Apple's I cant believe Ive done it again diary

Applecider_2

Doing a diary as I need to my sort my finances out AGAIN
Well I left here debt free, travelled the world a bit and came back seemed to think my credit card was free money and here we are again.

SOA

Overdraft - -£450 -
HAL CC - £1047 -
Very - £700 -
VIRGIN - £3389 -
Barclaycard -£3373
Car loan £5000 -

arent I silly girl. Memories to last a lifetime and debt to match. So I managed to get my self a decent job now and have the lowest bills possible, but having a new boyfriend means u have to do things which can be costly but there we are.

my debt plan seems easy enough but will it work I have no idea. So after my bills I can afford £400 on my basic wage to pay back to my debts each month. leaving me with £300 for petrol and spends for the month. Does this ok?

My car loan is paying itself first I wana get rid of the credit cards first

£400 x 12months = £4800 this time next year (
Hopefully I will find lots of stuff to sell on ebay and earn a bit extra in work. Anyone got any advice?
Thanks

Applecider_2

Well and im off....

Started well sold some stuff on ebay coming to £120 but I got fees to pay out of that so prob overall £100. Got my sealed jar that is gorgeous and my godson bought me it so gonna fill that will m oney till the top and then smash it. Its bad luck to do it unless its to the top. Going to put all my spare change at the end of the day in it and slip in any extra notes that hang around (yeh right!) also have resorted to stealing change off my boyfriend and poutting it in and he cant get it back haha. He's ok about it.

My mum sed I have got loooooooads of stuff in her house that needs to be rid of thats mine so willl be looking through there.

I sent back the dress for the wedding to catalogue so that should take £100 off something ive already got or im just gonna have to borrow!

Ive got some amazing clothes in my wardrobe and being honest i doubt I will wear them again so they can go on ebay.

My brother reminded me that he owes me £400 for the couch he bought off me when I went travelling so thats handy.

I am going to start driving fuel efficient I seen martins blog the other day so going to give it a whirl. I spend alot of time in my car with work and get my petrol money back so if I drive better I might actually get a lil bit extra (wear and tear of tyres of course)

I cant think of anything else right now, anyone got any ideas??? would be mega grateful! Chow for now

Applecider_2

I Need money saving ideas HEEEELPPP!!!

elantan

Hey apple .... Do u take lunch into work ? Are u cooking from scratch ? U know the usual type things ... Spending diary etc etc ... It takes a wee while but atleast your heading in the right direction

Applecider_2

Hi Elantan! I do take food into work most days somedays i go to the asda to buy an egg sarnie £1 but most of the time make up a sarni. Also work pays for lunch sometimes. The worst part is Ive actually got a good job! Hows ur debt repayment going?

I had a £126 refund from premier inn this month as Id booked it before my lightbulb moment and genuinely couldnt sleep in the stuffy room they gave us so that was great. Ive made £150 on ebay (minus 22 in fees) and £59 on amazon selling stuff I dont use. Ive got some more stuff on ebay now. My savings jar is also going well i think putting all my spare change in there everyday. I cant open it until its full its bad luck thats a good thing!!

SAVINGS SO FAR - £189
sent back dresses £100

Applecider_2

Cut my shopping budget in half now! got my cooking ideas from slimmers world and will be using them to buy EXACTLY wat I need and then there are no wastage and impulse buys!

EG -
Yog n banana every morning for brekkie (buy x5 for weekdays treat of toast on weekend)
Sandwich/pasta salad/couscous for dinner (fillings egg mayo/cottage cheese n pineapple/mixed beans n toms etc) plus left overs from pasta from night before
evening meal - Homemade pasta sauces, meatballs n spag, baked potatoes n fillings, sausage, gravy mash,

snacks - mini milks, rainbow drops, asda curls, mini light triangles, grapes (or fruit on offer)

Planning ur menus is essential to saving!

Im also doing a challenge for myself and anyone that wants to join. Make 1K in one month. Impossible it seems but with my ebaying skills im going to try my best!!!! I will call the challenge '1k cant see into the pot challenge'.

