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

ragstoricheswannabe

hope everything is ok with your doggy?! nothing worse than a pet getting ill as there is not much you can do unlike with humans!!

Bambywamby

Thank you ladies. :smileyhea She is quite a bit better this morning. The vet thinks she has probably eaten something she shouldn't have (being a greedy labrador) and it will take 24-48 hrs to pass through her system. She has to starve until 3pm today (she isn't happy about that, I keep getting pawed and nudged with a wet nose) and also has some kaolin medicine to help bind up her poo so she doesn't lose body fluids...oh yes and she also got an injection that will settle her tummy and last.
That little lot cost £47.50 (£2.50 better than I anticipated )...but I really don't care as she is back on the mend.

Good luck Mancbird, with your debts, weight loss and baby making:o ...when are you hoping to be debt free? Are you waiting to try for a baby until then?
I am still waiting for my scales to see if I have lost any weight, I am hoping for 2lb a week, I am not doing anything too drastic, healthy eating (with the odd treat) and moderate, daily exercise. I am hoping to lose three stone, so I can be at fighting "baby" weight. I am focusing on a stone at a time so I don't get overwhelmed with having to lose a whole three stones. Let me know how you get on with your two stone goal...are you following a particular plan?

I have done my usuals today...clicks, polls, surveys, checking CC balances etc
O/H gets paid tomorrow thank gawd...he is £500 into his overdraft but has worked extra this month so that will be cleared as well as extra to throw at the credit cards. Our mortgage fixed rate runs out in May and we need to keep his bank account in credit so we get the best offer possible. These interest rate cuts are fab...but we only bought our house two years ago so I imagine we are not far off negative equity now the house prices have started to slump. As we don't intend to move for a few years, hopefully that will not matter.

I am doing a fridge sweep today and using all my bits and pieces before they go off.
I have three eggs, manky red peppers, cheddar cheese, salad that has seen better days and a low fat cherry yogurt. Well that is my lunch sorted, a two egg, cheese and pepper omelette with salad followed by the yoghurt.
My O/H has been using a semi-stale loaf up, he had toast for brekky, beans on toast for lunch and to stop him from bloating out too much I am making him a roast chicken dinner with lots of veg, I can't expect him to have toast for tea too lol.

I am nipping to Asda today for a quick top up shop. I have limited myself to £5...that is all I am taking in the shop so if it comes to more than that I will feel a tad embarrassed. I am hoping to get milk, bread, SP baked beans, satsumas, soya milk and a bag of SP frozen over chips...hopefully it will stretch that far.

My first Ebay clothing item from my stash has sold, a black bat wing dress...it went for £10. It cost three times that but it wasn't making any money in my wardrobe and that £10 will be worth more when paid off our CCs.

Before I go to work this aftie I am going to have a quick blast around the house... a tidy house makes a tidy mind and all that. So my three jobs are: clean the microwave, hoover the stairs and mop the back hall floors and dogs room.
I am cleaning the microwave and floors with stardrops...cheap as chips and last for ages...oh and very effective. A fabulous find by the folks over on the Old Style board.


Well must dash, too much to do in too little time.


Enjoy your day folks...it's a lot milder here up in Yorkshire today and the sun's out, perfect!


Bam x

Bambywamby

After paying off any deposits we owed from the wedding (which I have done today), I reckoned up our very final credit card total...and it came to £13'853.

Over £1000 less than I first anticipated (I estimated £15'000) - better than I thought...but still not good.

To pay it off this year, we will have to make an extra £37.95 a day, £266 a week or £1154 a month.:eek:

Blimmin' heck! That seems an unreasonable amount...BUT we are going to give it a bloody good go. As from this moment...we are going to be turbo-frugal, money making, cash saving, penny counting, credit busting machines. :T

I shall start by making a cuppa for me and the other half, to soothe the shock of needing an extra £1154 a month...and I shall use one teabag for both cups...his cuppa getting the last dipping of course...brewers privilege.

ragstoricheswannabe

Ha ha ha!!!!! my fella caught me doing that one day so i now i have to do it through a teapot!!!!!!!!

