Single and in Debt Part II

moo2moo

Lula - Think the garage are having you on a bit. I'm going to assume it was a main dealer since your car was in for a mandatory service bulletin. Try someone else. Preferably someone independant. Reason being we use a fabulous local garage with two incredibly good mechanics who live and breathe all things mechanical. My car is 11 years old, mechanically as sound as it was when it rolled off the production line. It goes to them for a days TLC every year and had its first cambelt change at their recommendation when it reached 75K last year. They tend to ignore the manufacturers age related things with the exception of oils and fluids. OHs car sees them three times a year and when it makes unexpected noises which occur all too frequently but then when you do 35,000 miles a year I guess thats not unexpected. Although I could do without the phone calls home to report that theres a bit of a knocking noise coming from the engine and the subsequent call from the garage to say thats because hes sheared the bolt that holds the engine in the car and the thing was trying to escape:eek:

TDQO

I have some good news... there is now a group of girls partying with us tonight AND tomorrow They're all veeeery attractive too, I may even pop my Aussie cherry this weekend!

makeup

I've won a competition!!! :j:j:j

I've been doing a ton of comps (although not as the serious compers) and finally won tickets to the Grosevenor House Art & Antiques Fair!

Re: Surveys - well .... I've been doing them for a while and they are a bit painful to be honest. Some of them are seriously boring and ask silly questions about things you buy. They act as if I spend ages weighing up the various pros and cons of things like squash or washing powder or something. My answer is - whatever is on special offer!

I signed up for a lot ages ago without looking into it properly. I'll do a proper evaluation later (lunch was over 3 mins ago!!!). But haven't made my fortune with it yet!!!

RosaBernicia

Hi all

Gwen, definitely go climbing - I've never seen so many super fit men in one place and they tend to be smart as well, not jocks. ( *ponders whether should actually go to local climbing wall, and wonders where Gwen is located* )

TDQO you bring new meaning to the concept of a born again virgin :rotfl:- does this mean you get a new 'cherry' for every international boundary you cross?

Sarah, I tried the surveys thing and gave up on it because I found the frustration factor just wasn't worth the money. I simply don't have the spare time, I didn't seem to be eligible for a lot of the surveys and I hate having an inbox full of spam - if you try it, it might be worth setting up a separate email account just for that.

Well I am a bit fed up because what with the exam I sort of forgot about the weekend and haven't arranged anything, and actually felt like going out tonight. Oh well. Have emailed one friend in town and might try the neighbours tomorrow. In the meantime I am going to do a bit of house sorting, then wander to the supermarket and then watch DVDs (courtesy of free Blockbuster trial via Quidco).

And I really have to do something about my love life even the people at college are hassling me now!

Rosa xx

sarahb123_3

Hi all, hope everyone is enjoying the sun, has been glorious here today.

Have been to do my food shopping, haven't been for a couple of weeks so neede to stock up on a few things, was trying to spend £30 but ended up as £40.95:o It did include cleaning things and a bottle of wine so was actually £33 without those and I saved £8.71 with bogofs/reductions and with the food I already have it should last a couple of weeks. I did get lots of the basics range things but the cost went up as I will not buy cheap meat, cheese or coffee and there was nothing in the reductions cabinet.

So, debt free things for today:

• 64 nectar points
• 8 tesco points
• coins in piggy
• store cupboard meals
• checked pigsback and quidco

I always do my budget on the last Friday of every month, this month's is slightly different as I refuse to look at the grand total of things any more and am concentrating on working with what I have and nothing else, I did not have any left over to make an extra cc payment which is the only debt where I know the exact total, but for May I have:

• made another loan repayment
• made £200 payment to overdraft
• made minimum payment to Barclaycard
• made minimum payment to 0% MBNA card
• received £5 Waterstones voucher
• paid overtime into savings/house fund
• paid £20 dd into savings
• put every £2 coin in pot
• put coins in piggy every day
• recieved £1 tesco points voucher

I would like to be able to do the above each month with an extra cc payment as well, I know the loan and overdraft are going down with regualar payments and are not being added to so not too concerned about those at the moment, the MBNA card is 0% so no interest is being added there, so it is only the Barclaycard which I am concerned with at the moment.

sarahb123_3

RosaBernicia wrote: »

Sarah, I tried the surveys thing and gave up on it because I found the frustration factor just wasn't worth the money. I simply don't have the spare time, I didn't seem to be eligible for a lot of the surveys and I hate having an inbox full of spam - if you try it, it might be worth setting up a separate email account just for that.

