“Let it go”, move on and start enjoying life

looking-up_2

A quiet day yesterday –bit of work, loads of ebay listings, bit of cleaning, reasonably good on the diet front.

Only blip was a missing parcel so I’ll have to do a customer refund which is a pain to the finances, but haven’t had that many recently, so shouldn’t complain. The double whammy was that it was a small parcel and I’d already been to the post office that day – so I bought online postage and just popped it in the postbox, save them waiting another day (well that was the plan). Therefore I don’t have a proof of postage and can’t claim from Royal Mail. Customer will of course get a refund but I’m down about a tenner. It would be that parcel, wouldn’t it, rather than the half a dozen I posted earlier that day – which all had COPs.

I withdrew £50 as my first lot of spending money – puff, it went in about 3 hours. I think the mistake was that it was on my way to a boot sale – but hopefully it will re-appear in a few weeks for double that amount in sales.

Plus I bought some SW bars and crispbreads which should give me a chocolate fix without going off the rails.

I’ve decided to allow myself £50 a week as spends but this has to cover all cash spends. This probably will get mostly eaten up by buying stock but at least it puts a limit on my spending so I have to be selective what I buy. I haven’t reduce my cash budget below as I’ve effectively now allowed £200 cash for May, so £150 still to go.

I’ve updated my spreadsheet now that the start of month direct debits have gone out. Some have sneaked up a few pounds but my ebay bill is £50 less than I’d budgeted, so overall not too bad. With the proposed May fee rises on ebay, I have reduced my shop level from featured to basic, so hopefully next month will be lower than normal as well.

I’ve had an email offering me a bit more census work – in the interviewer role. Not sure how much work this entails as they mention various end dates but even a week’s worth will be a great bonus. Cross fingers on that one. I should find out pretty quickly as it is supposed to start on Monday. However, remembering what the recruitment process for the collector was like...who knows?

Anyway, on that note…better go and see if I can earn some pennies.

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Current Debts : £620 credit cd (last total – will be £900 odd next time)
Money earned so far this month (May) £137.21
Predicted balance at end of May £-271.46 (-£421.46 if allow £150 spending money)
Currently due to go overdrawn on 19th May (need £155.33 to get through this date)

looking-up_2

Lovely day weather-wise today.

Finished my collecting job and handed back all my kit. Now got weekend off before starting the interviewing job on Monday (possibly – but not heard anything about that yet).

Got 2 loads of washing done.
An afternoon of alternating ebay listing and relaxing on the sun lounger planned. The weather report says that its going to rain all weekend – so decided to make the most of it, whilst its nice.

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Current Debts : £620 credit cd (last total – will be £900 odd next time)
Money earned so far this month (May) £355.94
Predicted balance at end of May £-252.63 (-£402.63 if allow £150 spending money)
Currently due to go overdrawn on 19th May (need £136.50 to get through this date)

looking-up_2

I don’t normally update my spreadsheets on a Sunday but was itching to get under -£100 on the 19th, so as soon as I had enough ebay sales, I did the transfer and updated my figures. Now just need another £15.58 to get under -£200 for the end of the month. It can get quite addicted, this fiddling with figures. Must remember this when I impulsively withdraw money at the ATM.

On that note, I was planning to do just that and then head off to a bootsale this morning but I’m almost pleased it’s raining. The £50 I was planning to withdraw is now safe for at least another couple of days.

I haven’t included the new census job into my predicted figures yet. Not having received a contract yet, I don’t want to count chickens and all that. Without it, I need to raise another £100 a week to get through, £150 a week with spends. I’m going to keep working with those figures for the time being, then if the job pans out, I’ll end up with a float for next month. Even with the job, it’s going to be a tough month in June, so I mustn’t relax and go off the rails.

Anyway, on that note, DH is busy today, so I’m going to spend the day listing. I really get bored creating listings (bit of a problem when it’s my main source of income), so I’m going to post every now and again to report back on progress.

First target is 10 listings before noon.

