First Step of a Long Journey

J4mes

Well done on busting that first debt!! And awesome eBaying skills as well!

Does the overdraft charge for any usage or is there an amount that is 0% (mine is up to £350 of a £1050 overdraft), just thinking you might be able to pay off the Link 2 debt?

headachesrus

I don't really know tbh. It is an advantage gold account, which I think has a little free overdraft on it, but going back a few years, each time we hit the overdraft, they would increase it! And of course ... you can guess the rest.

I have an overdraft limit of £3,500, and its this money I'm thinking of using to clear some of the other debts, and then using my newly found saving skills to pay off the overdraft again.

I also have a little ebay shop where I sell handcrafted items, keeps me out of mischief!

J4mes

Could be worth a phone call, you never know could get rid of a debt for free, while saving you the £65 monthly charges!:)

I couldn't believe some of the prices handcrafted stuff made on eBay, my OH has always been very creative and I'm good with my hands (quiet at the back please ) and always been into buying to sell on eBay, so we're getting a good stock of items together and are also going to do a Xmas crafts fair at the end of the year! Our new items are hand made spice racks (me) with hand painted spice shakers (OH), with the spice shakers being recycled from ASDA items.

James.

headachesrus

You should have a look at Folksy and Etsy as well as ebay, they specialise in more handcrafted goods. you need a credit card to register with them rather than a debit card which is why I havent registered and tbh ebay keeps me busy enough.

J4mes

I'll definately check those out!! Thanks!

headachesrus

I've had a busy weekend, and not feeling well today, struggling with a really bad head, and the light is really hurting my eyes.

Was extremely organised yesterday though, did the food shopping for the week, and spent around £100. I've managed to get my foodbills down from say £130 a week as a main shop, with several trips to my local coop for the extras I'd forgotten, spending around a tenner each time, to £100 each time I do a main shop, and instead of doing my main shop once a week, trying to stretch out the food I've got for about 10 days. Doing a meal plan for each week, and buying for the plan.

So, food plan for this week:
Today: Chilli, jackets, and salad. Part of being organised yesterday, I had a pack of mince I needed to get cooked, so I made a big chilli, which is what we are having tonight, and have put two portions of it in the freezer (go me!!!)
Tuesday: maybe a takeaway actually, as DH and both skiddles are out tomorrow evening.
Wednesday: Beef casserole and dumplings
Thursday: Chicken tikka pitta for DH and DS and chicken mish mash for me and DD.
Friday: HM fish and chips for 3, and something out of the freezer for DS (doesn't like fish)
Saturday: Spag Bol
Sun: Roast pork dinner (need to buy veggies for this)
Mon: Hawaiian chicken for me and DD, chicken tikka pitta for DH and DS
Tue: Takeaway as before
Wed: HM Chicken curry, pilau rice, naan bread

Running out of meal ideas for any more days. I have a family of really fussy eaters (DH and DS in particular) and it is so difficult to find meals that everyone will eat, which I why I often have to do two different meals, drives me mad!

Actually, just remembered DH may be away this weekend, so may alter things slightly.

Been a good girl today, emptied my food cupboard, cleaned it, and threw out all the half opened packets/OOD stuff etc. Hate it when the cupboard is jam packed full of "stuff" but you can't see what's there, and when you dig it out, it's gone off anyway. Found some jelly chrystals which expired in 2006! How does that happen? I know that I have cleared it out in the past six years at some point!!!

headachesrus

Got interrupted there, sorry.

Also putting some of my own "stuff" on ebay. Need to make £169 to replace the money I took for the playbook. Put two lots of yarn on their, georgous luxury yarn, and a box set I've had lying around. I do need to make an expedition under the stairs as I have loads and loads of wool under there, and will get that on too.

headachesrus

Managed to make the money up on ebay for the £169 for the playbook, so that's replaced. Trying to sort out house contents insurance etc via quidco, and I can't get the site to load via the quidco website - been driving me mad all morning, and wasted so much time. So I've put a note in the quidco thread, and I'm leaving it now until tomorrow.

Have a load of paperwork I need to get sorted this afternoon. Struggling with motivation to do the things I should be doing, paperwork, housework, house is a tip. I have a new knitting project and I just want to sit and do that, and of course, once I get on the computer, hours just disappear. Sleeping is an issue as well, I'm a night person, and have to be up at 6 atm to get DS up, so constantly tired. Winge whine moan .......

Okay, menu for the next week or so ...
Today: chicken curry, rice and chips
Thu: Chilli, jackets, and salad.
Friday: HM fish and chips for 3, and something out of the freezer for DS (doesn't like fish)
Saturday: Spag Bol
Sun: Roast pork dinner (need to buy veggies for this)
Mon: chicken curry for me and DD, chicken tikka pitta for DH and DS
Tue: Chicken tikka pitta for DH and DS and chicken mish mash for me and DD.
Wed: : Beef casserole and dumplings
Thursday: HM Chicken curry, pilau rice, naan bread
Friday: Stuffed peppers and something out of the freezer for DS
Saturday: Chinese chicken fried rice

Right, paperwork

headachesrus

Got most of my paperwork done, then realised in the evening I still have the form to fill out for a recorded del item which didn't get delivered in december, extremely luckily I had managed to find the proof of postage for it, will do that this weekend.

Just did my last two week's ASDA til receipts for their price guarantee, last night's shopping was £89.76 and we got a voucher for £2.30, and the week before was an excellent £41.94 and we got a voucher for 78p for that.

We are cashing them when we go, and putting them onto a gift card, togther with £5 a week, which will hopefully cover Christmas this year. DH is really into this idea, tempting now though to find out each week how much is on it, but if we can we will leave it til December and have a nice surprise (or a bad one LOL).

I am closing my ebay shop for 3 days beg next week to sort the house out - not even going to turn the computer on!!! Sounds good doesn't it?

headachesrus

Oh, and reminder to me -next big thing to tackle is switching gas and leccy suppliers. Been with the same one forever, say 23 years, and I'm really nervous of changing and making a mistake. It just makes sense to me that the local electricity (and they do my gas as well) would be the cheapest, but obviously doesn't work that way.