I'm working for the cash machine - my diary

Bowski_1011

:xmastree:Merry Christmas Gwen:xmastree:

I'm hoping you felt better and managed to get everything sorted in time :A

Shoe_Gal

Hi gwen, hope you're feeling better and enjoyed your Christmas :xmassign:

gwen80

Thanks for the messages girls! I am better, enjoyed my Christmas dinner very much...and the chocolates...and the cheese and biscuits...:D

Hope you're both having a lovely Christmas too :xmassign:

Gwenx

gwen80

Hello :wave:

Hope everybody's had a very good Christmas!! I'm back on the moneysaving mission though...I have itchy feet again...:rolleyes:

I've just been checking my online banking and the council tax refund has arrived - £526.70! :j I've now moved that to my new 'house renovation savings' account. That money along with the £150 I save every month and has gone in from December has bumped up my house renovation savings nicely.

£140 has arrived from quidco and been sent along to Barclaycard.

I opened an online saver with A&L through quidco earlier in the week for £20 cashback

My DD's and SO's have STILL not moved over to Nationwide :mad::mad: I can feel a stroppy phonecall coming on...how long does it take to move a set of DD's and SO's?? :rolleyes:

If the NW move ever does go through I'll be looking to move my broadband supplier to save some money and get cashback. In the meantime I need to get on with selling things and learning matched betting. Not looking forward to the selling things part, but I have too much stuff and it seems a waste not to sell it when I have a CC to pay off and a house that needs major renovation work doing :rolleyes: So I'd better just get on with it. I'm going to start with a bag of CD's from when I was about 16-18 and my taste in music was carp...I don't know too much about it, but I'm thinking of music magpie...

Off to investigate...

Gwenx

Shoe_Gal

Hi gwen

Fab news on the refund :j

You are sounding really focussed and positive, I need to start making some plans for next year :rolleyes:

Lula-Hula

Hi Gwen.. great news on the quidco payout

Like Shoe Gal says, sounds like you're on a mission, good luck & I really should do some selling ...

gwen80

Thanks for the messages girls, as always the determination comes and goes :rolleyes: Overall though I am fairly focused and determined. I'm really not looking forward to the selling things and the matched betting if I'm honest, but I need to get on with it. I know I keep saying that :rolleyes: I'm struggling a bit with motivation I think because I'm off work and chilling out a little too much. Having said that, I've had a lovely couple of days, shopping, eating, drinking, watching films and went on a lovely walk today to listen to a carol service. Wished I'd taken my camera as the scenery was lovely, although a little icey underfoot...nearly went flat on my @rse many times :rolleyes:

I'm currently mulling over plans for next year...of course, the moneysaving will continue...that's the easy part...I know what I need to do with that...the rest is more tricky :think: I'm thinking that maybe a 100 things list might be in order. Large goals scare me and I end up doing nothing...maybe if I break things down into lots of little goals, it might be better.

Gwenx

gwen80

Well having a lovely relaxing day here, listening to a bit of Michael Buble, drinking lots of coffee, also doing a few jobs and a bit of tidying up. Lovely

My banking seems to be all over the place. All my DD's and SO's are indeed still going out of my A&L account...grr Nationwide... And my council tax refund money seems to simultaneously available in my current account and my savings account?

I ended the Chrimbo crackers countdown challenge with £858.11 of my goal which was £1010, which I was pretty pleased with :j I suspect it may have been higher than that as I have no idea how much I have with various survey sites, I didn't count interest on bank accounts and I'm fairly sure there are other things I forgot to include. However, a large chunk of the total was made up of my council tax refund. I've now signed up for the World Cup countdown challenge, again aiming for £1010. It'd be nice if I could meet the challenge this time.

The first things to tackle that come to mind are to see if I can claim interest on the council tax refund (there are some posts on the success stories thread that seem to imply you can), give NW a kick up the @rse to transfer my account, then hopefully move bank account again to FD for £100, get a new broadband provider to get cashback and save money every month, look at home phone provider for better deal (also possible cashback), sell stuff on Amazon/ebay, learn to matched bet and get on with it.

Bit annoyed with quidco at the moment. I applied for a free T-mobile SIM for £1 cashback the other week. I have the SIM, but the cashback hasn't tracked. Alright, it's a quid, I'll live without it, but it's the principle. More importantly, my £20 from A&L hasn't tracked yet either.

I'm quite relieved that the sales seem to have been a bit carp, because I haven't spent too much. On the other hand, Mum came back from town this morning with two bra's reduced to £7 each in my size. Haven't tried them on yet, but if they fit, I'm keeping them. Desperately need new bra's.

Better continue with jobs...

Gwenx

gwen80

Hello!

Happy last day of 2009 and indeed this decade everybody! Normally I have a list of goals by this stage and while I have lots of goals floating round in my head, I don't have a definite plan. Trying not to stress about it, I figure there is time over the next couple of weeks to formulate a definite plan. I feel though that moneysaving, renovating a house, having a better social life will only get me so far. Long term, I'd like to meet a fabulous man, I'd like to work towards common goals and have a family. To do this and have the life I'd like, I really think I need to address some of my flaws. I don't want my (future) family to be like my crazy family. I want the future to be different to the past, but currently I feel like I am stuck in a mesh of vicious circles. This is probably why I don't have a plan yet, it's far more complex than previous plans and needs some serious thought :think:

Otherwise, I'm still in a bit of a muddle with my money. I haven't spent too much in the sales though and haven't spent much on petrol over the last week, so I'm hoping things aren't too bad

The money has now arrived from my insurance claim and I have just sent £953 to Mr Barclaycard. I'm not entirely sure of the balance now, but definitely under £1.5k I'm looking forward to getting my January statement and seeing where I am, I may even add it to my sig to help motivate me.

I have put a batch of CD's into music magpie, having decided that life is too short to list CD's on ebay when the ones on there aren't selling anyway. Another flaw of mine I need to work on is my time management :rolleyes: I need to work out what is worth spending time on and what isn't. They are sending me out freepost labels and I will get £6.66 (freaky :eek:) for them, which is fine by me.

My savings target is annoying me somewhat. Whilst it's great that it's jumped up dramatically over the last few weeks, I'd quite like it to be at 85% to target. I'll have to get working on some moneymaking then

I've had a few good chats with my Mum over Christmas. She has voiced her concern about the state of my life (the house, the social life etc) which I totally agree with. She said she appreciates and admires my desire to be independent, but my predicament worries her a lot. The last thing I want is my Mum to be stressed. She has offered to lend me the money to get the work done on the house. I think I'm going to take her up on her offer. I have a lot of holiday left to use before June, which I have been saving for when I get the work done on the house. I will need my holiday later in the year, so after June there'll be more limited opportunity to get the work done. It seems to make sense. I borrow £1.5k or whatever from my Mum and start to get the work done asap. All the time I will be continuing to save anyway, so will be paying my Mum back as we go along. I hope I'll have some time for some matched betting and things aswell, but we'll have to see how it goes.

So 2010 looks like an interesting year and I'm hoping a positive one. The last few years haven't been too kind to me, but I'm finally starting to feel like I'm moving forward. I was thinking of starting a new diary, but my motivation levels are still fairly high and my progress seems to be going fairly well, so if it's not broke, don't fix it.

Happy New Year everybody! Here's to the most fabulous year yet - 2010! :beer:

Gwenx

Shoe_Gal

Happy New Year Gwen :beer:

Things are sounding positive for you, I would let your Mum help you. It's obvious she wants to (mine is always helping me!) and it will take your life off 'hold' a little

Here's to a F Fabulous 2010