Finally reaching out for some help...

Cherryjack

Thats wonderfull about the crafts..love the sound of them!! I love etsy.. aswell :-) Im from wales :-) i dont live there now but all my family do..will be back at xmas :0)
aww feeling sorry for you on the air bed.. if you do see a deal before january then go for it.. ive noticed the last few years that they have started the sales in december thru desperation.. so hopefully something will pop up soon.

Your doing really well

Have a good day in work

kerri_dfw

I'll be in Wales from the Next sale onwards at Christmas time, seeing my parents for Christmas day until the Next sale then going to go to see the boyfriend at his Mums in Fishguard before new year at a friend of his in Cardiff.

I called LTSB this morning to confirm the account number and sort code that my refund is being paid into, as I had a sudden panic last night that it would be paid into a strangers account through Lloyds incompetence and I'd have an even bigger headache trying to get the money back from them. Thank goodness they have the correct details, although no money as of yet.

My clothes auctioning appears to be working, I've got lots of watches going on (4 bids on one jumper - I see a bid war ahead), and one bid on a strawberry pattern bra... win considering it was a bra given to me by my sister so I never paid anything for it. Free money I can't remember how much ebay charge you for their service, or how much paypal charge either... will have to check as I know I have a micropayment account so maybe it's 3% for paypal.

In work at the moment, had museli with left over yoghurt from the weekend for breakfast which has completely filled me up. Forgot to take in the pasta as decided to have it for tea instead. Luckily I have tins of soup in my desk drawer that I bought last week, 5 for £3 if I remember rightly from tatco. No rolls though, but will have to do without.

Catch up later

Lunchtime -

I have been thinking about my cc and catalogue, they're the ones with the highest interest both at 39.9%. But if I pay my cc in full then I don't incur any interest. However, I'm naughty and never manage to do this. *slaps wrist*

But with my PPI refund due to clear any day, I have been wondering whether I should pay off the cc, then pay that £500 onto the catalogue? Therefore I reduce the amount of interest I'll have to pay on my catalogue next month, and won't incur any interest on the cc.

Does anyone have an opinion on this? I'm not very good with my finances but I also hate the fact I'm being charged £25/month for each of these accounts.

Just finished a 35 points survey on GTM which took me over the 1000 points for a cheque whoop whoop. That'll be $50 coming to me in the next 6-8 weeks yay.

kerri_dfw

November 16th

I had a good day in work today, I'm learning how to write an interactive command line menu using perl (oh I'm a computer geek by the way). I chose not to take in the pasta bake as remembered I had tinned soup in my desk drawer and had intended on pasta for dinner instead. I had the soup for lunch but didn't realise it had cream in, which played with my lactose intolerance all afternoon and made me feel sleepy and uncomfortably bloated booo! Got home at 6.30pm and after calling my boyfriend for a chat fell asleep. I was only meant to have a nap! Woke up fully clothed, sweating and drooling at 9.30pm and felt bleugh and icky. This is not an attractive look on a 25 year old by the way. Went and had two crumpets for team as farrr too late for eating proper dindins. Will have pasta bake tomorrow instead.

