The “arrgggh it’s nearly Xmas” November NSD challenge

butdoineedit?

Keiss, you're so clever all your crafts are lovely & i especially love the socks, they look like they will be toasty warm in this weather!!

Kate, enjoy your weekend away, sounds like you really deserve it!!

Spent today as predicted on naughty cakes for my dad coming & also picked up some mushrooms & a bottle of guiness as i decided to heave the enormous leg of beef out the freezer to cook while he's here, so tomorrow will be slow cooked sliced beef in giant yorkshires with gravy & saturday will be a beef mushroom & guiness pie with (hopefully) enough of the pie filling left to send my dad home with some beef stew, am really chuffed as it means he gets great food & it's cost me next to nothing :j

Now i have to make a confession..... :eek: i'm a bit scared!!
Today i have paid off all my credit cards :j the bad bit is that i did it with an extension to my mortgage :eek:
I've read so many times on here that this isn't the recommended thing which is why i'm a bit scared to confess, but here goes this is the logic behind doing it...
When i bought my house (my dad paid the deposit bless him) i bought a wreck knowing that it would make me money as i would be happy to work incredibly hard on doing all the DIY myself. Originally i thought i would sell it as soon as it was done, pay off the debts & buy somewhere else. However i love what i've done so far & really want to stay put as it's so close to work it saves me a fortune on travel & i'm able to pop home for lunch so never have to spend any money on food during the day (i use up every single bit of leftovers this way ). I've looked around & at the mo if i bought another house it would be more expensive anyway unless i moved areas & i love the sense of community here far too much to leave it behind!
The work has increased the value so much that i still have 20% equity (& probably more once the bathroom is finished). The interest rate on the borrowing is lower than the credit cards.
I have no intention of increasing my budget for living expenses, so all the money i have saved now i'm not paying the cards will go on overpayments (1st on the big loan that i couldn't cover with the further borrowing) & then on the mortgage, to reduce the impact of the extra borrowing.
I will still chase NSD's with the same passion i have been doing, as i really believed that i have changed my attitude towards money & don't want for the sake of having any more.
I can't re-spend on the credit cards as i closed them all months back to reject the rate rises, so these debts are dead & gone & there is no way i will apply for any more credit.
Truthfully all i feel is relief that i have more control, but please someone tell me i'm not totally stupid for doing this....

Sorry for the essay, but feel so much better now i'm not lying to you all!!!

tjp70

BDINI - Don't fret. I think you have done the most sensible thing. The credit cards are gone and your dedication to nsd's will keep you on the straight and narrow. Enjoy your house now, knowing that it will be yours for a long time.

Keiss_21

BDINI...me and DH have done this too, so you are not alone ! It certainly got us out of a hole and enabled us to do some further work on the house, with only a relatively low mortgage payment increase.

butdoineedit?

tjp70 wrote: »

BDINI - Don't fret. I think you have done the most sensible thing. The credit cards are gone and your dedication to nsd's will keep you on the straight and narrow. Enjoy your house now, knowing that it will be yours for a long time.

Keiss_21 wrote: »

BDINI...me and DH have done this too, so you are not alone ! It certainly got us out of a hole and enabled us to do some further work on the house, with only a relatively low mortgage payment increase.

Thanks both of you, it's very reassuring to hear this, i'm going to have sweet dreams now about further debt busting & not feeling panic every time i check my bank balance in the week leading up to payday!!

cw18

Managed my 2nd NSD today

Struggled to drag myself out of bed this morning - and then had to give myself a real good kick up the behind to make me go out for a run (5.36 miles today). Then home, short 'potter around', lunch, change and work.

Came home from work, had a brew and a banana, and as I started to sort myself out for the dog walk my DD phoned.... An hour and a bit later I continued to get ready for the dog walk

By the time we got back from that (3 miles) I was feeling hungry - so tea was made and eaten. And by then Mr M was closed, so even if there'd been anything tempting in reductions when I left (which there wasn't) I couldn't have gone back out to check if they were still available


As well as my large order yesterday, I also picked up the potatoes and lettuce on my 'money put to one side' list.... I did get a 5kg bag of spuds rather than the 2.5kg I'd planned on, but the lettuce was Whoopsied which will help with the extra I've used from that pot for the spuds. I also added a further 40p to that pot, as I realised while making tea on Tuesday I'd forgotten that I'd need some more frozen mixed veg from Mr T (36p) before next Thursday.

