A Reformed Spender - My debt diary

SSB

Hi
Greetings from slightly snowy Derbyshire, sounds like everything is starting to get better. I have a stack of stuff to sell on eBay and Amazon sales are going quite well. Still thinking about that slow cooker though :think:, maybe I should just give in and get one!
Today is the day to look through my bank statement, should not be bad but will have a big :coffee: just in case.
Have a good day.

Reformed

I found myself in a warehouse party last night in which I paid 12 quid for a building that only had 6 toilets and about 3000 party people. This and the cloakroom was full because there were about 2500 coats they hadn't accounted for. So I danced around my coat as opposed to my handbag.

Lucky me got a new handbag as a present from OH - a standard black leather one but versatile no? This was to replace the nicked one. Breaking news is that today driving back from giving a friend a lift home is that I saw the boy who took my bag and intimidated me on my street. It would appear this area is his stomping ground. I double took as did he. Bit freaked out. I wonder if he watched me get out of the car and saw where I live. What with me inevitably taking him to court its a bit worrying. What was I supposed to do ask him where he left my bag? We did check to see if he was around before we got out.

I promptly went home. Cried and have been on the sofa ever since.

Spends today included 77quid in tesco. (Yes OH came) and we went for an overpriced roast in Limehouse. 8 pounds for something that came out of three microwaves at the end of the bar. Absolutely disgusting.

I hope tomorrow improves. I foolishly set up a tab in two bars last night and dreading the bill. Nice to have a blow out every now and then. I have taken a payment holiday this week and got some new bits, a scarf a necklace and a top. It felt good to have a treat.

funnyflip_2

Big (((((Hug)))) sorry to hear your feeling so down your right you do deserve a treat. bit like dieting if you never have a treat you crave it and fall of the wagon. Goog for you that your ready to get back on top again,

P.s give the little (Insert rude word) hell when it comes to court, the world needs more people like you :T

Reformed

I didn't work today.
Another pain in the neck in the struggle to be debt free (as a temp I won't get paid) More annoying in that I didn't work because I STILL felt rough after over indulging on Saturday.Bah.

I called the guy from the Youth offending team after he called round last week and I wasn't in. He was deeply unsympathetic and said that it was hardly suprising that I saw the perpetrator of the crime as he 'lives around the corner' - so I am living neighbourly with someone who feels it appropriate to rob his neighbours moments from his house. No fear.

It's worrying.

Aside from that we bought our unlimited cinema passes to cineworld so there are cheap nights out to be had which won't render me totally incapable on Mondays. Perfect. Other than that a no spend (but I did receive my valentines day gift for OH - a photo book of our favourite memories -a little nauseating for everyone else but I felt a very good gift) - Hope everyone else has stayed low. Been to work. Earnt some cash. Ha Ha.

Reformed

Today was repair day which ended up costing quite alot. I got my shoes reheeled £10.90 (heels and tips) - my watch battery replaced and some of the links taken out of the strap £8.00 and then dry cleaning £7.95.
Another trip to the organic supermarket and some refreshing tea, fruit bars and tea tree oil for OH (natural healing!) and I don't know how much that was £10.00 I reckon.

Have come home and concocted a delicious soup with lentils, parsnips, peas, sweet potato, butternut squash, onion and celery that was in the vegetable drawer. Got my lunch for tomorrow now too!! (and for the rest of the week judging by the amount there is!!)

Have decided to train to be a teacher so feeling alot more focused and motivated although unfortunately I'll not be able to start training until next September, however there's plenty I can do in the meantime and I'm feeling much happier.

Seem to have spent alot today on not very much but at least I have been repairing and looking after what I have. Happy money saving!!

Reformed

It's been a bit of a mixed bag today - haven't written the last few days and have since decided that there is a definitive correlation between writing this debt diary and spending a load of money when I don't - like I don't have anyone to answer to. This means that I spent £20 yesterday on the first (and only I might add) round with people from work. I seem to believe I am unanswerable and the budget or 'realistic spending plan' is simply not part of my world.

Things to rile this week:
-The drycleaners have lost the belt from my trenchcoat.
- I spent £25 on fabric for my new sewing machine (I can't afford it - what am I doing?)
-I am going to have a nasty shock when the crerdit card bill comes. I must be really careful.

Added to the fact that I forgot to hand in my timesheet the other day so I haven't been paid today. On the subject of jobs I went to the TDA event to find out more about teaching and there is a chance I will be able to start training in September (fingers crossed!!)

Spends today included the £25 on fabric - £15 to top up my oyster - £1.40 on the paper. Not going out this evening, have mammoth amounts to catch up with.