Right so how did I do with my list then:
1. Pack up books on bookshelf ready for moving
Didn't do this as I fell asleep but I did pack up one box worth after writing last night.
2. Finish sorting through paperwork
Didn't do this either
3. Find some more things to list on ebay
Nor this
4. Take pasta bake into work for lunch instead of buying from fast food places
Didn't take in pasta bake but equally didn't buy lunch
[STRIKE]5. Try to decide how best to pay off debts[/STRIKE]
I have decided that I am going to pay my credit card off in full, then use that £500 to pay my freemans account, so my December payday will pay off my freemans account and January should pay off Freemans. Wescott can keep getting their £87.50 a month as it's not charging interest and I'll pay back my two overdrafts once credit card paid off to stop being charged interest there.
[STRIKE]6. Decide on a weekly food budget[/STRIKE]
Have decided on a weekly food budget of £30 to start with, plus £50 for bulk buy on Amazon once a month. This will mean I can get my cupboards stocked up with organic yumminess and when I've got everything I want will put the £50 a month aside ready for amazon bulk top-up.
[STRIKE]7. Decide on a weekly "me" budget[/STRIKE]
I'm allowed £20 a week pocket money to spend on chocolate, crisps, fabric, whatever I feel like. Together with my food budget means I have £250 to spend a month which for one person should be plenty. I want to try to have a day where I go to the cash machine each week and withdraw the £50 so I'm no longer living from payday to payday. This should help change my mentality towards money. At the moment I have a splurge/drought attitude going on, this can't be helping my cause.
[STRIKE]8. Have a NSD[/STRIKE]
Whoop I did it, I managed a no spend day. I almost caved and bought some plastic envelopes for my fleabay sales on fleabay but they can wait until a spending day

I currently have a bidding war going on for one of my jumpers on fleabay which I find amusing. I always thought if people want something for 99p they'd wait until a few minutes before to bid. But I'm pleased that people have bid 5 days early. I currently have 3 items selling for £4.48 plus postage with 14 items being watched, this could get interesting.

I had a GTM (market I always now say as meerkat) survey through for 35 points which took me to the 1000 redeem mark. So a cheque will be arriving in 6-8 weeks. I also now have enough for a £10 amazon voucher with lightspeed but I want to save this until I need to buy OH's kindle, I might have more points by then to be able to redeem a higher voucher.

Lloyds money still hasn't gone through, but hoping it'll be there by the end of the week so I can pay off the credit card and then pay that towards the catalogue. Otherwise I'm going to get charged interest on the credit card, but I'm used to this by now.

Some gorgeous Clarke & Clarke fabric did arrive today though which I'm really pleased about. I bought it last week on a splurge day for about £15 for 5 fat quarters. It's going to make gorgeous bags when I get round to making them, although I might also make ipad covers using it, however need to buy batting in order to do this and I don't want to spend just yet. I've also added my folksy shop to my profile url, there's only 2 items in there at the moment that need photographing better but 2 is better than 0.

Tomorrows targets:

1. Box up the rest of the books
2. Take pasta to work
3. Make a coin purse for my sister's Christmas present
4. Sort out paperwork
5. Go through toiletries in the hunt for things to fleabay

kerri_dfw

Just went through my bank statement, I apparently spent over £250 on food using my card this month. This includes £107 on a family meal out (I treated my parents, sister, tiny nephew and grandad to a pub meal). This doesn't however include the amount spent from my cash withdrawals of £200, or my amazon bulk order of £100 as it included 10kg of washing powder plus fabric conditioner. So potentially £550 that's gone on my stomach. I did give my dad £50 for his birthday and £25 was a wedding present, but still....

Cherryjack

Great news on your £50.00 cheque.. i keep getting pushed out as not suitable for there surveys ..only about 100 points so far..
You've reminded me that i must MUST sort my paper work out.. ive got the shredder down.. and ive about 4-box fulls to go thru and sort ..yikes..

I like the pocket money idea.. you do still need to have some cash.. and maybe if you have any left over you can out it onto the following weeks.
I LOVE clarke & Clarke.. i saw some wall paper on someones site it was soo gorgeous.
Hope someone in the family can treat you next time.. and then you can save a little or put it on a debt. Or maybe cooking them a meal would be cheaper, even if its at someone elses house?
I have a friends wedding.. felt so guilty her John lewis gift list items were a minimum of £50.00 , i just couldnt warrent it..so went out and bought a rally nice photo album for her honeymoon pics..(i hope it goes down well)..
Ive also been invited to a not so close friends wedding celebration for next weekend.. its more someone i know rather than someone i meet up with.. so not sure how much to spend? maybe a voucher?
Hope your having a good day

kerri_dfw

Cherryjack wrote: »

Great news on your £50.00 cheque.. i keep getting pushed out as not suitable for there surveys ..only about 100 points so far..
You've reminded me that i must MUST sort my paper work out.. ive got the shredder down.. and ive about 4-box fulls to go thru and sort ..yikes..

