Lisa's Debt Diary - The Beginning!

lvm

I have taken the plunge! Just switched phone line to BT and got the cheap deal by paying £120 for the full year. Now got to wait til that's switched over and get the O2 broadband sorted for 6 months free then £12.50 a month after that. Saving £72 over the next 12 months and HOPEFULLY if my phoneline is switched before 31st July I'd be able to get an extra £50 cashback. Curret estimate is 5th August though so not looking positive. Fingers crossed the deal is extended or something.

So that's 4 and 1/2 hours of work time spent changing bills and stuff...better actually go and do some work now...so can't be bothered!!

lvm

Well little update seen as I'm totally bored out my skull and have nothing to do :-(

So...update on the phone/broadband switch - phone line changed over but I didn't realise Sky automatically cancelled broadband at the same time so I'm now Internetless (well...not completely as luckily my Mum and Dad have BT Broadband and I've got their login details and because someone in my building has a BT hub I have managed to connect! Thank God!). So O2 should be up and running by 11th August - roll on no broadband payments for the next 6 months! Woo hoo!!

My next moneysaving aim....my sister is off to work at the other side of the world for the next 2 years and my Mum and Dad are hoping to go visit in February. So looking to save some money to pay for a 2 week holiday in Dubai. Reckon I could do it for £1000. First step to make some cash = bought my sister's car for £650. She's a tad on the naiive side and doesn't realise it's worth about £1200-£1300. Nice little profit for me!

Waiting on my payment for sending my phones away - that was around £50 if I remember correctly.

Still doing the betting but not as much as I was. Reckon I could make the other £500 if I kept at it a bit more. Need to sell some stuff in my flat too - seem to have loads of junk I don't use.

Have applied for an RBS instant access savings account so I can easily transfer money there and I know I won't touch it.

If I had any motivation at all, I would get myself together and quickly take some photos and put stuff on eBay or Gumtree tonight...there's still time I suppose!

lvm

I've done well already...within about 30 mins of putting something on Gumtree, someone called and is coming to pay £50 tomorrow morning!

Wish I'd have put more than the one item on there now! Oh well...might have the time during the week!

At least that's the first £50 for my new holiday savings account...Woo Hoo!

lvm

Looks like saving for my wee trip may not be as difficult as I thought.

After selling a small TV for £50 this morning, I put an old Blackberry on Gumtree and within an hour had sold it for £30. Put some expenses through for my work travel (I always budget for spending £100 a month on fuel and don't budget for getting any back even though I get about double the cost!) and that's £178.30 I'll get for just a few wee journeys.

So that's £258.30 to go into my holiday savings account when it's opened.

Have put a few more things on Gumtree but think I'm probably asking for too much.

Got a bet ending tonight but the odds were shocking so only making about £30 profit. Still, money is money and I won't complain!

Wish all my Quidco and Topcashback money would hurry up and pay out. Got over £150 in Quidco now and about £85 in TCB. Have about £100 in another Quidco account I used when doing someone else's betting too but they seems to take months. That would be over £300 for my holiday as well.

Just my luck I'll make all this money - enough to go on holiday - and I'd grudge paying that much for just a 2 week shindig so I'll keep it in a savings account!

Off to try and flog some more rubbish!

lvm

Back from work (having not done much at all!) and I'm totally obsessing over how to complete my little savings plan.

So savings already earned:

TV & Phone sold £80
Expense Due £178.30
Phone Recycling £59.80

Sub-total £318.10

Potential car sale £500
eBay stuff £100
Sell vouchers from Shop&Scan £20

Total £938.10

So if all that goes to plan I'll just need £61.90 to meet my £1k! Hopefully I can get a little extra for the car or I will look harder for some mystery shops.

I'll be posting a lot more regularly until I get to the end of my plan :-)

Footiemad_2

Hi LVM

I having reading but not writing. Just want to say fab job and so quick. I am sure it wont be long before you hit your target

lvm

Footiemad wrote: »

Hi LVM

I having reading but not writing. Just want to say fab job and so quick. I am sure it wont be long before you hit your target

Thanks Footiemad! I hope so!

Footiemad_2

Your most welcome.

Dont know what I am doing up at this unearthly hour :eek: should be in bed!!!:D

I know you will do it. You have managed to sort so much since you started your diary chick;)

lvm

So...logged into RBS account this morning to find my new savings account had been added! Woo hoo!

Have so far transferred the money from phone recycling and my expenses in there so I've got £238.10. Need to get to the bank of Monday to deposit £80 cash from the TV and phone I sold, bringing it to £318.10. I've decreased my Quidco payout so I'll have £53.99 on the next payment run. So a £372.09 total. At least another 2 weeks til I get the car to sell so will spend all day tomorrow putting stuff on eBay hoping for a wee bit extra cash.

Hopefully some other wee transfers from mystery shops I've done will appear soon too and got a couple of referral fees from betting that shouldn't take too long.

Bad news is my lodger moved out (I'm beginning to think there's something wrong with me that I can't keep someone for longer than 2 months!). Been a few enquiries annd viewings but no-one properly interested yet :-(

There may be some opportunity for me to move out my flat and part-run a B&B - early stages and may not happen any time soon but it would mean that even after taxes and stuff I'd be £340 better off than if I was here and having a lodger as I wouldn't need to pay anything for rent. I might even get some extra income on top for running the place out of hours. Needless to say I'll be updating my little diary here if it all goes through! And that's another reason I will need to sell as much stuff I possible can - I hate moving so the less I have the better!

Happy weekend everyone! x

Footiemad_2

Hi lvm

I do hope the BB thing comes off for you. People are strange..dont worry about the lodgers coming and going and at this rate look on the bright side, its one less thing to have to concern yourself with should you start your new venture and not have someone moaning at you for the short notice.

Well done on the savings. Have a good weekend yourself.