WelshWoofer's Staying Debt Free Mission

WelshWoofer

Just had a quick tally up of the Xmas fund and its up to £58 - I'm aiming for £100 from ebay/amazon and surveys etc. I have just under £10 in surveys money that I'll cash in for a £10 Amazon instant voucher when it gets high enough (few more surveys and it'll be there) making the total £68. So that means £32 to go. I'm going to try to do this with minimal effort in September through the odd ebay thing.

I also have £50 in another little internet savings pot as a start towards the living room redecoration fund - probably wouldn't buy the cushions let alone the carpet, wall paper, paint, curtains..... I suppose you have to start somewhere!:rotfl:

Roll on payday this week when I can hopefully squirrel some cash away as soon as I get paid to stop me spending it. Need to do a new budget but I'm not sure what my take home pay will be exactly yet so will wait until later in the week to do it.

Still having a tussle with the council about the council tax and getting the bill right now I'm a single occupier - why do they make things sooo difficult!?

savingholmes

Well done on the xmas fund money

Good luck with the council tax too

WelshWoofer

Just watched the Wales v South Africa match - agonising! Losing by 1 point and playing soooo well!:(

Was up early - couldn't sleep past getting up for work time. So made the most of it by taking the dog to the park for 45 mins to tire him out, dying my hair (no more stripes!), having a shower and listing a few things on ebay.
One has already sold for £8 (hand cream, unwanted gift just stuck in a drawer):T So that's £8 more for the Xmas fund.
I had a quick look at putting some textbooks on Amazon too - they trade in for about £7-8 each (have 3) but I think they could be sold second hand for about £12-15 each judging by what others are selling for. Will have a think about it - I've only used them once and can't see me using them again so they could probably go.

Not much else planned for today apart from schoolwork - will try to do about 3 hours, starting in a minute.
If I get really bored I may start painting the bathroom using leftover emulsion and gloss from the summer decoration marathon. Its only a teeny room and mostly tiled so shouldn't take too long. I'm getting the remnant of the new bedroom carpet laid in there when I get round to painting it so that'll be another room finished - this time for 'free'.:j

Right better get on with work!

WelshWoofer

Work done - was actually fairly interesting. I'm teaching forensic science to 6th form so something I know a lot about (similar to old job) and find fascinating. Hopefully they'll be a teeny bit interested too!

Good news - I decided to list a few text books from my teacher training days on Amazon and one has sold already for an overall profit of £11 after fees and postage etc. So, that's another £19 for the Xmas fund made today:T:T - the total is now £87, £13 to go to target. I think I may manage to sell one or two of the books too so should quite comfortably make the £100.

I made a yummy tea - mexican potato bake (a SW recipe) - and made a bit extra than normal to take to work for lunch tomorrow with some fruit. Been good so far this term and haven't bought anything during the day.

I've also had a nice bath, done a mini facial and mended the hem on my favourite suit trousers, as well as walking the dog twice more. Today has gone quite quickly - back to work tomorrow, only 6 weeks to the next week off:rotfl: (30 working days and counting!)

Bracing myself for the gales tomorrow - I have an experiment I need to do outside with year 10 so lookng forward to that!:eek:
Fred West thing on in a minute so off to have a sit down for an hour....

savingholmes

Hi WW great news on the book sales and xmas fund

My energy is coming back... and I have all this paint lying around so am tempted to paint too! Just perhaps gloss some doors to start with... nothing too ambitious... I got part way through painting the woodwork in DD's room back in May but never finished it would be good if I did. I also really want to paint our front door which looks tatty! Still on sick leave after an operation at the moment so it is difficult balance between getting better, starting to reuse muscles etc and completely overdoing it and undoing the good work done by previous resting! I'm not a sit still person!!

WelshWoofer

Another fun day in the life of a knackered teacher! Had a good day and then a meeting after school with colleagues - the first one I've had to organise in my new promoted role - all went well though.

Then a quick dash home, quick change, jump in the car with the dog, run into post office to post ebay and amazon sales, 30 mins in the park in a force 9 gale and then off to the supermarket to get yet more peas for a practical in school - hope they give me the money back tomorrow, they owe me about £30 now!
Then cooking tea and just about to walk the dog again before writing up the minutes of the meeting - phew - will sleep tonight!

More good news - the other 2 textbooks have sold on Amazon for a total profit of £22.34 after postage and fees:T So the Xmas fund is pennies away from £110:j:j Over target with a few things still on ebay.

I'm going to put the extra towards the living room fund when it all eventually ends up in my account from Paypal and Amazon (hopefully by the end of the week).

Saving Holmes - don't go over doing it and put yourself back to square one - painting can wait! I know what you mean about sitting still though - I'm useless at it!

savingholmes

Great news on the book sales

I think OH would kill me if he caught me painting... I have my orders to relax and stay off work another 2 weeks or so as per my sick note but keep trying to do stuff - and then get hit with pain later... I feel like a fly bumping into glass trying to get out the window... If determination made someone better after an operation I think I would be well and truly recovered by now... Sadly it appears resting is the order of the day!!

WelshWoofer

Well its payday:j:j:j and a bit of :mad::mad::mad:!
Been paid at the new rate (good) but have had a day's pay docked for the teachers strike in June (how long did that take???) and my bonus wasn't included (bad).

Oh well, at least there's money in the bank again.

It means that after all bills etc are paid there's about £350 left over if I pay back my overdraft of £150 ish (run up from extra unforeseen expenditure this month as its the first month of being alone and not yet having my payrise) and finally sort the council tax.
That has to cover 4 weeks grocery shopping, petrol and spending money. If I manage to stick to £30 a week food money thats £120 and £40 for petrol - a total of £160.
So that's about £190 left over for spends and saving.
Then I can start afresh next month with a "complete" pay packet and a clean slate!;)

I've had an email from Amazon to say I've sold another book for £16.50 profit but they're having problems with the buyers payment details - hopefully that will get sorted out and it'll be a bit more into the savings fund.

ExOH has texted to say he wants to collect something he forgot tomorrow evening - not looking forward to it - will try to broach the divorce subject, not a pleasant job.

Not got a lot planned for the weekend - will try to get a few odd jobs done and be economical with cash. No need to spend it for the sake of it!
Will do a meal plan and shopping list later - hopefully keeping it below £30. Off to search for food inspiration!

savingholmes

Shame about the bonus but presumably it is still coming - just late?

Great about the textbook sales...

Hope your meeting goes ok with ex-OH that must be really tough

WelshWoofer

Thanks Saving Holmes - just waiting for ex OH to turn up now - not looking forward to it:(

On the positive side, I have sold the final bits on ebay and amazon - some unwanted face gel for £5 after P&P and a book about teaching for £11 profit - so another £16 for the savings account. Have lost count a bit now of how much the savings account will be as I've just requested each sale payment separately as I didn't expect to sell them so quickly. I guess it will all turn up in the account over the next few days - I think its about £150 altogether and there was £50 in there already so when it all trickles in I'll be abale to separate it out and see where I am!

Nothing else I can think of to ebay that is painless and just sitting around doing nothing or isn't used or wanted so I guess thats it for now. A good start though.

The bonus is just delayed - paperwork needs doing apparently