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Sparkle is sorting out her finances
sparkleisshopping
Posts: 301 Forumite
Hi all! I’ve been reading some of the diaries on this forum and have found them inspirational. I’ve decided that I’m going to get all my horrible bits of debt paid off and I’ve decided to write my own diary to keep myself on track. I’m getting married in august and I really don’t want to start married life in a worse financial situation than I’m in now. I’ve never been one for sharing my financial situation so it’s odd for me to post this on a forum but only by being honest and keeping track of myself I hope I can become debt free. I’ve waffled on quite a bit here but if you’d like to read and if you have any suggestions then I’d really appreciate it. I tried to do the SOA calculator but it didn’t fit my financial situation so I’ve made up my own here:
Income
Salary £1292.62
I pay into a share save scheme at work and I pay £150 a month into this. This money is taken out with my taxes etc so does not need to be subtracted from the monthly salary figure. My next payout from share save will be about £1500 due in August.
Outgoings
Council tax £85
Electricity & Gas £43
Water £33.50
Landline phone £11.25
Mobile £15
TV licence £12.12
Pet insurance £15.48
Buildings and contents insurance £46.38
Car mot, breakdown, tax, insurance £85.13 *see car section below
Petrol £50
Presents (birthday, Christmas) £50
Haircuts £10
Holiday £45** see holiday section below
Cigs £80
Gym £48
Food, fun, everything else £300****see below
Total - £929.86
Minus car money = £929.86 - £85.13 = £844.73
£1292.62 income - £844.73 outgoings = £447.89
Money owed
Nationwide loan total balance -£772.60 monthly payment £193.15 apr 7%ish
Lloyds TSB credit card total balance - £4587.09 min payment £81.24 apr - most of this is on 0% until March iirc. Although I have been spending on it so I’m getting charged some interest - last month’s was £12.50
Lloyds TSB overdraft total balance - £1201.37 min payment £0 apr - 19.9% last month I paid £13.59 in interest
First direct overdraft total balance £193.30 min payment £0 apr 0%
Owed to boyfriend total balance £360 min payment £0 apr 0%
Total owed - £7114.36
Monthly minimum payments £274.39
£447.89 - £274.39 = £173.50
Extra info about money owed:
Lloyds TSB overdraft - I’ve put minimum payment as £0 as they never seem to hassle me to pay off the overdraft.
First direct overdraft - I’ve put minimum payment as £0 but realistically if I don’t pay anything towards the overdraft for a couple of months they send me letters. Perhaps I should put £50 here as that’s what I try and pay off each month?
Owed to boyfriend - money he lent me to pay towards my car repairs. I have to pay this money into the wedding account by the wedding! He charges a very respectable 0% apr bless him.
*Car
Mot £45 due 9 August
Insurance £353.04 (paid July 2009 - 10 month policy) £185.12 due June 2010 then renew annually 13 December as I’m going on to a multi-car policy with my boyfriend to keep his car insurance price down
Tax £125 due June
RAC £28 due March
Repair expenses £400
These are all annual figures. I used to have a car savings account that I’d put £56 into a month which would pay for my car repairs and my tax, insurance, mot and breakdown. However, this has all gone to pot as my old car failed its mot in January so I had to buy a new car that cost £1200 (money I didn’t have so it went on the card) and I’ve had some pretty hefty repair bills on it this year (about £1200 of gear box work) which have really mucked up my car savings and contributed to the credit card bill of doom.
Looking at those figures above I should be putting £85.13 away each month for my car. I’m not sure if it’s worth setting up a savings account again for my car while I have debts to pay that have a higher interest rate.
**holiday
I pay £45 a month into my holiday savings account and it’s currently got £135.09 in it. I’ve paid £100 deposit for our Glastonbury tickets and I need to pay the balance of £297 by 28 February. So, with the extra two monthly payments of £45, I’ll still need to find £72 by the end of February.
****Food, fun, everything else
This is where I’m bad. I pay all my bills at the beginning of the month, separate all the money out into different pots and leave myself with £300 in an account that only has a cash point card (no chip and pin). Then I’ll try and just spend this every month but I still end up using the overdraft and the credit card for thing such as (looking back through my last few months of statements) train tickets, supermarket shopping, Christmas presents, birthday presents, clothes, cd’s. Nothing big, but it’s amazing how those £30 - £40 transactions add up and I think that’s probably what the majority of my credit card debt is. Money that I’ve just frittered away on stuff.
