Tales from a country cottage

Igamogam

ani*fan wrote: »

I know Igamogam, the money itself should be enought to get me to quit. But it's the sore throats and raspy chest that make me want to quit more. And the time spent inhaling poisonous fumes into my lungs.

I've decided to use the cash not only to pay off some debt but to give myself a makeover. I need a haircut and eyebrow wax, some new clothes and a bag for uni. This is a work in progress and will not happen overnight but I've decided to have a backlash against growing old and take better care of myself.

So that's the plan. Have just been over to the quit smoking thread and complained about nicotine withdrawal. It's still bad but I'm hanging in there.

Hope everyone is well in mse world.

Good idea! Think of the poisonous fumes etc etc ( eeewch!) Does your OH smoke too?

ani*fan

My expenses arrived, the cash has been shifted to the correct account with a little more added and a cheque sent off yesterday.

I have officially busted one debt. :j :j:j:j:j:j

Only seven more to go. I'm practically there. :rotfl::rotfl:

I've updated my signature. It's not made such a dramatic impact (since the debt went up a little before it started going down) but at least it's moving in the right direction now. I'm wondering where I could find an extra £17.85 to get under £14k. Now that would feel good...

I also found out yesterday that I'll get paid overtime for working half a day this weekend. (Usually we have to take toil.) So that's an extra £55 for the pot at the end of this month. Plus I should get a full wage from my new hours so things are looking healthy on the income front.

Igamogam...I didn't manage to quit smoking this week. I didnt even last a day. I've joined the quit smoking thead for some support and encouragement and will be giving this another go in the next day or two. In fact, £17.85 is a little over a week's smoking money for me. One week and I could be under £14k.

Oh my goodness 3 young deer have just wandered into my garden...they're so sweet but if they decide to munch on my baby cherry tree I'll be chasing them off.

LondonGirl252

Hi ani*fan,

Have enjoyed catching up on your diary so far I'll subscribe now and keep up! I feel I may be a bit like you on the social side of things, that's definitely where most of my debt is so it's nice to read how you are changing that and I love the ideas others have given you!
Anyway just wanted to say hi and good luck rather than reading and running

LG

ani*fan

Thanks LondonGirl. Just found your thread and subscribed. Happy debt busting!

I'm only just beginning to realise how long-term this is. Nothing is going to change quickly unless I make it happen and even then, I'm looking at a few years. I'm away to play with the snowball calculator again and check that my date is correct. Can't even remember what it was...:D

ani*fan

I love the snowball calculator. I think I'm getting a bit obsessed by it.

I hadn't put in the correct interest rates last time so I rooted through all my paperwork and found the minimum amount % for the cards and redid my snowball.

The order of repayments is this: (so I don't forget)

• Capital 1 (1)
• Capital 1 (2)
• Overdraft
• Virgin
• Abbey
• Car loan
• MiL

£100 per month overpayment= debt free date Oct 2014
£150 = June 2014
£200 = February 2014

Short of a miracle (which I'm always hopeful of, I do believe in them) I'm going to be doing this for quite some time. So I better get used to it and keep learning tricks to save money. And actually carry them out instead of just thinking about them.

I was considering a student bank account. I haven't even applied for one yet so will get right onto it. A few phone calls should give me the answer to which banks provide them for part-time students. If successful, I can move some of my debt to an interest free overdraft.

I was going to apply for another 0% credit card but haven't had the heart. I hate those knock backs, they make me miserable. Might leave this one for the time being.

I'm going to try leaving my cash cards at home when I go out. :eek:
You really can't spend it if you don't have access to it.

I'm going to start running again as a free way to get fitter. (thanks LondonGirl for those last 2 ideas)

That's it for now.

ani*fan

Aims for October:

• Have 15 NSDs. I do these already without realising it but it would be good to keep track of them.
• Stay within budget and get through the month with at least a couple of quid in the account by the end of it.
• Have a very cheap 2 weeks A/L. I plan to make a list of free things to do and have a great time spending as little as possible. At least I'll save on petrol to work and back.
• Put some cash away for the garage bill, road tax (due end Nov) and MOT (also due end Nov) I need to learn how to not have quite as many nasty surprises. I have a car, I know it needs maintaining, BUDGET FOR IT!!!!
• Have a much more relaxed month than last month.

Anyway, yesterday was the first day of October and I didn't spend anything.

NSD 1/15

Igamogam

Well done ani*fan you are really getting in to this - now just the smoking to get a grip of - just think of that under 14K debt

Dont give up on the 0% card application - according to my credit rating I shouldn't be considered but I have had 2 applications accepted recently both for 20 months or so. I have set up DD for a set amount more than minimum cut up cards and just have to forget about them for nearly 2 years - just look at the amount going down each month. If things get tight then I will re do DD to minimum - not costing me anything:)

I have to get snowball thing sorted out too - thanks for reminding me

Deer - how sweet and then I thought Venison! Only joking:rotfl:We get plenty of wildlife here but nothing edible. If it is, the cats generally get there first:o

Have you joined the NSD thread? If not here is link: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3520839
a bit of fun and keeps reminding you not to spend.

Keep going!

Lemon_Tree

deer in your garden that must have been lovely. My garden livestock today was a great big fat frog which jumped out whilst i was watering some pots. I did warn it that if it wasn't careful about hiding then it would get 'played' with by the cats so i hope it has headed my advice.

ani*fan

I had a look at the NSD thread and will probably join up at some point. In the meantime, it's my own personal challenge and much harder than I thought. Yesterday I spent £1.75 on bread and a packet of crisps. Was it worth it when I could have added to me NSD total? No. The crisps were unneccesary and the bread could have waited til I did the proper shopping.

Anyway, wildlife in the garden Lemontree, frogs, I love them. We seem to have loads of baby ones around here, about the size of a thumb nail, but mostly the cats ignore them. I dont know why when they chase everything else. The deer yesterday left my cherry tree alone, thankfully. One of them licked the bark of the plum tree though. (!)

I'm still not smoking and am very proud of myself. I quit at 4pm yesterday. Still a fair few hours to go until the withdrawal symptoms ease off but so far I'm managing. Already my mouth feels fresh and nice.

Chores to do today:

• Collect train tickets
• Juggle cash at the bank
• Post some stuff
• Finish reading for uni
• Ironing
• Get eyebrow waxing appt
• Find out about student bank accounts
• Phone garage re. dodgy brakes on the car (it's never ending, really, never ending)

Think that's it. Not going into work until later and just for a couple of hours. Thank goodness because these last two weeks have just been too much. I'm off next week for two weeks. :j It can't come fast enough.

ani*fan

I have just joined the weight loss challenge thread. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:I must be going mad. Quitting smoking and losing weight at the same time?

Mummy and daddy deer have just shown up in my garden with one of the wee ones. They certainly like their apples.