fendi-bag-lady sorts out her life (hopefully!!)

fendi-bag-lady

Hi guys :hello::hello:

I haven't wrote in my diary for a whole month, however I am pleased to say I have been working away in the background! I've had a massive clearout and have sold lots of things of Ebay! (£300 worth!!) I've still got 51 things on there just now and plan to put a few more things on as well. Anyway I've been concentrating on this so much recently that I've let other things slip eg surveys, scrathcards, spending diary so need to start up my diary again with a to do list so I can remind myself exactly what needs to be done. Here is todays list:

• Phone bank and reduce overdraft to £2200 (down by £300)
• Update signature on here
• Do volunteering expenses
• Finish cleaning bedroom and decide what to sell on Ebay
• Put everything from above on Ebay
• Package Ebay items I have sold so far
• Buy envelopes etc for Ebay stuff
• Start application for student funding (my place hasn't been 100% confirmed yet so can't send it off quite yet)
• Decide what hours I'm going to do at work (do I want to work all day sat & sun every single weekend? £653 vs £854 every month???)

Hope everyone has a nice day!!

xx

Lemon_Tree

hi that's some good work over the last month, £300 on ebay, i thought i was doing well when i get to £97, i seem to have things about the 90's as on the last two occasions we've done car boot type things we've cleared about £90. can't complain really it all helps. well done on also getting the OD down.

fendi-bag-lady

Hi everyone :hello:

I am utterly ashamed to be back on here with yet more bad news on the mse front. Over the past few weeks I've made quite a bit of money on ebay...and I've blew the lot (around £400) what on??? I have no idea!!

It's almost 6 months to the day that I started this diary and I am not really any further forward (I've only paid £1021.30 in loan repayments). I do really well for a week or so then it all goes to pot but I'm starting over yet again....

At the moment I'm in a bit of a worse financial poistion than previously as I thought I was getting into college and so reduced my hours at work to fit around this (taking into consideration that I was going to be getting a student loan) I still haven't heard back from the college yet as to what is happening and I am now worried that I wouldn't get in and therefore have to manage on a greatly reduced salary until I can find something else. (wages are now going to be £500 compared to the £850 I was getting previously).

Anyway need to get ready for work now then go to post office to post one ebay item and take cheque to bank (£80 volunteering expenses).

I will definately be back later with a bit more of an update.

xx

fendi-bag-lady

I've just tried to call the college but couldn't get through so I have emailed them to find out what is happening. The suspense is driving me mad and I would like to get the ball rolling asap with loans, student bank accounts etc etc hopefully I'll get a reply soon!

xx

JumboFlamingo

Best of luck with the college

fendi-bag-lady

Thanks JumboFlamingo, I still haven't heard anything back yet but fingers crossed!

Didn't do too well today, spent £2.70 on Ebay postage then rushed about so much getting ready for work that I forgot to take anything for my dinner so ended up going to McDonald's and spent £3.57 then a can of juice at break 60p and another can whilst out with a friend after work 80p. Spare change out of purse into sealed jar - 33p. Total spends today £8. This is all coming out of my entertainment/daily spends budget which is £150 for the month (23rd to 23rd).

For the 1st time every I have set up different budgets for different things and I now have a small notebook for everything moneysaving. I have 8 different bank/savings accounts at the moment and plan to open another 3 as I have set up 11 different budgets which I can hopefully stick to. It all looks a bit complicated but maybe this way I will be too scared to transfer money around as now I going to start to get in the way of thinking "if the moneys not in the account then I need to go without"!!

My budgets for this month are:
Bills/Food - £550 - £122.32 spent/£427.68 left
Car (tax, maintence etc) - £150 (MOT due this month) £0/£150
Overdraft repayments (this account is not used at all other than repaying the overdraft) - £17 - £17/£0
Holidays & Days Out - £17 - £0/£17
Christmas/Birthdays - £50 - £4.86/£45.14
Big One Off's (this would have came in handy recently when I wanted a sat nav rather than just using my overdraft :mad:) - £17 - £0/£17
Clothes/Haircuts/Beauty treatments - £17 - £0/£17
Emergency (again will come in handy rather than using overdraft) - £17 - £0/£17
Loan Overpayments - £40 (standing order came out of account earlier than expected or this would have been less) - £40/£0
Volunteering (when I get my expenses I will pay them straight into this account so that I'm not out of pocket) - £40 - £0/£40
Entertainment/Everyday - £150 - £28.05/£121.95

