ho hum!

shinytoaster

I am fed up with being and feeling skint.

shinytoaster

Right,

This is it. No more trying and giving up at the first hurdle. I am sick of being skint!

I have just looked at my calendar and am all meal planned up until the middle of next week - up until Thursday 9th. I have petrol in my car and I do not need to buy anything until Friday (I'm going out with friends). The cats have plenty of food in but I might have to buy another bag of cat litter early next week (too cold for the fussiest to pee outside).

Ok. I have three debts (not including student loan and mortgage).

Overdraft - £800. This is being reduced in £50 installments every month at my request.
Credit card - £800

I also have a bank loan but I am not thinking about that until the above have been paid off. My plan is to add the money I make on repayments onto the amount I repay every month.

I work. But it is only part time. Full time jobs in my field are rarer then hens teeth. On the one day I am off I do freelance work but this isn't guaranteed. On a good month I can earn an extra £200. Money I earn goes into my savings account. I'd quite like the money to stay there but the Great Unexpected keeps rearing its ugly head. At the minute, my car is due its MOT and annual service at the end of January so all extra cash is being put to one side just in case the worse happens. Also, my gas and electricity bills are due and I'd rather think that my bill is going to be outrageously expensive than be as cheap as chips. Just in case.

I am hoping to have cleared both debts by Easter and then focus on the dreaded bank loan. One good thing is that the storecard was paid off and cut up a few months ago - yayyy!

I do surveys (not religiously - sometimes they royally do my head in) and I do not spend certain coins. I have a sealed money pot and a few other money boxes as well. When they hit a baggable amount they go into my savings account. I like to think that I will fritter the contents of my my sealed money pot but, knowing me, it will get banked. I don't have much in the way of savings but I have to have something there. I live on my own - all bills are in my name so I have to have some kind of back-up plan.

Over the past few days I have:
+cancelled my lovefilm subscription.
+made a cheeky phonecall to greenflag. The online quote was cheaper than my renewal so they refunded me the difference.
+rejoined my old gym as the monthly subs were a lot cheaper (saving just over £100 a year).
+put lots of extra layers on my bed!
+got a pile of stuff to ebay.
+took some things back to Primark.
+needed more cleanser so I used my Boots points to buy some.

I still feel skint though! I hate it. It just makes me feel gloomy all the time.

elantan

Ahhhh but you are on your way to not being skint .... Surely that feels good?

shinytoaster

I'm just being a tad pessismistic and will feel more positive once these two debts have gone so that I can focus on the bank loan. My mortgage is up for renewal in 2012 and my car is on its way out, too.

It's just that sometimes I feel as though I am going around in circles :S

elantan

Yeah I know that feeling ever decreasing ones

shinytoaster

I am hoping that the ice vanishes by the morning or that it is buried under heaps of snow so that I can stay home for the day

This evening, I did a bit more sorting and had a soak in the tub as I was feeling quite chilly. Now that I am in my pjs, thick socks and my faithful hoodie everything in the world seems dandy.

My fella is coming over tomorrow night - yay. I will have his dinner on the table (I'm old fashioned like that) as he is coming straight from work. I'm doing the chicken curry from The Takeaway Secret with apple crumble for pud (made from scratch). I bought the book on a whim following a thread on here and it has been one of the wisest purchases that I have made. Having said that, their take on kfc is a bit shoddy. We have been playing around with the recipe a bit so no doubt we will perfect it soon.

My hair is a mess - very staticy. It always does this when it has been snowing. A bit wierd I know.

Right, need to make my sandwiches and pack my bag. I am aiming not to nip to the sandwich shop this week - or next for that matter.

n night x

shinytoaster

curry was a success and have a couple portions to freeze for my tea next week - didn't fancy curry for three nights on the trot. Had a really bad day at work - not horrible, just draining and I was really tempted to nip to the sandwich shop and nearest takeaway on the way home but I didn't. Phew!

Done some surveys this evening but only qualified for a few. My fella laughs at me for doing surveys but he keeps forgetting that he is on twice what I earn. In fact, I really don't like his attitude to money - he just sees it as being there for spending and a common response of his is 'buy it' or 'get it'.

Me: Oh that looks nice (or, more usually, I glimse at something)

him: oh get it.

Me: (in my head) er no. I don't need it. Want isn't the same as need. I don't need new things right now. I need my car to pass its MOT next month. I need enough money to pay my bills. I need enough to cover any emergencies. I do not need something that will gather dust. I do not need a new shiny thing and I don't let him buy me stuff either. Well, he does but I never ask or set the scene either. I just can't. I'm not like that.

Walking around the shops is a nightmare with him. Going to the supermarket is just as bad because he just acts as though he is on Supermarket Sweep. I adore him but he has no concept of money. Life has never been a struggle for him and he just doesn't understand why I'm not flash with the cash. Well, I don't have it tbh but you know what I mean.

Anyway, I bought him something for Christmas from play.com via quidco. I got the tracking email and it said that my cashback for it is zero pounds and zero pence This bl00dy playstation game thingy cost fiftyquid. I do hope that I get something for it. If not, then nevermind - it isn't end of the world stuff.

Some time later ...
I got two squiddle cashback for it

EssexHebridean

Welcome to diary-land Shinytoaster!

elantan's comment about being on your way to not being skint is spot on - "Listen to El for she is wise!" - that is exactly what you are doing, so focus on the positive "This time in xx months I will have no debt" rather than the negative "I'm skint!" Easier said than done though I know.

No chance you can reclaim PPI on your loan I take it?

shinytoaster

Thanks They are wise words and words I should keep repeating to myself.

I haven't got it on my bankloan as it was taken out 18 months ago - a bad break-up (he was a g1t and I was foolish) resulted in me taking it out to consolidate and then I went on the heartbreak shopping spree. Got nothing to show for it though save a moggie (who is fab and worth every penny and a heap more).

Once I have cleared my overdraft and credit card I can focus my energies on getting rid of it.

beanielou

You are making good steps on your journey to debt freedom

shinytoaster

Thank eff it is the weekend!

I went out last night with the girls as the xmas market was on. I spent:
£3.50 - tram ticket
£5.50 - hot chocolate with Baileys. Pricey, I know but I was freezing and wanted to keep the mug.
£10.35 - tea in Nando's. I got my card stamped as well.
Total: £19.35. Ouch.

Mind you, I saw lots of nice things on the stalls but I didn't buy anything. Tbh, a lot of it was overpriced tat ...

Todays jobs:
+list a few things on ebay
+do the dreaded internet banking
+complete the surveys sitting in my inbox. Have finally broken the 4000 barrier on yougov. Taken a blinkin' age to get there. I do not want to hazard a guess how long the final 1000 points will take to amass!

I have declared today to be a pj day so I am not setting foot outside