Other stuff
Lodger - We also have a lodger who pays us £200 a month. I’m not sure how much longer she’s going to be staying with us as she is looking to move to the town where her boyfriend lives but she needs to get a job there first before she can move. She’s very sweet and I like having her around as my boyfriend works odd shifts and it’s nice to have some company when he’s working late. I haven’t included her income as it’s going into a separate….
Wedding fund - Where our lodger’s money goes. We’re getting married in August! We’re very lucky in that my boyfriend’s parents have given us enough to pay for the marquee (mates rates - hurrah!) and catering (must sort this - eek!), the venue is pretty much paying for itself as there is accomodation included in the venue hire which our guests will be paying for. We still need to pay for our outfits, wine for the meal and some other bits and bobs. The income from our lodger should just about cover these things. We’ve already decided that we’re not going to buy rings - can’t really justify the expense as we have some plain silver rings we made for each other at a jewellery workshop at a festival which we’ll use and when we’re in a better financial state we’re going to buy rings as an anniversary present.
Mortgage and Sky bill - This is paid by my boyfriend.
The plan…
Lloyds TSB overdraft first…
So, looking at these figures I have £88.37 spare after everything. I guess it would make the most sense to start paying off the Lloyds overdraft as that’s on the most frightening interest rate. Perhaps instead of setting up the payments to a savings account for my car expenses I should put the £85.13 I’ve budgeted for my car into the Lloyds account to reduce the overdraft? It means that I won’t have the money ready to pay for car stuff but it will mean that my overdraft gets paid off more quickly.
So, if I do this I can pay my overdraft off at the rate of £88.37 + £85.13 = £173.50 - interest of £13.59 = £159.91 a month. I can pay at that level for 4 months = £639.64. Reducing my overdraft to £1201.37 - £639.64 = £561.73. After then I can pay my loan payment of £193.15 + £159.91 = £353.06. And two payments of that amount would clear the balance entirely! Hurrah! So, that would mean that by June’s payday I’d have paid my overdraft off. Just in time for some car expenses of tax which is £125 and insurance which is £185.12. There’s always something isn’t there! So, best make that July’s payday instead.
August’s £353.06 will cover the money I owe to my boyfriend which is £360 (phew - just in time for the wedding!).
That £50 I’ve budgeted for clothes is going to have to go isn’t it - grr. But, 4 months of not buying clothes will take care of my first direct overdraft. That will mean that I won’t owe anything there by April payday and that’s worth 4 months of no clothes I feel. Besides, I have a wardrobe that’s full to bursting so I’m sure I can make do.
That all sounds quite positive J
Nationwide loan paid off by April payday
First direct overdraft paid off by April payday
Lloyds TSB overdraft and car tax and insurance paid off by July payday
Boyfriend paid off by August payday
Get married in August with only one debt - cool.
On to the credit card then.
In September I will start up paying the £353.06 off the credit card balance of doom. I’m going to do a new SOA before then so the monthly amount I’ll have to pay off my credit card bill will probably be different by then, and the balance owing will be less due to me making minimum payments but I want to do some sums and work out when I can get rid of that horrible debt. So, 8 months of minimum payments of £81.24 - interest of £12.50 = £549.92. Balance of £4587.09 - £549.92 = £4037.17.
£353.06 - £85.13 that will be going into the car savings account by then = £267.93. Plus the money for the minimum repayment of £81.24 = £349.17
£4037.17 / £349.17 = 12 months = DFD = September 2011. Or, if I can stick to my lack of clothes buying, then £4037.17 / (£349.17 + £50) = 10 months = DFD = July 2011. Which is actually a shed load sooner than I’d thought! A year and a half away! That makes me feel really good and positive about the whole thing - that I could get rid of all that horrid horrid debt in a year and a half! I think that’s worth being really skint for all that time for.
So, as you can see, I’m quite good at making a long term plan but I need to work on looking after my money day to day.
At the moment I have £170 in the bank, £8 in my purse, a full tank of petrol and more food than I can shake a large stick at (in fact we need to eat some food from the freezer before our lodger comes back as I’ve shoved a load of our food in her freezer drawer as ours are full!). So, my challenges for this month are:
1. No more spending on credit card or overdraft until the credit card statement date of 14 January. Then it’s only a few more days til payday (20th), then only a few more til the end of the month. It’s easier for me to think of it in small chunks like that, rather than saying, “I will not spend on my card any more ever“.
