My Debt Free, Lose Weight & Be Super Frugal Diary 2009

Bambywamby

Thank you very much Rags x x :T

"wish my mum and dad hadnt bailed me out so much when i was living at home, think i would of learnt the value of money a little quicker!!!"

I shall show my son your last post when he starts wittering about me being "tight" as I am not lending/giving him anymore money. I too was bailed out too much as a youngster and never learnt the true value of money until I nearly lost my home. Sadly I have repeated the cycle and spoilt my son...but there has been a change in the last few weeks and as I take control of my finances he is feeling his financial reigns pulled in too.
I am teaching him two important lessons.

1) You and you alone are responsible for your finances or lack of them.
2) Your mother isn't an endless money pit, that dishes out cash willy nilly when you stamp your feet and pet your lip.


I think I will show him this post too.

sharronloves2spend

Ah bambywamby happy belated birthday, i can see you had a good one!!

Well done on the Ebay sales, £500 off your debt how good will that feel, knowing it's the proceeds of clothes that you would probably never wear. Ebay's been doin my head in lately, people seem to want stuff for virtually nowt, think the recession has hit ebay, i've had people e-mailing me making silly offers for stuff and in 5 years of ebaying i've never known it!!

Sorry to hear about your son's car smash, i wouldn't worry too much about the 50/50 thing, insurance companys advise their clients in what to say usually to benefit them. A few years ago i was stationary at the lights and a bus, yes a bus reversed into me, my car was bunny hopping backwards, if i hadn't of been so scared it would have been hilarious. The driver got out and said 'Sorry love, thought i'd put it into 1st' admitting it was his fault. Later he the insurance company said it was 50/50 cos i was too close to the bus lol!! However they eventually admitted liability and paid out. My advice would be for your son to stick to his guns, and defo make a personal injury claim. Bit controversal i know but i bet the other driver will!!

Havn't been on here much lately, it's 'that time of the month' when i turn into hycienth bucket on speed. Hormones eh......

Keep up the good work bamby, i love reading your posts they inspire me to keep going too.

Lots of Love Sharron

ragstoricheswannabe

sharronloves2spend wrote: »

Havn't been on here much lately, it's 'that time of the month' when i turn into hycienth bucket on speed. Hormones eh......

I am loving that expression!!!!!! what a lovely image that makes!!!! ha ha ha!!!!

sharronloves2spend

I know rags, it's the only way i can describe this urge to make everything PERFECT, thankfully only lasts about 3 days.....(breathes a sigh of releif) and i'm soooo over it now, but my house is sparkling;)

Forgot to say earlier bambywamby, my expensive/trendy haircut has gone forever, i used to spend £70 to have it cut a coloured every 5 weeks:eek:
I now have a girl who comes to the house and does mine and my dd for £15. I have also grown it longer so needs less styling, i used home dyes too. DH and my three boys all have home haircuts. Once a month there is a trip to 'mummy's barbers' where one style suits all lol. DS1 declared a few months ago he wanted to go to a 'real' barber, i said okay, pay for it yourself then, he did and then grumbled it wasn't short enough and was a rip off at £7. I was there with my hands in the air saying 'FINALLY'......It was a proud mummy moment tho:T

Catch you all later
Sharron

Bambywamby

Originally Posted by sharronloves2spend

Havn't been on here much lately, it's 'that time of the month' when i turn into hycienth bucket on speed. Hormones eh......


Lol...that conjures up quite a picture. :rotfl:

My son is looking like Captain Caveman at the moment as I am refusing to pay for his hair cuts. Until he makes some effort to find a job, rather than relying on me to apply for everything for him...he can carry on looking like a yeti.
Also I wouldn't be brave enough to cut his or O/H hair myself, I am too cack handed.

Some good news regrading my sons bump in his car, the solicitor has rang him from his insurance company and is 99% sure that he will not be liable at all. This was compounded by the fact that the other persons insurance company have organised him a courtesy car and instructed which garage to take his car to for repair. So fingers crossed that will all be sorted without any financial loss.

As we are currently on target to pay our CC debts off this year, we have decided to have a crack at paying the mortgage off next year. We are hoping it will take us approximately 9/10 years. It's a long way away but it gives us something to focus on and work towards...If only we thought like this in our twenties rather than late thirties, we would be well into mortgage freedom by now. Still better late than never.

Regarding selling clothes on Ebay, the best thing to do is buy a dummy to display the clothes on. You don't need a full dummy, you can buy the half dummys that are just plastic fronts. Mine was about £10 from Ebay, it has paid for itself hundreds of times over. It sells all clothes from a size 8 to a size 20, all looking fabulous as the dummy has pert boobs and a size 10 waistline.
Clothes that are too big, I just pin at the back with clothes pegs. Clothes look so much better than spread out on the floor or on a table to be photographed.
To show the clothes at their best I hang the dummy from either a door or a curtain rail. As soon as I used the dummy I found clothes getting sold that previously didn't even have people watching them.
Here is one currently on Ebay...only £7.85 (£4.95 - P&P).


Off to work soon ...another eleven hour night shift.
Ohhhhhh well, gotta slog at it to get somewhere I guess.

