Cloudy's 'bring me some sunshine' diary!

Cloudy456

I've been a bit illusive for the last few days, been away with work and totally pooped! Well I got paid today (including an unexpected bonus, woohoo!) so I will be updating my signature in a day or so once I've done my calculations! The bigger pay means that hopefully I can pay off around £600 over the next month woo! Anyway being away from work has meant meals out etc on expenses so have had two NSDs - yay!

Got to get an early night but promise I'm not neglecting the debt busting, I will be back with a new signature shortly...!

Herewego

Well done thats great news on the bonus you will get below 11k now no problem

savingforourfuture

Hi Cloudy,
Congrats on the money saving so far and keep up the good work :T
I have been trying to save this month and give myself a strict budget each week. Its so nice when you actually still have money left at the end of each week - but the thing is to then not spend it for the sake of it!

I enjoy the "Payment a day" thread as it gives you an incentive to breakdown your budget into daily chucks and make a payment a day towards a debt - that way you dont just blow any left overs

Deffo need to cut back on food and drink spending - I have to ration how many times I go to supermarkets. Also try Lidl/Aldi for cheap basics. Tap water saves you lots of money, instead of buying fizzy drinks, squash, tea, coffee, etc.

I batch cook and put it in the freezer to eat over the next couple of weeks. For example make a massive chilli and then eat it with different things - pasta, rice, baked potato over each day - gives you a bit more variety. I find making veggie currys and pasta dishes a good way to save money - especially if you use beans or lentils because they are filling, good for you and cheaper than meat.

Re socialising and days out with your boyfriend, especially now the weather is nicer, try walks in the park, bike rides, free art galleries/museums. And instead of buying lunch out take a picnic/packed lunch with you for you and your friends/boyfriend. This would look like a romantic gesture with regards to your boyfriend and you save money too :rotfl:

Anyway, I will pop by again soon. Keep up the good work :j

Cloudy456

Thanks guys, its so great that people take the time to comment and pass on tips, really keeps me motivated!

Well I've updated my signature...I've changed the start figure to what it was in February when I first worked it out and started some healf hearted debt busting - before it was the total at May when I started full on and began this diary, so I think its better to show it as high as it ever was so I can see more progress! The current total is what it was on Monday, the day before payday. Unfortunatley didn't quite make it under the 11k mark but as I made some payments on tuesday when I got paid (including the bonus) I am under now. But due to my system of showing balances on the same day of the month, I won't update it until 25th June. Its frustrating but I know thats the only accurate way to see the balance - on the last day of the pay cycle when the OD is at its worst and all interest charges have been applied to CC.

Spent £1.30 today on breakfast as the BF had nothing in his house so had to grab it on the way to work. Hoping the bank holiday will be cheap but I doubt it! Am a bit concerned about this month as I have so many things going on with the potential to get pricy, and I am worried about being less motivated as I know that due to my bonus I have made some progress without even trying. Must stay on the case!! Also in this coming month I should find out if I am getting a pay rise next month so fingers crossed, I so want and think I deserve one! It would be fab to have more money to chuck at the debts, I would love to be able to pay off £4-500 rather than 300 at a struggle....we'll see!

Cloudy456

...although I have realised that showing the total from Feb makes it look like I've made very slow progress - almost all of that was in the last month as the first two months were mainly spent coming to terms with the debt and making a plan to address it - oh well, looking a bit rubbish will help me stay motivated! Here's to reaching £10,500 in the next month!

andymc29

good luck!!! I'm totally with you on not being able to make good progress. I've had so many bills hit me in the last month that it feels like all my spare money is dissappearing down the drain!
Still, my plans to solve my problems are all kicking off in teh next few weeks, so the story should soon change.

Cloudy456

Wow, sounds intriguing Andy! Will be interested to see how that all pans out!

Well this weekend has been terrible money wise but I've had a lovely time so I'm struggling to care as much as I should!! Spent about £50 I think but been out and about, ate out, got lots of nice food in and just generally enjoyed a sunny Bank Holiday weekend. So I really need to turn my attention to making some money if I am to have anything but a disastrous month money-wise as I have more stuff on over the next 3 weeks that will cost me lots! So I have been scouring this site for inspiration and am going to check out music magpie (already sold most of my good stuff but have some DVDs and CDs I could maybe sell) and am also going to hit E Bay. Again, I've sold most of my good stuff but have a few bits kicking around I could maybe shift. Also have signed up to a focus group website and am going to try and find some more things along those lines. I really need to get some summer clothes for work - I have hardly shopped in the last year and keep finding things with holes in! But I am going to go to town this afternoon and try and hit Primark etc for some cheap solutions. The old me would have gone to Topshop and blown £100 without thinking! Hope everyone is having a great long weekend!

Cloudy456

Update - well I went shopping but didn't find anything I liked that wasn't too expensive so I didn't spend anything. Meaning that today is set to be a NSD, yay! I am going to spend a couple of hours this afternoon clearing out my wardrobe, doing some ironing and hopefully giving my existing clothes a new lease of life!

I am really a bit confused about how I managed to do so well controlling my spending last month and this month seems shot already, only a week after payday! I have about £150 left to spend before I have to resort to CCs *eeek* and that has to last until 25th June!!

So today I have listed one item on E Bay and checked out Music Magpie. Not sure if I will sell stuff on there though as for a fairly big pile of CDs and DVDs it only comes to a tenner! E Bay and Amazon are too much hassle for very small items, so I might just leave it and see how things go over the rest of the month. This week I have enough groceries until the weekend and don't think I need to buy any toiletries or anything. However, I am going away with my BF for 2 days at the end of the week and although he has paid for a show and the hotel, we have to buy food which I would like to pay for as my contribution. I think I'll print out some vouchers and find free stuff for us to do during the day, should be easy if its sunny. So that is this week's expenses, then for the remaining two and a half weeks until payday I should just have normal day to day expenses apart from another weekend away which I need to budget about £70 for. So as far as I can see, I need to be uber strict with my day to day spending on groceries and entertainment and also try to make some extra cash wherever possible, and I might just be able to avoid using the dreaded CC. Thats now my main challenge! I should be able to make £30 extra cash from an extra job I do at work as well as hopefully around a tenner for the item I put on E Bay, plus my BF owes me £20 so thats another £60 odd conjoured up already! Right, off to find more things I can E Bay!

Herewego

Dont rule out listing cd's on ebay I have sold tons some for 99p but some for a lot more and thay are easy to list using the barcode no photo taking.

Cloudy456

Thanks for the tip - I think I'll go through them tonight and weed out the ones which might be worth going on E Bay then do the rest through Music Magpie. Most are really old and a bid rubbish which is probably why the prices offered on MM are so low.