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Current Debts : £620 credit cd (last total – will be £900 odd next time)
Money earned so far this month (May) £392.99
Predicted balance at end of May £-215.58 (-£365.58 if allow £150 spending money)
Currently due to go overdrawn on 19th May (need £99.45 to get through this date)

looking-up_2

I managed about 35 listings yesterday before intense boredom struck…I need to find a way to make it more interesting. I’ve tried listening to music, an audio book or the TV – but I then find it hard to concentrate or end up just watching the tele. The trouble is, I’m one of those people who work best in silence which is fine but means after about an hour or so…it gets a bit dull.

I’ve had some success with taking frequent breaks – like coming on here and reading. Thing is I then get too interested in somebody’s diary and my 5 minute break turns into an hour. A better idea is to get up and do something completely different (non-pc based).

Today’s list is to
- get at least another 10 things listed (I’m keeping my target low)
- 1 load of washing, tidy the kitchen, tidy my study
- decide whether to keep my exercise machine. If not, then put it in the paper.
- Find my pedometer and put it on. Aim for 5000 steps.
- pack and post sales from weekend.
- prep for starting work again tomorrow.
Only £80 to raise for the 19th – that’s just £12 a day, providing I don’t add to the negative figure by spending.

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Current Debts : £620 credit cd (last total – will be £900 odd next time)
Money earned so far this month (May) £409.44
Predicted balance at end of May £-196.79 (-£346.79.58 if allow £150 spending money. This is getting less appealing so I’m glad I’ve kept the 2 figures separate)
Currently due to go overdrawn on 19th May (need £80.66 to get through this date)

looking-up_2

Didn’t get very far with yesterday’s list
- get at least another 10 things listed (1 listed – not quite sure what happened there)
- 1 load of washing ( done), tidy the kitchen(done) tidy my study (just one layer covering the floor now, rather than several)
- decide whether to keep my exercise machine. If not, then put it in the paper. (not yet)
- Find my pedometer and put it on. Aim for 5000 steps. (couldn’t find it)
- pack and post sales from weekend.(done)
- prep for starting work again tomorrow. (done)

Had a few sales so now I’ve less than £25 to make to get over my direct debit hump on the 19th. That’s gotta be motivation to get a few things listed this evening.

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Current Debts : £620 credit cd (last total – will be £900 odd next time)
Money earned so far this month (May) £465.19
Predicted balance at end of May £-141.04 (-291.04 if allow £150 spending money) Currently due to go overdrawn on 19th May (need £24.91 to get through this date)

looking-up_2

Had a good MSN day today. No spends (apart from ebay postage) and paid £6 of coins into the bank account. Plus sold a couple of things so managed to move my predicted dip into the red forward a few days to the 22nd and I’ll be less than £100 overdraw by the end of the month.

Of course, that’s if I don’t withdraw any more spending money, but seeing these figures work their way back into the black is providing great motivation to keep my purse tightly zipped. I walked right by 2 charity shops today and looked the other way. No temptations on the horizon until early next week so aim is manage on what I have in my purse until then.

On the diet front, I’ve been really good these past few days. Mainly due to grabbing a banana and an apple on the way out of the door, spending the day walking around and not having anything else all day until dinner time. I know, it’s not really a healthy way to do it but I’m so eager to shift these last few pounds and stop paying weekly SW fees. It’s only for a week or 2.

Anyway, nice salad for tea and a relaxing evening planned.

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Current Debts : £620 credit cd (last total – will be £900 odd next time)
Money earned so far this month (May) £506.26
Predicted balance at end of May £-99.97 (-249.97 if allow £150 spending money) Currently due to go overdrawn on 22nd May (need £35.45 to get through this date)

looking-up_2

A few more sales and a payday – so just another £58.63 to raise before the end of the month.

Challenge no1 is to make it through with just another £100 cash withdrawn in May. I should be able to do it. With my census job extending, I won’t be popping over to family this month (which is always expensive) so it’s quite achievable.

Challenge no 2 is to save my 2nd census job’s wages for next month’s float. I haven’t included estimated wages into my figures on purpose.
I’m doing pretty well so far on the financial front but in the back of mind is a niggle. Yes, I’ve made it through two months without dipping into the red but this is just surviving and the worry just gets shifted into the next month.

