Cloudy's 'bring me some sunshine' diary!

Cloudy456

I spent about £15 on food in the end - feel like I've been eating rubbish food lately because its cheap - I never want to see any dried pasta as long as I live! I was just desperate for some healthy stuff! So I got fruit, veg and salad and have made lovely healthy wraps for lunch tomorrow, with fruit and carrot sticks to snack on. I'm determined that I won't compromise my health by money saving! Anyway I have enough for a few days so am hoping for a couple of NSDs coming up. I also did a £10 mystery shop at lunchtime and a few surveys. No more mystery shops lined up now so hopefully some more will come up in the next few days. That's about it for tonight :-)

Cloudy456

Almost a NSD today - just spent £75p on some handwash (half price!)...so happy with that. Also did a few surveys - I'm now only £75p away from the £40 pay out on Onepoll so am really hopeful of getting there by Monday so should have the money 10 days after that. I also got a mystery shop booked in for Saturday night - a free meal out for two worth £40! So that's a nice treat for my BF and I, and a free one at that which will stop us spending money doing something else!! I'm very glad I started this mystery shopping, just hope it continues to be as good!

So anyway, my budget for the month isn't looking too healthy but its not shot to pieces yet - I have about £140 left until 25th and from that I need to buy my sister a birthday present (around £25). If I can try and get to the end of the weekend with over a hundred left I will be happy and then would have £50 for each of the next two weeks which seems do-able. I've still got bits and pieces coming in but I really don't want to have to spend that money, I want to keep putting it all aside in my 'savings' account for now.

Oh and I spent half an hour being a proper geek yesterday and edited my spreadsheet to show my total taking into consideration what I have aside in my spare bank account - now that I'm focussing on that for a while (as almost all my debts are luckily on 0% deals) I want to show that in my progress too. So I now have a column for each of my debts, a column for my 'savings' and then an overall total, which shows my position on balance, including both debts and savings. Which at the moment shows me as having 'paid off' (or would be able to if I used the money I've put aside) over 10% of my debt yay!! But I won't change my signature until I have my final monthly total the day before payday as usual. I'm hoping by then it will be over 11% due to the extra money I'm making between now and then.

I've also started working out lots of other little statistics, like the average I've paid off per day since my LBM - my spreadsheet now has about 20 columns but I like having all the different measurements of my progress!

Cloudy456

I haven't updated in a week, been really busy. I'm in that 'last 10 days of the month phase' where I'm desperately trying to make the money last as I overspend during the first couple of weeks! Anyway payday is a week on Monday and it can't come soon enough - have about £63 to last me until then unless I crack into the money I've put aside (£155 at the moment) which I really want to avoid! I love that now I can do that if I have to though and not resort to using the credit card :-)

Anyway, I reached the £40 and cashed in my Onepoll money so that should be with me in the next couple of days (the £63 that I have left is including that money!) and I have lined up a couple more good mystery shops for next week which will make me £10 each. I've also carried on with the surveys.

No plans really this weekend, just spending time with my BF. I have loads of food in at the moment from doing an online shop earlier this week, so I'm going to try and make sure we end up based at mine for the weekend and not his as we always end up going out for stuff as he never has any!

I'm feeling pretty good at the moment, like I'm on a bit of a roll. The last couple of months have been relatively good and this one should be too - I'm clearing a good £200 each month. I'd like to get that up to £300, but its steady progress and next month I should FINALLY pass the magical 10k barrier which will hopefully have a good effect mentally. At the moment I think I've cleared about 10.5% but I won't change my signature until the 24th when I can be accurate as the interest will have been applied to my Barclaycard. Plus the odds of that £63 lasting me for 10 days (including two weekends) are slim to none!

Cloudy456

Hmm...things not looking too great spending-wise, had the usual weekend which means spending more than I planned then feeling bad on a Sunday night. Not fun. But today I am back on top, spent nothing, did a £10 mystery shop at lunchtime, a £1 survey on Valued Opinions (which puts me over the £10 cash in limit once they have cleared) and a few more on Onepoll so I'm up to £3.15. That's about it :-)

6 days until payday wooo!

Cloudy456

Did another two £10 mystery shops at lunchtime today, plus another £2 worth of surveys. I spent about £6 on food as I have friends round for dinner, but still cheaper than going out! And I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow :-)

Hoping to get away with not spending anything until Friday now, then just the weekend to get through on about £30 and I will have made it to payday on Monday, yay! Then the following month is the big one, the month that I hope to cross that elusive 10k mark so the pressure will be ON!

