Sashybo - Stray thoughts amongst the wilderness of debt

sashybo

Made one catnip mouse yesterday for the cats and started another but then went out for a browse around the shops with my mum. The cats seemed to like the mouse and spent some time sooking it to death. :rotfl:

Had a training course today instead of a late shift at work. :j So a nice short(ish) day for me. Only 6 late shifts to go now. :eek:

Bought a couple of pairs of slipper socks for Christmas presents after finishing the course but then couldn't be bothered going to any more shops. Wore my new very warm jacket but it's still not really cold enough and I end up roasting, especially going in and out of shops.

Bought OH a wool coat as part of his Christmas yesterday - it was down from £150 to £75 and is very nice and smart. Had to get him to try it on though as he is very fussy with clothes and I wasn't sure on the sizing either.

Finally paid the £100 cashback off the cc today taking it down to a much more manageable £178. :j

Have I went into the saga of the PS3? I can't remember if I did but ours broke a couple of weeks ago after only having it for under 3 years.

OH contacted the place we got it and they didn't want to know because it was out of warranty - take it up with Sony blah blah. OH being OH went and investigated and found if it was a manufacturing fault then they would have to help us out with it.

So he got an engineer's report - which found it was a manufacturing fault. The best deal he could get with the retailer was a part refund of £150 plus the fee for the engineer's report. :j:j So enough (plus some Amazon vouchers from surveys) to buy a new PS3. :T Well done that man. :T

gilligansyle

I saw that sock monkey on FB - its a really different one.

Well done on getting the PS3 sorted, we had a saga a while ago with an Xbox 360 that originally had one fault, was repaired under warranty and then came back and instantly had what is known as RROD - fatal. We managed to get it repaired.

sashybo

Hi gilli - yes it's certainly a unique monkey. :rotfl:

Managed 20 mins of yoga this morning but was too lazy to do any yesterday. Was quite sore after a full shift sitting at work though so am hoping the yoga this morning will help a bit.

Have ordered another £20 of Boots vouchers from another survey site, so that will go towards presents I was going to buy anyway. :j

Only another 5 late shifts to go, oh well. :cool:

sashybo

Only two more late shifts to go.

Going to head to town on Wednesday morning and do a bit more Christmas shopping using my vouchers. Have got about half of it done and a good idea of what I need to get to finish it off.

Also need to start another sock monkey for part of my brother's present.

Have been quite lazy on the exercise front though so will need to get started with that again.

Went to the library before work the other day and got some books I've been looking for for a while so was quite excited about that.

Still really want the boots I saw and am thinking of trying them on when I go into town later in the week. They have 20% off atm and I have about £40 from surveys I could put towards them - but would still have to find another £70. Hmm. Have been looking for nice boots for over a year now so am swithering.

Just under two weeks to payday. :j

sashybo

Back to work for seven early shifts tomorrow - hate getting up at 5am. :eek:

Well I tried the boots on. But couldn't buy them as I couldn't get them to zip up (knee high boots). :eek: Apparently they are made for people with twigs for legs. I wouldn't say I have terribly chubby calves but have had this problem with more and more boots over the last few years. Really struggling to find any that will zip up. :eek:

But on the bright side, I didn't spend £110 that I didn't have since the boots didn't fit.

Managed to get another few bits towards presents, mostly using vouchers which was nice. :j

Have had a fairly lazy day today - only stripped the bed, put clean sheets on and did a washing. Went out for some food shopping when OH got back from work and that's about it.

Really need to start exercising again - have gotten out of the habit and I think I've probably gained any weight I lost. Grr.

sashybo

Lovely 5am alarm for me this morning, work was fine though.

Came home and cleaned the bathroom, cleaned out the cat litter and put a washing on. OH was home early so he made me a late lunch/early dinner which was nice.

Browsing for a few things towards Christmas just now and OH out for a few drinks. Have a wee finishing touch for OH's gran's sock monkey then it can be packed up and sent off next week for her birthday. :T

Not much to report money-wise, looking forward to payday next week.

sashybo

Feeling very tired but only two more 5am alarms to go then five days off. :j Plus payday on Friday. :j

OH's gran's monkey packaged up and ready to go - hope it survives the journey okay.

