Corona007's random ramblings

Corona007

gwen80 wrote: »

How long is the flight to India?

About 8 and a half hours - it is not too bad, especially if you do the day flight.

gwen80 wrote: »

I just watched more of that youtube video. Is RTA a major cause of death in India??

Not sure whether it is one the leading causes of death but it must be high up there. Indians tend to have a devil may care attitude on the roads. If it is their time to die then so be it and they don't worry about it. The rule of the road is that cows have right of way, followed by buses and lorries and then cars. Pedestrians and cyclists are bottom of the pile and nobody will slow down or stop for them.

They also often drive at night without headlights on - the belief is this will make their battery last longer. It is scary seeing a lorry approach out of the darkness with no lights on, on the wrong side of the road and heading towards you :eek:

Corona007

Evening all. I've just been looking at my April budget now we're approaching the end of the month and shock, horror I am still within tolerance of my aggressive target and have £31.52 to last the next four days. However, given I have nothing in the flat to make lunches with (and more importantly nothing to drink of an evening ), some of that will be needed to sustain life.

This has been a tight month financially as I suspected. Having spent that £230 for a stag do in July and £160 on balance transfer fees I'm going to be lucky to scrape a small decrease overall, and that is after an unprecedented 12 NSDs so far this month (well, if you knew me you'd know that 1 NSD would be an achievement ). It could be worse I guess, I could have spent money on my cards.....plus, the £50 decrease in interest payments a month should start to show from May.

Hope everyone else is doing well.

Corona007

I don't know where that month went but so long April and welcome lovely May!

So, where do I stand at the end of Month 4? Well, not as bad as it could have been actually. Having taken on £156 in extra debt, I have managed to finish the month with a total of £125 less debt overall - £13,714. I've also reached something of a milestone in that my credit card debt is now below £12,000:

BA Amex = £0
HSBC MasterCard - £401 - 19.9%
Egg Visa Card - £6,146 - 16.9%
Halifax Visa - £5,356 - 4.9%

Total CC Debt = £11,901 :j

Can't wait to see that HSBC card gone in the next 4-6 weeks. I'll then be down to 2 credit card debts for the first time since I left university (and down from a peak of 7 :eek:)

Corona007

Evening world. Life continues at a merry old pace for Corona and yet still he plods away at the debt clearance job. It's strange, I've had a few mini LBMs in the past and on one of those occasions I even paid off a credit card, cleared my student loans, moved balances to 0% but then the mist descended again and I went back to blissful ignorance and spent, spent, spent.

But this time it is different. I'm consumed by a need to become debt free in 2011 and my light bulb is burning as bright now as it was back in January. Last year I only checked my bank account online when the lovely cash dispenser in the wall stopped being lovely and the computer said no. Now I check ALL my accounts every day even though I know exactly what is in each of them (or to be more precise, how much isn't in them ). I also have a spreadsheet which forecasts my balances for the next 18 months and I tweak it every day (for example I know my total debt will be £9,284 in December this year). Finally, I update my spending tool on my iphone every day so I always know how much money I have spent that day/week/month.

Oh and I despise spending money now. Every penny I spend makes me feel guilty. I now know how Monty Brewster felt at the end of Brewster's Millions :rotfl:

Completely reformed? Time will tell I guess....

Corona007

Arrggh, today sucked. A long day at work from which I only managed to escape at 9pm as everyone needed to go home to vote before the polling booths closed. Just as I left my boss suggested that we should therefore have a conference call at 10.15pm once everyone got home to finish up :mad:

Think I'm going to sit with a bottle of vino and watch the results all night and to hell with the hangover tomorrow

Not much else to report on the money front, other than I don't have any :rotfl:

Corona007

Hello dear readers. Well Corona is not a happy chappy right now.... work persists to be an utter nightmare and my bank statements tell me I am definitely not paid enough to deal with this level of carp, not even close.

Still, I need to convince myself that it could be worse - I could be a Labour MP

Hopefully I'll be in better cheer by the weekend so please forgive me moaning.

Lula-Hula

Corona007 wrote: »

Hello dear readers. Well Corona is not a happy chappy right now.... work persists to be an utter nightmare and my bank statements tell me I am definitely not paid enough to deal with this level of carp, not even close.

