A Budgeteers Quest to be Debt Free & Mortgage Free By 40

DedicatedDFW

Without any extra expenditure over and above normal outgoings i will be facing an £800 shortfall on clearing the debt by the end of this year. I have identified where all my money disappeared though:

- too much spent at the supermarket - this is a difficult one as its just that the cost of things has gone up not that i'm buying too much etc.

- i have been over-over paying the mortgage - basically pushed myself to get to a certain point on this without accounting for the extra outgoings in my budget

- had to replace the kettle

- i had my travel expenses incorrect on my budget so this always createsd a shortfall

- i did not account for the interest i pay every month on my overdraft.

The £300 this month will be put towards getting me back to the £1030 i was at and i'll smash this in november but then i'll have nothing extra to pay off

So i'll just need to get on with having a good clear out and raising the much needed extra funds to clear the debt by the end of the year!

I did bring the extra spends back with me and that has helped

InaPickle

DedicatedDFW wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Pickle! I know i lurve cocktails and i do go out so rarely that i like to have a nice time and drink and eat what i want when i do now rather than just ordering the cheapest item and drinking water all night

STOP FEELING GUILTY...you have worked so hard you DESERVE some treats! OK, so you can't afford to take your eye off the ball altogether, but given how hard you have worked, you deserve some; if you were left to your own devices you would probably eat bread and dripping.

DedicatedDFW

*Gulp* Just spent an unaccounted for £200 :eek::eek::eek: ok i'll get a third of this back and then some of the remainder is for a gift but yikes!!! This has pushed me even further away from target

Ok, after being on hols where i only take a very few items of clothes i came home and decided i have too much 'stuff' - a common theme with me you may have noticed i can go off things quickly and other things i love forever so i have decided i need to do another wardrobe edit. If it doesn't fit me now or i don't feel amazing in it then it is going. I don't want stuff i just feel alright in - or as happened with one of my holiday items that i feel like a real frump in So i am going to dedicate a maximum time of 30minutes each week after i have showered and done my hair and make up to trying on each item i own and making the decision as to what to keep and what to part with. Hopefully generating more ebayable stuff - Does anyone know if there are any free listings in the offing ?

Just wasted my morning on life admin stuff :mad: Definitely confirms my need to board an early train to the library to get some work done. Remember the complaint i made about paying for the same item twice - well i have not got my money back like they said i would!!! Grr! 20minutes on the phone and waiting to find out when i'll get it back now. So the phone call cost me and used up my time - the time i should have been at the post office sending off the parcels so was quite a bit delayed by then and then i've spent 40minutes spending the best part of £200 I know these are 1 off things and i was thinking i need to set aside like 1hour maximum 1 day a week to deal with life admin tasks but to be honest as i *need* that money back i could not leave it any longer and then the gifts i *had* to sort out today - limited time offer so there was no way around it today.

I am going to adopt jwils practical approach though which is to aim for x number of hours study per week 12 hours to be precise which 2hours tues-fri and 4hours at the weekend adds up to anyways

Got back from the post office to find that the classic thing had happened where the 1 item not paid for paid up - that can go at the weekend now i am not rushing back with a 99p item that has been paid for a whole week later.

Hope everyone is ok xx

DedicatedDFW

Payment received and a miscalculation as to what i should leave in paypal = £10 extra to target £100/£300

slowlyfading

It's a big aim, but remember to take care of yourself at the same time

jwil

Good luck with the sorting out. I think it always takes several goes to clear out anyway - you get rid of a few more items each time that you realise you don't like so much after all.

DedicatedDFW

jwil wrote: »

Good luck with the sorting out. I think it always takes several goes to clear out anyway - you get rid of a few more items each time that you realise you don't like so much after all.

I think so to

Pleased with my little self today - after all that faffing about with the life admin stuff today i *did* manage to cram in 2 hours on my OU course :T So that is good and i'll do more tomorrow and aim to catch up on some of the other 10 hours left to do

Also, when i was feeling a bit bleurgh the other week i placed a smattering of bids on the bay of e - VERY ANNOYED :mad: that on a number of things i had my bids cancelled - including the gift item - i think its because i was going to win them on low bids :mad: Anyways i won 1 item for the pricely sum of £1 and it has arrived and is absolutely amazing - pleased with my little bargain there Although i know i shouldn't be spending on stuff :whistle: But i know you'll all appreciate my MSE ness in getting a fab bargain

Rightio bed for me! see you all soon and hope all are well. If i've not cuaght up on anyones diaries lately i'll try and 'pop' in this weekend - i'm just getting caught up after my hols still x

Chocforever

Hi

You sound like you are doing well at the moment. What subject is your OU course in?

I started running a few months ago, then got injured; probably from doing too much too soon. I am just back to normal and have started running again. Like you, I am trying for 5km; a little under that this week but just trying to take it easy.

Take care

DedicatedDFW

October To Do List!

1, Pack bay of e parcels 14 done - 4 to go tomorrow - done and last pesky 1 to go today and then it'll be onto listings! Done! :j

2, Pay Mortgage Done !! :j And sig updated

3, Post bay of e parcels 14 done - 4 to go tomorrow and 1 pesky 1 Done! :j



4, After posting bay of e parcels work out profit for jwil £300 in october challenge £30.62 so far in postage £119 paid into bank = £88.38 with 4 items to post. I also left in paypal £50 fees for this month and last and had to refund an item that was 'covered in pen' it certainly wasn't when posted :mad::mad::mad: Done! £100 profit :j

5, Run 5k 5 days a week 1 run this morning not 5k but its a start Next run tomorrow

6, Sunday complete tax return and POST!!

7, Schedule the couple of extra bits i have for the bay of e This weekend!

8, complete product test read through info. and ready to get on with it on sunday

9, chase cashback grr! :mad: message sent and awaiting response and received response and still awaiting cashback Done! :j For now, if there's no money here by the end of this month i'll chase it again on next months list

10, pay compensation cheque into bank, transfer funds and count to jwil £300 total done! :j £110/£300 is running total to date

11, Start OU and complete at least 2 hours a day tues - fri and at least 4 hours over the weekend each week read through correspondence today - take the plunge tomorrow ! 14hours a week = week 1 6/14

12, Sort out i.e. order and pay for :eek: birthday gifts 2 items ordered 2 to go

13, list book for sale Done! :j

14, Start NVQ and contact tutor contacted - now to start! Tomorrow

15, Pictures to be stored onto external drive

16, clear living room once and for all

17, book MOT Done ! :j Booked in for after next payday

18, complete timetable started

19, Book boiler service in Done! Now it needs paying for

20, Sort out date night

21, Chase Order Done! :j and now have expected delivery date

LAM2011

hi DDFW,

you look as though you are achieving quite a lot on your list.

Free listing this weekend. I only managed to get 3 things on this week and have nothing planned over the weekend so really need to get on with it this weekend.

I still have another year (at least) of debt busting to go before I am debt free but every little helps and you are overpaying on your mortgage too so you are doing great :T