Cloudy456

Ok so I've worked out that in order to get under the 10k barrier over the next month (I mean the month from after I get paid on Monday) I will need to pay off nearly £300. This is more than I have managed in a month since I started this, so will be a big challenge but I am quietly confident as I've been earning quite a bit extra mystery shopping. My strategy for having my best month yet involves:

Working out the payments I need to make in order to get to £9,999 (well its under 10k, just!) also taking into account the small amount of interest to be added to my one non-0% card and then make those payments as soon as I'm paid on Monday. That way I know what I have to live off and will spend accordingly, instead of spending and then paying what's left to my debts. Then I will effectively be under 10k from the start of the month and will work on maintaining that position by sticking to the budget that is left instead of having to work hard through the month to achieve it, if that makes any sense! It seems easier that way to me!

Keep doing as many mystery shops and surveys as possible. I am making about £80 extra a month at the moment, long may this continue!

Stretch out the food I have got at the moment for at least the first week of the month, meaning I will only have to buy food for 3 weeks. This should be achievable as I have loads in at the moment and just need to be careful to eat it in the right order so things aren't wasted and plan meals to get the most out of the food I have.

Take some unwanted earrings to a cash-in place. Might not get much but every little helps and I haven't worn them in years.

Finding cheap entertainment especially for weekends. On Sunday my BF and I went for a long walk which was lovely, and FREE, so made me realise how much there is out there that we could be doing instead of the easy options which cost. Just have to convince him now! Almost all of my spending is done at weekends, so minimising what I spend over those 2 days is a really big priority. This won't be easy as I am going away for 3 of the four weekends, aggh! Mostly family trips that I am not having to pay for as such, but its the food and drink which hits...

I'll aim to have at least 10 NSDs over the month, hopefully more. If my weekends are likely to be hard going on the money-saving front I will aim to make most weekdays non-spending.

Anything else I think of will get added to the list but that's a good start. The incentive of getting down into the four figure numbers would be the most powerful motivator, so I am soooo hoping that I manage it! I feel like I've been floundering in the 10ks for ages now as its been an expensive summer, but its a good time to get a really good month in before the festive season starts! So a frugal 5 days is coming up until payday, then its all about reaching that goal officially on 24th November (the day before the next payday)

And with that, I'm off to bed feeling fired up and positive!

Cloudy456

I had a NSD yesterday but today had to go and buy a birthday card, which was £2.25, then realised I needed stamps so suddenly had spent best part of a fiver :-( But I managed to get some shampoo using Boots points :-)

Only three days to get through until payday - shame they are Fri, Sat and Sun the most expensive days of the week! No more mystery shops lined up - always comes in fits and starts and I've made £35 this week already so can't really complain. Did a couple of pounds worth of surveys today too. That's about all for today!

Cloudy456

Got paid today (yay!) and have updated my signature to reflect my new totals that I worked out last night. I'm now officially over the 10% barrier and have also got my average daily amount cleared over the £5 mark for the first time since my LBM. So some good landmarks, but the next challenge will be getting under the 10k mark this month. Also I want to get my average daily debt reduction to £7.50, so lots still to work on!

This month I am tracking all my spending in my iPhone app again as I find that helps a lot. Started that today and must keep it up! So based on what I budgeted for the month's spending and what I have spent today, I have £345.86 to spend this month. Seems a lot, but the next payday also seems a long way away! I worked out my budget based on what direct debits I have going out, and then on what extra I need to put aside in my savings to bring my overall balance to under 10k. Anything that I make this month through mystery shopping etc. will be a bonus, either to top up my spending budget if I need or if I am good and don't need, it will be a bonus so I can get under the 10k mark by more than one penny!

No mystery shops booked in unfortunately, but I've done a few more surveys. My Onepoll account is already back up to £7.05 so hopefully at this rate I will get another £40 payout before Christmas.

That's about it for today, here's hoping for a good month ahead :-)

Nichelette

Well done on getting over the 10% mark. I know it feels like you'll be in debt forever, but keep plugging away and it will feel great when you're finally out of it (or at least I'm assuming so lol).

Cloudy456

Not much to report but felt like I should update my diary anyway! Chugging along ok this month so far, but the mystery shopping has really dried up which is annoying - I did quite well out of it last month and was hoping that would continue! Anyway I have 23 days until my next payday and £262.36 to last until then, so more than £10 per day. This week I am making the food I already had at home last, even though that means a few pasta meals! I'm out for dinner with friends on Wednesday but other than that it should be a reasonably cheap one. At the weekend I'm away to a wedding with my BF but we're staying with friends so no need for a hotel. It'll be about £50 each in petrol as its miles away and we'll be spending on drinks, so I'm hoping to have a good week this week to make up for that in advance!

Soooo hope that I can get by on my budget that I've set in order to get under the 10k mark this month, I'll be gutted if I don't make it. Today I nearly weakened and bought a hot chocolate from a coffee shop, then I pictured myself being £2 away from that target at the end of the month and managed to stop myself! Anyway, I'm off to make my lunch for tomorrow so that will be another couple of pounds not spent!