Hello,

I havent been posting for while for those exact same reasons :mad:. Well, that & the fact that I am in no position to be chivvying anyone along in matters money saving :whistle:.

Do hope your work situation improves soon & that you dont fall in to the 'I deserve treats to make up for carp & lack of decent remuneration' trap.

Nothing, being broke just feels like it does

Corona007

Hi Lula, no I haven't fallen into the "I deserve treats" mood* so it is not all bad.

But I have had to spend on some new shirts for work. I have been very good haven't bought any shoes or clothes so far this year but it got to the point where I had no choice. My shirts were getting so tatty I looked like a tramp so they had to go. The sole on one of my work shoes has also split and now leaks so they need replacing too but I'm going to see if they can last until June - just hope it doesn't rain in the next few weeks...

Anyway work continues to be busy and sadly this project looks like being extended so instead of finishing in late June, it is now going to go on till December. Not sure I will last that long without a decent pay rise but on the plus side it looks likely I have some travel coming up again. If all works out well I may find myself in South Africa for 2 weeks in June and it just so happens to be the world cup at that time....... :j

* Red wine doesn't count as a treat - it is necessary to getting through life.

Corona007

Naughty Corona. I have been pretty poor about coming on here recently and confessing my spending sins but despite that I'm still hanging in there by the end of my fingernails.

Work has continued to be frantic as we have been putting together a large bid for a client and they have been questioning every number and line of text we have given them. :mad: . The hours have been long and there have been some hard meetings with the client to go through. Thinking about it, I have been too busy to go really wild with the credit card but there has been a wobble or two, not least the case of wine due to arrive at Corona Towers tomorrow morning

There has been (or more precisely, will be, as I haven't actually paid for it yet) a rather more serious outgoing this month as I have just ordered a new iPhone..... Yes I know, you don't need to say it, but don't think too bad about me as there is reason in my madness as usual. I currently have an iPhone which is my one luxury I will not give up and also a work mobile and I have to carry both around most the time which is a pain. Work have just announced a new deal whereby we can get an iPhone as our work mobile and all calls and data will be paid for by the company which means I can ditch my personal phone and just have the one company iPhone. The catch? We have to buy the handset ourselves and it costs £300. BUT, by cancelling my own phone, I'll be saving £45 a month on line rental and calls and I reckon I can sell my current iPhone for around £150. So overall, it'll cost me about £150 upfront but will save me £45 a month and will mean I have one brand new iPhone to carry around. I thought it was a good deal to take.

I'm also just about to order a new lens for my camera but I've just cashed in 10,000 nectar points so have £50 in Amazon vouchers to pay for that so it will only cost me £35 or so.

Ahhhh, I feel better now I've confessed my sins. Yes, I haven't been an Angel but I reckon overall I'll still finish May with a net reduction in debt so I'm not too concerned :rotfl:

Can't wait for tomorrow - Bacon sarnie, strong black coffee and a Bond film to unwind from this week.

Corona007

Erm, what has happened to this site? I didn't think it had been that long since I updated my diary but clearly it has all changed in the mean time

It's funny, I've just been looking back at my last few posts and I see earlier this month I said "I despise spending money" but I've noticed that I'm wobbling still, even after my mini spending spree last week. This has been the third week in the row so far where I haven't bothered to make my own lunch for work and instead wander down to M&S / Pret for a sarnie. Bad habit I must stop, but I have been so busy recently that I've had no time to be organised.

I am trying to be MSE when I do spend money but seem to be failing every time. I've read alot of people using Quidco on here so I duly signed up for an account and have now purchased three things using it (including when my virus checker expired last week and they offered 25% cash back on Symantec) but my account still shows nothing being tracked. No idea why it isn't working for me but I reckon I must be owed £30 or so by them. Can anyone in the know explain how to use the damn site? I just click on the button in Quidco and buy whatever I'm after but nothing seems to then subsequently show in Quidco.....:huh:

Anyway, my luck is in and I am indeed going to be going to South Africa on business in a few weeks which I am chuffed about. Just need to find some cheap tickets to a world cup match or two whilst I'm out there

Till next time dear readers......