I like the pocket money idea.. you do still need to have some cash.. and maybe if you have any left over you can out it onto the following weeks.
I LOVE clarke & Clarke.. i saw some wall paper on someones site it was soo gorgeous.
Hope someone in the family can treat you next time.. and then you can save a little or put it on a debt. Or maybe cooking them a meal would be cheaper, even if its at someone elses house?
I have a friends wedding.. felt so guilty her John lewis gift list items were a minimum of £50.00 , i just couldnt warrent it..so went out and bought a rally nice photo album for her honeymoon pics..(i hope it goes down well)..
Ive also been invited to a not so close friends wedding celebration for next weekend.. its more someone i know rather than someone i meet up with.. so not sure how much to spend? maybe a voucher?
Hope your having a good day

I always get pushed out of their surveys and it's taken me ages but perseverance has paid off I've also signed up to panelnet and ipsos in the past two days. Mysurvey is my current favourite, but valued opinions I seem to be getting a few surveys through but they don't email you grrr.

I wasn't happy with the couple asking for money so I bought them a handmade memory box which cost me £20 from a lady in Hampshire, her website is dottie designs. I know I should have only given them the £50 from me and the OH but that didn't feel personal at all.

I really need to get a shredder, I have ripped my name/address off the paperwork and will take that down to my parents to shred next time i'm there. Or burn them but that's not environmentally friendly at all.

Keep going with the surveys, it all adds up in the end.

Cherryjack

i totally agree with that, i dont personally like being given those gift lists or money requests ( i know its something they need) but its not really a surprise then.. and if you dont pay for one of the good gifts it makes u feel tight or something.
Managed to get the shredder off OH's dad, weve done a bin liner full and OH cooked me lunch :-) hes gone to work now.

kerri_dfw

Thursday 17th November

Giving up on lists, I apparently don't stick to them. I've been really tired every night this week when I've come home from work, I think I need to get some spinach this weekend to boost my iron intake. I don't eat red meat anymore so unless I eat spinach I've no idea where my iron comes from. Although I once again haven't had any dinner this evening, but I did stuff my face at work. We get free crisps, chocolate, fruit and pop so I always end up having them throughout the day. I need to do some exercise too, I'm gaining weight!!!

Today was meant to be a NSD but I forgot the website money comes out today, that was £9.53 including VAT. I also ended up in Tesco on a hunt for crusty rolls for soup and Onken yoghurt for my museli tomorrow. Ended up with peach + wholegrain, sounds dodgy but we'll see. So another £2.14 spent. Definitely a NSD tomorrow though as nothing to buy.

I've decided to pay my minimum payment for freemans using my vanquis card, so will swap around the totals. I don't want to go overboard in case Lloyds don't pay me my refund for many months. But when they do pay me I'll pay off the credit card then put that £500 onto freemans and balance swap, so to speak, until freemans is paid off. Then I've decided I'll put my food shopping on the c/c each month to build my rating and setup a d/d to pay the balance in full on pay day. Sorted.

Ebay update: 5 items selling so far at over £6 with 5 days to go. Found more items to list too, so will photograph at the weekend when it's sunny.

Oh, I've also padded out my expenses in the second post to include my food shopping and personal allowance for the month. Hoping this will give me some much needed focus

Cherryjack

madness im on iron tablets this week, and i dont eat red meat either or white meat..just fish! just woke up from another sleep..im exhausted 2 :-)

Your ebay is going well! keep up the good work..

kerri_dfw

Thanks 19/31 items being watched. 3 with bids. Highest watches is 6 for one of my old jumpers which is my highest bid so far at £2.50. Total is £6.51 for 5 items, not bad really although £0.99 is for my OH's pair of jeans so that'll go to him.