The Quest - 2

Lula-Hula

Hello & welcome to The Quest -2

I think it was time for the old Quest to be allowed to rest in peace :rolleyes: & what with spring being all about rebirth & new growth from old etc. this seems like a good time to restart the journey with plenty more knowledge & experience than 6 months ago .

The debt is hovering just under £6,000 (I think) & the list of things I want achieve has now changed slightly :

I now have a newer car which is great :j ; yes I am in love with my car

I still want a houseboat, I still want a camper van, I still want to go to Oz, I can cope without the yoga classes :rolleyes: but most of all, I still want that credit card statement that requires no payment

CC1 with the hideous interest rate is first in line for annhilation, CC2 is no longer a big priority since there was an attempted coup on the interest rate :mad: (I managed to retain the original interest rate by having to renounce all further use of it until it is paid off then I have to return it) Fine by me I'll keep the one with the scary interest rate to use in case of dire emergency ... & believe me it would have to be dire.


I am the proud owner of not just one, but two low status & low paid part time jobs :rotfl: but for now I can cope with this as they are both flexible & can be organsied around DD during term times which allows me to work without needing any childcare.

The plan is to have paid off the debts by the summer of 2011 so we can go travelling about for a few weeks before DD has to start senior school :eek: It would be very helpful to be reminded of this plan in case I get sidetracked by some other project :rolleyes:.

I shall return with some facts & figures later...

lula
xx

Numpty_Monkey

Sell your plane captain lula:p:rotfl:

Lula-Hula

Numpty_Monkey wrote: »

Sell your plane captain lula:p:rotfl:

Not before I have sold you

Horace

Now then Lula that's an idea - sell Numpty and live off his immoral earnings:rotfl:

Numpty_Monkey

You wouldn't get much:o

Lula-Hula

Here we go :

I'm not going to post a full SOA because for one thing I'm not good at taking criticism & another thing is that I know where the cutbacks need to be made :rolleyes: .

The rent & council tax, water rates & tv licence are fixed & pretty reasonable. The gas is currently costing me about £55 - 60 a month, full gas central heating & cooker. The thermostat is set at 20 & the heating is on for an hour in the morning & from 3 until 10 at night. The electricity is currently costing about £30 a month & I'm ok with that; we dont have a tumble dryer or a microwave or a dishwasher. The dryer & microwave were not replaced when they broke & frankly I dont miss them & I have an intense loathing of dishwashers unless they are for commercial use.

Oh yes, I have opinions on lots of things & I air them, you have been warned.

My car insurance is currently costing £21 a month - didnt have the cash to pay up front when it was due :mad: & yes, it was the cheapest for my requirements, & yes I went throught Quidco ( £65 cashback, thank you )

Contents insurance currently £7.20 a month; again the cheapest for my requirements & again through Quidco ( £45 cashback, thank you )

RAC - £35 through Quidco ( £15 cashback, thank you )

Virgin Media - should be about £30 for tv, phone & internet as I cancelled the free anytime calls which was £8 a month .... then found out that friday night is not the week end as far as Virgin is concerned so have a DD for £45 coming out of my account next month :mad:

I pay £9.50 a month for accident insurance which I was going to cancel but will now keep due to being self employed... might need to shop around for something more appropriate/cheaper though...

Contact lenses are £8 a month & my sight test is free Recently bought fabby new glasses from Glassess Direct for £29 through Quidco ( £5 cashback, thank you )

I allocate £10 a week for DDs pocket money & clubs & hobbies ( brownies, recorder club & swimming) This was going really well until this week when I got stung for a £14 school trip, £60 swimming bill & 2 brownies trips costing £100 :eek: - fortunately only the deposits had to be paid immediately - £35, so have time to save up for the rest. I've also got £50 saved up towards the swimming so only need another £10 & have 2 weeks left in which to pay it.

I havent used my car much at all for months but the new job means I'm out every day so will probably need to put at least £10 a week in just for that. I should be saving for tax, insurance, mot etc but havent had the cash since christmas due to work from job 1 vanishing at a scary rate :eek: . I will start building that up again. Car tax due end of May & mot in August but as car has a full service when bought in november & not due another for 17 months according to handbook I'm not overly concerned.

I save £10 a week towards presents & this includes all family for birthdays & christmas & all friends including DDs too.

There should be savings fund for the dentist too but again it's depleted & as I'm not due until July I have time to build this up.

Clothes ... well, as I invented the crazy £100 clothes challenge then that speaks for itself as far as I'm concerned I save £5 a week for DD although she has been given a huge amount of stuff recently thanks to being smaller than most of her friends . I pay for her to have good quality schoolshoes & trainers though & will not compromise on them so dont even bother trying to convert me.

Food ... I'm spending too much & eating too much :mad: I need to lose at least 10lbs... NAG ME PLEASE.

Oh I feel all weak from all the confessions... off to have a hobnob :rotfl:

lula
xx

Shoe_Gal

Hi Lula

You sound super organised -and really positive as usual! I really admire you

Shoe Gal x

Wol2

Lula-Hula wrote: »

Food ... I'm spending too much & eating too much :mad: I need to lose at least 10lbs... NAG ME PLEASE.

Lose 10lbs????.....Nag????.....

Lula Hunny you're so skinny you'll fade away ......
.....however if you're really determined, pretend you have a wheat allergy - it means you cut out all those things like bread, cakes, biscuits so can no longer have those tempting snacks between meals.......and have to opt for veggies instead. During the day I eat raw veggies with humus and bananas..... In the evenings, i can;t eat any ready meals or pasta any more so cook from scratch. Baked potatoes with some type of meat/fish and green veggies.........oooh and wine is Ok too ... I bulk cook chillis, chicken stews etc and have a roast twice a month......

It's certainly worked for me . To give an example on the weight..... once I realised I could eat spelt flour and started making my own bread, (2 medium loaves a week)...I put on 10lbs in the space of a few weeks :eek: .because I used to snack on that during the day.....now I ration my spelt bread to one slice a day . And now another example about shopping bills....now my weekly shopping bill is <£40 (and 25% of that is piggie greens!)....befoe the "wheat" thing it was £60/week :eek:

Happy to swap menus etc.......perhaps during our little planned "treat"....will ring you about that next week as the work fog clears.......:cool:

Great idea to start a new thread. Hope the prawn deliveries are going well and "courage ma souer" :kisses3: :grouphug:

Thought I'd post to say "Welcome to our own little "diarist" board".......didn;t think it would be OK, but now that they've done it, I realise I'll be able to [STRIKE]check up on you all [/STRIKE] post more often

Hugs to you my dear...onwards and upwards......
xxxxx

PS Did you know Numpty is getting married :eek:
xxx

Numpty_Monkey

Who to thats what i want to know

Horace

I really must learn to clean my glasses - I was convinced that Lula mentioned weddings and not weeding:o

Now Lula - make a list when you go shopping and stick to it. Why not see if you can do some mystery shops. you might earn the odd tenner here and there?

Oh and stop eating hobnobs they make you fat:D

Numpty_Monkey

He He He this has passed the diary mafia:shhh: