New year, New me (finally)

thrifty_fifty

In celebration of the fact that it's the release of SATC 2 today, I'm going to wear something very fabulous to work. Gutted that I can't go to see it with my friends (they live in the city and I live in the country, so they're not going till late tonight, boo), however I am going to prove that I'm comfortable in my own skin, and book myself a ticket to see it on tuesday morning on my own, whilst OH takes his exam. I will feel a bit weird being on my own, but you have to get out of your comfort zone sometimes don't you?

thrifty_fifty

Oh why, oh why do I have to go and read these other forums? Looks like a couple of banks are withdrawing their overdrafts on people. My old bank that I have the loan with and a £300 overdraft, issued my new switch card last year and it was only for 1 year, the one I had before that was for 4 years. As I don't get my wages paid into that account anymore-i transfer money across from my other account for the direct debit for the loan and also use this account for spending, I was wondering if they are going to review that overdraft come october-before the issue of the new card? Or maybe it was just a case that the cards were not lasting for so long so they renew them more often. Oh I don't know. I tell you, the quicker I don't have any overdraft, loan or credit card, the better. Then there are no potential wolves to keep away from the door.

Going to sell a few shoes and things and cancel that overdraft. Just to put the mind at rest. It's one less credit to have I guess. I am getting better spending wise though. I don't get tempted to buy, when I'm in town now. Most times it is a bag of crisps or a drink (and cheap at that).

I tell you, this financial recovery can get it ruddy move on.In the meantime though, I guess it's a case of batten down the hatches and ride the storm.

Tomorrows task then, is to sort out ebay stuff.

thrifty_fifty

Ok spot of reflection time. I tell you, this diary is more like some kind of therapists couch sometimes. I'm sure you've noticed it gets crazier the more i pay off-doesn't it make you realise that although it's coming down, what a lot of money it still is, and how you had your head in the clouds before?

Anyhow the reformed spend a holic has improved her behaviour over the past 4 months.

1. Only buy what I need.
2. No more toiletry buying
3. Drinking hot water instead of tea (cuts down on tea bags needed and healthy)
4. Stopped buying things for the house from anywhere (including cheap bits on ebay)
5. Have set up 'rules' for spending i.e no more than £27 on hair, cut out using kerastase and use £1 Timotei
6. Stopped using credit cards -now just got to tackle that overdraft
7. Never pay full price for anything
8. Read free books from the library to pass the time
9. Cut down on alchohol to stop spending and be healthier
10. Birthday presents -cheap or homemade
11. No holiday
12. No restaurant dining-homemade stuff from the market
13. Got the food shop down to £20 a week
14. Switched to cheap loo roll (45p)
15. use fairy liquid in boiling water to mop the floor instead of buying loads of different products for each area of the house
16. multi use stuff

cheap pack washing up sponges-12p for 5. When one has done the pots for a couple of weeks, then use that sponge for the bathroom, finally use on the toilet and throw away. Cheap, hygenic, environmentally kind of friendly.

Use large natural yogurt pots as planting pots for seeds and plants. Cheap , and environmentally friendly


That's quite a lot really. Now if I use this not just for the debt repaying, but even when I'm in a good job, I'll have reformed my ways and hopefully be on the way to being debt free, saving for a house, be mortgage free, and be clutter free too.Keep on trucking Thrifty.

thrifty_fifty

Oh and I have beat my No Spend Day challenge by 5 days, earning a pink elephant and a groovy dancing banana too. Fab.

OH and I are getting better- he has now managed to reduce his student overdraft by £50 and has only put £17 on his credit card last month. We have £110 saved in a pot towards the MOT next week too. OK so if the car needs a £400 repair bill we are still screwed, but it's a lot better than last year, and next year the pot will have accrued enough to pay for mot, tax and insurance in full. Last year we had to wait 4 months before we could afford to fork out £70 to get a broken window repaired, so that's progress already I guess.

I love being more aware of what I was wasting money on before. Now I know that if I stop spending £10 here and there on wine, icecream and stuff then in a couple of months that can buy me some Jimmys in the sale, or a nice top from Yoox.

By the end of next year I will be debt free and have a small pot of savings, OH will be mostly debt free -about 2k to go (once my debt is clear I will send him £500 a month to pay his off), and we will have had a short break in Lyme Regis (going to the River Cottage Autumn fair again next year-yay)

thrifty_fifty

Isn't ebay the funniest thing? I can't sell a skirt on there listed for 99p. But a small 5ml sample of perfume that I put on there just for a laugh is currently at £2.70 with £1.50 postage?????? It really is a case of stick it on and see.

thrifty_fifty

Yes the world has gone mad. 99p for a Marc Jacobs skirt £3.00 not including postage for a free sample perfume? It's like when I used to do car boots. People look at good quality stuff and sniff at paying 50p for it, then wander a few rows down and fork out £3.50 for a cheap burger. Crazy I tell you, crazy!!!!

thrifty_fifty

Nothing much to report today, other than the fact that I have developed a keen appreciation of the duvet. One of my ebay items has a bid on it that ends next weekend, so some more small pennies coming in from there. Decided that I am going to try and reduce my overdraft by £50 each month. Although I've not included this in the above debt, it still is a debt i guess, but at £50 a month I'll have no overdraft atall in the whole wide world on October. Excuse the dramatics.