Plus I haven’t forgotten the creeping credit card, which when I checked last night is already over £1100. I should really be planning to pay this off but when do I do it? Do I pay a bit off each month but then risk not making it through without dipping into the red. Do I wait until I have at least a month’s money first, then pay the rest into the cc. I guess the problem is that I don’t have a guaranteed, regular source of income or savings pot.

Finally, one of my original goals (and reason why I didn’t just go out and get another full time office job) is that I wanted to enjoy the summer. I’ve got to make more of an effort to get out there and see/do stuff. I have this ever growing list of places that I want to visit but keep making excuses for not going. OK, I don’t have excess funds at the moment, but I think I could identify the free ones and perhaps do just one low-ish cost one per month.

To start, I’ve just found out that that there is a coach trip to the Eden project with a local pick-up this month, which is somewhere I’ve always wanted to go. It’s in my 2 for 1 gardens booklet (Garden*rs Wor*d) so not too expensive entrance fee and just the coach to pay for. It will add about £50 to my spends but I think it will be worth it.

Something to think about - anyway, it's a lovely day, so lets go earn some pennies.

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Current Debts : £620 credit cd (last total – will be £900 odd next time)
Money earned so far this month (May) £797.90
Predicted balance at end of May £-58.63 (-158.63 if allow extra 100 spending money) Currently due to go overdrawn on 23rd May (need £29.99 to get through this date)

looking-up_2

A few sales over the weekend. Bad news was that I'd forgotten about a £80 Direct debit due on the 26th. It’s something I was paying bimonthly and I’ve now switched to a monthly payment.

Good news is that I’ve still got £30 in my purse from last week, so instead of withdrawing my allocated £50 spending money today, I only took £20.

Taking into account recent sales and reduced spending money means my final end of month predicted figure hasn’t changed – despite the extra £80 debit.

My de-clutter activity has slowed but I think the universe is giving me a nudge. I was intending to start boxing up my books but kept looking at the huge pile and going off to find something else to do. This morning, I sold a book on Gre*n Met. So now have to sort through my books to find it. Of course, it’s not on the bookcase I can get too easily so am going to have to clear things out of the way to get to my other bookcase. I guess I may as well box them whilst I’m doing it. Thanks Universe.

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Current Debts : £1150 credit cd (big ouch on that one. Min payment again this month)
Money earned so far this month (May) £851
Predicted balance at end of May £-108.23 (-158.23 if allow extra £50 spending money) Currently due to go overdrawn on 26th May (need £80 to get through this date)

looking-up_2

Today, I’m taking a leaf out of another diarist’s book…and reminding myself of the positives (and negatives but will make sure there are more pos, than negs)

A day to be thankful today.
- Got paid and now definitely will make it through May with a positive balance. In fact, with enough float to see me through to my big DD lump of 20th June (although mustn’t go into ‘I’m ok, let’s go spending’ mode).

- Lost 2.5 pounds at SW. Just half a pound to get back into target range and stop paying weekly fees. Again – mustn’t take foot off accelerator and open the biscuit packet. I must still keep actual target in sight which is another 3.5 pounds away.

- My credit card company wrote to offer me a £1000 rise in my credit limit. I guess because the last few months I’ve only been paying the minimum, after always paying it off in full….and getting a bit near the limit. Thought for all of 5 seconds whether to accept. Yes, it will mean that my debt will grow but it will give me another couple of months breathing space. I do have a plan for paying it off in July.

I’m only allowing 1 negative….
A £200 dentist bill to replace the filling that fell out. A big ouch all round. Hence the need for an increase in credit limit.

Anyway, weather is lovely today…so I think I’ll try to do as many hours in the sunshine as possible.

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Current Debts : £1150 credit cd (Min payment again this month)
Money earned so far this month (May) £1170
Predicted balance at end of May £+302 (+352 if allow extra £50 spending money) Currently due to go overdrawn on 19th JUNE, predicted balance at end of June £-836

short_bird

Hi!

As you mention books, are you considering selling on Amazon?

Could you do a stall at a car boot instead of buying??

Are there any vintage or retro items in your stuff and any vintage and retro fairs locally? (Even if you end up selling to other dealers, it's money in your pocket...:D)

Credit cards: I know there's the payment a day thread on MSE and that might help you clarify your thoughts on small payments versus one offs.

HTH.