Meersy's debt free, healthier & happier life diary

meersy22

Hi All,

Cold is starting to lift but everything tastes funny - yuck

Spends front not too bad -

Dentist yesterday £6.36 - this is the cheapest check up I've ever had.

Spends today £15 on part of BFs Xmas present. It was reduced from £50 but he doesn't need to know that :T

Got home from my work and my cousin popped over to ask me to fill in a job application form for him. Recruitment is my job but after a day in work my brain is scrambled however I got it done and I want commission if he gets the job:)

I've just booked our family visit to see the big fat man in the red suit at Xmas. It's at a small garden centre near us but books up really early (yes I know it's november:D)

Need to start looking at pressies for my nieces and nephews - it's all money but I love Xmas.

Tomorrow's plans -

1. run
2. visit physio
3. ironing
4. start weekend with BF and bottle of wine- yippe

meersy22

Morning all

I managed to get my list sorted

meersy22 wrote: »

[STRIKE]run[/STRIKE]

1. [STRIKE]visit physio[/STRIKE] - ouch
2. [STRIKE]ironing[/STRIKE] - done yesterday
3. [STRIKE]start weekend with BF and bottle of wine- yippe[/STRIKE]

Not very many plans to day

run
read papers:)
watch F1 - very exciting

I managed to spend #110 on all my nieces and nephews Xmas pressies. It might sound like a lot but I have a ton of nieces and nephews.

This just leaves my BFs and that is me sorted for Xmas. Up until recently we bought for brothers & sisters, nieces & nephews but when I finally twigged that I didn't have the money to pay for all these things and switched to trying to be MSE I put a stop to the brothers & sisters pressies. I don't have the heart to stop giving to my nieces and nephews. I don't want to be Frugal Auntie Meersy in their eyes.

I also bough 3 bottles of good wine for 10 in Asda and have squirreled it away for Xmas.

I had my 2 nephews last night and they are sleeping at the minute. It's time to go drag them out of bed as their mum is coming shortly. Have a good day everyone.:)

meersy22

Shuffling back in all shameful:o:o:o

As you can see credit card has crept up again. My spending has been a bit pants recently and I was neglecting my diary as I didn't want to admit to it. Bad things were going on in the background and I started to treat myself to make up for it but that just leads to guilt

However i can't fool myself forever and as Hypno and Flying Fresian (inspirations) are almost DF, I've been spurred back into action.

The CC is at £1400 (Xmas spends and more bits for stupid car) but i have to catch myself on and accept that I wont be debt free until next year. I've worked out that my DF date should be end of July 2011.

Car needs to be replaced next year as it's costing too much to keep it on the road but i'd rather get shot of my debt before worrying about stupid car.

No spends today as can't get car out of drive, so there are benefits to the snow.

Hope everyone has a lovely day.

M

meersy22

Morning

this is my second message of the morning as I accidently deleted the last 1

Well my pay is in the bank and I'm hoping to hang onto it a bit longer than last months .


I have been trying to figure out what I need for the month and how to keep my spending to a minimum. So the main things I have to budget for are:

1. Xmas pressies = £90 (want this to be lower but will see):
2. Xmas dinners = £60 (2 Xmas dinners but no alcohol as driving which should keep costs down);
3. 2 birthdays (taking out of general budget).

I have awarded myself £200 for the month on spends and must not go over this (pressies & Xmas dinner are out of whatever little savings I have). I've done my main grocery shop but this should cover everything else (swimming with nephews; physio visit; podiatrist; birthdays and life in general ).

I get paid early this month but I don't intend on touching this money until the New Year. I say that every year and never manage it, so that is my aim.

Starting to feel more positive and yes I had a big BLIP on credit card but that's life and it will be onwards and upwards.

I forgot lunch today (it is sitting on table in kitchen) so not the best start to the economy drive but these things happen.


My plans for this evening are:

• wrap pressies i have accumulated so far;
• list sister's stuff on ebay;
• list books on amazon.

Have a good day everyone.

Meersy.

meersy22

Hi everyone.

Today I spent £2.85 on a sarnie & crisps. It was a waste of money as it wasn't particularly great. that's always the way:o

I'm a gold member at Weight watchers and haven't been in a month. I decided to go tonight to keep me on track with all the choccies about. I ate like a horse before I went (must have been a subconscious thing) and lost - 1/2 lb:T

On the e-bay front, I'm not sure what to do with sisters stuff. She wants me to sell her jewellery but I don't know if it's genuine or fake. I think I'll ask her to take it to our local jewellers to see what its worth and then stick it on ebay

Going to watch 'I'm a Celebrity' and that's my plans for tonight.

meersy22

Morning all

Putting my thoughts down here as I think my head is going to explode:o.

