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

debtfreesomeday

Yesterday was a NSD for me. :T We managed to get out for a long walk, or rather, we had to get out for a long walk as we were all exhausted, ill-tempered and struggling to cope so the only answer was to shove Ds in the pushchair and walk! Thankfully, parking was free and the lack of coffee shops/cafes along the route meant we didn't spend a penny.

I did loads of washing yesterday when we returned home, unfortunately all was dryer-dried but needs must.

In-laws were over for dinner last night which was lovely, and we had everything in that we needed. Always nice to entertain without needing to spend any extra.

It's payday this week and the plan is to spend as little as possible, if anything, before then. We are over £300 O/D and can not afford to spend anything else.

Ebay is up to £17 odd, but still 5 days to go yet and lots of watchers, so hopefully it'll make some much-needed pennies.

DFSD

debtfreesomeday

I realised last week that both hubby and I have been charged £4.25 a month each on top of our mobile phone bills, for a 'text booster' that we never requested. I am furious and emailed to tell them so! They have removed it from hubby's now trying to get them to remove it from mine. I requested a full refund but they are refusing to pay up, so we'll be £8.50 a month better off, but as soon as those contracts end, we're never using T-mobile again. I'm going to see if I can cancel, or even reduce the package before the contract is up anyway.

debtfreesomeday

Postie brought a free £5 voucher & bag of sweets voucher for Toys R us yesterday, so Ds will be able to 'go shopping' for a new toy or something this week; sure hubby will snaffle the free sweets!

We had chicken & mushroom risotto for dinner last night, made with stock and leftover chicken from Sunday's roast dinner. We had enough enough risotto leftover to freeze for a couple of lunch portions.

I also made both our lunchboxes for today - bulgur wheat salady thing with bulgur wheat bought via approved foods and tomatoes picked from the garden. We have enough cous cous and bulgar wheat to keep us stocked for years, not to mention naan breads/mini naans and red thai curry paste - which is surprisingly nice.

I also went to my weight watchers meeting (haven't mentioned I've been attending ww for a while now - paying by monthly pass so it works out cheaper) and I've now lost 20lbs in total (14lbs whilst attending ww, 6lbs beforehand), so I was chuffed! Lots more to lose yet though...

Now on my 3rd NSD since Sunday. Let's see if I can manage 5 days in a row!

DFSD

Chocforever

Nice post delivery for once! And well done on the NSDs; very difficult I find. In fact, I can only manage it if I don't go out!

Good on you for trying WW. Very impressive weight loss; you must be diligent. As long as you get "value" out of health related spend, it is worth every penny and it is clearly working for you.

I'm sat at home waiting for a furniture delivery. Nothing exciting; just a new headboard for the main bedroom. The one I had was pensionerish and was one of those things that was meant to do for the short term and then 15 years later, I still have it. When I moved, the sight of it in the new room reminded me that I really should get a new one.

And then it's down to the Post Office to post two of my ebay parcels. I'm pleased to get rid of 2 out of 4 things I had left on there. I will no doubt relist the others in a few weeks. I have thought of some decent things I can ebay after the bank holiday week and I am quite excited at the thought of selling them. Remind me of that when in September when I need to list them!

Best wishes x

debtfreesomeday

It's finally pay day. Thank goodness. Although it's all pretty much been allocated anyway, so we'll keep celebrations to a minimum!

A quick round-up for now...

Good and not so good to report.

Not-so-good: I realised I'd overestimated the amount we are able to pay towards debts every month by about £150, so have had to adjust the snowball accordingly. This has obviously had a knock on effect to our predicted debt-free date, but I was surprised that it only knocked it back a few months, so I shall still steam ahead to try and pay it off earlier.

Good:

Ebay is doing well with a day to go (currently at around £60).

Our water bill came today and they're knocking £4.50 a month off as we've been paying too much.

Also received another £5 voucher at Toys R Us yesterday whilst spending the first voucher (not sure why, but didn't complain!) so have another to spend.

That's about all for now, best get to work...

debtfreesomeday

The eBay items ended today and made just over £91. :j once fees are taken from that total, I guess it'll leave us with around £80. £30 of this will go towards paying off a pre-Christmas break we booked a year ago now, the outstanding balance is something like £79. The rest will go towards the overdraft or another payment off the credit card. I'll consult the snowball as to which to pay off first.

