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

peaceandfreedom

jwil wrote: »

I think I'm going to declare for November - 548.37 out of a target of £1500 = £951.63 short.

Pretty impressed with that :j

My finances are screwed for December though, not sure how on earth I'm going to manage. I'll just have to do my best.

You've done very well, jwil. You set yourself a very high target and you got a fair bit towards it, well done. There'd be plenty of people out there who'd LOVE to have raised an extra 548 quid in November, so congratulations. :T

Sorry about the car / MOT, bad luck. Hope you get everything sorted for your December budget.

jwil

Well Payday has arrived! :j

I've sold another book on amazon so that's £9.18 :T. I know it's still November but I'm going to count it towards December. I'm thinking I'm not going to set myself a target for December seeing as it's Christmas etc so it's going to be difficult.

I'm just going to see how well I can do.

I'll update my figures later.

Got the bus to work this morning - a journey which takes 15-20 minutes in the car takes nearly an hour by bus, and if I walked it would probably take me nearly an hour and a half. It is a pain not having a car, but at least I can read on the bus so it's not all bad

Hope everyone is well!

peaceandfreedom

jwil wrote: »

Got the bus to work this morning - a journey which takes 15-20 minutes in the car takes nearly an hour by bus, and if I walked it would probably take me nearly an hour and a half. It is a pain not having a car, but at least I can read on the bus so it's not all bad

It's a long time since I lived anywhere that had a decent bus service but I used to hate buses when I lived in London. I hate the smell of them, and I really don't like sharing my space with so many people.

You are so lucky you can read while on a bus - that would make me car-sick and headachey. I've often wished I could read in a moving car because it would make some long journeys so much quicker as a passenger (I rather enjoy a long drive if I'm driving). That's where those audio books will come in handy in the future.

Did you get Somerset CC's latest newspaper where they are asking everyone's opinion on what services to cut? Seems like more local libraries will close which would be a pity. Might be worth trying to get volunteers to run them maybe, although I suppose staff costs are not the highest outlay.

peaceandfreedom

Got a refund from nPower yesterday, an expected tenner from elsewhere, and a £10 win on the Lotto (not exactly life-changing, but it'll do for now).

So I am declaring my final fund-raising amount for November at £325.39, which is 72% of target. Not too bad.

My CC debt has gone down in November - which is probably the first time in like, 100 years. This is my main shopping month for Christmas. Yes, there is more shopping to do, but I've already bought a fair bit of stuff without increasing CC debt, so I'm pleased with myself. Am going to do a bit of balance-transferring in December so will incur transfer fees but still expect the overall total to go down. I am liking my new-found and long-overdue discipline. :T

jwil

peaceandfreedom wrote: »

Got a refund from nPower yesterday, an expected tenner from elsewhere, and a £10 win on the Lotto (not exactly life-changing, but it'll do for now).

So I am declaring my final fund-raising amount for November at £325.39, which is 72% of target. Not too bad.

My CC debt has gone down in November - which is probably the first time in like, 100 years. This is my main shopping month for Christmas. Yes, there is more shopping to do, but I've already bought a fair bit of stuff without increasing CC debt, so I'm pleased with myself. Am going to do a bit of balance-transferring in December so will incur transfer fees but still expect the overall total to go down. I am liking my new-found and long-overdue discipline. :T

Well done - raising £325 is a fantastic result! :T:T

Well done on the debt reductions too, and the non CC Christmas :beer:

jwil

peaceandfreedom wrote: »

It's a long time since I lived anywhere that had a decent bus service but I used to hate buses when I lived in London. I hate the smell of them, and I really don't like sharing my space with so many people.

You are so lucky you can read while on a bus - that would make me car-sick and headachey. I've often wished I could read in a moving car because it would make some long journeys so much quicker as a passenger (I rather enjoy a long drive if I'm driving). That's where those audio books will come in handy in the future.

Did you get Somerset CC's latest newspaper where they are asking everyone's opinion on what services to cut? Seems like more local libraries will close which would be a pity. Might be worth trying to get volunteers to run them maybe, although I suppose staff costs are not the highest outlay.

I don't like the 'closeness' of buses either, but the bus wasn't too bad. I am lucky I can read on them, it makes the trip so much more manageable, but otherwise the ipod would be out with an audiobook!

The paper has arrived today, but I haven't looked through it yet.

I think it's a shame about the libraries, as alongside the books, they are a lifesaver for people without internet access at home. I do confess that I am guilty of not using them enough though.

I must say, I very much disagree with the way they are handling this. No one disputes that cuts need to be made, but theirs are too much too fast.

The thing that bugs me the most though is the leader of the Council and his incredibly smug face every time he's on the TV, :mad: At least try and look sympathetic for the people who's lives he's playing with!

jwil

I've sold another item on ebay so that's £4.99 to add, and I've redeemed another £5 from a survey site so I've added them to my new total. :j

It's a good start considering it's not even December yet :rotfl:

jwil

I decided to go online earlier and get a lotto ticket (double rollover and all that..) as I had to top up my account to play, I decided to blow £1 on a scratch card as well, and won £7! Woo hoo! So I shall add £6 to my total for this month!

Hope everyone is well.

peaceandfreedom

jwil wrote: »

I decided to go online earlier and get a lotto ticket (double rollover and all that..) as I had to top up my account to play, I decided to blow £1 on a scratch card as well, and won £7! Woo hoo! So I shall add £6 to my total for this month!

Hope everyone is well.

Well done, jwil, it all adds up. Here's my update so far:

Am counting points on nectar and boots cards that I haven't counted up to now. Also doubled-up a Tesco voucher from £5 to £10, so all in all have racked up £44.72 for December.

As I now have an unexpected weekend at home (cancelled my travel plans due to bad weather) I am going to spend the next couple of days getting all my kids' clothes listed on ebay as it's free listing again this weekend.

Loads and loads of washing, ironing and photographing to do but it'll be so good to get all that stuff out of the house.

I have realised that I won't be able to do another car boot before Christmas because I am out every Saturday night (well, there's only two after this one) before Christmas and there's no way I'm getting up at 5:30 after a night out. Anyway, it's too cold. Am declaring myself a fair-weather car-booter Will now wait until nearish Easter-time before I do another one. All the stuff is neatly stored and that's fine. I may go through it and donate some of the stuff to a charity shop or freecycle it.

OK, confession time. I spent money in M&S on thermal undies - it was so damn cold when I was out shopping and I spend so much time standing by the side of a freezing football pitch watching DS and DD play football, I couldn't resist. Also spent money on make-up in Boots because I lost my make-up bag, but I did get two lovely freebie sets to go with them. Very pleased with my gorgeous stash of make-up now,

Hope is all well with everyone. Take it easy out there in the snow and ice. Have ordered myself some Yak-trax today to go on the end of my ancient but still-excellent walking boots. (Note to self - must stop spending money!)

jwil

Well done on the money raising so far peaceandfreedom!

I don't blame you for not car booting, I think it's highly unlikely that we will be either. I'm sure we'll get out again in the New Year though - we have done them in Winter before. I think thermal undies was probably a very good buy too!

I could do with some shoes/boots for walking in the snow and ice - all of mine, including my walking boots have no grip at all. I'll have to have a look I think.

I hadn't spotted that it's free listing this weekend, so that's good news. I'll be able to get a load of relists even if I don't get anything new on.