Boarding the Bus of Positivity (for 24 months of travels!)

debtfreesomeday

We had a nice day today. Hubby had the day off and we went out for the day, saw some sights, walked a nice coastal path and used more clubcard vouchers to pay for lunch at pizza express. Drinks and a little over cost us £8.

The bank account, however, is looking atrocious. More petrol needed today and we only half filled it for £24. I believe more will be needed before pay day too. We really need to tackle this overdraft issue next month. I think the eBay pile is a good place to start. I've downloaded the eBay app tonight in the hope it will be quicker and easier to list everything. We'll see how it goes tomorrow...

Chocforever

Good luck with tackling the Ebay pile. Now you have prompted me to check my items up for sale! 3 watchers and no bids. Let's hope things pick up by Sunday when the auctions end.

Hope you have another good day tomorrow x

wantabetterlife

I have the ebay app DFSD and think its so much easier...you dont have to load the photos onto the laptop first. I feel for you with the petrol...it is such a huge expense for families now!

debtfreesomeday

I tried the ebay app this morning WABL but for some reason, couldn't get my pictures to reduce to the correct size within the frame. Will have another go tonight.

Meanwhile, I've photographed some more bundles for ebay this morning and weighed everything for postage. I won't get chance to list anything tonight, but hopefully it will all be completed over the weekend. We could certainly do with the extra cash ASAP.

Hope your sale pick up Chocs x

wantabetterlife

Think i know what you mean DFSD, i did find that you had to take them quite far back so they fit inside the "square"...but they come out fine on the listing. Is that what you mean???

debtfreesomeday

Yep, that's the one. I'll give it a go tomorrow, thanks WABL. Xx

debtfreesomeday

Had a guest over for dinner tonight. so haven't got a whole lot done, but have just managed to list the largest two bundles of baby clothes on ebay, I'll do the rest tomorrow.

Items for sale via facebook/work have now sold and I've made £40 from those two. Person coming to pick one of them up tomorrow morning, other one should have picked up from work today but didn't show. :mad: I do have 3 or 4 other people who have emailed me, wanting to buy the item though, so if the first guy doesn't want it it's no great loss, just an annoyance.

Off to bed now, although still keen to stay up and find ways for money-saving/making, but I know it won't do me any good when I'm tired and grumpy in the morning!

debtfreesomeday

Urgh, not a good night with Ds. I think he's teething again, so all sleep/eating/sense of normality has gone out of the window for the past two days. I do hope these teeth come through soon! DS finally down for a nap now after being up most of the night and being extremely unhappy about everything, poor little fellow. Took half an hour of screaming, but finally he's asleep. DH also napping too as he was up with DS for the first part of the night and then from early hours this morning.

I'm feeling very tired and quite emotional this morning about our current situation. The restraints of living to such a tight budget with no friends or family for company around here is really making me feel quite down at the moment. We desperately need to relocate but, unfortunately, we have yet to win the lottery.

I did manage to get the ebay items listed yesterday, so we have 9 auctions on the go at the moment. I have some more items to list, but as they're more wintry baby clothes etc then I'll probably leave those a little while longer. I also have lots of summer stuff to list, but think it's pretty pointles doing so now and may have to keep that until next year.

A lady came to pick up the baby item we sold via Facebook yesterday, and duly gave us the £30. £5 got spent yesterday on some emergency trousers for Ds after a nappy leakage incident (and I forgot to take a change of clothes for him :mad:) whilst out yesterday and a coffee for MIL who was struggling a bit with her walking and breathing yesterday, so needed quite a few sit downs. She bought us lunch, so spends for us were minimal. £25 of the money will go in the bank tomorrow though.
I still haven't heard back from the other guy about the item he was supposed to pick up on Friday, so will offer it to someone else on Monday, that will make another £10.

We did have to fill the car up again yesterday though, another £50+ gone. The amount of petrol we've used this month is shocking. We drove home though, and petrol costs are always nearly doubled then, that's why we hardly ever go home any more. Probably only 3 or 4 times a year.

Off to browse the boards now and take a bit of Me time whilst the boys are napping (in between loads of washing, of course!).

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend. Shame the weather is pretty pants.

DFSD
X

Chocforever

I feel for you when you are having a rough time and things are always worse if very tired. I hope you got a bit of peace and quiet this morning.

I have been neighbour-free for the last 3 months. Some people moved in yesterday and I discovered that the soundproofing here is not good at all. I think they will be nice neighbours so it won't be anti-social noise, but all the same, I find it hard to relax. It was one of the main reasons I moved from where I was. That was really dreadful noisewise.

I think all this will speed up my househunting. Maybe not right now (there is little point because I can't exit the rental agreement) but in a few months time. It is a really lovely appartment I am in now but very expensive. I have bought a few things I probably shouldn't have over the last couple of months in terms of big spends in one go, but even so, I have never had so little money in my current account for a long time. It is just expensive here and it is another reason I should move on next year.

Earlier in the year, I mentioned that I had entered the ballot for a place in the London marathon. I find out in October if I have got a place. There is a 1 in 7 chance of getting a place though a few people have said to me that first timers are more likely to get a place. Anyway, I have started training (so I had better get a place now :rotfl:). I am starting from nothing in terms of running and indeed any sort of cardiovascular activity.

It is the end of week 3 of training and so far things have been going surprisingly well. I have diligently been going out running several mornings a week. I discovered parkrun which is a 5km timed run on a Saturday which is held in lots of towns and cities. It is free and reliant on volunteers and some corporate sponsorship to keep going. I have done a couple of these runs now. Of course, I am quite near the back, but I am pretty pleased with the times (33 mins) in the circumstances. And hopefully I will see some improvement over the next few months.

I sold my last £10 voucher for £10.05. The vouchers were for places I don't shop in. I wonder if they can be used twice by visiting different stores. I can't think of any other reason people would pay face value for them.

One of my other items will sell tonight. Nothing major - just £6ish. I have another 3 items which aren't looking so good. One has a few watchers; the other two nothing. I have thought of a few more things that can go on Ebay. I am away quite a bit of bank holiday week so I think I will wait until I am back before listing them. Hope you have some luck with the bundles of clothes.

debtfreesomeday

There's nothing worse than external noise when you're in your home Chocs, I have been in that situation too when we lived in a ground floor flat, so I can sympathise. I guess the positive outlook says it's not forever and, as you said, it will increase your motivation to move sooner rather than later.

Very impressed with the running regime! I'd love to do the marathon too, although I'm certainly nowhere near the required fitness levels! I once did a half marathon for charity that is close to me and my family and that was a really wonderful experience, although the actual running side of things was not so wonderful! :rotfl:I enjoyed the training, but I am definitely not a natural runner! Good luck and keep us informed of your progress!

I still don't understand the voucher/ebay thing, there must be something else one can do with these vouchers that we're unaware of! Why on earth would anyone spend more than the face value? We must be missing a trick!