2. Make £178 last until payday.
3. Write everything I spend in January down in a notebook so I have some sort of clue where my £300 monthly budget actually goes cos I don’t have much of an idea at present.
4. Get boyfriend to do point 3 as well. I’m going to help him sort his finances out too J I made a little joke out of it at Christmas - I wrapped up two notepads and two scratch cards as one of his Christmas presents and told him that I’d given him the gift of sorting out our finances, either the easy way (by winning on the scratch cards) or the other way (by budgeting and doing a spending diary with the notepads). If you’re wondering, he didn’t win on his and I won £4 on mine which covers the £4 cost of two scratch cards lol!
5. I am going to London for the last weekend of January with my friend to try on my wedding dress - eek! I have £50 Christmas money and my friend owes me £35 for her train ticket so hopefully I won’t spend more than £85 in London (we are staying at my friend’s house and I think I still have a fiver on my oyster card so that’ll help). This will be quite a challenge though!
My medium term plans are:
1. Shop around for a new 0% card - end of January
2. Do a new SOA after Nationwide and first direct paid off - April payday
3. Do a new SOA after Lloyds overdraft, car tax and insurance paid off - July payday
I’d also like to do some of the challenges on here - I think the first one I’d like to do is the cut your supermarket shopping bill challenge but I’ll need to work out how much I’m spending first. I’ve signed up to some mystery shopping companies to see if I can make some extra money there - I haven’t done any shops yet but I have an application pending - fingers crossed!
If you made it this far, well done! I intend to come back here and keep you all updated on my progress and hopefully one day my diary can inspire someone in the way I have been from the other diaries on here.
Income
Salary £1292.62
I pay into a share save scheme at work and I pay £150 a month into this. This money is taken out with my taxes etc so does not need to be subtracted from the monthly salary figure. My next payout from share save will be about £1500 due in August.
Outgoings
Council tax £85
Electricity & Gas £43
Water £33.50
Landline phone £11.25
Mobile £15
TV licence £12.12
Pet insurance £15.48
Buildings and contents insurance £46.38
Car mot, breakdown, tax, insurance £85.13 *see car section below
Petrol £50
Presents (birthday, Christmas) £50
Haircuts £10
Holiday £45** see holiday section below
Cigs £80
Gym £48
Food, fun, everything else £300****see below
Total - £929.86
Minus car money = £929.86 - £85.13 = £844.73
£1292.62 income - £844.73 outgoings = £447.89
Money owed
Nationwide loan total balance -£772.60 monthly payment £193.15 apr 7%ish
Lloyds TSB credit card total balance - £4587.09 min payment £81.24 apr - most of this is on 0% until March iirc. Although I have been spending on it so I’m getting charged some interest - last month’s was £12.50
Lloyds TSB overdraft total balance - £1201.37 min payment £0 apr - 19.9% last month I paid £13.59 in interest
First direct overdraft total balance £193.30 min payment £0 apr 0%
Owed to boyfriend total balance £360 min payment £0 apr 0%
Total owed - £7114.36
Monthly minimum payments £274.39
£447.89 - £274.39 = £173.50
Extra info about money owed:
Lloyds TSB overdraft - I’ve put minimum payment as £0 as they never seem to hassle me to pay off the overdraft.
First direct overdraft - I’ve put minimum payment as £0 but realistically if I don’t pay anything towards the overdraft for a couple of months they send me letters. Perhaps I should put £50 here as that’s what I try and pay off each month?
Owed to boyfriend - money he lent me to pay towards my car repairs. I have to pay this money into the wedding account by the wedding! He charges a very respectable 0% apr bless him.
*Car
Mot £45 due 9 August
Insurance £353.04 (paid July 2009 - 10 month policy) £185.12 due June 2010 then renew annually 13 December as I’m going on to a multi-car policy with my boyfriend to keep his car insurance price down
Tax £125 due June
RAC £28 due March
Repair expenses £400
These are all annual figures. I used to have a car savings account that I’d put £56 into a month which would pay for my car repairs and my tax, insurance, mot and breakdown. However, this has all gone to pot as my old car failed its mot in January so I had to buy a new car that cost £1200 (money I didn’t have so it went on the card) and I’ve had some pretty hefty repair bills on it this year (about £1200 of gear box work) which have really mucked up my car savings and contributed to the credit card bill of doom.
