The final countdown... and a newbie in the DFSD house!

Chocforever

My flat is remarkably tidy. In fact I came in one night and, for a few seconds, thought I had been burgled before I realised that everything was here, it is just that I have chucked most of it or it is crammed in cupboards. I have had a few frantic searches for things particularly in the mornings but it is becoming part of normal life to start rummaging in certain cupboards and under the bed for anything that used to be cluttering a surface.

I have bought clothes from charity shops in the past. I prefer Ebay now, and particularly private sellers on Ebay, who tend to sell more up to date stuff. It is also nice to be able to sort the items according to label and size to speed things up. I find that auctions ending the Sunday after a free listing week are often a good time to pick up a bargain. I know what Itsadogslife means about picking the right location. I was in Oxford recently and needed to fill some time. I went into a charity shop selling really good books and all for £1 (they are £4 each in my home town - can't imagine why the charity bookshop is so busy). I noticed when I was in there that there were nice clothes and things like toiletry gift sets which most charity shops won't sell. May pop back in when I'm next in Oxford.

The web-site I emailed you about is so weird. I redeemed a couple of weeks ago, leaving me with 50 points. Next time I logged in, I suddenly had 350 points?! I have recently got two vouchers in the post (one from another site) which can be redeemed in a variety of places, but none I am that fussed about, so I am ebaying them. For some strange reason, people buy vouchers for just under their face value. I would rather have the cash to spend somewhere else otherwise I'll just buy things for the sake of it.

And don't talk to me about surveys! I have really cut back on them (except for the £3 ones of course). Then I was enticed last week with a 15 min survey for £1. Of course it took more like 45 minutes. And it was one of those ranking energy companies, most of which I know nothing about. I will never learn that the survey length should be judged by the payment rather than the survey company's time estimate.

Just watching Jools Holland on 2 - great performance by Peter Gabriel + full orchestra.

Take care

debtfreesomeday

You made me laugh out loud chocs, your flat must be really tidy if you thought you had been burgled! Fancy working your same magic in my house???

Yes, surveys are a pain to do aren't they. I really don't like to do them, but I guess it helps with the pennies.

6 more items have sold on eBay today, each with a profit of about £3.20, so they're gradually bringing a few more pennies in!

debtfreesomeday

Two more eBay items sold this afternoon

I ran into a colleague whilst out earlier and he didn't have good news to tell me. Apparently there was a meeting at my place of work yesterday to which the gist of it was, it will be no surprise if we're all made redundant within the year. Marvellous. As I've now gone back part time, any redundancy would be based on my part time salary, after childcare vouchers of £243 per month, is taken out. Basically, I would get practically nothing. I can't even think about it at the moment to be honest.

Chocforever

Oh no, I'm so sorry about your news . It's horrible when the main topic of conversation at work is redundancies. I guess all you can do is wait and see what happens.

You are a talented lady. I can tell just from this diary that you are articulate, have good organisational and communication skills. In the event the worst happens, it may be that you can get redeployment to another department or, if not, take on a job in a different sector to tide you over. I know your job is specialised, but I expect your skills are very transferable to a variety of jobs.

There aren't many jobs these days that are secure for the long term. I think we have to take the same short term approach to employment, be flexible and also be pleased every time a pay cheque hits the bank account and another month is survived. After the recession, there will be good times ahead.

Best wishes xx

debtfreesomeday

Thank you chocs. I read somewhere on here that a good task is to live as if one has already been made redundant, so that is what we shall attempt to do from next month.

An interesting day today. All of my eBay items have sold, so there is £102.02 winging it's way to the bank account now, after paying eBay fees first. I should have 12 more of these items to sell next week, so that's potential earnings of around £40-£50. I also have some other items to list which I shall try and photograph tomorrow.

I received the boots I ordered earlier in the week and they're dreadful! One pair are falling apart and the other is nowhere near the size they claim, so they are wrapped, ready to return for a refund with a note to say how poor the quality is. That'll be £32 back on the credit card, but doesn't solve my holey shoe problem!

