Peppa's Debt Diary

Peppa_Pig_5

I love the idea of these Debt Diary's and really enjoy reading them, so thought I would copy the likes of SS, James240, Molanole, Lynz and have one of my own.

When I joined MSE in Dec 2005 I learnt so much from this site, read lots of great advice and managed to cut a lot of my monthly expenses. I cut our phone bill by using 1899 down by about £5 a month, saved about £10 on gas/electric. Reduced Sky, house insurance is down by £10 per month. My husband sold his motorbike, so no tax and insurance on that, so all in all saved approx £60 per month. Great Start.

Moved credit cards to 0% deals and low life of balance cards, so cut interest paid from £150 down to £48 per month. So can now see debt decreasing much quicker.

However, the low point was about a month ago when I started suffering anxiety attacks, lasted about 2 weeks, can't describe how bad I felt. Knocked me off course I think, as I needed to find a few hundred pound for our holiday and I am being made redundant at the end of August. Bad news is my debt has gone up slightly, good news is I am feeling much better now and much stronger. Anxiety attacks have stopped, health food shop recommended vitamin B complex for the nervous system and it seems to be doing the trick. Could be psychological though.

Felt a bit of a fraud coming on here to offer advice as my debt has gone up, so have read a bit, but not posted much at all.

So now I feel so much stronger I am going for it again. Not giving myself a debt free date, so then I cannot get dissapointed. I have started selling again on Ebay, made £20 so far this week, still a few days to go. Plus much more to list. Also I am going to make an effort to join the grocery challenge, as I cannot see any other ways to reduce outgoings. The Avon is still going very well. The other good news is I have an interview tomorrow and it would be such a great job to get, so fingers crossed. Also I am going to continue with claiming my bank charges.

So to sum it all up I am feeling much more positive and thanks to some great threads lately which have helped and have shown me that together we can all become debt free.:beer:

Peppa
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Quincifer

Well done for coming back, everyone goes through bad patches so just think of it as one more hurdle you have overcome in your quest to be debt free! And when you look at it overall you are still less in debt than you were at the start of the year and you've already made alot of changes that will make a difference in the long run so I'd say you are doing brilliantly!!
I agree that even just reading some of the threads on here is helpful, I think its sometimes easier to take it on board from outside the box aswell - I read alot more than I post on.
Good luck with the grocery challenge - the best advice I can give you is to meal plan where possible and cook in bulk!
xxx

JAMIEDODGER

well done peppa for starting your own debt diary! sorry to hear of your rough time lately and best wishes and good luck with the interview hun!! nice to see you are more positive..let us know how the job interview goes!!

Peppa_Pig_5

Thanks Quincifer, I will have a go at cooking in bulk, plus I will get a monthly shop delivered from Tesco, did that this month for 4 of us including nappies and it came to £110. I should then have only had to spend about £15 per week on fresh fruit, bread, yoghurts etc. But that is where I came unstuck, spent more than that, more like £25 per week. So as it was a 5 week month, it has been £47 per week. But will try for £40 per week from July 1st.

Jamie thanks for your support. I had the interview yesterday, but unfortunately I didn't get the job. They gave me a call a few hours after the interview. I will keep trying though, not defeated yet. The job I applied for was different to what I have done for the last 14 years, so maybe I need to stay in the same field. Trouble is not many part time jobs come up for Buyers in my area, not sure if I am ready to go full time yet.

I have listed a few more items on Ebay, so will see how they go at the end of the week. Plus after sales on Ebay this week I have £22 in my Paypal account. I will leave this to build up for a few weeks and pay extra off my debt.

Peppa
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PS. Pleased with myself today as we had to clear quite a lot of rubbish from the garden, we couldn't afford the £100 for a skip so together with my dad, it has been cleared within a couple of hours today and didn't cost a penny. I feel as though I should give him a little thank you present, not sure how to do that DFW style though. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks

beanielou

Hi PP
great to see you back & glad you are back on track too & feeling so positive.
Ive had to buy some clothes as have put on so much weight since I gave up smoking but well its only money & Im trying not to feel too guilty
Good luck wth the job hunting.
think i need to do Tesco on line as well as mine has been creeping up week by week.It is hard when its for the long haul.Sigh.
Great on garden , what does your dad like then?

PeachPickle

Peppa_Pig wrote:

Thanks Quincifer, I will have a go at cooking in bulk, plus I will get a monthly shop delivered from Tesco, did that this month for 4 of us including nappies and it came to £110. I should then have only had to spend about £15 per week on fresh fruit, bread, yoghurts etc. But that is where I came unstuck, spent more than that, more like £25 per week. So as it was a 5 week month, it has been £47 per week. But will try for £40 per week from July 1st.

Jamie thanks for your support. I had the interview yesterday, but unfortunately I didn't get the job. They gave me a call a few hours after the interview. I will keep trying though, not defeated yet. The job I applied for was different to what I have done for the last 14 years, so maybe I need to stay in the same field. Trouble is not many part time jobs come up for Buyers in my area, not sure if I am ready to go full time yet.

I have listed a few more items on Ebay, so will see how they go at the end of the week. Plus after sales on Ebay this week I have £22 in my Paypal account. I will leave this to build up for a few weeks and pay extra off my debt.

Peppa
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PS. Pleased with myself today as we had to clear quite a lot of rubbish from the garden, we couldn't afford the £100 for a skip so together with my dad, it has been cleared within a couple of hours today and didn't cost a penny. I feel as though I should give him a little thank you present, not sure how to do that DFW style though. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks

Could you make him a cake or some cookies etc? Cheap but usually appreciated

Peppa_Pig_5

Hi beanielou, he does like whisky, so I was thinking of buying him a bottle of whisky. But I do like PeachPickles idea of making a cake. I am good at making cakes and I know he would appreciate that. So I will gather up all ingredients and do that. Thanks.

Peppa
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In_Search_Of_Me

Hi Peppa..its hard isnt it with thanking people but not spending! My neighbors helped with my tv (weighed a ton!) so I made them muffins - dead cheap but lovely...carrot cake also cheap to make! People love homemade stuff (or thats what theysay!!) as its taken time & love whch means so much more than brought stuff! Well done on clearing the garden yourself - always get so much more out of it when you battle through! Hope you get a good job soon...big hugs & welcome back on the wagon!

Peppa_Pig_5

thanks fishface, it does feel good to know we did it ourselves and didn't have to pay out a lot of money. The cake idea is definitely on to a winner. Just been looking on the internet for a job, not much so far, but determined to get one.

Peppa
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Molanole

Just wanted to say well done on starting your diary. I enjoy keeping up with everyone's progress so will keep an eye out for your updates!

Keep it up with the job hunting, it's not bad thing to have a couple of rejections, especially if you haven't had to do job hunting for a while. It's always good practice so you know the areas you need to strengthen on paper and at interview. Wishing you loads of luck though.

Mola x

Peppa_Pig_5

Good day today, I have been offered a job starting 14th July. It will still be part time, but working 3 days per week instead. It will mean childcare costs will go down. Plus I sold £12 worth of stuff on ebay which finished today, so will now have £34 in my paypal account to pay towards debts. I only have one item for sale now on ebay so will have to list some more stuff later.

Peppa
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