Diary of an Ex-Spendaholic - Sorting it out in 2010

Ex-Spendaholic

Bought DD's flicker scooter today. Smyths had coupons with £6 off so brought the price down to £53.99 which was made up of the £31 saved on school dinners and clubs not being on and refunds of £21 and £14. Got the small DD 2 jigsaws and a doll.

Maybe tomorrow I'll get a nice fat rebate from the taxman. Some chance.

Ex-Spendaholic

Mostly good.

Warranty people have paid out on one of the car repairs. :j They are looking at the other claim and will give me a decision next week. :eek:


Christmas about 80% sorted. :j Just need a few more bits for DD1 and clothes for the 3 kids. Will make use of the £7 off a £25 spend vouchers in Smyths this week. Am waiting to see if M&S do a 20% off day and will get the clothes then. That just leaves OH who I don't buy for until December.


Put my Boots card in the machine today and I have £168 worth of points. OH and I are going into town tomorrow so may treat ourselves to something nice. :j


Took advantage of the Tesco Buy one get 2 free deal this week. They had 3 Radox shower gels for £1.70. I'm now the proud owner of 36 bottles. :rotfl:We do use a lot of it so this will save us money in the long run.


Also cashed in Haagan Dazs vouchers I'd won and got 12 cartons of ice cream. :j


Due to the recent Boots glitches etc I have a tidy sum tracked through Quidco but nothing coming through payment wise just yet - maybe next month.


I'm starting to sound like a spendaholic again. :rotfl: I'm being very wise though and maximising my spends.


Things to do week beginning 1 November


Wrap Xmas presents :eek:

Source a deal on calendars which I'll get the kids photo on and give to relatives for Xmas

Order the turkey (if butchers are taking orders yet)

Buy Xmas Crackers

chevalier

Hi there well done on taking your debt by the scruff of the neck, to pay it off. You have come such a long way since the start of the year. You really have come such a long way in your outlook.

However just a gentle nudge for you. You have already spent on your children, MORE than I would on my two for both Christmas and Birthday. And they get good presents too....

good luck with your newborn
chev

Ex-Spendaholic

Thanks Chevalier. :beer:

You are right the kids don't need anything else.


One good thing that I have achieved this year is the fact that I haven't accrued any more debt :j and also I have managed to get down to just a few Direct Debits: mortgage, virgin media and life insurance. This is a far cry from the days that there were so many DDs coming out that I didn't know whether I was coming or going. Thanks to the fact that I've been shifting money into the Principality e-saver I now have funds available to pay for car tax, TV licence etc when they are up for renewal. I've never been in such a good position before.

However, 2011 is going to be better. I am going to cut down on using disposable income on toys, clothes and the like and aim to get rid of the smaller debts on the DMP - some of them really are quite small eg. £400.

While I'm on maternity leave I should actually save money for a while as I won't be using as much diesel etc. However there is the issue of the SMP part of maternity leave but due to various schemes so far I should have enough put by to cover it. :j

Ex-Spendaholic

Not a lot to report.


Have now wrapped the Xmas presents. Thats one annoying chore out of the way. :j

Today was a No Spend Day which pleases me greatly. :beer:

Have been doing a lot of decluttering and have decided that the big box of books I had sidelined for the church sale at the end of November are going to go on Amazon. Maybe they will sell, maybe they won't but nothing ventured nothing gained. Will do this on Friday and see what happens.


Tax credit overpayment is now fully repaid so I'm looking forward to an increased sum appearing in the bank tomorrow of £307. :beer:

Just going to revise my weekly budget:

School Dinners 23
Kids Club/Church Activities 6 increasing to 7
Kids Pocket Money 6
Kids Lessons 12
Playgroup 11
Groceries 70 - reducing to 60
Diesel 40
Gas 30 - reducing to 28
Electric 15 - increasing to 20
Papers 4 - Going up in price, going to cancel at end Nov
Sealed Pot Challenge 7
Other 36 - this will cover anything miscellaneous like kids going to birthday parties etc


New Targets

List books on Amazon - Done
Cancel Newspapers
Order Turkey for Xmas - Done

Ex-Spendaholic

Listed books on Amazon. I put 16 on to see how they would go. So far I've sold one at a profit of £4.69. OK its not a huge amount but small acorns and all that. Will wait and see if any of the others move before I list any more.

On Friday I found £3.79 on the ground - I put this in the sealed tin.

Had an email from Quidco tonight to say they have sent me £1.53. Not sure where these middle of the month random payments are coming from. :rotfl:

Still haven't cancelled those newspapers but have to do it. Just don't want to offend the guy in the shop but no point in me spending £5.40 per week on something thats rubbish to keep him happy.