No more new shoes till at least 2014!

newpennypincher

I should be at work today, instead I'm sitting here having just had my second LBM. My first LBM came a couple of years ago, when I found MSE, but life got in the way hence LBM No2.

I'm not ill (I'll explain later why I'm not at work), so I'm bored, which led to a wardrobe clearout whilst looking for stuff to ebay. I ended up with all my shoes out on the floor and working out that I don't need to buy any new shoes till at least 2014

This is where LBM No 2 comes in!

I've been thinking I should start my own diary for months and I've been lurking on these boards becoming totally hooked on some of the diaries for over a year.

So here I am!

My circumstances have changed drastically in the last two years and my spending has to change too or all those people who've been waiting for me to make a mess of things will get their wish. And there's no way that's happening!

I'm 40 something, got divorced last year and have three grown up kids. All but the youngest (16) are self sufficient.

I bought my own home a few months ago and have a £75k mortgage which I would love to pay off early. I also have two credit cards with debts of about £6,500 between them. I live with my BF. He doesn't pay towards the mortgage, but he does contribute to the living costs. He has his own money problems and has just set up his own IVA. We have a cohabitation agreement in place.

newpennypincher

Oops, I posted that before I finished, sorry!

Where was I?

Oh, yes. I'm not at work today because my arms are covered in itchy red spots.......not a nice look!

I can't afford a new kitchen, so I thought I'd be OS and give the old one a facelift. I've painted the units in Farrow & Ball pale powder eggshell. Not cheap, but miles cheaper than a new kitchen and it does look lovely, but after painting the inside of the wine rack my arms were covered in paint, so I soaked a piece of kitchen roll in white spirits and used that to wipe the paint off my arms, hence the itchy red rash! I didn't know white spirit was an irritant, but I know now

There's never a dull moment here, I seem to muddle from one disaster to the next. Everything's a huge learning curve

I'll post again when I've got exact figures to hand and hopefully having to account for everything in this diary will keep me on the straight and narrow!

Buffythedebtslayer

No more new shoes till 2014? *faints at the thought*

Hello and welcome to diary land!

hope the rash goes down

xxx

newpennypincher

Hi Buffy, thanks for saying hello!

Well, who'd have guessed, the spots turned out to be chickenpox!

Which means that I've had all this time on my hands to get my act together and get started on this diary.

This is the second time I've been here - my last diary failed miserably but this one has to work. In the last two years, my circumstances have changed drastically, and now my spending has to change too.

I've been thinking about it for weeks, but the shoes were the clincher. I have to stop spending

Right, here goes:-

I got divorced last year after being married for over 20 years. The last few years were pretty grim, but they were'nt all bad because I have three gorgeous sons. DS1 is 22, DS2 is 19 and DS3 is 16. I know every mum thinks her children are perfect but I've been lucky so far with mine, they're not perfect but they're nice boys, who mean everything to me.

DS1 has just started his first job after completing his masters. I keep telling him how lucky he 's been to get a job 2 weeks after finishing his course.

DS2 is on his second year at Uni and DS3 is at College. He lives with his dad but spends half his time here with me.

I bought my house in August and got my first mortgage at the grand old age of 41. I live with my BF but the house and the mortgage are in my sole name. He pays more than I do towards our living costs, but anything to do with the house and mortgage comes out of my wages. Its taken me a long time to get my independence and this house is my security. BF suggested a cohabitation agreement, so that's what we've got.

BF has his own money problems (not all of his own making) but that's a story for another time. He set up his IVA and started paying into that last month. It wasn't easy for him, but so far its worth all the hard work

Ok, time for some figures, I have two credit cards:-

Tesco balance £2,636.08
JJB balance £4,504.37

Mortgage £74,502.38 over 20 years.

I have no savings to speak of other than:-

ISA £1,302.21
Online Saver Account £50.02

I've been reading other people's diaries and one thing that keeps popping up is how everyone should have an "emergency" fund. I'm going to use my ISA for this and will start paying into this as soon as I get paid on Thursday.