Looking at those figures above I should be putting £85.13 away each month for my car. I’m not sure if it’s worth setting up a savings account again for my car while I have debts to pay that have a higher interest rate.
**holiday
I pay £45 a month into my holiday savings account and it’s currently got £135.09 in it. I’ve paid £100 deposit for our Glastonbury tickets and I need to pay the balance of £297 by 28 February. So, with the extra two monthly payments of £45, I’ll still need to find £72 by the end of February.
****Food, fun, everything else
This is where I’m bad. I pay all my bills at the beginning of the month, separate all the money out into different pots and leave myself with £300 in an account that only has a cash point card (no chip and pin). Then I’ll try and just spend this every month but I still end up using the overdraft and the credit card for thing such as (looking back through my last few months of statements) train tickets, supermarket shopping, Christmas presents, birthday presents, clothes, cd’s. Nothing big, but it’s amazing how those £30 - £40 transactions add up and I think that’s probably what the majority of my credit card debt is. Money that I’ve just frittered away on stuff.
Other stuff
Lodger - We also have a lodger who pays us £200 a month. I’m not sure how much longer she’s going to be staying with us as she is looking to move to the town where her boyfriend lives but she needs to get a job there first before she can move. She’s very sweet and I like having her around as my boyfriend works odd shifts and it’s nice to have some company when he’s working late. I haven’t included her income as it’s going into a separate….
Wedding fund - Where our lodger’s money goes. We’re getting married in August! We’re very lucky in that my boyfriend’s parents have given us enough to pay for the marquee (mates rates - hurrah!) and catering (must sort this - eek!), the venue is pretty much paying for itself as there is accomodation included in the venue hire which our guests will be paying for. We still need to pay for our outfits, wine for the meal and some other bits and bobs. The income from our lodger should just about cover these things. We’ve already decided that we’re not going to buy rings - can’t really justify the expense as we have some plain silver rings we made for each other at a jewellery workshop at a festival which we’ll use and when we’re in a better financial state we’re going to buy rings as an anniversary present.
Mortgage and Sky bill - This is paid by my boyfriend.
The plan…
Lloyds TSB overdraft first…
So, looking at these figures I have £88.37 spare after everything. I guess it would make the most sense to start paying off the Lloyds overdraft as that’s on the most frightening interest rate. Perhaps instead of setting up the payments to a savings account for my car expenses I should put the £85.13 I’ve budgeted for my car into the Lloyds account to reduce the overdraft? It means that I won’t have the money ready to pay for car stuff but it will mean that my overdraft gets paid off more quickly.
So, if I do this I can pay my overdraft off at the rate of £88.37 + £85.13 = £173.50 - interest of £13.59 = £159.91 a month. I can pay at that level for 4 months = £639.64. Reducing my overdraft to £1201.37 - £639.64 = £561.73. After then I can pay my loan payment of £193.15 + £159.91 = £353.06. And two payments of that amount would clear the balance entirely! Hurrah! So, that would mean that by June’s payday I’d have paid my overdraft off. Just in time for some car expenses of tax which is £125 and insurance which is £185.12. There’s always something isn’t there! So, best make that July’s payday instead.
August’s £353.06 will cover the money I owe to my boyfriend which is £360 (phew - just in time for the wedding!).
That £50 I’ve budgeted for clothes is going to have to go isn’t it - grr. But, 4 months of not buying clothes will take care of my first direct overdraft. That will mean that I won’t owe anything there by April payday and that’s worth 4 months of no clothes I feel. Besides, I have a wardrobe that’s full to bursting so I’m sure I can make do.
That all sounds quite positive J
Nationwide loan paid off by April payday
First direct overdraft paid off by April payday
Lloyds TSB overdraft and car tax and insurance paid off by July payday
Boyfriend paid off by August payday
Get married in August with only one debt - cool.
On to the credit card then.
In September I will start up paying the £353.06 off the credit card balance of doom. I’m going to do a new SOA before then so the monthly amount I’ll have to pay off my credit card bill will probably be different by then, and the balance owing will be less due to me making minimum payments but I want to do some sums and work out when I can get rid of that horrible debt. So, 8 months of minimum payments of £81.24 - interest of £12.50 = £549.92. Balance of £4587.09 - £549.92 = £4037.17.
