Jamiedodger's Sparkly New 2011 Diary

JAMIEDODGER

Morning:)

Yesterday I joined the 1 debt in 100 days challenge. I am aiming to pay £600 off my credit card by 3rd August. This worked out at £8.96 per day from yesterday until the end so 67 days in total. I have just actioned a payment from Quidco for funds that were sitting in my account for £3.63, plus the payment of £7 yesterday. As soon as my cashback is confirmed from the post office I will send the other £7.46 that is tracked to the credit card too, hopefully this will be before 3rd August. I will be paying in that cheque for £3.05 and transferring that across to credit card too.

I will only count the payments once they have actually been sent to credit card, so that means so far I have managed £7/£600. There should be some more money to send this week, depending on how much I come in under budget. I am not sure how much interest will be added on to my credit card before 3rd August but any balance left over to be paid I will aim to pay off when the new challenge starts on 4th August.

I also have over £14 in penny jar, so will be paying this into account just before 3rd august plus any that I have put in between now and then, this can go towards the balance.

Any cash balance that I have left on Tuesday (the end of my week) I will also send to credit card, it should be around £18.

I am aiming on listing some items on eBay this evening, I have about 15 to list, any money made from this will go to credit card balance.

I do think I can manage this. It might be a little tight but I am sure I can do it. I love a good challenge anyway:D

Yesterday was another NSD:) Stayed away from the shops all day and kept my purse shut! i made a chilli for dinner and 3 portions went in the freezer for next weeks dinners. I still have plenty of food in stock so this weeks food bill should be a good one!

JAMIEDODGER

Just transferred over todays £8.96 to credit card so balance now at £15.96/£600.

I am hoping that I can do this everyday and also any extra payments in will be a bonus and get me to the £600 quicker and also pay off some of that interest.

JAMIEDODGER

Morning:)

£13.30 sent to credit card this morning, so £29.26 paid so far.

Will be making today a NSD again.

£17.70 in my purse as of this morning. I paid for McDonalds yesterday, plus parking and more! Raffle tickets, this time for DS3 school. Money and tickets in his school bag ready for next week!

It was a bit manic here yesterday afternoon, so I didn't get a chance to sit at the computer to eBay, however I am aiming to do scheduled listings for next sunday throughout the week.

Need to get DS1 up for his paper round shortly. It is raining here so no chance of getting any washing on the line. I have two loads on the airer and will do another two tonight. I will be playing catch up all week unless the sun comes out very soon!

Think I will do macaroni cheese for dinner tonight. I have got some jelly out of the cupboard to make up this morning for pudding tonight. I will be running out of milk during the next 24 hours, so my planned NSD for tomorrow will not happen. I think I have also run out of apples for DS3, so I will get those tomorrow too.

I don't expect I will get to the bank this week to pay in that cheque, so have planned that into my 'town' day for next week, to minimise the amount of days I need to go there I will be doing all chores on one day to save on parking fees. I also have two out of town trips next week as both DS1&3 have hospital dental appointments on separate days and I will have to pay for two lots of parking!

Still playing around with the budget, hoping I can make some more savings although I think I am pretty much doing all I can at the moment.

Joined June NSD challenge yesterday, I have signed up for 16 NSD's so will be planning any spending throughout the month very carefully. I like challenges as they make me more focused.

JAMIEDODGER

I've just done a clearout of my purse and now it just has my one debit card in it which is to the account my weekly household/personal money gets paid into, plus my nectar, boots and matalan cards and my remaining money from this weeks 'wages'. I have hidden away my one remaining credit card.

I am hoping that now I have joined in a load of challenges that this debt will get paid off a bit quicker!

JAMIEDODGER

Happy Tuesday! (although it feels like a monday:))

No NSD for me today. I will be nipping to the shops this morning for milk and apples and then depositing the remainder into my sealed pot.

£1 sent to the £365 challenge and £1 for yesterday and I will be trying to pay the £1 per day for the first half of the year to catch up too. I also paid £13.31 paid to credit card for 100 days challenge. I feel quite positive that I can do it this time.

Off to Butlins tomorrow, will also be drawing out my weekly 'wage'. I have a list of everything that needs to be paid out within the week 1/6 - 7/6 and there should be some money left for the sealed pot by the end of the week:) I have emptied my penny pot into the sealed pot so there is already £14 in there.

I am also going to join the £2 challenge starting this week. I used to do this when I first joined the site and remember it adding up quite quickly. I will need to make another 'pot' for this, so will be flexing my 'blue peter' skills again some point today! Will be joining the Grocery Challenge for June too, to batter down the spending in the supermarket.