I have been whittling away at my debts and am getting there slowly but surely. The only major blip is my car which I hate. I've had nothing but trouble with it and it needs a lot of work done on it. I've been looking at taking out a loan to cover a new car (used) but this has just stressed me out no end. The repayment period will be for 3 years and I can afford it but I don't want more debt and why should I give the greedy banks a fortune in interest.

I've decided today that I'm not going to be tempted by a loan. I need to save up for things I want. My car will tick over for another year and in that time I can clear my debt and save up for a reliable car.

The reasons against a loan are:

1. I have debt that needs to be cleared;
2. I don't want more debt;
3. I don't want to give the greedy banks any interest;
4. My car will last at least another year;
5. I do have time to save up for something a bit more reliable; and finally
6. If I want a baby (which I do) I will need to get my skates on and have one in the next few years. If I have a loan I will have to keep working.

Sometimes it's good to put things in writing just to remind me that although a loan is an easy option it will take me 3 more years to pay it off. I could save for a year and save me interest.

Meersy.:)

meersy22

Mammoth post alert

Hi All

I was thinking about starting a new diary with a fresh attitude and a new purpose for 2011. But I decided to keep this diary as it's a reminder of my ups and downs in 2010.

So 2011 is peeking round the corner and it will be the year I finally clear my debt

My credit card got quite low this year and then it crept back up again There's not much I can do about that now. My car loan will finish in March and I can use that extra money to plug away at credit card and windows.

I have a number of challenges I plan to do -

• only spending £150 on clothes (underwear/socks not included)
• £40 weekly spend challenge

I found signing up to challenges really helpful but slipped later in the year. I will sign up to more but that is a start.

My only major expenses (I hope) are:

• London Marathon trip in April
• annual holiday in Sept
• costs for getting car through MOT in April.

My new year DFW resolutions are:

• record everything I spend
• repeat the mantra " do I need it and can I afford it"
• keep my spends diary up to date (i'm not fooling anyone)

On the positive front I have paid 47% of my debt and if I hadn't found this website I would probably have kept my head in the sand and never started. So thanks to everyone on MSE.

So bring on 2011 and I'm sure things won't go according to plan but i will consider that a challenge rather than a nightmare. My aim is to be Debt free by the end of July 2011

The snow is atrocious here, so there will be no spends today:)

meersy22

Oh forgot to mention my plans for today

To do:

• wrap presents
• iron a clothes mountain (need ropes to climb to top of it)
• quick hoover of living room
• quick clean of kitchen

But first a coffee and finish drooling at 'Saturday kitchen' on BBC.

meersy22

This motivation thing does wonders for me

To do:

• [STRIKE]wrap presents[/STRIKE] - done
• [STRIKE]iron a clothes mountain (need ropes to climb to top of it)[/STRIKE] - done whinged about it for ages but it's done.
• quick hoover of living room - reconsidered as doesn't need it
• q[STRIKE]uick clean of kitchen[/STRIKE] - done

Managed to venture into town. I didn't buy anything for myself but spent £4 on stuff for BF which I will probably not get back Heading to his later and might be sharing a chinese. These little things all add up.

I was supposed to be going out for friends birthday but she's just cancelled because of the snow which is fair enough.

I visited a friend and delivered their Xmas present, so that is one less thing to do.

It's supposed to be -16 tonight. That just can't be possible

meersy22

Morning all

Still very snowy here. On way to BFs last night my car slid and got stuck in snow. No damage to car but had to be unceremoniously towed out. Then had to get towed up to his house as my wee car couldn't make it up his drive. I honestly don't remember it being this bad.

Even though I thought there was no chance of me spending money yesterday because of the snow, I still managed to get to the shops.

Spends 18/12

£4 - BF groceries;
£6.70 - alkihol for BF and his mate (I stuck to wine which I bought 3 for £10 ages ago); and
£5.40 - chinese

Total = £16.10. BF gave me a £10 so yesterday's spends was a grand total of £6.10.

So far I've cleaned the kitchen; cleared the fire and brought in coal and logs; and caught up on diaries on MSE.