Did 20 mins of yoga yesterday and was feeling quite stiff so was nice to stretch out a bit. Planning on some yogalates tomorrow after work but have to go to the post office and have a few things to do in town as well so will see how it goes.

Barclaycard sitting at £160 - so have paid off most of the washing machine and should clear the card by the end of the year, hopefully. :T

sashybo

Absolutely horrible weather here the last couple of days - heavy rain and wind, plus it's feeling very cold.

Went out and did a bit of shopping with my mum today, had a nice lunch and a cocktail as well. Got soaked heading for the train on the way in - not so nice.

No yogalates done as just so tired - wanted to just curl up with a blanket, the cats and a book for the last few days. Plus have been soaked several times which didn't help my exercise enthusiasm.

Only have a few more things to get then my Christmas shopping is done. :j Need to start the sock monkey for my brother this weekend.

Paid £40 off the cc (plus interest) today since it's payday - balance now at £120. :T

Other debt balances are looking quite good as well, will need to do a proper money post at some point soon just to let myself see what we have achieved this year - we should start the new year owing just over £7000 - if my quick calculations are right. :j Bloody NR loan being £6000 of that. :mad: Need to look into whether it can be overpaid actually as want rid of it!

sashybo

Have had a relaxing few days and just not stressing out too much - back to work tomorrow (already!). The weather has been too horrible to do much anyway - nasty heavy rain and howling wind - just want to stay at home all nice and warm.

Went to visit my sister and two nephews and nieces yesterday afternoon so had fun playing with them. The twins (3yo) were dressing up - one twin as a princess (with the sock monkey I made her dressed in a matching princess dress :rotfl:) and the other dressed as a power ranger. Guess we have a tomboy on our hands. The boys were play fighting as usual - on the living room floor. :eek: Almost impossible to have a conversation in that house as the noise levels keep going up and up. :eek: Me and sister were shouting at each other across the room at one point. :rotfl:

Came home and OH helped me make a chicken casserole with dumplings for dinner which was quite nice. Thinking of cheese and onion pasties tonight but will see how much of a cooking mood I'm in.

Had a nice lie in and then read in bed with a cup of tea for about an hour. Was lovely and warm and didn't want to get up.

Did 10 mins of cardio this morning (dance dvd) then 20 mins of yoga - feeling a bit sore as haven't done any exercise in quite a while. Weighed myself and haven't put on any weight which is good, somehow seem to have maintained the small weight loss I had before I hurt my back. :j

Need to start the sock monkey for my brother today as it's for Christmas and not long to go now. :eek: Just need to buy some clothes for my nieces and nephews, a shirt for OH and something for OH's gran then my Christmas shopping is done. :j

Then it's the wrapping. A three year old could wrap presents neater than me - my presents generally look like a chimpanzee has wrapped them then thrown them about a bit as well. :rotfl::o

Had a quick look at our debt totals today and we are at £7669 now which is amazing considering we started the year at £13484. :j Will do a proper money post once the December payments have gone out and then will know exactly how much has been paid off in 2011. My pads total roughly £968 this year so far so would like to get this to at least £1000 for the year.

Had a talk with OH about increasing our monthly payment to NR to get rid of the loan quicker. He has suggested that once we finish our DMP ( June 2012) we should pay an extra £100 p/m to NR, taking the monthly payment to them to £250. On playing about with the snowball calculator this would cut the repayment time down by about a year and a half which is pretty good. :j

sashybo

Well I wasn't in a cooking mood last night so OH made us cheese & mushroom omelette and potato wedges for dinner.

Have done 10 mins cardio this morning and 20 mins of yogalates. Woke up feeling a bit achey which shows how long it's been since I did any proper exercise.

Back to work on late shift today and it's probably going to be hellish due to the terrible weather. Just praying it doesn't snow now because that just makes things at work even worse. :eek:

Our factors have very helpfully sent us our quarterly bill (roughly £150) with £200 whacked on top due to bad debt elsewhere within the development. :mad: So we have to pay an extra £200 right before Christmas because there are other people who can't/won't pay their factor fees. :mad: Unfortunately we need to pay it but will be splitting it across two months. Have still had to take some money from the car savings to manage that though. :mad: