Its worth a go isn't it?

Itsarandom

Game now at 49.88 :D:D:D:D:D:j:beer: Still two days to go!! This is a good thing!!

However i am a BAD BAD PERSON! BAD RANDOM!:mad:


So i saw some of my favourite books on ebay (CURSE YOU EBAY) going for 35 pounds - about a tenth of the value of them!!! So i figured "hell, just one little 1 pound bid... i mean.. its worth a shot and it probably won't work".

So at the moment I am the highest bidder - but just realised altogether that is about 50 quid to buy!!! :eek: I mean it is an absolute bargain - to buy them all in the shop is over 100 quid but really... should I be buying these sorts of things now? NO! Hopefully someone else will realise how much of a bargain they are and will buy them _pale_.

Am going ebay crazy tonight to get as many things listed as I can!!! I have to make the money up for them!!!

However I have made contingencies.... If i win them - then I have to earn the cash back. End of. It also means I get no entertainment next month. I need to learn that just because it is a bargain that does not mean I should be buying it!!!

I have found a few more items that a bit specialist and will be selling at the weekend through a friend - hopefully that will make me a few pounds - should earn me at least 30/40 quid I hope!!

Time to go sulk at myself and find ways of saving cash and probably pay a little to one of my credit cards as well - silly silly Random!

Itsarandom

Just a quick note:

Game sold for 72 quid :D:D:D:D:D:D

That is effectively my virgin card cleared for about 20 quid

Itsarandom

A few goals for September!


1) Get the egg card below 3k AND my barclaycard below 1k.
2) Earn an extra 150 quid by the end of September - NOT including vouchers I earn from surveys etc... OR my penny jar!! Basically need to ebay/overtime this coming month... or do what I am seriously considering as well - get a part-time job as well for a short while! It means no social life for a good, good few months however - it could mean paying off my debts before may!!
3) go for at least 10 NSD for september - I am sure there is a thread to sign up for this... must hunt it down.
4) SPEND NO MONEY ON FOOD! I believe I offically have a "bucket load" of food and shouldn't need to spend any more this month. That could easily give me an extra 80 quid in my pocket!!

I will beat all this debt!! I will be debt-free before May even if I have to sell everything I own and work 60 hours per week!!!

Itsarandom

a quick "phew!"


Someone else has outbidded me on those books

Fire_Fox

Hiya, sounds like it's all going pretty well! Some DFWs have found it useful to split their spending into essential (the bare) and non-essential and give themselves a budget for each. So then you would be able to have your guitar lessons guilt-free if they were your number one priority BUT only if you let something else you don't need fall off the bottom of the list.

TheBex

Yes, I do that and it totally works, because then you lose the guilt and have a budget for these things.

Although since the CC went from 0 to 20% my luxury budget is zero pounds and zero pence....

Itsarandom

Hey Guys.


Been thinking about this and I think this is definitely an idea for the coming months ahead - because as you say you feel incredibly guilty for really just wanting to have extras in my life

My new SOA includes my Guitar lessons and 20 quid for entertainment, plus 50 quid for travelling in general. With my SOA as it stands snowballed - it reckons 12 months until I am debt-free.

If however, I can boost my income by about 50-100 quid each month, then I can clear it much, much faster.

So how do you guys do the budget then? I mean essentials is the easy part - but how do you decide on budget for non-essentials?

Fire_Fox

None of my debts were urgent as they were 0% overdraft and rate-of-inflation student loans, but I wanted my savings to equal my amounts owing as I have been ill before and needed a 'cushion'. I split my projected income into three equal parts - essentials, non essentials and savings. This has really helped me feel that I am not at all 'deprived' and actually spend far more on frivolities than survival.

I was strict with the bare essentials: everything on my list is don't-get-taken-to-court stuff such as utilities, public transport to work, home insurance, and obviously food. The only 'cheat' on that list is the TV license as Mr. Fire Fox would actually leave me if I we didn't have a TV and I'd lose his help with the bills!!

My non-essentials include my telephone and internet, books for college, courses for work, all clothing even work stuff, alcohol for home, socialising, toiletries, haircuts and gifts. I can honestly say if I ran a car the associated costs would go here too (unless I had two jobs/ worked nights/ had numerous kids/ lived in the back of beyond!). :money:

TheBex

Well, my "essentials" aren't that essential... Mr Bex lives half an hour's drive from me, and there's no public transport option. So I include the cost of petrol in there, along with a limited amount of socialising - just to make sure no-one else is carrying me, notably the in-laws.

My non-essentials are for train tickets for weekend trips (always to visit far away friends for birthdays) holidays (this year it was a festival) gigs (first one all year is in September) and clothes (see clothes below) and they work out at about £50 a month. That way I always had some spare, which every now and then got swept into savings for emergencies/ really big non-essentials. That said, this is the old amount from when all my debts were non-charging.

Clothes - I am still allowing myself to buy clothes at the moment. This is because I did Bronnie's wardrobe clearout and worked out what I need for Autumn and Winter. I'm only allowed things on the list. Other things I really really want get "considered" while I work out a justifiable way to buy them. normally I stop wanting them before then. I use eBay to keep the purchasing money-neutral.

TheBex

Bronnie's wardrobe thread -
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1746139&highlight=clearing+wardrobe