I also finally spent some of the credit on a gift card today that I was given for my birthday early on this year. My intention was to save it to buy an outfit for the two weddings we are attending next year and I did exactly that. I found a lovely long dress in the half price sale (monsoon), for £37. I had a shock when I went to pay though, I thought it was a £50 gift card when, in fact, it was £100! So, I have £63 left to buy a little cardi to go over the top to cover my bingo wings (!), and maybe some to spare to buy something nice for work. I may even look at the boots in there, but I'm aware they're quite pricey.

Tonight we had an interesting phone call from my MIL. She, very kindly, offered to give us £200 a month for the next 18 months towards childcare. It was so generous of her, but there's no way we can accept it. It made us both feel very uncomfortable and our pride said thank you, but no. We ran up the debts, we had a child, so we pay for childcare. It would solve A LOT of problems over the next 18 months but there's no way we can allow it to happen. MIL is a widow and, although she is quite well off, she is not particularly savvy with money and is not particularly well either, so my thinking is that she will need it herself sometime in the future. She was a little upset with our answer, so instead, I suggested that maybe she could put a little money in Ds's post office account instead if she wished. Unfortunately we can't afford to save for him at the moment and that worries us.

As I said, an interesting day!

debtfreesomeday

I came up trumps with the 'laundered money' in our house yesterday; £6.60 was found in hubby's pocket after going through the wash, so, much to his disappointment and pleading, it went in the sealed tin! I've said we'll open it on 1st December and he can have whatever's in there to go towards the various meals his workplace have in December. He doesn't go out all year and has missed the last two years of these, so I don't mind giving him that money to have a nice few events in december. There's roughly £30 in there at the moment.

I also made a few pizzas the other night from the last of the bread flour and yeast I had in the cupboard. These have gone into the freezer for hubby to take as packed lunches.

Today I need to post the last if the eBay packages. All postage has already been paid online, except one, as my printer ran out of ink before I could print the last one. Typical. Talking of which, that printer seems up be drinking ink, I only purchased a colour cartridge about 3 weeks ago and haven't used it to excess. It's also telling be the black cartridge needs replacing. So far, I have spent more on ink than the price if the printer which isn't good!

Chocforever

Well done with all the Ebay sales - that's great they went so quickly.

And nice surprise with the gift card - I love Mons00n dresses.

I know what you mean about printer cartridges. Mine is quite fussy with these refilled cartridges which makes it very expensive. I have given up buying cheap ones because it was a lottery as to whether they worked. I've really tried to cut back on printing but, of course, there is no point having a printer if you never use it!

Someone over on the MS board recommends buying laserjet rather than inkjet printers because the ink lasts for ages so it is cheaper in the long term. Small consolation, I know, and I wish I had read this advice before buying mine, but I will definitely bear it in mind when mine needs replacing.

debtfreesomeday

I'll have to look into that about the printers chocs, as it's costing me more than the cost of the printer to change both cartridges every time!

debtfreesomeday

I've just changed my signature to reflect our current debt status. The credit card will look a lot better soon as the paypal money will be used to pay just over £100 off and we're due a refund of over £300 which will come off the card. We'll have to work at reducing the rest of the balance as quickly as we can.

debtfreesomeday

My parents are staying with us for the night and they've just given us a cheque for £400 to cover Ds's first month at nursery. They won't take no for an answer, despite us trying. It's amazingly wonderful, but I feel so guilt ridden about accepting their money, even though it will help us enormously. They don't know about the debts and will never know if I have anything to do with it. They have never been in debt in their lives; have worked so so hard all their lives and have never had what they couldn't afford. I wish I had been sensible in the past like they advised me, but I was young, stupidly thought I knew better andhad encouragement to buy a new car with a loan by a then Bf. He was a big mistake, as was the new car and the loan it was paid for with. I have been in debt ever since.
I am tempted to put the £400 into my ISA which we can't access easily as we have forgotten the Internet password! Then again, we may needit more readily available over the next few months. My parents are aware that the childcare is automatically paid for from our wages so they have told us to use the money to help as we wish. I won't be paying it off the credit card though, that feels wrong to me.

Can't keep my eyes open again,
Night all.