The Ultimate Hard and Fast debt clearing mission

clearmydebts

Great news about Grace's weigh gain! 7lbs 5ozs is a nice healthy weight. She must be getting very hardy!

Cranny44

Memorabilia in November Waiting until they announce some of the guests, so we can pick the right day.

Gosh i havent been to Memorabilia in a few years, i stopped going twice a year when it became more autographs than anything else as i loved mooching on the stalls used to buy quite a bit and sold it on ebay.

Last time i went Jaws from James Bond came flying at me in a mobility scooter and nearly knocked me down, very surreal :rotfl:OH is nattering to go the the scale modelworld show in Telford this year

I'll have to keep repeating the mantra 'I DO NOT need a cloak' the entire time I'm there!

Oooh I would need a cloak i wouldnt be able to resist

Dinah93

Evening all. Actually going to do a money update for once.

Payday yesterday and it was a bit of a shock. I thought my half pay went on until 6 months, but turns out it only goes until 18 weeks, so this month's paycheck was £599. Or should have been, but tax came off, and my car loan, and then something was added back on.... so came to £488. If I still pay £140 off my loan a month, but somehow only £110 comes off my pay then I won't be paying it off in September as planned! This leaves us about £350 short for the month. We do have a bit saved up so we won't go further into debt, but we need to find a way to make up the shortfall.

Not an ideal time to end either, with the holiday next week, needing a wedding present for my cousin (asked for cash), birthday present for my brother (also wants cash, grrr!) and then another wedding in October to find a present for. Although slightly wishing we hadn't been invited, very odd situation, my best uni friend who was my maid of honour but who didn't act like the other bridesmaids and was barely present during the planning and even went to bed after the meal on the day itself (and on my hen do for that matter), she asked me to be a bridesmaid for her then never got in touch even when I was texting at least once a fortnight to ask how she was/planning was going, didn't invite me to her hen do (which judging by the photos there were only about 3 people there?) but has invited us to the full day wedding and text about a week ago asking when she can come meet Grace .... it all just seems really odd and I kind of feel like I would have preferred to just let things die quietly than try to pretend we still have a friendship, life is far too short for flaky friends.

Been ebaying quite hard today. Got 22 things listed. Even if they only all went for the 99p start price that's still enough to pay my mobile phone bill for a month or the cat insurance + broadband.

Received an annual bank statement today - the summary makes me angry - between charges and interest just on the bills account last year we wasted £240.64. I'm frustrated that we let that happen, what a waste. Determined to clear things up and stop getting charges and interest.

Finally a question for our bloggers - does anyone know how to set it up so people can follow via email on blogger? Have started a new blog, exploring fresh and healthy food on a budget. We're going to stick to £35 a week but I want to prove you can eat well for that, not just live on pasta or jacket spuds.

Dinah93

Oh, but positive money news. My grandad had a healthcare cashback plan and they paid £280 for his hospital stay. As mum wasn't expecting this she said my brother and I could have half of the money each on the proviso we bought a treat for ourselves, didn't spend it on bills or things we would have bought anyway. I didn't want to fritter it on small bits and bobs, or clothing I wouldn't remember in a few months time, so I didn't go on a spree straight away.

I actually feel like I've spent mine as well as I could have hoped for. I've wanted a mother's ring for a while, I kind of feel like I have my engagement ring to celebrate our wedding, and I wanted one for the other hand to celebrate the other momentous event in my life of Grace's birth. I ended up getting two to stack together. This one and this one just with her first name and date of birth (couldn't fit all the names on!).

I then also got tickets for NIM and I to see the Hairy Bikers on tour in March. I really wanted to go to the Newcastle show given it's their home show, but it's completely sold out, so we're going to York which is actually a better day of the week so we might be able to make a proper date of it and have a meal beforehand. NIM looked really excited when I told him as we both love their combo of humour and food.

