Jwil's sorting the debt, the body, the house, the garden and everything else diary!

jwil

Well it's Friday again so nearly the weekend :j

I really want to spend some of the weekend at home to try and get on with sorting things, but DH wants to get the rest of the mileage on the van to run the engine in. It makes sense to do it, but I'm getting fed up with always having to 'do' stuff at the weekend, I want to just stay at home and potter a bit. Oh well, moan over, all of the stuff we are doing does help clear the house and get us in a better situation, so I know it's got to be done.

I've sorted through my toiletries this morning before work and discovered I don't have as much as I thought I did - so that's good news.

The paperwork for my basic bank account has arrived, so I need to ensure that is completed and returned so that can be opened and I can get on and close the Lloyds ones. That reminds, me, I need to change my name on Paypal so I can change the bank account, better do that.

Bookwormlou

Hi jwil I had a look for your diary after you posted on mine . I love your graph idea , its really clever ...how amazing it would be to see it all shaded in ! My aim is exactly the same as yours , after paying my debt off i really want to start over paying the mortgage. I don't know about you but it amazes me how I've gone from being so poor with money to wanting to be mortgage free . I suppose the only way to learn is the hard way ! I don't blame you for wanting to potter at home this weekend, try to enjoy it anyway

jwil

Hi lou, thanks for popping in! I really like how visual the graph thing is, hopefully it will keep me motivated.

It really is funny how your attitudes change to money once you have your lightbulb moment isn't it!

This weekend hasn't exactly gone to plan, but trying to have a more relaxing afternoon now.

jwil

:mad::mad::mad: We took the van out yesterday to run in the new engine, unfortunately, it broke down again, and we had to get recovered back to the garage we use, and then get a taxi home (£25!). It looks like the gearbox has gone now, so that could be another huge bill on top of the £3k we've just spent on the engine! :(:( Not a good day, and we didn't get home until 10.45pm last night, so am shattered today.

We did get up and wander around a couple of boot sales today, I did buy a couple of books (naturally) and also got two unused series of Dawson's Creek for £5 for both - these are to be put away for my sister's christmas present, she has them on her amazon wishlist :j and series 1 of House for £3, for us to watch.

Just played on bingoport and won over 4000 points on the slots, which has given me enough for a redeem this week, and means I should be able to redeem next week too. That will be £10 in my amazon account!

Not doing much this afternoon, DH is watching the F1 and we will be watching the footie later - Holland all the way!

Bookwormlou

I feel so sorry for you about the van , what a nightmare. Fingers crossed the repair bill won't be anywhere near as much as the last . At least you got a few good bits today from the boot sales. I've started putting a few bits away for Christmas too , there's less panic buying doing it that way. Enjoy your afternoon and the football tonight

jwil

Thanks Lou, from the looks of it, a part may have fallen off due to the vibrations of the van not running well, so hopefully that won't be such a big bill, thankfully!

jwil

Well Sunday afternoon we sorted through another 4 boxes of stuff for car booting (so not as relaxing as previously planned!). We also cleared a couple of bags which DH took to the charity shop yesterday.

I sold 5 items on ebay yesterday, and they've all paid up quickly so were posted today and yesterday :j

Finished another book so that is off to the car boot pile, and am thinking I need to look through my HUGE numbers of New Scientists that DH has brought me home to look at (he can get mags through his job so I always have loads to look at and don't spend money on them). I have hundreds of them so need to clear them out - will have to check whether it is worth listing them on ebay. It's great getting all these free magazines, but I do have a habit of letting them pile up before looking at them!

jwil

Feeling pretty good today, even though not much going on in the way of debtbusting. Got to take the cat to the vets tonight for her boosters so hoping that won't cost more than around £30. It does mean no NSD for me today though. I'm struggling this month, so need to get my !!!! in gear!

jwil

I thought I'd say something about my book habit. I love reading and will read pretty much anything with words in it! I'm not a book snob at all and so will read everything from chick lit to classics. I don't like people who judge others by what they read - to my mind any reading is good reading! I'm lucky in that my DH can often pick up 2nd hand books for me, and as you've gathered from my previous posts, I pick up a lot myself from car boot sales

Anyway, in 2007, I decided to expand my range of reading by reading through the list of '1001 books you must read before you die' by Peter Boxall http://www.amazon.co.uk/1001-Books-Must-Read-Before/dp/1844034178/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279111495&sr=8-2

This has really opened my eyes. I'm a good way through the list now, at least 3/4 of the way through, and have read a lot of books that I would not have considered, due to just thinking that they would not be 'me'. I've not liked them all by a long stretch, but I have read and loved some books I'd never heard of nor would likely have read.

I started by getting many of the books from websites such as project gutenberg where you can read many out of copyright books online, I have got many from car boot sales (I walk around with a list of those I need) and the rest are on my amazon wishlist and I get them from there with vouchers I earn from surveys and bingoport. Once I've read them, I resell so it works out pretty even.

They have also brought out a children's one recently in the same series, so I shall probably try and do that too, but not to the same extent as I have with this list.

I'll pop the list on here soon, when I started I had read 38 books already. I'll have to check where I am now!

La_escocesa

Hi jwil,

Just thought I'd pop my head over your fence to see how you're getting on. I love that graph paper trick. Might copy you but do it with my credit card bill the opposite way IYSWIM.

I'd love reading books too - I know what you mean about reading anything with words in. I've got quite a weird mix of books - never stick to the same sort. Get a bit bored/confused if I read books which are too similar to each other one after the other. I'd never be able to read through that 1001 books list though! Not a fast reader at all, usually get through about one a month. Are you on FB? I've got a visual bookshelf on there - where you keep track of the books you're reading, would like to read or have read. Wish I'd started it earlier because it's so easy to forget books you've read.

Catch up soon!