I think you may be right, I do get very frustrated at time consuming things and I would struggle with having the patience to reach the withdrawal thresholds. I don't even do the free clicks anymore as I just found them too annoying for too little reward.

sarahb123_3

makeup wrote: »

I've won a competition!!! :j:j:j

I've been doing a ton of comps (although not as the serious compers) and finally won tickets to the Grosevenor House Art & Antiques Fair!

Well done:j:j:j

Re: Surveys - well .... I've been doing them for a while and they are a bit painful to be honest. Some of them are seriously boring and ask silly questions about things you buy. They act as if I spend ages weighing up the various pros and cons of things like squash or washing powder or something. My answer is - whatever is on special offer!

I signed up for a lot ages ago without looking into it properly. I'll do a proper evaluation later (lunch was over 3 mins ago!!!). But haven't made my fortune with it yet!!!

I agree, my only concern is what is on special offer, don't think that's what they want to hear.

Hollyberry

Happy weekend everyone. :j

Hope you've all been enjoying the sunshine. We went out for lunch and roasted ourselves gently at the canalside (with the aid of some Factor 20 in my case) and had a fish salad and elderflower fizz. Even the passing ducks were so chilled, they couldn't be bothered to swim, and were just bobbing gently up and down. Tonight, OH looks suave, Italian and tanned. :cool: I, on the other hand, look pink and slightly freckled. Hmmm... :rolleyes: Time for the Shoe Gal approach and a bit of glowing moisturiser, methinks.

Sarah - you've been busy, and that all looks very organised. :T I agree with you completely on the meat, cheese and coffee (the kitchen shelf is groaning with coffee at the moment as it seems to be on offer everywhere :rolleyes:). I may not have much left in the bank, having rashly transferred too much to savings, but at least I will be getting my caffeine fix.

TDQO - Good luck with the quest for global domination. :rotfl: Let us know how the conquest of the new continent is progressing...

make up - Congratulations on that win... :j Have a great time!

Rosa - Hope you're having a decent evening despite the exam putting everything else out of your mind. OH is working, so I am perusing eBay, posting sporadically on here, and planning a late evening of some trash tv.

Summer74_2

I wonder if anybody could give me some suggestions. I am single and in debt. I have moved away from family and friends to be closer to work (my job is specialised and not available everywhere).

When I moved I was so busy working late into the night and then weekends. This has recently eased but I have now realised I am very lonely and don’t particularly want to wake up tomorrow. As a result my doctor has prescribed Prozac.

As I have a debt management plan it means I have to try to meet people on a budget (and safely as female) so can’t really afford singles holidays. I have gone along to the local canoe club and climbing club in order to meet people. I have 25 days holiday to take from work, my friends that live a distance away are married and buying houses, or trying for children and I don’t really want to spend those days on my own.

Does anybody have any suggestions on how I can meet people cheaply, cheap holidays, increase my income/raise funds (given my work is not very flexible as I repeatedly work to deadlines and long hours). I am hoping to progress my career and therefore increase my salary but need to be in a positive, confident frame of mind to do this, which I am obviously not at the moment.

I find there is a vast amount of information on this site and although useful I can get a bit swamped following all of the threads. Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I need to know it's not all pointless.

Hollyberry

Summer74 wrote: »

I wonder if anybody could give me some suggestions. I am single and in debt. I have moved away from family and friends to be closer to work (my job is specialised and not available everywhere).

When I moved I was so busy working late into the night and then weekends. This has recently eased but I have now realised I am very lonely and don’t particularly want to wake up tomorrow. As a result my doctor has prescribed Prozac....

...Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I need to know it's not all pointless.

Hi Summer, and welcome to the Single and in Debt thread

I am sorry to hear you sounding so sad, and so overwhelmed with trying to manage everything. Being away from family and friends must be very hard, particularly when you are working at a specialised job that limits your options for where you can live.

We can point you in lots of directions on here for advice and help on specific issues, whether it's earning more money or managing debt payments.

This is a great thread, full of lovely and helpful people. I know that they have picked me up and dusted me down when I've needed it.