That is a blumming lot of money to find but it can be done, i would think of finding the daily extra amount so doesnt feel as big of a hill to climb!! good luck!!!!!

love rags
xxxxxxxxxx

Bambywamby

Lol Rags, would it be so bad to put the used tea bags in a tea pot and when you get a few together make a cuppa in the pot? He wouldn't know...honest.

Our plan to get extra money every day is:

Overtime at work
Selling on Ebay/Amazon
Car Boots
Online surveys, clicks, polls etc
Checking Quidco & Topcashback for any purchases
Possibly Avon?
Using remaining commission from Kays (£80) when it's due
Second job for moi
Freebie bingo/scratchcards
Leaflet dropping (should help with the weight loss)
O/H shares when he cashes them in next month
The month when O/H gets paid twice, we only pay the mortgage once, so that will go towards CCs
Birthday money/Christmas money
Board from son (if) he gets the job he is after (fingers crossed for him, bless him)
Dog walking
Ironing for other people...actually nah, I can't bare doing my own...scrap that.
O/H rugby reffing fees (he is a part time ref)
Buying second hand stuff deliberately for selling on Ebay & other auction sites
Cutting back on spending, groceries, utilities, not renewing phone contract going PAYG, O/H is using moped to work instead of car - it is costing him £5 a month in petrol etc

That's all I can think of at the moment, but if I or anybody else can think of other ways...I will add them later. I have tried to look at spread & matched betting but I just can't get my head around it. It bores me, so as I am reading it, it just doesn't go in...so that's a no go. O/H is very anti-gambling so it's no good asking him to read up on it either.

BBS Bam x x

Lemon_Tree

sounds like you have lots of good ideas about how to raise the money you want, and welcome for finally being able to add up the total you owe. Sometimes it's a relief to finally know the number and to know that i will be better from this moment on as you'll be paying it off not adding to it.
good luck with you're challenge, i'm sure from your postings before that you'll give it a really good go and will make it.

ragstoricheswannabe

Blimey, and you were going to fit a wedding in with all that lot??!!!!! Some good ideas there bamby, may have to pinch one or two of them........

Bambywamby

Well Rags, I am hoping to fit a wedding in 2010 when cash is less strapped and time is more leisurely.

We had booked a few days away in London & bought theatre tickets for straight after the marriage in March. This was going to be a mini honeymoon with the hotel rooms and meals already been paid for. We are now going to put them on Ebay, a break would be nice but we can't afford the dog kennels and spending money and everything that goes with it. And any money made of course will go on our debts.

I am really pleased Lemon Tree, we finally got around to calculating the exact figure that we owe and now we know...we can really get stuck in. It's strange really, that even though it was only £1100 less than we estimated, it means that is £1100 less we have to pay...and that's great...And thank you for the warm wishes, we will try so hard to complete this challenge.

Myself and the O/H went out for a walk around a nearby town this morning. It was so cold and after two hours of walking I so fancied a cup of tea. Unusually my O/H said "Wait until we get home for a cup of tea, it's £2 a cup in the cafes and free at home."
I was very surprised as my other half is more of a spender than me, so I was pleased that he was there to reign me in. After another hour of walking, I really was dry so we bought a bottle of water, it was 29 pence...a theoretical saving of £1.71:T
Next time we go out walking, I will be taking a bottle of tap water from home...you live and you learn.

We are not having a holiday this year for obvious reasons, however I have started entering competitions for holidays...if we win one...great...if not, we shall have a sparkler of a holiday next year (that has been saved up for) when we are debt free.

As we pay the credit cards up we shall clip them up and cancel them, eventually just leaving us with one card to use in an emergency and to be paid off in full ever month. We have a charity card and we shall probably keep that one, everytime we spend, the World Wildlife Fund get a percentage.

Right I am off to do my clicks & checks.

Regards Bam x

mancbird

Bambywamby wrote: »

Good luck Mancbird, with your debts, weight loss and baby making:o ...when are you hoping to be debt free? Are you waiting to try for a baby until then?
I am still waiting for my scales to see if I have lost any weight, I am hoping for 2lb a week, I am not doing anything too drastic, healthy eating (with the odd treat) and moderate, daily exercise. I am hoping to lose three stone, so I can be at fighting "baby" weight. I am focusing on a stone at a time so I don't get overwhelmed with having to lose a whole three stones. Let me know how you get on with your two stone goal...are you following a particular plan?

