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

jwil

Wow, 3 hours travelling would be enough to shatter anyone on top of a working day.

Good luck with getting that last £67 - you can do it!

brizzledfw

Being too tired makes everything a struggle. Know how hard it is to travel ( do a lot of hours and travel myself) especially in the winter so hope you feel lighter and brighter as the days get longer again. Maybe as you say a new job with a shorter commute might be worth thinking about..how long have you been at your current place?

DedicatedDFW

Hi everyone

Hi brizzled, I have been at the job for several months now and am definitely looking for something new :cool:

Hi jwil - Eep! The £67 has morphed into a new figure :eek: Picked up a letter yesterday and its a bill that needs to be paid. This was after I took a call from work which was to let me know I wouldn't be needed for some of my hours (on the p/t work) so thats £76.50 to find, plus, and I had completely not thought of this. In my f/t work I have to work different hours over xmas which means paying more for my travel fare - by more than double :eek: so thats another £40 to find before end of year.

Total of £183.50 to be found :eek::eek::eek:

Got a redeem through from BP which is fab

DedicatedDFW

Hi Everyone!

I hope everyone had a lovely Xmas. :snow_grin

Well, where to begin... I haven't posted in ages and this was mostly due to travel chaos The weather has been affecting transport meaning I have been travelling to and fro to work for much longer than usual - including my part-time work so hardly had time for anything other than a quick catch up.

So today has seen me doing a deep clean of the lounge - I didn't have time before Xmas - worked right up to yesterday and then yesterday was spent visiting everyone which was lovely. Feel better now its all clean in here though :A

Am just going through the wonderful presents I received yesterday and sorting out putting these away.

Am also pondering my targets in the coming months

InaPickle

Hi Dedicated! :wave:

A very merry belated Christmas to you, and here's to a great 2011 while I'm at it. :beer:

Sorry to hear that the snow has been causing problems, but well done on soldiering through.

Hope you got lots of lovely presents!

jwil

Happy New Year DDFW, here's to a great 2011! :beer:

DedicatedDFW

Hi Pickle, Jwil and everyone else Hope everyone had a fab Xmas and wish you all that you wish for yourself in 2011 :D

Well, OH has just gone out so I'm able to post on here . Am feeling ratherly focused today so I have decided that rather than having some resolutions which are somewhat vague I will put these into a series of categories. Whilst knowing what I want to achieve from these over the next 12months I will set myself 12 30 day challenges - like the 50 day challenge which I participated in and was really successful for me :j:j

So the next post will be my aims for the next 30days.

DedicatedDFW

30 Day Target January

1, CRAFT – finish using all wool in wool basket that can be made into something and purchase wool (e-bay) for next wool project to start in February – this time something more substantial – a cardi.

2, MONEY
– BILLS - sort out what I owe (again!)
- SAVINGS - keep up to date with Jwils challenge. :j
- Open savings account for big hol savings :j
- MORTGAGE: - Overpay at least £26 month and aim to have overpaid by a minimum of £1000 by end of year. :cool: Ideally I'd like this to be more but we will wait and see

3, FOOD – ensure don’t overspend on food budget. Buy ingredients each week to do 1 lot of batch cooking each Saturday that I am not in work. This will have the double impact of having freezer ready meals and also should anyone call round they can easily be accommodated for tea.

4, HEALTH/FITNESS/ME – On this one I need to book in at the docs this month just to check my medicine is still at the correct dosage. Running – need to do this – have absolutely no funds for the gym and whilst considering everything I want to achieve and what used to making me happy being slim was definitely in there. So, have running shoes at the ready and aim for 8 runs by end of Jan. The ME part is looking after myself more – painting my toe nails as a treat every week – which is something I always used to do. Using products to improve my skin and hair etc. A lot of this went by the way side when my income plummeted but I NEED to feel good about myself. So trips to the hairdressers will somehow have to be afforded. I did try colouring my own hair and it was awful :rotfl:

5, HOME – List all of the jobs that need doing and start on this. Loft ladders being essential and not as expensive as some of the other things will be Januarys target. Also get quote for guttering.

6, FRIENDS – see friends more, have people over for a meal more often and maybe put on a bit of a spread later in the year for OH family. Take advantage of opportunities to make new friends by putting myself in new situations.

7, GARDEN – Target for Jan is to tidy up garden from winter. Later in the year I want to be growing my veg again and get a shed for OH. – This will help with keeping house tidy too as all tools and projects will have a proper place to live. :cool:

8, DEGREE – January to have read all set books except text books as these will only make sense as I focus my study.

9, VOLUNTARY WORK – aim for the end of the year is to have worked 6 voluntary days, currently this is dependent on a response being received for my application so there is nothing any more active I can do at the mo.

10, WORK – Aim is to be in a new job by the end of the year. So January is to re-do my CV and look for a new job whilst applying for any available training at work.

11, ADVENTURES! - This is for me to go out to new places and see new things. January will be hard as it is just after xmas but I will see what I can come up with. By the end of the year I want to have been white water rafting, on the tree-tops challenge, quad biking...

DedicatedDFW

I will update the progress I make in these areas. So, in view of the loft ladders as I mentioned previously this money will have to come from sold e-bay items so will be listing some items either later today or tomorrow to try and get this fund started :cool:

I will also order my wool from e-bay if I'm luck enough to get this at the right price This will put me in a good position for next month. i will crack on with some knitting today though.

I will do some work on the garden in the morning and then shower and do a bit of pampering

Now I'd best get on with washing some pots though :A

DedicatedDFW

Well, Have just updated my sig so feeling more organised and challenge focused

What I think I will do is put in my 3 targets which are what I want to pay off as part of the £10,000 challenge - will actually involve paying off substantially more than this due to the horrid interest :mad:

Also, have just purchased the S&G set on the grabbit board :whistle: My thinking is this: - the set is fab and a HUGE saving and I am happy with everything in there except maybe 1 item so I can do 1 of 4 things: -
1) Keep everything I like and use for a bit of pampering and sell the 1 item I don't like on e-bay :cool:
2) Could just list on e-bay if I change my mind
3) Give it all as a big and fabby gift for a birthday gift
4) Break it down into 3 smaller gift sets for people :cool:

So a good purchase no matter what I decide to go ahead and do really

I have also been getting on with some knitting. Need to rummage around in my basket but I have a suspicion that there is more in there than what there is month left so will need to spend more time or get a bit quicker to stay on target :rotfl::rotfl: