of things, but that will be my only spend today.
I'm planning on another NSD tomorrow and for the rest of the week if I can manage it. We have shopping in and petrol in the car so hopefully will not need to spend anything extra.

I surprised myself over the Christmas & New Year period and actually bought a few bargains for next Christmas - I've never done that before! I bought 5 rolls of lovely luxury wrapping paper for 50p a roll and put it away in the attic with the decorations. I also bought a few presents to use for birthdays etc. throughout the year - a set of lovely silk covered notebooks reduced to £3 from £9 and a cosmetic bag with products in reduced to £1.50 from £8 both in M&S. Bath bombs priced at £1.50 from £5 in Debenhams and a half price dinner party set for my sister-in-law in Boots which was down to £7.50.

Yesterday I transferred £250 from our main account to an 'e-saver' account or our online 'saving pot' as we call it. We use that account just to transfer money to and fro for things like car tax, insurance and one off bills etc. as it's easy and instant to transfer money in and out of it. The £250 will be used for our passport renewals which are about £145 combined, and another £100 towards our car tax and insurance which is due next month. We have a total of £500 in that pot now, so there will be £350 left after our passports are paid for. Our car insurance will be around £250 so leaves plenty for car tax - if we have enough, we may even pay a year's car tax - something I've never been able to afford to do before!

I'm off to check out the competitions forum and see if I can win anything from there...