Hi Bam, you seem very organised and have some great ideas for making some extra cash I might borrow some of those ideas if you don't mind

It's good that you have totalled up your debts and even better that they are less than you thought! :j You seem very committed and organised so I am sure you will be able to pay them off quickly

I'm glad to hear that your dog is on the mend, I have two kitties and I'm always worrying about them!

Me and Mr Mancbird are starting trying this month for a baby. We have worked out that if I was to get pregnant now I would have 9 months before baby is born (obviously!) and then I have 6 months full pay on maternity and another 3 months SMP and 3 month unpaid maternity. Theoretically I have at least 15 months full pay to come.

I should have the vast majority of my debt cleared in the next 6 months, leaving my student loans and a car loan. If possible I intend to overpay on the car loan as it has a horrible rate of interest but I'm not sure if the interest was front loaded. If it was then there's not a lot of point in trying to get it paid off quicker! I'm going to look into this in about 4 months time when I'll be in a better position financially.

I'm very lucky in that I have quite a well paid job (and my OH has a good job too) and the maternity benefits my company offers are excellent. If this wasn't the case we would probably wait until we are completely debt free. As it is, we are both feeling the clock ticking a bit as we are in our 30s and want 2 or 3 children!

We live in a rented house at the moment and hope to start saving for a deposit this year, but are not in a hurry to buy, especially the way the housing market is at the moment!

We are also planning to get married but are aiming to do this quite cheaply. I am very crafty and would make all my own invitations, table decorations etc as I have done this before for friends and family. To be honest, we are thinking of nipping off and eloping but don't think our families would be very impressed if we did that!!! However, we might plan to compromise and "elope" but then have a big party afterwards to celebrate with family and friends.

As for losing weight, I would like to lose 2, maybe 3 stone. 2 stone would take me back to a size 12 but 3 would make me a size 10. I don't think I've been a size 10 for about 8 years though!!! 2 stones is much more realistic. I have done SW in the past but found bits of it quite restrictive and I ended up "rebelling" and eating rubbish. This time I am going to eat sensibly, following the SW plan but not beating myself up about it if I have a treat now and then...

Ok, I think I have rambled on enough! Sorry for hi-jacking your thread


Good luck
x

Bambywamby

Good luck with ttc Mancbird...I think been in your 30s is an ideal age to have children.
You're very lucky having a decent maternity package at your work, I just have the standard statutory maternity pay but my O/H has quite a good job with oppurtunity for overtime so as long as we can get the bulk of the debt out of the way, we will be okay to start ttc.

Are you going back to work? Or are you going to be a SAHM? When I was 19 and I had my first baby...I worked 40 hours per week (partner at the time was a lazy bum that didn't work) and my nana & mum did a lot of the child minding. I felt as though I missed a lot as I always had to work full time just to get by. I was a single mum for a few years...it was tough but I preferred it to being in a rubbish relationship. Now I have a very supportive partner (bless his size 11 socks) and if we do conceive I want to spend at least the first 3 years as a SAHM...hence the want to blast those debts.

I don't think I would buy a house yet either, I imagine house prices will continue to fall for at least another 18 months before they level off and then is the time to think about buying.
I was surprised actually at how cheap you can make a wedding if you really want to, you're lucky if you can do invites and table cards etc yourself. I bought mine from Ebay, a lady who printed her own...very professional and a great price...maybe you could make some extra money by selling some on Ebay.
My O/H has intimated he would like to get married abroad with just a couple of friends as witnesses and then obviously treat the time away as a honeymoon..maybe have a party for the family when we return...must be a man thing. :rolleyes: However we are certainly not planning anything yet...other things are taking priority.

Good luck with your weight loss too, I have never tried Slimming World but I have a rough idea what it entails...I have a couple of friends that do really well on SW. At the moment I am just not willing to pay for a meeting though, if I need help and inspiration...I come to you lot.:T

And you haven't rambled on or hijacked the thread...I love having such sorted, intelligent, friendly folk to chat too. :kisses3:



Bam x x