The hilariously over-optimistic goals I am setting myself in 2010....

dalleDF

All my bills have now gone out for the month and I had enough left over to pay £272 off my credit union loan. I got an unexpected £250 from the work I did a few months ago that I thought was just a freebie to build my profile, so it was a nice surprise when I received the cheque! So am using that money to make a payment off the loan. Now I need to do a transfer of my savings to the loan and that will clear it. Excluding my interest free loan, which I am not very worried about as I am chipping away at it by paying off £92 a month, this will take my debt down to £2272 (£3736 including this loan). Amazing! When everything else is paid off I will tackle the 0% loan which has about 15 payments outstanding.

Meanwhile I have £13 coming in from Amazon for a book I sold. Everything else that could be sold has either been listed or sold already.

I am off work this week and had planned to make some homemade ready meals to freeze for lunches as I have been spending lots on sandwiches at work. Haven't managed to actually do it yet but I really need to get organised again and take packed lunches in like I used to.

Have been for a drink with the frog this week to see if we could salvage anything from our relationship, but neither of us are willing to compromise on the things that need to be addressed, so I decided we should go our separate ways. It's sad, but at least the meeting reinforced that I made the right decision in the first place. God, men are hard work sometimes.

dalleDF

I have been a good DFW so far this week, taking packed lunches into work. I only have about £60 to last me til I get paid on the 26th so have to be really careful. But, in other money saving news I should be able to shave £10 a month off my gym membership because my company does a corporate discount. I should just cancel the damn thing but am determined to start going again. I am also thinking about joining a netball team through work which will help me get fit for free, in which case I might cancel the gym. I haven't had any wine for the last couple of days either. Have been drinking herbal tea instead. I feel so heavy at the moment and I really want to get some of this weight off. I'm sure booze is the main reason why it has all crept on over the last year or so.
Waiting for my payments to my credit union loan to clear and then it will be one more to cross off the list. I have been looking at one bed flats online today and the prices seem to have come down a bit since last time I looked. They are still a lot, but when I am debt free I could afford one as long as I am sensible with my budgeting and going out every month. Will see it as an incentive to deal with my debt by the end of the year.
Still having some boy issues. Haven't quite managed to cut the ties with the frog, I'm still thinking it might be salvageable, so we are going for another drink to try and work things out. Wish me luck.

dalleDF

As part of my renewed health kick, I was thinking about having a session with a hypnotherapist to get me in the right mindset to quit smoking, cut down my drinking and do more exercise. I know it sounds silly, but don't laugh - I have a friend who quit smoking after numerous failed attempts following one session with a hypnotherapist. It cost her £150 though, and I don't have that kind of money spare at the moment. However, I looked on gumtree and there is a trainee looking to give free sessions to help her progress. I'm thinking I might email her. Does anyone have any experience of this kind of thing? I am not sure how suggestible I am as I am a hardened cynic about most new age type stuff. But might be worth a shot. I just need to kickstart my motivation again.

I also want to join a boxing gym and get really involved in some proper training. My friend has been teaching me in the park at weekends, but the weather has gone cr*ppy again so we won't be able to do that anymore. The gym I have been looking at is £65 a month which is quite good compared to some of the others, but still a lot as I am already paying £32 for my normal gym, plus I want to start doing bellydance again. I did a drop in session this week and my belly is sore but I can already feel my muscles coming alive again (and complaining). If I do a 6-week course that costs £60, and at the moment there isn't much I can cut in my budget to be able to afford it.

If I hit my target to clear my debts (or at least all of them except the 0% one) I pledge that by January I will doing the netball team, bellydance, and boxing. Then I will be superfit and may eventually hit my 9 stone target. I also want to pick up yoga again because I really enjoy it, and there are free sessions at my gym, but it's just finding the time to go regularly because I often have work things on in the evenings. Today I am going to do some yoga in my living room using a youtube video, and I will also go to the gym at some point. I went last night and nothing is aching yet, which is good!

I also have to do some laundry, cook some stuff to take in for work lunches next week, and blitz my bedroom which is a big mucky mess at the moment. Hopefully it will be a no-spend weekend. I still have not bought any wine but have been trying to stick to herbal tea instead. God, it's boring trying to be virtuous.

Am still not really sure what's happening with the frog but I think in my mind it is over. He is making zero effort and is really just a big wet lettuce, and I think I am better off without him.

Hope everyone is working hard with the debt busting and has a lovely weekend!

dalleDF

So I have finally paid off the first credit union loan. Yay! Another milestone. I had to scrape together an extra £25 to clear it as I had miscalculated the interest, but at least it is now gone. The second credit union loan is in my dad's name, and he has got a couple of grand saved with them, so he has kindly offered to pay the loan off and then I can owe him the money. This will save me £15 a month in interest which is brilliant. I suspect I have underestimated the amount I owe, but he is getting a settlement figure this week so I will find out. Hope it doesn't bump up my total too much. So now I will roll my existing Bank of Daddy loan into the remaining credit union loan and blitz the lot, as this is the next target on my hit list. I know I should go for the credit card and overdraft first because the interest is higher, but I know if I clear them I will just run them up again straight away while I am paying out £200 a month on the loan, so would rather clear that first.
Sept is going to be a very tight month, but am going to try and do some more freelance work to bring in some extra cash. Just need to find the motivation to come home and do extra work after a day in the office. I suppose being debt free should be motivation enough!

dalleDF

I have been very sloppy with my posting the last few weeks. I have good news and bad news.

