Regular Ramblings from LookingAhead

taxi73

Taxi waves back...
Yep getting there at last...so next year for the wedding at least we haven't missed it .

LookingAhead

Well lookey here! I thought I'd stop hijacking Hypno's diary and update these old ramblings of mine. Speaking of Hypno I am seriously impressed at how her debt has reduced since I was last on here. Truly staggered. Well done that lady. :T

For those who remember I was getting married....the day fast approaches! It's in September so soon I will be a married LA! :heart2: We've saved every penny for the wedding which I am proud of, our budget is modest but we think we've organised a really nice day & evening. I'm really looking forward to it.

Right moving on.

I bought another little car back at the start of the year - it's small, second hand, reliable (touch wood!), was a good price, economical and I did it the DFW way I think! I got offered a 0% for purchases card (for 12 months) by my bank so I bought the car and I then cut the card up. I am paying off a LOT every month and the balance will be gone by December. If I lost my job tomorrow I would sell the car to the bloke down the road who deals in second hand cars, and pay the balance off so I am OK either way.

I don't have any other credit cards - well I do but no balance. I got a Co-Op card on QuidCo about a year ago with a TINY limit on it to pay for things like home insurance etc and it gets cleared the next month if it is used. My days of running up a big balance on spending sprees are long gone - it makes me feel sick. For those of you who read my ramblings fromt he start you might remember me umming & arring about whether or not to cut up my Sainsburys card that time (which I did do in the end) then taking out another one less than a year later for practical purposes but it made me feel sick to actually have the credit card at all? Well I still feel like that! So I am really happy that feeling stayed with me.

Overdraft is an unwieldy beast but when wasn't it? I can sometimes get it right down then I'll have a bad month at work (commission) and you can guarantee that's when something will break down or a bill will come in - so it fluctuates. When the car balance is gone & wedding savings are no longer a factor I should be able to beat the OD right down again - in theory. Watch this space.

Lastly - the loan! The dreaded bl00dy loan! Well as you can see I am nearly into the last year and my GOD does it feel good! I still abhorr the thought of EVER having another loan. If I have my way in life, I will never ever have one. I am looking forward to it being gone (July 2010) and then I want to be able to save and be the kind of person who says "If we haven't got the money for it - we don't have it" from scratch.

If all goes to plan (please!) then July 2010 will be the date in my adult life when I become debt free for the first time. That's twenty years.

If I am still at the same job and if possible to settle it earlier in 2010 then I will but at the moment, July 2010 is the target date and I tell you, I am so tempted to throw a proper debt free party to celebrate! We'll see.

I am worried at the moment about my job but we'll have to see. I refuse to panic. However if I do lose it - I am proper screwed as NO SAVINGS (actually that's not strictly true as I have £1.40 I think in my e-savings account! :rotfl:) and the thought of this has kicked me right up the backside and I feel a back to basics approach coming on. Amazon-ing, EBAY-ing, car booting again - whatever - just back to the old 'penny by penny' approach from before. And certainly not adding to debt.

So that's a bit of an update for you! Wish me luck.

Lotsa love,
LA xx

hypno06

So.......first of all, welcome back! Second of all, thanks for being impressed by my efforts.....and third of all, let's get that £1.40 increased to at least £2.50.....

You know what you need to do - join the £10 a day challenge, and put whatever you make into the e-savings. That way, if the worst happens and you DO lose your job, you are less likely to have to resort back to putting things on credit.

The danger would be if you lost your job, then thought along the lines of not paying off the co-op card until next month....which then rolls over to another and another and another month...type of thing.

Of course, hopefully you won't lose your job, and everything will be fine, which means that whatever you have saved from the £10 a day challenge, can be used to pay off the loan a couple of months early! Bonus!!

LookingAhead

Thanks hypno! And I would have to be a robot not to be impressed by you! You're an inspiration - a legend in your own....errrr.....knickers! :rotfl:

Yes I hope I won't lose my job too. I can't go into details on here right now but suffice to say I hope I am overreacting to something. Moi? Overreact? When have I ever done that?

I will have a butchers at the £10 challenge for inspiration. See what I can do. But anything would help right now.

LookingAhead

Right I have read the challenge thing (not all of it but the basics) to refresh my memory. I am not going to sign up for it as to be honest I will probably be a little flaky as to how often I am on here BUT it's given me the inspiration I need to start. So I am off now to trawl through DVDs and CDs, clothes etc and see what I can list on Amazon/EBAY. I will also be looking for all my vouchers for money off and putting them somewhere where I don't keep forgetting them every time I go to the shops D'OH!

Thanks hypno you are a star as ever.

If taxi has a read later on - hi taxi, how are you doing my lovely?

x

hypno06

You don't have to post - you just have to do it!

As for being a legend in my own knickers........I'm flattered! I think :rotfl:

ZTD

hypno06 wrote: »

As for being a legend in my own knickers........I'm flattered! I think :rotfl:

Trust me, it's better than being a legend in someone else's...

LookingAhead

Evening all. I have returned again! Feeling very inspired after reading PAP's latest diary. She's a bloody legend isn't she? Her determination and disciplined approach is just wonderful.

So what have I been up to since I hurried off yesterday afternoon....

I listed some DVDs and CDs on Amazon....really hope some of them sell quickly to keep me enthused! But it's out of my control and of course, as long as they are on there, there's the chance of them selling...better than sitting on the shelf obviously.

I put some other CDs & DVDs to one side as they were going for a penny on Amazon and I think I will look to do a car boot sale at some point soon (before wedding) and if I get a quid for them each I'd be happy. I'd probably lose money on Amazon once you've paid for postage (if they even sold on Amazon that is).

Fianc! had a little chat with me last night after seeing me list more things again. He is on board with me trying to whittle things down and understands that I will be back in frugal mode again when doing the shopping. Not that I particularly went away but perhaps I wandered a little off track. Nothing too bad!

He also paid for a load of groceries today which helped. (I usually look after all the grocery shopping for the month, so I appreciated this.)

We've got a load of strawberries ripening on our plant outside - mmmm! Some free food this week hopefully. Also his Mum has given us a courgette plant and there are 2 or 3 coming along with more on the way so that is good - any free food is always appreciated isn't it? Tomato plants have a nice crop on but they are still very green.

I have now got all my vouchers handy ready for the next trip to shops. Must not forget them!

Back to work tomorrow - we'll see what this week brings.

Bye for now.

LA x

atypicalblonde

Helllooo LA!

Really lovely to see you back on here sweety, I was thinking about you just the other day when I was clearing out my inbox and saw the lovely PM you sent me when I paid off my OD.

Yowzers, not long to go until that loan is paid off, and not long until the big day honey! Wishing you lots of luck and happiness.

ATB xx

GirlRacer_2

Hey girl, welcome back. I've gotta run now but will catch up later. x