May benefit challenge - not going to make it

sammy115

Gulp! Do you have to pay for your meal out tonight emz. Will it have to come out of your budget.

I have a meeting tonight, I am hoping to go freelance in the next couple of months. Was hoping to do this instead of going back to work after maternity leave but that idea got kiboshed. Feeling a bit more confident about my abilities now, so hopefully some good will come out of tonight.

Good luck

Emmzi

Yes, out of budget!!! So trying for no spend days until end of week - should be able to make it!

Good luck with your meeting - the confidence makes all the difference!

Emmzi

£96.07 less £12 for night out. Was v good deal via 5pm.co.uk, 3 courses and soft drinks :-)

So have £84.07 left. 2 no spends, and I'm almost back on track.

Emmzi

Lying awake this morning, I was thinking how ashamed I am when I got my last work bonus. The first thing I thought was 'what can I buy, not 'what can I pay off'. I hadn't even looked into which loans wuld take extra payments. That's a light bulb for you.

Today's horoscope...

Get out your sharpest scissors, because you'll want to do some trimming today. There is a lot of excess in your life that doesn't serve any useful purpose, and it needs to go. This goes for excess emotional baggage as well as the many things you've been splurging on. Don't fall for the idea that 'more is better' -- too much of a good thing is still too much. Maintaining this lifestyle costs more effort than it's worth -- and it's distracting you from making important progress.

Pigsback are determined to slowly reform me...


The bits and pieces of make up I am selling on ebay are up to £16 now, with a day to go, so quite pleased with that for a first attempt. I will see what else I have lying in drawers.

Dinner with mate tonight, but I think I can do something quite fancy from the freezer. I'm going to have to make a cake though - nothing in. Have jam and fresh cream left from weekend (b/f bought at market) so am sure I can make something fairly edible.

It *will* be a no spend!!

Emmzi

Woohoo!

Postie brought..

- £3 cheque for a survey I forgot I did
- Letter about where I want share dividends paid - thought I had sold them all but turns out I have about £100 worth and have just lost the certificate.. so need to get a new one, then I can sell them

Also ciao total now over a fiver - but I think there are 2 x 50p surveys still to go on, so will wait and claim next week.

Today is feeling lucky.

sammy115

Actually emzi I was thinking along the same lines. I have done a cashflow budget going forward (based on the fact that both of us are now earning) and we are living quite frugally and Money 2004 tells us that we will have saved quite a substantial amount in the next few months. Now I would quite easily be spending that in my head now - in fact i would probably have slapped it on a credit card already.

Determined to become debt free so I am hoping to pay off my debts even quicker than snowball tells me. I am a little scared about a disaster befalling me ie losing job again, but i suppose if my debts down it shouldn't be quite so scary!

Also ordered some of the financial 'guru' books recommended on a different thread from the library yesterday. They may help. All round my life feels a little calmer and less stressed than it did a couple of months ago.

Emmzi

Glad to hear it Sammy. Calm is good. I'm finding it calms me knowing I don't need as much as I thought I did spare each month. Not that I am a great expert after 10 days... However frugal is working quite well - b/f thinks he is getting a real treat with the homemade bread, pancakes etc!

I am so anxious about jobs atm and getting a permanent one it's affecting my ability to chuck cash at the debt.. I seem to want about a million pounds as a safety net!! However, career counsellor reassured me yesterday I am doing all the right things to get work, and when I have permanent contract I'm going to pay off the biggest loan (after my probation!) and then chuck cash at the flexible loan until it goes away. I just need to be patient!

Which books have you ordered? I've read Martin's, and Alvin Hall - very different styles but both entertaining!

sammy115

I have read both Martins and Alvins and they are both good starting points. The ones I have ordered are 'The Luck Factor' - a chap who says people who think lucky generally are lucky. Also the millionaire next door. An american book on financial culture. It examines people who are millionaires and comes to the conclusion that people who you least expect are millionaires while the ones that splash the cash are not and finally a story not unlike mine called Save Karyn - A shopoholics journey to debt and back. You may have heard about Karyn she started a website and asked people for donations to enable her to pay off her debts. This is her story.

As an accountant, I spend all day telling businessess how to cut back and save money, and yet I can't do it myself. I am hoping these books might give me insight into why I have always spent money like I do.

Have just spent all night finally putting the babies old clothes on ebay. It has taken me ages, specially as said baby won't sleep. Got more stuff to go on over weekend.

Good news for me in the post today too!!! I wrote to the job centre and complained about the way they had treated me and my benefit crisis. I got a letter of apology back and a promise to investigate my application for benefit. Also a letter back from O2 (following an email contact found on this website) offering to reconnect my daughters disconnected phone with no fee, one months line rental free and no other charges, which has brought my bill (which was in the hands of a debt collector) down from £582 to £115, which was less than the original bill in the first place. RESULT!

Next on my list of people to complain about are 3 (another mobile, another daughter - daughters and phones don't go together) and Capital One (going to request refund of charges). I also need to write to the Inland Revenue and request a tax rebate. It is bound to be difficult given my ex-employers refusal to give me a P45 but if you don't ask you don't get.

Was nearly tempted into a chinese takeaway tonight, but I talked myself out of it, mainly cos I had already cooked spag bol. (Good cheap meal for a family of SEVEN!!! seem to have adopted daughters boyfriend). Very very pleased with myself.

Sorry for the essay, I think I got a bit carried away. LOL!!

How is your ebay stuff doing.

elona

I would recommend John Cummuta "Are you being seduced into debt?" if you can order it from your library.

How are you getting on with the challenge you have set yourself?

r.mac_2

just wanted to say i am following your thread emmzi and willing you on. I am feeling rather inspired by your hard work and committment to your challenge.

best of luck

r.mac