I want to break free........

gilligansyle

Well done on the loose change, its amazing how it all adds up.

chevalier

BADPENNY wrote: »

Hi,

pretty quiet tbh. now back at work and waiting for payday on Friday not much on the debt busting front. I have managed to transfer 2 of my highest interest cc's onto my new egg cc which is at 0% untill oct 2012 and also transfered £300 to my Halifax cc which now takes that to a balence of just over £300. I think any overpayments will now go to that card so i can clear it quickly and it will be one less bill to pay.

Me and oh had a bit of a heart to heart the other night and we have decided that although its not a good time finance wise for us we are going to start trying for a baby:j. I can't afford to wait any longer as I will be 39 in Oct and i'm already worried that we have left it to long so although we are both terrified, I'm excited. So even more of an incentive to get rid of these debts as quickly as possible. Oh has also decided he wants a change of job and some re-training and expense is involved but he is very unhappy in his job at the moment so I will support his desision on that. So at the moment my new kitchen will have to be put on ice untill next year!

Not much planned for today, oh is going to do some diy around the house so I will potter about and I may try and list a few things on ebay if i can find the energy!

Hi BP I have read your diary from start to finish. I am very impressed by how you have turned your attitude around since you started this diary. Well done on the not smoking I bet that makes you so proud especially if you are going to try for a baby!

Don't forget to start taking folic acid now so your body is as ready as it can be. I am not sure, but I think you can get these free from the Drs now?

Secondly it is important not to be proud once you are pregnant. People will be dieing to offer you their baby clothes or cots or whatever. Say yes to everything (ok maybe not to 3 cots but you know what I mean). Especially clothes. I basically bought no clothes for my DS1 for the first 18 months because I got given so many 2nd hand clothes. Also charity shops these days seem to be u interested in actually making money on baby clothes. I saw several last time, with fill a bag for 50p boxes. Bargain.

Also don't forget to look on freecycle.org, or freegle, for people giving things away for free! You just have to go and pick them up! For some groups you have to offer something first but that is just an incentive to declutter the stuff that really isn't going to sell on ebay....:D. The only thing I think you REALLY need to have new, is the car seat and the cot mattress..

When you do get pregnant (see being positive), then it helps if you keep an eye out for baby offers as you go along, eg for nappies, cotton wool etc. Then it isn't such a shock to the system when little one finally arrives.

With regards to your OH and retraining. Is there anything online that is free that he could do? Vision2learn do free online courses that you do to your timescale, and lead to proper qualifications. Might be worth a look , it depends on what he wants to do. Also the OU do loads or courses too, and if you are on a low wage you can get money off I think.

good luck with your last leg of your financial journey, and your first leg of your parental journey!.
chev

BADPENNY_2

Hi Chevalier,

Lots of great advice there, yes I have decided that if I am lucky enough to fall pregnant I'm not going to fall into the trap of having everything new, baby's don't need much do they. (So easy to say now) proberbly be a different story if I do get pregnant then I won't be able to resist! Anyway it feels like it won't happen just yet so I am preparing myself for a bit of a wait, I have stocked up on vitamins whilst on offer and I'm trying to get myself as fit as possible, its also just occurred to me that it is 9 months today since me and oh had our last cigg's!

Well yesterday i paid my minium payment to citi card of £46, I had budgetted £55 for this so paid the additional £10 of my Halifax card. I didn't spend my £5 on sat and had a nsd today so have just paid another £10 to Halifax. So lets see so far this months overpayments are as follows,-

Citi card £50
m&s card £40
halifax card £20
total £110.
Can't quite belive I have been able to do this mainly through keeping a closer eye on my day to day spending and I still have 2 weeks to go till pay day.

My new goal is to pay off the Halifax card before the end of this year. Easy!
Oh and managed to increase my running time to 30mins tonight. Dead chuffed!!!!!!!!!

gilligansyle

Hi

its the keeping a close watch on the little day to day spending that I found made a difference. You know about the big stuff, the dd's etc. but can easily fritter away a tenner before you've noticed it.

Keep going.

G

BADPENNY_2

Damn, had to spend £3.60 on bus fare's today and treated myself to a coffee this morning so thats my fiver gone today. Had a nsd yesterday and I am off work tommorrow so will have a nsd tommorrow so should be able to send another £10 to halifax tommorrow. Planning to try and do some ebaying tommorrow. I have taken all my photos and have downloaded them so I just need to write up my descriptions. Hoping to clear £50 from this, the date for our xmas do in work was announced today tho so I need to start thinking of an outfit, hair ect so will need to start planning for this, not untill Dec tho so have still got a bit of time to sort out.(can't you tell I don't get out much now when the thought of a night out 6 weeks away sends me into a panic).

Just been having a look in my food cupboards and I must have a couple of hundred £ worth of stuff just sat there, it seems crazy to spend so much money on food and I really want to try and get more organized so I can cut back a little.

BADPENNY_2

Sent a sneeky £10 last night to the halifax, couldn't wait untill today i'm afraid. I'm on a day off today but i'm feeling so lethargic today, why is it i'm full of energy on the days when i'm in work but on my day's of i barely have the energy to get dressed?

Today I will.
Check my bank account, may pay any random pennys in there to the Halifax.
Pay gas bill £309. :mad:
Pay tv licence £145:eek:.
Washing mostly on 30.
bake a carrot cake.
clean inside windows (upstairs only) will do downstairs next week.
sort out work clothes for next 3 days.
make packed lunch for tom.
go to gym this evening, run on treadmill and then class.

don't think i'll do ebay today, may save that for next week. Right need to move of this couch.

BADPENNY_2

Having a bit of a down day today. had quite a challenging day at work and I am glad to be home. Some days I feel so positive about everything and then on others like today I just think 'whats the point' Its going to take forever to clear this debt and it is holding me back in every area of my life. A collegue told me today she is expecting another baby and whilst I am happy for her I just feel so jelous, its like I have had to put my whole life on hold because I have been so stupid with money in the past, I wish somebody could of warned me years ago what would happen and the consequences of living beyond my means.

Anyway, had to spend my budget today and tommorrow's as its my dads birthday on tues. Had 9 pounds worth of vouchers from m&s so put another £10 to that and got him a jumper. Then treated myself to a 99p coffee (last of the big spenders) so i'll have to be good now.

Just got my renewal notice for my car insurance and it's gone up by £120. I don't think so.

gilligansyle

Don't forget to do your insurance using all the tools, and then see if you can get cashback too.

BADPENNY_2

I seem to of lost controll of my spending over the weekend, nothing too serious but I didn't take my lunch into work on both days and ended up buying sandwichs even though i'd just done a food shop and had lots of yummy stuff in:mad:. Also had too much cash in my purse, I'd decided to take out the remainder of my allowence for the rest of this month in one go to save going to the cash point every couple of days and had £70 in my purse but I think I am best if I just work on a day to day basis and allow myself £5 a day. Need to get back on track as I havn't paid anything to Halifax since last week. Today will hopfully be a nsd as I am off work. Still in bed and I don't have much planned today tbh apart from the usuall clean up, oh has been off all weekend so the house is a bit of a tip. I may have a browse round for some cheep car insurance today, I tend to leave it untill the last minute and then just end up accepting my re-newal quote but i plan to get this sorted early on this year. It would be great to get some cash back towards christmas.

Only 11 days to go and I am off work for 1 week, can't wait. Going to use this time to get on top of all the household job's I never seem to get around to doing and get the house all snuggly for Xmas.

Off now to read some diarys.

gilligansyle

Don't let the bad days get to you. Just appreciate that you haven't done all you intended and move on. you have come a long way