Tonight I picked up the 'money put to one side' bananas as I left work, and they came in slightly cheaper than I'd allowed for - so slightly more available to offset the extra spent on the spuds.

Off to have a last munch (loads of cals left over the past 4 days which isn't good, and my fat intake today is still a bit low - probably going to have a handful of raw peanuts which should help from both angles), then I'm off to bed. I have to get up with my alarm(s) tomorrow as I have to be at the local hospital in time for my 8:40 physio appt

kerri_gt

Evening all, just nipping in very quickly to say hello. Not a NSD for me today, bought some pears from the market for £1.50 and some pancakes + crumpets from Mr T for £1 as I fancied something cake like for the afternoon at work....then remembered I had some crumble in the fridge - doh!!! Had to fill up with petrol tonight too.

Hoping for a NSD tomorrow, can't think of anything I really need. Thinking of getting some of the crafty bits I need for Xmas on Sat so I might pop to the big Mr T and stock up on beans (buy 1 get 2 free) AND some cheese (didn't realise that was also on offer and I am a HUGE chees fiend) - will have to be strong though as it's a Tesco Extra and sooooo easy to get sidetracked.

Night all! x

kdalwayskint

ooh

I'm not doing very well!

Not a single NSD yet fingers crossed I will be able to get the first one tomorrow!

I have made a start on the christmas shopping though! :rotfl:

kerri_gt

...me again - I've just remembered something slightly odd that I saw today on Amazon....

Planning to get a cook book for my SIL Xmas (hope she's not reading this) :rotfl:. Looking previously on Amazon I thought it was £13. When I looked at the weekend, it was £11.97 :j I can get an Amazon voucher from a shop n scan thing I take part in, plus can make up the rest by using some of my Nectar points. Ordered my Amazon nectar voucher this morning (can take 3 days), had a quick look back on Amazon and it was £12.99 ...odd I thought... perhaps I got my sites mixed up...THEN when I checked later it was £12.29 - and I deff didn't imagine the prev price - have no idea what drives the price changes and something I have never noticed before, and although it's not a huge price change - I found it a little odd.

solventsoon

tjp70 wrote: »

BDINI - Don't fret. I think you have done the most sensible thing. The credit cards are gone and your dedication to nsd's will keep you on the straight and narrow. Enjoy your house now, knowing that it will be yours for a long time.

Keiss_21 wrote: »

BDINI...me and DH have done this too, so you are not alone ! It certainly got us out of a hole and enabled us to do some further work on the house, with only a relatively low mortgage payment increase.

butdoineedit? wrote: »

Thanks both of you, it's very reassuring to hear this, i'm going to have sweet dreams now about further debt busting & not feeling panic every time i check my bank balance in the week leading up to payday!!

Hi BDINI, don't panic, I think what you've done is extremely sensible in your circumstances. The only danger would be running up more debt on other credit cards but I don't think you're likely to do that. Good for you, no more credit card debt hanging over your shoulders, celebrate and have a lovely (and NSD) weekend with your dad - can I come for tea on Saturday, pretty please:D:D:D:D

spoon x

solventsoon

Keiss_21 wrote: »

For Spoon and anyone else who is interested.

Here is what I have been knitting the past month while I have been ill and stuck at home.

...and here are my latest cross-stitch projects that I am working on.

Hi Keiss, wow you have been a busy bee. I love the socks (I'm definitely going to have a go now, my feet are always freezing) and the beanie hats are great. Your cross stitch pictures are brilliant - I especially love the cat one. Just a suggestion - if you wanted to use a red frame for your sister's present (I think it would look great), you could use some enamel paint and paint the wooden one when it arrives. I've done that in the past when I needed a coloured frame and couldn't find the right size and it works a treat.

You've inspired me. I have umpteen projects on the go which I haven't touched for ages.. going to dig them out again and carry on where I left off.

Thanks for the piccies:j:j
spoon x