£353.06 - £85.13 that will be going into the car savings account by then = £267.93. Plus the money for the minimum repayment of £81.24 = £349.17
£4037.17 / £349.17 = 12 months = DFD = September 2011. Or, if I can stick to my lack of clothes buying, then £4037.17 / (£349.17 + £50) = 10 months = DFD = July 2011. Which is actually a shed load sooner than I’d thought! A year and a half away! That makes me feel really good and positive about the whole thing - that I could get rid of all that horrid horrid debt in a year and a half! I think that’s worth being really skint for all that time for.
So, as you can see, I’m quite good at making a long term plan but I need to work on looking after my money day to day.
At the moment I have £170 in the bank, £8 in my purse, a full tank of petrol and more food than I can shake a large stick at (in fact we need to eat some food from the freezer before our lodger comes back as I’ve shoved a load of our food in her freezer drawer as ours are full!). So, my challenges for this month are:
1. No more spending on credit card or overdraft until the credit card statement date of 14 January. Then it’s only a few more days til payday (20th), then only a few more til the end of the month. It’s easier for me to think of it in small chunks like that, rather than saying, “I will not spend on my card any more ever“.
2. Make £178 last until payday.
3. Write everything I spend in January down in a notebook so I have some sort of clue where my £300 monthly budget actually goes cos I don’t have much of an idea at present.
4. Get boyfriend to do point 3 as well. I’m going to help him sort his finances out too J I made a little joke out of it at Christmas - I wrapped up two notepads and two scratch cards as one of his Christmas presents and told him that I’d given him the gift of sorting out our finances, either the easy way (by winning on the scratch cards) or the other way (by budgeting and doing a spending diary with the notepads). If you’re wondering, he didn’t win on his and I won £4 on mine which covers the £4 cost of two scratch cards lol!
5. I am going to London for the last weekend of January with my friend to try on my wedding dress - eek! I have £50 Christmas money and my friend owes me £35 for her train ticket so hopefully I won’t spend more than £85 in London (we are staying at my friend’s house and I think I still have a fiver on my oyster card so that’ll help). This will be quite a challenge though!
My medium term plans are:
1. Shop around for a new 0% card - end of January
2. Do a new SOA after Nationwide and first direct paid off - April payday
3. Do a new SOA after Lloyds overdraft, car tax and insurance paid off - July payday
I’d also like to do some of the challenges on here - I think the first one I’d like to do is the cut your supermarket shopping bill challenge but I’ll need to work out how much I’m spending first. I’ve signed up to some mystery shopping companies to see if I can make some extra money there - I haven’t done any shops yet but I have an application pending - fingers crossed!
If you made it this far, well done! I intend to come back here and keep you all updated on my progress and hopefully one day my diary can inspire someone in the way I have been from the other diaries on here.
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Comments
-
Well, since writing all that a couple of days ago (I felt too shy to post it initially) I've managed to:
Get 16 things up for sale on ebay (Currently at £51.23)
Take packed punch and not spend any money at work today.
Today I spent £5.85 on ciggies and £5 joining Bingo Britain. I won £15.32 on bingo a couple of hours ago - hurrah!
One of my ebay items has sold so I'll see if I can persuade my boyfriend to take a parcel to the post office on his way to work tomorrow.
Am feeling really positive about all this - can't wait to get rid of that horrible lloyds overdraft.0 -
Welcome to diary land! Good luck !!
Starting Debt: ~£20,000 01/01/2009. DFD: 20/11/2009 :j
Do something amazing. GIVE BLOOD.0 -
Thank you Lee
Today I put my first ebay item in the post - a lunchbox that the buyer messaged me about and offered me £5 buy it now when I'd only put it on for 99p - hurrah! My workmate was going to Costco so I got him to pick me up a massive tub of cookies that I'll take to the NYE party we're going to tomorrow. Don't need to buy any booze as I have a couple of bottles in already. I've taken pics of a load of stuff to put on ebay and I'll get that done over the weekend. Took packed lunch and managed to resist the lure of the vending machine again.
Oh I emailed a load of caterers yesterday for quotes for the food for the wedding and I had a couple of queries from them today so I've dealt with them too.
I'm a bit confused with the bingo - I requested a withdrawal of my cash balance yesterday but when I played a game today it came from my cash balance rather than my bonus. I've sent the helpdesk a message so hopefully they'll get back to me soon.
In total I've spent £7.61 today so I have £159.54 left til payday.
Don't think I'll be on for the next couple of days so Happy New Year all and here's to debtbusting in 2010 *raises glass*0 -
hey sparkle! just a bit of constructive advice from one debt free wannabe to another!
Outgoings
Council tax £85
Electricity & Gas £43
Water £33.50
Landline phone £11.25
Mobile £15 this is awesome! well done for having it so low!
TV licence £12.12
Pet insurance £15.48
Buildings and contents insurance £46.38 you can get this much cheaper and with cashback. i use topcashback. use a comparison site to find cheaper deal. i think our buildings and contents is £28 a month
Car mot, breakdown, tax, insurance £85.13 *see car section below
Petrol £50
Presents (birthday, Christmas) £50 does this really need to be £50? i think maybe get presents in sales, always keep an eye out for cheaper gifts.
Haircuts £10 awesome - wish mine were this much lol! :T
Holiday £45** see holiday section below
Cigs £80 can you cut down at all or smoke roll ups to save money?
Gym £48 is this a contract? can u cancel and stop for now until the debts paid?
Food, fun, eve rything else £300****see below i havent read ur full first post but if this is on cd's, clothes etc then i would suggest keeping a spending diary to see where u can cut back and save the pennies!
hope that helps! remember every little helps, baby steps and all that! i have a diary, im trying to clear 9k in 130 days, check it out.
Ive also found that keep money out of ur purse and into the bank or a savings jar! If i have notes in my purse, i stick them in the bank, if i have coins they go in the jar!
i will subscribe and help where i can, im getting married next year too and i cant wait! i know wot a struggle it is saving and paying debt! good luck!
xx Current Mortgage balance - £363,785.35/£420,000 (highest point Oct 2022).0 -
Thank you for the support and motivation Keza
My mobile bill's so low cos I have the most rubbish phone in existance lol - I haven't had an upgrade in about 5 years. I'd love an iphone but the monthly contract price is about £35 and I can't justify that so I begrudingly make do with my rubbish phone. You're right about the home insurance though - it's just renewed and I forgot to do a price comparison as the company I'm with has been the cheapest for the last couple of years. The presents figure is a guess really, I spent about £400 on presents this christmas but that's gonna have to be less next christmas. Hopefully I can cut down on the ciggies too - I can't use the laptop and smoke at the same time, and the amount of ebaying I'm doing I'm practically glued to the laptop so that's helping! I do enjoy going to the gym and it works out at £3.69 a visit (I go 3 times a week) so I don't mind paying that.
Good call about the spending diary - I just got my new notebook out and started it! I've got one for my boyfriend too and he seems quite enthusiastic about using it as his new years resolution. Gonna be interesting to see where all my money goes...
I'll check out your diary too Congratulations on your wedding - it's very exciting isn't it! I'm going to try my dress on next month and I can't wait! 0 -
I had a great time at my friend's NYE party Felt somewhat worse for wear yesterday - I'll blame that on the punch we were making lol! As long as I stick to one or two types of booze I'm fine, but if I start with the cocktails or punch then I'm guaranteed a banging headache the next day. I had so much fun and it was really good to catch up with my friends that I don't see regularly. My boyfiriend was on top form too - I went to bed before he got really silly drunk (in a good way, not an annoying way) so I missed out on some of his antics but hey-ho. We all bought food to the nye party and there was loads of veggie chilli left so I took home a massive tupperware of it which I will portion up and put in the freezer and I'm sure that will be very nice on a jacket potato for my work lunches for the next week or so.
On the way home yesterday I had a massive craving for pizza and shandy so we stopped at the little tesco and I spent £10.91 (I think, don't have my spending diary upstairs with me) on pizza, lager, lemonade, salad and bread. We nommed our pizzas and I ended up falling asleep on the sofa at about 9.30pm and missing the end of the Italian Job - bum.