Siouxsie32

Wow Dinah, the rings are gorgeous (a bit like your daughter ). What a lovely thing for your mum to do. She obviously appreciates your financial situation as the money could have been swallowed up by everyday life if she hadn't insisted on you spending it on yourself. Mums are great, aren't they :A

York sounds like a lot of fun too - and a chance to spend a bit of indulgent time with your husband. Enjoy

PS You must tell me how you manage to list 22 items on ebay :eek: I get confused after 6!!!

Dinah93

Take all the photos first, and try to group your items into similar piles as it's a lot quicker to click 'sell similar' and just change a few details than have to start the listing from scratch.

Is it normal to be abnormally excited that my blog has 3 unique page views (and one is from Germany) within 12 hours of going up?!

tinkerbel

wow thats good! Has everyone seen the free £10 red spotted hanky voucher? I've just tried adding it to my account! Ive used them before so £10 off trains is super good as I travel by train a lot!
ps thats good that you were made to treat yourself and you got some lovely rings which will last and last! Can't believe grace now weighs the same as when I was born! Its so scary! She must be super tiny and cute
ps are we allowed a looksie at this blog then?

Dinah93

Of course - please follow! http://shoestringgourmet.blogspot.co.uk/

No recipes yet as I'm feeling absolutely rotten, achy, hot and cold, upset stomach, headache, sick etc, but I'm hoping to get one of my favourites up this evening or tomorrow.

Grace having a day with her Gran today, which judging from the photos I keep being emailed both of them are enjoying.

Siouxsie32

Ooh, cool blog! Food is definitely a challenging area. When I was really broke (pre-LBM when my outgoings were more than my income) I found I could make a loaf of bread feed me for a few days and generally found it a lot cheaper to eat rubbish than to eat well. Post LBM I have a bit more cash, but I'm still on a tight budget. I still have the cheap supermarket where you can buy apples from the USA year round for example V the local farm shop where everything is grown locally so it's fresh and in season (not to mention, it's a local business that I want to support) dilemma most months...although the local farm shop usually wins! I stock up on tinned pulses and tinned tomatoes at whichever big supermarket has the best deal but all my fruit and veg comes either from my local farm shop or a farmers market. Plan plan and plan some more is my motto with food so nothing gets wasted. I find it relatively easy to stay on budget (£100 a month, just 1 person) so I'm really looking forward to reading your blog to see how you're getting on.

Tete_en_l'Air

Morning all! Great news about Gracie's weight, no idea what the percentile things mean but it did make me laugh that Grace is in like the 4th and Noah the 75th!!

Bet that was a shocker with the maternity pay but sounds as though it's not a complete disaster, at least you won't increase the debt. Is there no way you can get out of the wedding? You're absolutely right - life's too short for flaky friends!

Your rings are lovely and make a nice change from having her name tattooed in Sanskrit on your forehead which is the local tradition for commemorating the birth of a child (or is that the option NIM went for?)

I have had a fantastic weekend in London - went to Damien Hirst at the Tate Mod and a brilliant photography exhibition at the Tate and of course the Harry Potter studios! Ahhhh! SO brilliant and totally worth the money - highly recommended for any HP fans - I kept getting goosebumps and feeling a little teary! It was absolutely mind-blowing seeing all the work that goes into the films and little quirky ways that they did things - eg Harry's fawn patronus is actually a large dog covered in white lights! I was amazed at how few of the effects were CGI (I mean there's a lot of CGI, but less than you'd think - there are real working models of the Mandrakes and everything) - I just loved it, was depressed at the thought of leaving and going back to Muggle life!

THEN. The gift shop. They are normally my favourite part of any day out but this one was so disappointing. Everything was so expensive - there were replicas of Dumbledore's outfits for like £500, but no Harry Potter pencils for £1.50 for example. Total parent trap. I got a Pygmy Puff t-shirt and a time-turner keyring Rumours of £8 chocolate frogs - all true. Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans (small box of jellybeans really), also £8. Brought me back down to earth quite nicely.

Oh, and I got my scarves finished and everyone loved them including all the studio guides!

Now that the frivolity of August is over I'm knuckling down money- and food-wise - I've started a new diary with details of my plans but if you plan on reading it I'd suggest you get a cuppa and make yourself comfy