Most of the money has been transferred to the different accounts, I will open the new accounts asap to have the rest of the money transferred. I think I might use this post as a running tally for the month so I can exactly what I have left in each account during the month. The budget I find most difficult to stick with is the everyday budget so I will include this in my signature so I can stay on top of it.

xx

fendi-bag-lady

I've decided to hold off for another month or so before opening up anymore savings accounts as most online bank totally confuses me and I'm scared I'll not be able to transfer money as and when I need to, like the time I tried to transfer money from my natwest savings account and I needed to wait for them to send me a card and card reader which took about 2 weeks. So as long as I keep everything noted on here I should be ok and be able to keep track of each budget.

Checked onepoll this morning - no new surveys, free daily scratchcards - 10p! Really need to register for more surveys as onepoll seems to be getting less and less.

Aiming for a new spend day today. Working this evening but hopefully won't need to leave the house before then.

Hope everyone has a lovely money saving day!

xx

fendi-bag-lady

I've managed to fill 2 large carrier bags with things to sell on ebay. I've put 5 things on today, I'll try and do 10 more when I get home from work then the rest tomorrow.

I forgot to pay the cheque into my bank account yesterday so I'll pay it through the cash machine on my way home from work later. Taking a snack from home in for my break today so I won't be tempted to use the vending machine and hopefully today will be a no spend day!

xx

ebonylight

Hi Fendi - I am jumping on your diary wagon a bit late really but have read with a lot of interest and am now subscribing.

You have been doing really well so don't be disheartened. Your budget seems a bit high but you've been very good with NSDs and keeping to a maximum spend.

I can't help but notice though, you seem to go out shopping a lot and then take things back... from my own experience I think this might be because you like "new things" but you acknowlege you don't need them. This is a habit you need to try and stop. When do you find yourself shopping most? Is it when you have ten minutes spare? In which case I suggest start a good book or come on here. Is it because you convince yourself you need something - eg a pair of black trousers? Instead of ebaying everything, why not look through for an item you already own and customise it to make it feel new - eg sew on some new buttons or add ribbon or a belt to it?

You are the same age as me and live the same sort of lifestyle (although I work full time) and it seems like you have got so used to spending so much money that going cold turkey was a bit too ambitious. I really feel for you because I was exactly the same last year.

Sorry if I sound patronising or lecturing - I really don't want to - but you make such progress every time you tackle your money that you should let it give you enough of a buzz to keep it up every day!

One final note - why not pop over and join our Crazy Cat Lady thread here - we're all here to help and on our thread we are very friendly and (hopefully!) helpful ladies all in debt - varying amounts.

Take care and keep up your diary - it's a really interesting read

Ebony xx

fendi-bag-lady

Hi Ebony thanks for you post, I didn't think anyone ever read the rubbish that I write on here!! Your definately right about the shopping, I always think I really "need" new things so I buy them but when I get home I feel so guilty for spending so much I take them back (and normally buy more things while I'm there!) I mainly go shopping with friends or when I'm bored. I'm trying really hard though not to go shopping just for the sake of something to do! Normally I would customise my clothes or add different accessorises but I've put on so much weight recently that hardly any of my clothes fit me anymore and so I have no other option but to buy new ones. I'll definately be popping over to the cat lady thread later to see what it's like!!

Today I'm going shopping (for a change!!!) but I'm not planning on buying anything for myself for once. It's my mum and dads anniversary at the weekend so I'm going to buy them a present. It's also my friends birthday the following weekend so I'll hopefully pick something up for her as well today so that I don't need to go shopping again. Hopefully I'll be able to stick to my budget of £20 for each pressie. Also need to take some things back to the shops! (pair of boots which are faulty and jeans which are too small :mad:) so I think I'll get £37 back which I'll then put straight towards my overdraft!

Sold one of my books on ebay last night for £9 so really pleased with that. Tried to put more things on last night but it was taking ages for the pictures to upload so in the end I gave up without having put any on! Been trying to put an item on for the last hour but as I'm trying to add 4 pics it's taking forever!

Transferred £2.87 from my bills budget to my overdraft just so I could update my signature. Hopefully loan payment will come out tomorrow and my total debt will be just under £17K :j

Off now to have a look on the special occassions board for some ideas for pressies!!

xx