Today I shall do some tidying as our housemate is coming back either today or tomorrow. I will also do some ebaying and list some magazines and winter clothing. I also have some craft materials that I will list if I haven't lost the will to live by too much ebaying lol!0 -
Since I last updated I've been busy busy with ebay - have sold quite a few bits and I have another set of auctions ending in two days. I've withdrawn money from my paypal account so I'm quite looking forward to comparing my bank balances with how they were last month to see how much healthier they are looking.
Today I plan to list at least five things on ebay - I have five things all photographed, weighed and ready to go so I'm hoping that once I've listed those I will have the motivation to find more stuff. I tidied out a couple of drawers yesterday - nothing in there to ebay sadly but they are much tidier now. I would also like to go to the supermarket to pick up a few bits of shopping for next week (don't need much at all, just a few veg) and drop off the recycling. I would also like to go to Bombay Stores in Bradford - it's a great fabric shop that's really cheap - I need to get some fabric for making bunting for the wedding to give to my friend as she has very kindly offered to make the bunting. This all depends on how my boyfriend is feeling as he'll be doing the driving and also the weather - haven't had much more snow and the roads are quite clear round here so it shouldn't be too bad a drive.
I've had a bit of a wedding spurt over the last couple of days - have chased up some caterers for quotes, rung the registry office and booked a date for the legal part of the wedding (we're having two weddings - a small registry office do for the family and a marquee on a campsite for friends where we're all staying in tipis). I also made a start on the invites last night and I'm making these a lot more quickly than I thought I would be. My MSE plan for the wedding invites was to print out all the inserts at work but I'm having second thoughts about that so I will buy a printer to use (then maybe flog it on ebay after I've finished with it lol) - I've seen a good one in argos for £48 so that's not too bad.0 -
Things are still going well here
It's payday on Wednesday and I still have £35 left - I have quite a few ebay parcels to post on monday which will be about £15 and I could do with putting £10 petrol in my car so that's all do-able. We are going to our friends house for dinner tonight which I'm looking forward to. My friend and I are going to Bombay Stores, a big fabric shop in Bradford to pick some material to make decorations for the wedding and my OH is staying at her house with her OH to play on the x-box. My OH is happy about this as he wasn't looking forward to an afternoon in a fabric shop lol!
Tomorrow we're going in the loft to get stuff down to ebay as it is free listings day on ebay tomorrow. I'm really happy with how I'm doing with ebay so far and I think the OH may start to help me too as he's been impressed with the amount of money I've made so far. If I can get him weighing, photographing and measuring then I can do the listings and we can get twice as much stuff listed - hurrah!
Can't wait for payday as I'm nearly out of foundation - I'm eking out the last little bit as I don't want to go onto the backup emergency foundation as it is too dark for me (I'm super pale) and I look like I've been tangoed!0 -
Just a quick update - posted a load of ebay stuff today so I can see my house getting less cluttered at the same time as my overdraft is getting paid off. Have withdrawn £200 so far this month from paypal. I went on the bingo last night and I only went and won £50 on there - couldn't believe it! I signed up to quidco and I'll get about £3 back from a printer I need to buy. And I'm doing my first mystery shop on saturday so there's money from that too. Am really pleased with my progress this month!
I have decided that I'm going to do my monthly compare of my balances and work out how much I've paid off on the 1st of the month. Cos all my dd's and stuff will have gone out by then and I can get a better picture of how my accounts are then. Is it sad that I'm quite excited to check this?!?
I'm going to get another ebay wiggle on at the weekend and get some stuff listed too And more importantly I am going into town to get some more foundation so I'll be back to my normal skin colour - phew! 0 -
Here's my first update of what I've bought in extra this month I'm well proud of this:
ebay = £265.67
bingo = £50
So, that's an extra £315.67 this month!
I have some extra money in my ebay account, about £15 after this month's fees have gone out and £15 of bids on my ebay. I also have a mystery shop and a couple of quid from quidco due in. I've decided that I will count money that has cleared into my account each calendar month so I'm not counting all these bits that haven't cleared.
I'll do an update on where my balances are on 1 Feb. I'm off down to London this weekend to try on my wedding dress (eek!) - I'm having a Candy Anthony - and have fun with the girls so I'm really looking forward to that. I've saved my £50 christmas money, found £10 while I was looking in a drawer for things to ebay, and my friend owes me £35 for her train ticket so I can afford to have a good time and not worry about spending money on a couple of drinks or whatever as I've got £95 just for having fun with! Have a grand weekend everyone 0
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