Good things were I made my lunch so didn't have to buy any food. The discipline makes a difference.

Will set about making my top tomorrow. Happy Saturday night (in) x

Reformed

OK - It's Sunday and I'm heading to the grandparents for lunch. Anticipated spends:

- The paper
- Fruit and veg for making dinner for the next couple of days
- Longlife milk (for the elders - too heavy for them to carry)
- Flowers from the flower market for my nana

Other than that I haven't any planned spends and will stick to that.

Reformed

So..this week. I've not been posting or logging onto other peoples threads and I've really missed it. I love reading how everyone is coping and supporting each other, will endeavour to it much more often. I've had a lovely week cooking in for my sister who came to visit, and last night I had a great night seeing Massive Attack but I spent an absolute fortune on drinks. I seem to be overcome with genorousity of money I don't have when I've had a drink. I've had a monumental hangover as a result. I very much doubt I will be going out this weekend.

My thoughts this week are about what to do with my future, there's a job going at the charity that I work for. I'm currently a temp and this is exactly the sort of role that I was after a few months ago but since then I have really felt a calling to teaching and today the university called to see if I would be putting in an application (they have spare places for a September start) this would be brilliant but would mean I get myself into a lot more debt what with the tuition fees and living costs of London. I also wouldn't be able to pay off OH which I am on track to do by the end of this year. I may never get an opportunity to do the job role in charity work with such a good chance again. So my thinking is I'll apply for both in the meantime. What does everyone think?? Argh!!

Reformed

Morning MS's! How are we all today? I spent all day helping a friend move house yesterday and as a consequence was too tired to go out so got a good nights sleep and feel fresh on a sunday. Bonus. I have been sat here for the past hour or so flicking through magazines (ones I have been given and the ones in the paper - freebies) and getting recipes that I fancy out of them before they get recycled. Got a nice collection to cut and stick in my recipe scrapbook. I see this as a feasible alternative to cookbooks until I am a little bit richer!

Speaking of riches I got what I think is a tax return from the look of my pay slip of about £450 which is ace - very unexpected. I allowed myself a treat and then the rest is going to my ISA fund to pay off my debts. Speaking of which I haven't updated my signature. Must do. Have been fairly religious with my pigsback and quidco clickthroughs and so far this week I have sold three books on amazon. Yet to get my cheque from my credit card cashback but hey ho - I'll give them a gentle reminder later today - another £50 to go towards the debt wouldn't go amiss.

As for my treat I surfed the net for a lumie bodyclock - the ones that get you up using light to make you feel more awake. I have wanted one of these for ages - they were £100 on the John Lewis website but then I saw one in the sale for £89.95 on the boots website so I went to my quidco account, clicked through to Boots and put my advantage card details in (double points this weekend!) and paid with my cashback credit card.

This is £7.12 effectively off using the advantage points.
£0.44 from using my cashback credit card and £5.85 cashback from quidco. So altogether including the initial £10 saving I got a £100 lumie bodyclock for £76.54. I think that is good work - I hope Martin would be proud. He'd probably tell me to pay my debt first but at the end of the day I am more than on track to clear the OH debt by November which is my target.

So - today I am going to force myself to do my Joanna Hall workout dvd - this was suposed to be my subsitute for the gym but I haven't been too dedicated!! Then I'm popping to the shops for the paper and the weekly shop. Shouldn't need too much this week, we have plenty in. Going to have a roast dinner - I'm going to cook it rather than go to the pub for lunch. OH is keen but I think we could perhaps go for a pint instead. Hope all is well in everyone elses moneysaving worlds -

Amy

Reformed

Hey there been a while since I've been posted and as we know not posting equates to spending. Back on track now - NSD yesterday and fully intend to have 4 of those a week (not including bills and food shopping) I only want to visit the food shops twice a week maximum.

Just off to have my shower and then tescos - last week as I though would happen OH came and we spent about £85 which wasn't what I was expecting to spend at all, so I'm going to leave him in bed and go on my own!!

Planning on following the 'fly lady' way as of tomorrow - (see the OS board) but have a few bits to do around the house today. Also going to finally sit myself down and positively look for an alternative job. Something a bit more intellectually stimulating. I spent yesterday on a downer for a number of reasons and now I am committed to picking myself up and dusting myself down - no self pity allowed!!!

Going to pick up the paper at the shops to read through and make a delicious roast for my man now. I'm looking forward to going for a walk in the park to fly the kite (hope it's windy enough) and a bit later we'll head to the cinema with our unlimited passes. So, another NSD for me. Hope everyone has a good day.

Amy