There's still a few jobs that need doing here so I'm going to start paying into my Online Bonus Saver to cover those little jobs.

I'd also love to be able to overpay on my mortgage, but that will have to wait till I've paid of the CCs.

I don't know if I should use the £1,302.21 in my ISA to pay a chunk off my Tesco card or leave it there to get me started on my "emergency" fund - I'd be grateful for any opinions

I've done quite well on ebay this month. I've sold a lot of clothes (and shoes) that I haven't worn ( a lot don't fit anymore - you eat more when you're happy!) and some jewellery. I have £430 odd sitting in my paypal account so Christmas should be more or less paid for now.

I'm aiming for as many NSDs as possible from today - the chickenpox should help with that!

I have a question - Is it bad to give your SIL something for Christmas that you've bought for yourself if you haven't used it, its still in its packaging and you know she'll like it?

Ok, I'm going to check my topcashback account, I think I have about £33 in there. I also have to chase up £110 owed to me for doing some book keeping for someone.

Bye for now x

newpennypincher

Just checked topcashback and have £33.53, but only £19.02 payable.

Does anyone know how long it takes a "pending" payment to become payable. Feels like forever to me!

BF just lit our first fire in the new logburner. Bit of a funny smell at the moment, don't know if that's normal or not.

I got three quotes for the work and got it all down on paper before they started, but they still tried to charge me an extra £160 + VAT after they finished the job

Emailed them and said I wasn't paying a penny more than they quoted and got an email back within half an hour sticking to the original price

I would have just paid that extra money a couple of years ago without question :eek:

headachesrus

Eww - hope the chicken pox go quickly and aren't too nasty.

Re your pressie for your SIL, I wouldn't have a problem with this at all (as long as she doesn't know), and you're sure she'll like it.

newpennypincher

Thanks Headachesrus. Could have been worse I think

She should like the gift, its a bracelet made by a friend of mine and a box of shabby chic spice pots. I know she likes his stuff cos I've bought her a few things from his shop.

I've decided since I'm stuck at home for at least the rest of the week, I'm going to list a few more bits on ebay.

Christmas is more or less covered now, so any extras can come of the Tesco CC.

newpennypincher

Forgot to say - I downgraded my mobile phone contract last week from £37 to £13.50!

I couldn't quite believe that deal. I'd previously tied myself into a 24 month iphone contract. Silly thing to do, I never got the hang of using all the gizmos on it.

Noticed that when I phoned O2 to cancel, they put me through to the retentions dept and not the cancellations dept - very clever!

newpennypincher

Well, not much pennypinching done today.

Didnt feel up to tacking ebay so spent all afternoon glued to my Ab Fab boxset - so funny, I wish they'd make a new series :rotfl:

On the plus side, I've had another NSD (thank you chickenpox)

Checked my Toluna account and had more points than I thought (could they have given me a bonus?) so sent off for a £15 Love to Shop Voucher and completed three surveys.

The voucher can go into the pot for next year's birthday pressies.

Tomorrow is payday. I need to work out a budget but the difficult bit for me will be sticking to it. I should have about £400 left at the end of the month but never do!

Need to be more productive tomorrow, I've turned into a right couch potato

newpennypincher

Good morning - its payday at last!! :j:j:j

I've worked out my budget and done all my cc payments etc.

Paid £150 off the JJB balance and £100 off the Tesco card.

Transferred £100 into my "emergency fund ISA" and £100 into the Online Bonus Account.

I've dug a few more things out of the wardrobe to ebay and will try and list these today. I already have about 19 items listed and once this new lot have sold, there's nothing left to ebay :eek::eek:

MinniMe_2

had to stop by and post when I seen the title of your thread - i swear shoes got me into debt!

sounds like your making great progress.

have a look at the PAD - Payment A Day thread n here - really great bunch and really motivating. Basically you something every day to a debt - even if it is only 50p! all adds up and helps you feel like your debt busting every single day!