I've wrapped all of the eBay parcels I can do without picking up some more bubble wrap from work on Tuesday. A couple are going via courier, so I shall book those collections in now the items have been paid for.
I have a few more bits to list which I plan to do on Monday. Hubby also sorted out some clothes which are now too big for him, so I ironed the saleable items from that pile this morning and will photograph those tomorrow or monday too.

I have got quite a few jobs done around the house today, as well as the three of us going out for a nice afternoon out. The car was nearly empty though, so have spent £52 on petrol, £17 on groceries and £10 from the 'days out' budget for entry to a local event and some light lunch for the 3 of us. I also spent £10 from the present budget on a baby gift, but considering it was reduced from £35, am pretty pleased with my bargain!

Dfsd

Chocforever

Brill Ebay sales - £91 is great. I am also impressed with your day out for 3 for £10.

I hope you had a lovely bank holiday weekend.

I've mentioned before that it is more expensive living in the new flat. At the start of the month, I put some money away in a savings account towards the new house. By the end of the month, it has been withdrawn. And more.

I know I go on about one offs, but really, there always seems to be something unexpected and expensive which I can't accommodate into my spending plans.

Well, September sees Chocs on a mission as I am determined not to withdraw the money from my savings account unless a true emergency comes up.

I had another look at the bits of jewellery I have and don't wear for various reasons; mainly because it looks out of date. I have a small diamond pendant which I thought may be worth something. I can't remember what I paid for it. After much searching on the internet, I have come to the conclusion it probably isn't worth any more than the scrap gold. Which is OK, at least I know and needn't spend anymore time procrastinating on what to do. I also have a couple of rings I am happy to get rid of. I'm not sure what they are made of, to be honest, so have no idea if there is any value in them. I have ordered a pack to send off the bits of jewellery to be valued for scrap metal and will see what the offer is.

I am away for three days (thankfully all paid for) and when I return I will start on the next thing. Spending less is probably as important for me than earning more so will review that when I get back.

debtfreesomeday

I can sympathise with you on the one offs chocs, money is always put aside with the best intentions, but things always seem to crop up to drain the savings. I guess a positive is that it's coming from actual money and not going on a credit card.
Enjoy your few days away too. X

I haven't posted for a few days now as I have been busy, busy. I have a few projects on the go at the moment which have been keeping me busy in the evenings. I have been making a celebration cake for a big birthday party which was quite detailed and has taken a lot of work. Thankfully that's all finished now, so I can put that one to bed.
More excitedly, I've decided to try and do what I've always wanted to do and set up a very small business which I can work on in the evenings and in between everything else. It's all in the planning stages at the moment, but the very thought of it is making me quite excited and enthusiastic.
I am a 'maker'. I work in a creative industry (although my job at the present seems to quash creativity!). For as long as I can remember I have had a passion for designing and creating things, so this is the basis of my businesses. It is a design/craft website, but first I need to make a stock of designs to photograph for sale, so shall be working on it for a while before anything becomes of it. If nothing comes of it and it doesn't do very well, then at least I am spending some time doing something that I love to do, so it will not be time wasted. If I can make a little money at the same time, well then that would be nice.

On a different note, I have lots more items on eBay which I've put on as BIN's. Two have sold today, so that's about £9 made after fees.

Chocforever

Wow, the new project sounds very interesting . As you say, nothing to lose when you are enjoying the process. And rejuvenating when the day job can be uninspiring.

Chocforever

Do you use the survey site VO? I looked back to see how long it had taken me to get to the point where I could redeem and was really surprised at how long it had taken when I feel like I fill in the surveys quite often (at least every 10 days I complete one to the end without being screened out).

I decided that I would get to the next redeem point and then maybe have a break from it. I did one last survey which, once approved, would take me over the redeem limit. Then it seemed to magically disappear from my pending credits. And then another disappeared from my points total. Is this why it is taking so long to accumulate points? I can't say I normally monitor it.

I looked at the FAQs which said they sometimes reject surveys where they feel the answers are inconsistent or false. I realise this may happen from time to time even if it does seem harsh when the answers given were genuine. But if this was happening a lot with one person, wouldn't you just close their account?

Have now redeemed but very unimpressed.