If anybody is interested in a really fab money saving read that is FREE!!!, get to your nearest branch of NATWEST and pick up SENSE magazine, (They are on a stand in the branch). It's got loads and loads of money saving tips and features. It's like a glossy mag but it's free. Of course it has a few adverts for their products in it, but once you gloss over that it's loaded with Old Style saving tips, information about investments, mortgages, cooking on a budget, how to budget etc
I shall be taking the latest copy to work to read tonight...talk about being thrifty lol.:rotfl:

Have a nice night peeps. X x

ragstoricheswannabe

The clothes dummy is such a simple idea but would never of thought of that in a million years!!!!!!! do you have to say its pinned in the description??? will have to go have a peep at that (through quidco of course!!!!) wish i was close enough to think about paying our mortgage off, does this hamper your wedding and sahm plans????

Bambywamby

Morning folks :wave:

Just a quickie before I go to bed...bwoody night shifts.

I have never mentioned that the clothes are pegged at the back Rags, I have never had any complaints (I have over 1500 feedback & 100% positive), so I think people obviously assume that the clothes are pinned just as they are in the shops. Size 8, 10 & 12 clothes I rarely peg anyway as they fit the dummy but say I put a size 18 dress on the dummy without pegging it, the dress would just fall to the floor, so pegging is a must.

Over paying our mortgage won't affect our other plans as we have decided to hold the wedding indefinately until we have saved enough in an ISA. The saving won't start until next year as paying the debts off are more important, so we are looking at marriage in a couple of years or so.

Well am'off to bed, I am hoping to get up this afternoon and do some more Ebaying...I may even go through the O/Hs computer game collections...I know he has hidden his Cheers DVD box sets from me incase I get any Ebaying ideas lol.

C u this aftie. :rolleyes:

Love Bam x

Bambywamby

I rolled out of bed around 3pm and have done very little since. The kitchen is full of pots, the carpet is looking a tad hairy due to the dogs moulting and the iron board is still out from yesterday...that's working nights for you. The next day is totally bu88ered up as you have no energy. I did manage to crawl to the post office and post some Ebay parcels though...have to keep the money turning over.

Now I am feeling a bit more sprightly, I shall do a bit of housework. I have a couple of days off as well and intend to really polish the house up, good for burning calories and my mental health. If the place looks untidy, my brain feels scattered and untidy if you know what I mean, I find it a lot harder to focus on my uni work. The mess silently nags me to get it tidied up and I cannot rest or concentrate until it is done...blast!

I have just checked the Natwest fixed mortgage rates that we can apply for on the 1st Feb and they have tightened up the rates and added a product fee...greedy blighters. We can't decide whether to go for a five or ten year fixed rate...and the O/H has been getting on my nerves today...moaning and wittering about nothing...the idea of being tied to him for ten years is quite grim thought at the mo. Only joking if you're reading this dear. :rolleyes:
Actually I think working all this overtime and having no money to show for it is making us both tired and moody...but we will get through. We can't afford not to.

My son has been out all day, burning around in the hire car the insurance company have loaned him until his car is fixed.
I hope he is aware that he has to return the car with a full tank. When he popped in for tea he had already notched up 100 miles...tut kids!

After being good for quite a few weeks (having very little sugary produce) I had two kitkats and a jam scone at work last night. Apart from been annoyed with myself for spoiling my healthy eating (again), I had a terrible sugar rush. I went really hot and felt all dizzy for about two hours...I felt so bad it has really put me off sweet stuff.
"Bam wonders if she is pre-diabetic."

Anyways, feeling fine & dandy now.

I was planning to take a really nice, long walk tomorrow to some charity shops a few miles away and see if there are any decent videos to buy...they selling them for 10 pence each at the moment. As we are getting rid of Sky, we could have a few movies to watch. But we are down for heavy and prolonged rain...so it's definately looking like an Ebay day.

Well my net friends, I must go and wash those pots and hoover.
Have a relaxing evening all you millionaires to be.

Love Bam x x :blushing:

ragstoricheswannabe

Just wanted to say thanks again for the dummy hint for selling clothes!! Purchased mine today (through quidco so hoping for about 30p back) so hope to start having some success that matches yours!!

i find when ever i eat when on nights i do the whole hot and dizzy thing as not used to eating, but then do the hot dizzy thing if i dont eat, cant win. (i dont think salads look the same in the middle of the night) did you find the sugary treat very sweet and a little sickly?? I have cut out take aways (spesh chinese) but had one the other day and actually felt bloated and a little ill afterwards.......

Have a nice couple of days off
love rags
xxxxxxxxx

sharronloves2spend

Have a lovely couple of days off bamby, don't worry about the kitkats n scones. As soon as my routine goes the first thing i do is eat junk. I lost 3 ponds this week at w.w, although it's because of all the upset. Our cat who went missing 2 and a half years ago turned up 3 weeks ago, had her to the vet yesterday, she has incurable mammory cancer. We are all so upset.

Anyhow, going to purchase an dummy too, need to boost the ebay sales aswell. I'm fed up with selling stuff for 99P!:mad:

Love sharron