I have one of those jars that u cant see into and have to smash and any money saved will be placed into it and smashed on the 15th of October. The money that will be going into it will be:
Spare change at the end of the day
any savings made e.g. not buying wine on friday, not buying choc bar when I fancy cash will be put in there
any ebay/amazon selling
quidco cashback

These will all be pulled out as cash and put in the pot. Bring on the 15th of October!!! ) Any other ways of making money please lemme know!!! ))

elantan

ohh the teramundi jars are great to have ... i liked to put £2 coins in mine and coudnt wait till they were full so i could spend hours counting the money ( i usually counted it a few times lol)

my debt repayment is currently going in the opposite direction just noticed today how bad it has got ... but i will get there i just need to come up with some crafty ideas ...

am loving the food ideas your having ... the food bill is the one bill i struggle with i have done the whole shopping and meal planning but i have found for me the best thing that works is going shopping every day ... however i need to actually go shopping every day for that to work ... ahhh well next week is another oppertunity to get it right

Applecider_2

Doin the sealed pot challenge now its great - good to talk to other people about their ideas. Planning menus are alot easier. Do you have any kids? Snack section in the fridge and cupboard is good so when u hungry u look in there rather than getting something when u are out!! Also making a big spag bol and freezing the rest is great for days when u cant be bothered cooking or just to save money! It tastes just as good and all u have to do is boil up some spagetti! PS I love counting too!!

You sound like you know what ur talking about elantan so keep with it! Hopefully one day u will look back and laugh!!Do you do ur quidcos and things? My debt is actually got a car loan of £5000 on it too but im not counting it as I will always have that! I need to update my car every year will the miles I put on it with my job, but I have downgraded to 1.2! Doing martins thing where I dont overrev!

68 things now on ebay - £28.89 worth of bids so far, so even if I get that ill be made up. Ive put my camcorder on ther that I dont use, EVER amongst some clothes and other things. Half of them end tonight so will update tomor!! Once ive run out of things to sell im going to look for some extra online work I think, or maybe even sell avon. Sometimes, its more work than its worth sometimes. But I do have load of friends and family. maybe.... I look into it.

Theres daily clicks on quidco and cashback kings that I may as well do, as im on pc anyways and then theres the free comps. just going to stickto the same website u never know. I am also going to take up the free bingo offers and see if I win. Theres no loss there then. My scottish power is tracking at £52 not bad.

so far

Ebay 1 - £130
Ebay - £28.89
Amazon - £66.00
Quidco - £52
Caskbackkings - £56

Money plan for this month

Wages in £1400

Outgoings
Joint bills and shopping - £300
Credit card 1 - £30
Credit card 2 - £70
Credit card 3 - £40
Very Catalogue - £40
Car payment - £120
Car ins - £30
Welsh hospital - £10
Council tax owed - £30
Mobile - £20

£690 - Leaving £10 in account in case mobile does some tricks so £700

that leaves me £700 left

Going to put
£350 in my overdraft account
£150 for my petrol
£200 for personal spends! - not sure this is enough e.g last month I had many birthdays and stuff and I will not pass on them!!

Hopefully this will only leave me oweing overdraft by £100 then I can scratch that using next months wages. hmmmm... heres hoping I can last on £200 - going to pull the cash out so i spend using cash it always makes me more aware!!

Applecider_2

Couple of food ideas this week using slimming world

quorn mince chilli con carne (big batch to freeze) with unlimited spagetti

Beef meatballs with homemade tomato sauce

Baked potato with beans n cheese <<

---

Best meal ever love it

Pasta with homemade sauce and topped with cheese - big family batch

Chicken pieces stir fryed with load of cheap tesco stir fry veg with egg noodles.... mmm curry sauce for taste, love it

elantan

see that sounds all delicious to me ... i really need to get myself organised lol

yeah i do the whole quidco etc the lot ... i have been out of debt before but have slipped back its so easy done .... kinda like weight easy to put on really hard to loose ...

Nottoobadyet

Hey apple - happy new diary!!

Do you ever join the weekly meal planning thread on the OS board? its fab and inspiring, shows up every Thursday or so.

How was turkey? Can I ask where you went and how it was? I'm considering going over Crimbo as otherwise I will spend it alone in the UK :-(