Two big changes to the totals next month Loan is sub 3k and the total will be single figures. WAHOO!

Don't know if anyone else does this, but wish some valuable antique would turn up in the attic, that you sell and it's awesomely worth about £20,000. Wouldn't that be nice?

Nottoobadyet

Loved your year by year life plan... I've stolen it for my diary

You're doing really well and Im enjoying reading, keep it up!

thrifty_fifty

Apologies to anyone who is unlucky enough to have stepped into my diary today, but I need to vent as OH is sick of hearing me go on.

Now I am a very private person, and quite frankly I've about had it with this renting a home malarchy. We live in an old cottage and the landlord lives opposite. Very nice country gent and all that. Our garden was I guess at some point a kind of courtyard or stable paddock type thing, so we our front of the house and their back of the house back onto our garden. Now he always sends little notes through the door for this and that. I could forgive the 'i've noticed there was an invasive daisy growing in the border and I've removed it for you', even though to me it feels like having parents snooping round your bedroom. I accept that this is not our house, but while we are paying £595 a month for the privaledge of not owning it, the space that I occupy is mine for so long as I'm paying.

The final straw is that the windows were rotting and he has now finally gotten down to getting someone in to complete the work. The most irritating thing-apart from having to keep the house showroom clean all the time incase they need to open a door to paint it, is the complete lack of regard for the fact that there are occupants in this house while that work is going on. Last week, there was dust and carp everywhere-all over the bed and my fresh pile of ironing, which annoyed me. Then on saturday the guy turns up at 8.00, which woke me up, because the windows are single glazed and I could hear his voice, down in the garden. So I got up, and low and behold I presume he went because it was raining, last week he stayed late-until 7.30 in the evening, with his music playing, I didn't want him to be here when I got in from work, little more than I wanted to make him a cup of coffee while I was making mine because I feel obliged. The final, final straw this morning was at 8.30 when there is a scratching at the bedroom window, I woke up wondering what the hell was going on, and lo and behold it's our man, then there was chipping and knocking, and now through hearing him talk to the landlord about what needed to be done, with what tools, it seems I'm an expert on fitting old windows.

OH says he appreciates the fact that the landlord is so attentive. Well I don't appreciate it and I would appreciate a little knock on the door, to make sure that we are not in, let alone not up. It has just been the bank holiday, and I might have been (god forbid) having a lie in. How does he know we don't have the week off?

For f sake.

Not only do I hate the fact that when the window cleaner comes to clean the landlords windows he just waltzes in our garden, it just rubs it in that we are lodgers here. I have owned my own home before this, and I'm just not used to it. What next, come down one morning to find the milkman sitting at our breakfast table, helping himself to the cereal and a spot of toast.

Just because they know he owns the property, doesn't mean that we have no say in any of this. We are paying guests. I'm bleedy outraged.

thrifty_fifty

Ok, the car is about 2 more repairs away from being thrashed with a branch. More repairs needed. In the service we had in feb, they said that the back drums might need doing in 6 months. We asked them for a quote and saved this money up to cover it. Report comes back today that not only is it the drums, but the shoes. £290 to include some liquid to flush it through because it failed emissions for a turbo diesel. For f's sake when will we get a break? That car has has £1200 of work spent on it in the last 6 months, and everytime we get it fixed, there are three more things on it that are potentially on their way out. Service in feb highlighted the back brakes, plus anti roll bar and slight corrosion of the back shock absorber springs. So we budgeted for that. Now in addition the power steering thing is leaking and there is some wear to the rear brake fluid pipe. So we're probably looking at another £250 worth after the £290 that we are about to pay tomorrow. The interim service is due in december. I wept tonight, we have cut back and budgeted and still it is not enough.

The car in the six months we have had it has had, two front new tyres, front shock absorbers, new clutch, new front brakes. I'm trying to think of other more expensive car replacement items. Hmmm let me see, gearbox, alternator, cylinder head gasket. We've basically pretty much got a new car under that lot. And do you know what p's me off more than anything, I'm selling all my shoes to give that bar steward thing shoes that are more expensive than mine.

OH and I even did a cost analysis of what it would cost the two of us in a year to walk the ten miles to work and back everyday. It works out to around £500 a year in trainers and plasters.Hmmm