The bad news first: I have been a very bad MSE-er. Lost my motivation to be thrifty, bought sexy shoes and dresses instead of overpaying my debts, stopped taking packed lunches to work and bought expensive sushi, and have generally threatened my debt free by the end of the year plan. I think I just got sick of never allowing myself treats, and after reheeling my knackered shoes for the millionth time, I decided to splurge. But I enjoyed it so much that I splurged on a second pair of shoes too, and the rest (obviously I needed a new dress to go with them). Oh well, if I am very disciplined until the end of the year I should still be able to reach my target. And I do feel fabulous in the shoes. They are nude patent stilettos and they are hawt!

The good news is that I have stopped smoking again. It has been about 6 or 7 weeks now I think, and I was feeling good until I was stricken with a stinking cold, which I am still battling. But when that clears up I'm sure I will feel great. Also, am doing boot camp again in an attempt to shed the pounds that have crept back on. Still feeling heavy and my clothes are too tight. It is largely due to my fondness for beer, but I also noticed that I have been feeling a bit lethargic and lacking energy for a while. Went to the docs and had a blood test and apparently I have a sluggish thyroid. This could be partly why I am struggling to shift the extra weight, as my diet is actually pretty good and I am exercising these days. But the only way to treat it is to take medication forever and I don't know if I am really prepared to do that. Am going back in to have more tests done next month so we shall see what happens.

Work is going ok, although my lethargy is making it hard for me to perform to the standard I would like to. Hoping more exercise gives me the extra verve to get stuff done.

Love life is a big pile of pants. The fish is still on the scene, although the wet lettuce is long gone, and I keep meeting these amazing guys who are in committed relationships, and they ask me why I am single because I seem very nice, and I wonder how the hell I am supposed to know. I just smile and tell them I am between boyfriends right now. *Sigh* Must keep telling self it is better to be alone than with the endless stream of losers I usually date.

Hope everyone is doing well with the debt busting. I am posting again because I am desperate for some motivation, so please shout at me and tell me to stop shopping and sort my life out!

brizzledfw

Good to hear from you again..I am back now too as I need to get back into being a strict MSEr again..

Well I won't SHOUT ;-) at you but yes stop shopping!!! If you need a treat limit it to a value and perhaps only x times a month so that you really look forward to it in a considered way

dalleDF

Afternoon all! Trying to get back into the habit of posting regularly again to keep myself in good MSE habits. Since I last posted, here is the bad news:

Have been doing loads of exercise and also low carb diet with more fruit and veg and healthy protein. However, am still the same weight I was when I started this diary. Booked into the docs this month so will see if this thyroid thing has anything to do with it.
Have had to tinker with my snowball because of overspending and trying to realistic about paying down debts over Xmas, and I think my new debt free date is February 2011. Annoying, as I was really hoping to be debt free by new year, but am almost there now. Am going to read back over my first posts here to remind myself how far I have come.
Work is not brilliant. Am starting to feel my lifeforce being sucked out of me by psychic vampire boss. Am not very happy, but I am really not sure what my next move should be as I have become very attached to this gorgeous salary. I suppose it's only fair that I should suffer a bit to earn above average money, especially when plenty of people would bite my hand off to take my job. Yes, I should stop moaning and count my blessings.

Now the good news (yay!):

I have met Mr Lovely. Here are the things he is not:

1) A loser
2) A lazy stoner
3) Bad at spelling
4) An emotional f*ckwit (well, I have seen no evidence of this yet)

Here are the things he is:

1) Reliable
2) Generous
3) Funny
4) HAWT!
5) Kind to children, old people, and animals
6) Into a lot of the same music, movies, etc as me

Also, he thinks I am amazing and he brings me cake. And I'm pretty sure my dad would like him, which is a rarity. Hooray! Have probably cursed it by talking about Mr L so soon, but fingers crossed this one turns out to be a keeper!

In other good news, I am still not smoking, and not even missing it. Am still boxing, and have found a boxing gym which is a really cheap pay as you go one in a community centre, rather than a posh one in Covent Garden that would cost me £100 a month (eek!). So this seems to to be a good solution. Mr L and I are going to check it out next week.

And now, as today seems to be a day for making lists, here are my goals for this afternoon:

1) Hoover bedroom, living room, and hall.
2) Clean kitchen door which has become splattered with god knows what.
3) Sweep and mop kitchen and bathroom. (Do all these things while dancing to loud music to improve mood, burn calories, and annoy horrid upstairs neighbour).
4) Dust surfaces
5) Do yoga video in the living room.
6) Have a healthy dinner of fish and vegetables.
7) Have a bath.
8) Apply for a job I saw advertised on Friday. No idea what the money is like, but it can't hurt to try.
9) Shadow box in front of the mirror, and do some skipping in the yard, weather permitting.

That is a lot of things. Oh well, if I can do half of them I will be happy. Hope everyone is having a relaxing and productive weekend.

InaPickle

Looking good, Hannah...well done!

And Mr Lovely sounds, well, lovely. Does he have a brother?

Take care and keep going: you really are doing well.

brizzledfw

Glad to se you're back posting Hannah you've been missed..not so long between posts this time huh?!!;)

chevalier

Hi there
Loved the title of your thread so decided to have a mosey on in! What a read.
Well done on your achievements to date ie getting rid of 2 debts and being well on the way to sorting the rest.

Well done also on realising that you can't do everything. It is a hard one, and something some people (like my step sister sigh) never achieve!

Grats on the new job, but boo hiss to the thyroid issue. Hope that checks out ok
cheers
chev