The sun is shining nicely today so will give me a chance to catch up on all the washing I have got behind on, I may even mow the lawn!

I have been inputting my figures into a spreadsheet and I should be able to clear the balance of my card by the end of the month, then it will be on to the next one. I will be having another look at all the figures today and playing around with them again.

It will be a freezer tea tonight, as I have quite a few things that need using up. I may do ice cream for pudding. Tomorrow it will be tea at Butlins.

JAMIEDODGER

Realised I have been paying too much on my BT bill so have just reduced monthly amount saving £9.50 per month:)

JAMIEDODGER

Ive done quite well today. After my £1 to 365 challenge and £13.31 to credit card for 100 day challenge I have managed to get a £2 coin this afternoon, spend less than £4 in the shop, transfer £10.87 into my sealed pot and use mostly stuff in the store cupboard for dinner. I am having a tin of chicken soup that I found lurking at the back of the cupboard and the kids have had various bits and pieces. A great start!

Also realised that a direct debit I was paying, finishes this month, so have adjusted spreadsheet for future months to reflect the £23.65 per month gain. This will be money going to the credit card next month:)

JAMIEDODGER

Just listed 6 items on eBay. It's a start, hoping I get a bit of money for them, not sure what I will use it for!

JAMIEDODGER

Up very early this morning, DS3 thought it would be a good idea to wake me up and ask me if he could play the wii, at 4.45am. Bless him.

Payday today. I have sent my weekly allowance to my santander account and paid £100 to my credit card which means my 100 day challenge has just jumped to £142.57/£600. I don't think I will be able to make another payment until next wednesday when I get paid again.

When I withdraw my money later today I will put the £1 away for the £365 challenge.

So, start of a new month.

Aiming for good things this month:

- Clear this months statement balance on my capital one card meaning I will pay no interest. There will only be a small amount left to pay when the next bill comes in at the end of June, which won't need paying until middle of July.

- Keep within my £350 allowed grocery budget. This should have the added benefit of leaving me some extra money each week to put into the sealed pot every tuesday

- Make a start on the next card and try and pay off £200.

- Aim to get 9 more £2 coins, making it 10 in total = £20 saved. I will be doing this by asking for them in my change:)

- Keep to my 16 NSD's for June. I will not be counting direct debits, or anything linked to paying into a challenge. This will be purely days that I manage not to spend actual money from my weekly allowance. I will also be trying to make sure I do all my town trips on one day per week, to cut down the amount of spend days. Hopefully this will be achievable.

- Continue with my £1 per day into pot for 365 challenge. 30 days in June so £30. I am playing catch up with this so any extra £1's I can put in there I will.

- Buy the currency for our holiday, at a good rate and the last two suitcases. I am borrowing plug adapters from a friend. I also want to start making a 'packing list' so nothing will be forgotten.

I managed to list 7 items on eBay in the end yesterday. One has 1 watcher and another is selling for 99p so far. This will be excellent if I can make a little money from this. I am considering what I should put it to, I may just leave it in account and when all my extra's from quidco/GM and other sources add up to a decent amount, I will pay it off my card:)

Off to Butlins today. DS3 is very excited. It will be a big spend day as I have a lot to pay out. I need to get some food shopping in too but will be buying very wisely this week. I actually don't think I will need to buy any petrol out of this weeks money as we are not really going to use the car much this week and there is still 1/2 a tank of petrol left. This will be a big bonus if I can get away without any this week. It will help with my cashflow as it is an expensive week for me.

I am hoping to have my first NSD of June tomorrow. Have to stay in as I have the HA workmen round to fix the door in DS1 bedroom. So will be staying away from the shops. Will have to spend on friday, but am also hoping for NSD's on both the weekend days.

Right, I have the budget set for this week, cashpoint card at the ready to withdraw my allowance later, lets see if I can beat my own budget this week and get some pennies for that sealed pot!

JAMIEDODGER

Back from butlins, went 23p over budget so will have 23p to spend less on something else this week:)

Managed to get 2 x £2 coins in my change so have put them in the pot, £6 so far, it soon adds up!

Popped into their holiday shop while I was there and got a great offer on a holiday for next year. Haven't booked it yet as I want to think it over, but 3 nights, for 5 of us, breakfast and evening meal for £68 each, deposit now, £125 rest to pay next April. A fab bargain, 50% off for booking early. Next June.

This, like any other trips would have to be paid out of my weekly allowance.