Where do I start?!

Puddingpennies

Thanks for the tips everyone, I feel like I've got loads done already, just signed up to spending diary website so will just keep a note in my phone till I get home (or when I'm quiet in work like today!) I could swear I never spend anything, but I've already got £7 from yesterday I had forgotten about, and £4 from today because I overslept by an hour and had to get a taxi to work :mad: what a stupid thing to do! So thats already £11 out of my £194 remaining for debt payments!! :rolleyes:

Puddingpennies

Great news on the lodger front, its all sorted and this month I'll be £150 better off than last! :j Along with my normal monthly payment that will clear the remaing of what I owe to Next, one less debt to pay!!!

That means next month, as well as my normally monthly payment of £150 to Lloyds, I can overpay another £150, plus if I stick to my budget I should have another £194 remaining at the end of the month to stick on top of that... all in all paying £494 off a month! As for HSBC, I'm doing the 1 Debt v 100 day challenge to clear £300 of that by 9th December, planning to sell everything I own (technically I dont own it since its all on borrowed money:rolleyes:) to raise every spare penny possible to pay off the other £300, and the rest will be cleared with my normal payments.

Got a refund from Sky, turns out they've been overcharging me for 3 months, plus I've got octobers bill free, more money for the debt pot, and have decided to walk home from work to save £2.80 a day and get some exercise.

I think I'm going to use this as a diary to help keep me on track, hope nobody minds! If I can just stick at it and really discipline myself I'm looking at a debt free date of December 2010... heres hoping I can do it!

PP

Fire_Fox

Ask the board guides to move your new diary to the diaries board as you will get a regular readership.

Katie-Kat-Kins

Well done! That is great progress!! Just keep going with your spending diary so that you can keep track and don't end up spending your surplus. Keep us updated. x x

nearlyrich

Moved from DFW at the request of the OP....

Puddingpennies

I have my own diary :T

Thanks nearlyrich for moving it, and to fire fox for suggesting it! Now all I have to do is remember to keep updating it. Not that I'd easily forget any time soon, debt repayments seem to be dominating my thoughts at the moment, which was good this morning when I was in the shop reaching for a £1.10 bottle of water... *Note to self- you can get water from a tap FOR FREE* but perhaps not so good for the shopkeeper who made his disdain for me placing the majority of my baskets contents back on the shelf, quite clear. :rolleyes:

Task for today, call A&L about a £60 charge that is due to be applied to my account next month, apparantly its an overdraft useage fee of £5 a day and I was over for 12 days (by about £4.99) I'm not holding out too much hope for a favourable response but its worth a try!

PP

Puddingpennies

:mad: A&L really are unreal, called them today, and asked VERY nicely if there was any way they would waiver the £60 charge due to be applied to my account, as I thought it was unfair that they charged me £5 a day for being £4.99 overdrawn, I only have a small overdraft set up on this account as I wanted it to be one I wouldn't be in any trouble with- looks like thats gone out of the window- anyway, turns out they've also charged me £25 for a payment review, there wasn't enough money at the end of last month to cover a DD to Domestic & General for my washing machine insurance, so they 'reviewed' it and decided to pay it thus taking my account overdrawn by the amount of the insurance (£4.99) they've then proceeded to charge me the £5 a day for 12 days! So all in all, £85 to cover a £4.99 DD! They said that they dont waiver charges but would pass it on to their complaints department who will take up to 10 working days to reply, I explained that by that time the £85 will have taken my accont overdrawn again and I'll be stuck with charges, their response? "You'll have to take that up with the complaints department once they have contacted you" Makes me SO angry that on the one hand I'm trying so hard to sort my finances out, and on the other, things are getting worse... :mad:

Suppose I only have myself to blame for not checking my account, it was pre light bulb moment and I'm only glad I now have the courage to actually check my online banking otherwise I would have been non the wiser :rolleyes:

Puddingpennies

Oh and the cherry on the cake was dropping a pound outside my house whilst fishing for keys, and then staring in amazement/ disbelief as it rolled down the curb and into the drain... seems that luck isn't on my side today! :eek:

Fire_Fox

Oooooh you are official, now I can do my welcome to diaryland post!

I think you should check the terms and conditions at Alliance and Leicester and then write a proper letter of complaint. That does not seem fair to effectively charge you because you bounced the payment AND then charge you daily for the pleasure. :mad: Should be a failed direct debit fee OR extortionate interest surely??

I think you should give yourself a round of applause for conscious decision on spending in the shop. That is professional DFW behaviour! :T

Puddingpennies

Thanks Fire Fox, its good to be here!! I'm going to attempt to dig out some A&L related paper work, its an online account so they must have something up on the internet, will spend some time later researching then attempt to draft a letter.

Its official... I loathe my spending diary. It sees me everywhere I go, it picks up on even the smallest amount spent, it mocks me with its reports and its Holier than thou pie charts, Thursday 27th August- Total Amount Spent- £9.59... No I say to myself, its the diary, there is obviously a 'fault' in the software, that must be it. Oh. Hang on a second. I did buy fairy liquid this morning, and then there was the £3 contribution towards a birthday tin at work, oh yes, and the bus fair to work. Its all coming back to me now. The diary was right. :wall:

In more positive news, the wonderful ladies on the OS board have given me some excellent tips and advice today on how to make really nice meals without going over budget, I'm quite good with food shopping, I normally spend between £50 and £70 a month, but (and its a big but) I live on pasta, and potato, and 9p smartprice noodles, and my sanity is begining to suffer. So I went over there and asked for suggestions and they're still flooding in, brilliant, from chicken stock to DIY chinese takeaway its like a never ending cookbook, now if only I could persuade one of them to move in with me.... :think:

I have counted at least 150 books around the house that are fit to be sold... any suggestions on the best place to sell them? They're varied from psychology text books to trashy novels and everything inbetween and at the moment are doing nothing but cluttering up every corner of the house. I also found 3 dresses from god knows when, each one with the label still on, one of them was £59.99 :eek: I dont even know why or when I bought it but its certainly never been worn. I also have 18 pairs of jeans... now I'm not suggesting I should sell these because nobody wants second hand jeans, but when I thought about it, each pair were probably in the region of £35 and over, thats at least £600 worth of denim. Thats a hell of a lot of denim. Running trainers anyone, never been worn, originally £85? Matching set of 4 suitcases, never been out the country? How about a £45 bed throw, that I have TWO yes TWO (exactly the same) of?

Hello, my name is Puddingpennies, and I am, a spendaholic. :rolleyes: