Carry on Questing

gwen80

Hope you enjoyed your book! I'm feeling the need to start reading something other than magazines all the time.. Snuck a book for me in with the cookbooks I ordered from Amazon for Mum

My water bill has gone down :huh: Only by about 50p per month. Not loads, but I was pleasantly surprised. Haven't got my new council tax bill yet, but hoping it will be less than last years because I'm now a band lower :j I moved mine to pay over 12 months as well. I found it just 'disappeared' on the two months I didn't have to pay it anyway and created more room in my SOA.

Gwenx

Shoe_Gal

Haven't had my council tax yet - but hopefully not too much increase. I have, so far, stuck to 10 payments and have been really disciplined the last 2 months paying the amount straight off a debt in the 2 'free' months

Lula-Hula

Morning all, sun is shining :j

Great minds Gwen - have just posted on yours while you were here

I was too tired to finish the book last night so did that this morning.

Have done 2 loads of washing & just on a quick coffee break before hanging the second lot outside.

Hoovering all done, filled the charity bag with a few clothes, 18 soft toys, some other toys & bric a brac. Have kept a load of Polly Pocket stuff & wooden train set to sell on ebay when I get my act together

Still need to clean the bathroom, mop the floors, ironing & take DD to the party.

Best get on ...

Shoe_Gal

Go Lula :j You've done loads already

I've done nothing - but am about to go to the gym (and treat myself to a sunbed after )

Lula-Hula

Well, I'm feeling very pleased with myself now

I cleaned the bathroom, mopped the floors, gathered washing in & hung it in the airing cupboard, went to collect DDs friend, delivered them both to the party, popped into the co op to buy more bread & a bag of salad - £1.75 - came home, ignored neighbours washing their cars & just hid mine back in the garage :shhh: then immediately did all the ironing - only 45 mins, put it all away & now my work is all done :j

I've just had a triple layer ( there were 3 slices left in the bag) ham & salad sarnie with crisps, a hobnob & a cup of tea - what a peeg . am hoping that DD ate plenty at the party & will only require toast & cocoa for supper.

Her friends dad is dropping her home so I have about another 45 minutes all to myself to revel in my clean tidy home. The charity bag is ready to go outside early in the morning & the junk corner in my room is definitely getting smaller .

I'm now thinking about finally decorating my room during my time off over easter hols, then at least I can get rid of the paint tins, brushes, dust sheets etc that form the foundations of the junk pile. DD is away for a weekend in June so that will be an ideal time to rip the old carpet up, sand & paint the floor without causing too much disruption.

If finances allow, I'll try to get her room done during time off in August & then she might be motivated to not hide bananas & bowls of cereal behind the curtains :eek: it wasnt very appealing.

Shoe Gal - I'm very impressed at your paying the spare council tax money off the debt :A, I didnt get any free months as they kept sending me 'ad hoc' bills :mad: .

Gwen - fingers crossed for lower council tax bill & over 12 months definitely the way forward for me

It's now an entire 7 days since I've had any alcohol :eek: & I feel perfectly fine; the mornings are definitely easier, but that maybe due to it being bright & sunny.

No plans for this week other than a consultation with the teacher on thursday after school so I'm going to focus on work, weight loss & doing some exercise _pale_

Grocery & Household Budget now = £35.27 I decided to get the bread today & then hopefully will have a run of 4 NSDs in a row

bye for now
xx

Souk08

Hey, great minds and all that. I'm going to pay mine over 12 months next year too. It's up about £2 a month but nothing drastic. X

Lula-Hula

Back again - I am so so sad

I've been tidying again ; I checked my Barclaycard account & discovered that the interest has just gone on & made my balance all messy with odd pounds & pence:eek:

Cant have that so I made a messy payment & my balance is now a nice neat & simple £3,800

Still have another £280 to pay to keep up with the snowballs demands so I need to be ultra frugal for the next 3 weeks _pale_

Now off to tidy up my sig which is also looking very messy ... :rotfl:

gwen80

You've paid off £650??? :j:eek: <-Jaw hitting floor.

I've not done the snowballing thing, but what is it demanding? :huh:

Gwenx

Lula-Hula

Hey Gwen,

yes it's amazing, in just 3 months this year I have paid the same amount as I paid in the whole of last year / :rotfl:

To be fair though, last year I didnt have any savings fund systems in place so any unexpected expenses ( new windscreens, cambelts, services & mots, DDs insurance etc etc) all went on the CCs. I also had my hours cut at home-job (didnt start work job until november) so was earning absolute minimum wages for some months, I also saved £600 toward holiday spending money that didnt go towards the CCs so all things considered (ok, there were some shoe & bag purchases too :shhh:) it was quite a rubbish year for repaying debts.

Anyway, the snowball is a clever little monkey & I've told it that I can pay £400 a month towards my debts ( not always possible, but much easier with sarah watching my every move ) so it wants me to pay £376 every month to Barclycard & just £25 to Co Op.

I havent sussed out how to enter the 2.9 % balance transfer deal which accounts for some of the Barclaycard balance so I will actually clear it a bit quicker than it says & I'm also a bit naughty in that I cant bear to just pay the minimum off the co op card, so I round it up to stop all that messiness .

None of this would be possible without the home-job boosting my income which is why I'm sticking at it for now. Home job covers all DDs expenses ( clubs, clothes & any trips ) & helps towards paying the extra off the CCs.

I just want the debt gone & rather than play at it for the next 3 years while still having new stuff that I dont really need, I'd rather have one year of living really frugally, without a holiday or going out much, magazines, clothes or take aways & now alcohol too in order to get shot of it.

Once DD hits secondary school she is going to become very expensive so I have 18 months at most to clear it all. I've always said it needed to be gone before then & ideally I'd like to spend some time travelling about during the summer before she starts ... so if I clear it before Christmas this year & I can stick home-job out for another 6 months after that, I should have some decent savings to use towards a holiday

Well, that's the plan at the moment, would love a camper van to travel about in :cool:

Need to get some sleep now,

night night
x

Lula-Hula

Hello,

not much to report, work is good :j, 2 NSDs in a row, expect to have another one tomorrow as well.

Being very good with food, only having proper meals, plenty of fruit & veg & trying to regain my life a bit as well so wont be here so often. I'm having early nights & feel better for it.

Realised this morning that the hideous Council Tax hike is largely due to not receiving the Single Occupancy discount :mad:. Apparently they think that DD1 still lives here,in spite of my informing them nearly 3 years ago when she moved out & taking her off the electoral roll :wall:.

I've requested a revised bill for this year & any monies owed from previous years

Have a nasty feeling that my grandmother has also been overpaying for the same reason so will need to try to deal with that as well ...

will return when I have more news

bye for now
xx