OberonSH's DFW Diary Thread - 1 Woman, 1 Toddler & A Whole Lotta Debt!

boredofbeingathome

You may be right on that one...i had some once that was distinctly anaemic!

OberonSH

Evening MoneySaving Mad People!

Been a busy old time here at Chez Us, as my site is finally ready (enough) to be shown to the public. So big fanfare and.....


problem with the hosts. Thos stupid monkeys at 1&1 have decided that despite the site being registered with them, I had to pay them £9 a month extra to actually have my site on their servers. In addition to the package I bought. Um, are their servers gold-plated or something? But hopefully sorted soon, so all is well.

Moneywise doing well - plenty of wonderful items leaving my home to find new owners thanks to Ebay - am signed up to Ebid, (thanks MrsT) so will be giving that a go shortly as well - will let you know how this ebay-alternative free auction place goes. Budget is being stuck to, and have now got Mr O nicely paranoid about spending any money. Eeexxxcelllent.

I went to Boots today to get another load of free stuff with my lovely little printout, and would you credit it, bumped into a fellow MSE'er there, likewise looking for bargains - so big hello to beige-jacketed lady from Grimsby Boots - we get everywhere, don't we? Pointed her in the direction of the cellulite busting lotion (that you can get free with the pink coupon, now I have 2, and I'm wondering who I can give them to for Xmas without getting slapped). They still don;t have any Sanctuary skin calming balm, or time delay wipes - they're not daft, are they? But they wouldn;t allow me a spa face mask, or a travel sized facial stuff! Nowhere does it mention the stuff has to be full sized, and last time I looked face masks were 'facial skincare' as per the coupon - not like you use them on your butt......well....normal people don't.....

So thumbs up to me for ebaying lots of freaky items (the hideous resin fairy has gone, likewise an Aussie handpainted pot I got from Sydney) and thumbs down to 1&1 for being chimps and Boots for being unable to read their own promotional material.

Todays tip is to go through your wardrobe, and dig out anything tired looking, faded or unfashionable. Look at it with a fresh eye - would a go-round with a sachet of Dylon fabric dye bring it back to life? How about replacing the buttons with something a bit more flash, and a length of wide ribbon round that top over jeans would look fab. Bingo - new wardrobe, no cost.

boredofbeingathome

OO thanks for the tip..am now off to donate clothes donated to me by my slim sister to daughter...sigh. Better though to have someone walking around in jeans with both legs..rather than the one i can only fit in.Have a plan to fatten my sis up then she can really donate cast offs to me!

Nice to see you back, and i will investigate ebid.

OberonSH

Never went away, just up to my eyeballs in tech-speak, postal prices and investigating why America won't let me send them haggis. Still, better stuck to the lappy than out buying stuff.

MrsTinks

Awww Obi - I was hoping you'd get 1 & 1 scared into submission... can't you tell them you want to move the site to another host? You can use one of the ones I have if you want... I have 3 domain spaces and only use 2 at the moment.

I intend to have a good go at the whole Ebid thing this weekend - no idea how good it is but I've signed up for their free listings for life thingy for something like £50 - yeah there are some charges but compared to Ebay I should get that back in little time at all!

OberonSH

Evening chickies,

Well my chickis, it's been a good day. I always find the last/first day of the month a very positive one. I can justify spending an hour adjusting my spreadsheets, cackling over the tiniest little adjustment and admiring the elegance of my complex formulae. I desperately need a life.....

ut seriously, there's something gratifying about seeing your numbers going down, and the actualisaton of the weeks of not buying stuff. I get a lot of pleasure seeing my calculations weren't way out, and that the budget is going well. The end of the month is a good time to review - were there extra bills that may crop up again? Were you so out of budget that you need to redo? Or are you so under that you could do with dropping some figures? This month I'm droping our food budget by a fiver, as every week for the past 2 months we've been £5-£10 under. Plus if the bank doesn't have in it what your budget says you should - why is this? Hs someone been sneaking choc bars and papers?

So here's to us, and another month on the wagons. If you've fallen off, run alongside and get Bob to give you a leg up. Ideal time to start all over.

On a personal note, my website is ready, just waiting on the hosts - at least we're further ahead now. They had to email me in my old account to approve the transfer (of course I agreed ) so just waiting. I have found a nifty Gantt chart program that is rapidly replacing £2 coins and shooting old ladies in the bobble-hat as my new favourite pastime. For those who are interested this is on of those time management things you might have done in school - like a sideways bar chart, that shows which tasks can be completed simultaneously, and which need to have previous tasks completed first. It's ideal for basically giving me a quick idea of what I can be cracking on with whilst I wait for the hosts to prepare my space. And before you say it, no - there is nothing to cure whatever it is that's wrong with me. This particular madness is terminal.

So tonight Mr O is on his Xbox (he's discovered the joys of xbox live - I now have no husband) and I shall be doing interesting things with charts, and trying to figure out how long an American corporation takes to set up. Oh, my life is so interesting, I could vomit.

Todays tip is pretty much as above - tweak your budget ready for a brand new month. There anything to cut down? Anything need boosting? Try going back to your spending diary for a month, even if you're a seasoned MSE'er. 1 slip could turn into another, another another until you're back to square 1.

mizmir

OberonSH wrote: »

Evening chickies,

Well my chickis, it's been a good day. I always find the last/first day of the month a very positive one. I can justify spending an hour adjusting my spreadsheets, cackling over the tiniest little adjustment and admiring the elegance of my complex formulae. I desperately need a life.....

Did you sneak a peak into my house today?! :rotfl:Glad I am not the only one.

OliveOyl_2

Whereas I misread, as is my wont, that Mr O was in his box......
My spreadsheets await, but I've been distracted by Popeye on Skype and catching up on the diaries here.....

MrsTinks

OberonSH wrote: »

So tonight Mr O is on his Xbox (he's discovered the joys of xbox live - I now have no husband)

Welcome to my life... would you believe I bought him the 360 as a wedding present... my EX gave us each a free 12 month Live sub... Now I know why!!! The sod lol!!!

Ah well... Obi does yours play gears of war? If he does we should let them play together... at least then we knew when we'd both have peace and quiet ROTFL

I think this coming month I shall join the Earn a tenner a day challenge... so far I have about £100 to go in there as it'll be a couple of weeks till I get the dosh hohum

OberonSH

No, Mr O is a call of duty 4 guy - some bar steward gave him a copy of the game, and a code for a free month.

The tenner a day is a great way of sharpening your focus - I only count my actual earnings, money in the bank, rather than points or balances, as sometimes there's no payout, so won't get paid off a debt. But was pleasantly surprised to see Homepage Friends pay my first £20, snuck in in time for this month - still £65 behind, but a great effort considering was busy with site. This month was holiday funds - bargain with OH, one month goes on 2010 Florida holiday, next month on debt etc etc etc. So next month's aim is to knock out 90% of Rossendales - this is if I don;t ask them to justify the £200 of extra charges that racked up whilst I was asking them to prove the debt........