MaccaHallam's Debt-Free Diary

MaccaHallam

The first of two days off now for me. Got up early and went for a walk into the village to post a letter and buy a couple more newspapers 60p. Also went to find the phone number of the Italian restaurant, my sister and I are planning to take my mum there for her birthday as a change. Will phone them later on to get a reservation.

I'm having a weekend break in a caravan in North Wales in May, my friend booked it but now needs paying so transferred £46 into her account so that's now sorted and I've also paid my mobile phone bill £55.84 and setup a DD from now on to pay this just after payday.

I've made a payment to my MBNA account as well of £59.24 leaving just £100 left to pay, hopefully later on in the month! :j

MaccaHallam

I've tried to apply for a 0% BT card with Bank of Scotland but again I have been rejected! Think I should stop applying now as could do some bad damage to my credit rating if I continue.

Instead I've contacted Barclaycard and they have offered me a 0% BT deal that ends on 1st November. I've agreed to do this so I've transferred £810 from my NatWest CC to Barclaycard for a £23.49 fee. I now need to pay this £810 off my Barclaycard before the start of November to not occur anymore charges. This should be easily done if I keep going how I am.

I've also setup a DD for the minimum payment each month, going out on the 28th. I will be paying more on top of this.

MaccaHallam

Tomorrow I've got a dental check-up and an eye test on the same day. Not had new glasses for 4 years now so might be due new glasses depending on the results. Can see fine out of my current glasses and I mainly use contact lenses.

I think I get money off glasses as I work with VDU screens but I'm not 100% sure. Does anyone know?

Still need to get my mum's present, struggling to think what I could get. Hoping I'll get some inspiration soon. My internet security expires in 4 days as well, need to get searching for something cheap.

MaccaHallam

Happy New Month Everyone!

Glad to have January behind me and looking forward to February in a much better financial situation.

That said it's been a crazy one so far. I ordered a pizza meal from Dominos on Monday, used an app on my phone to order it but it kept saying 'Please Wait' when I had ordered it. I went to collect it but they had no record of it so I ordered again as I was there.

I've checked my account to find I've been billed twice! One has gone to https://www.dominos.co.uk and the other to Dominos. I've been round to the shop and spoken to the manager and he is on the case and should be phoning me shortly. Either way I have proof in my bank statement so will just show that.

I expect my money back or the food that I had ordered.

Next bit of confusion was the refund of my Easyjet flight tickets. I phoned Easyjet up and explained things, they just said it must have been a glitch in their system as again there was nothing to see. (Am I doing something wrong?)

I've rebooked the flights and it turns out they not included the card fee this time so the flights are £4.95 cheaper, only paying £59.98 instead! :beer:

I've got the confirmation email this time regarding the flights but this time it says I used an Electron card ending in a number that I don't have?! I know I definately used my Visa card as I entered those numbers in. Whether this will return to bite me again, remains to be seen!

Dentist and Eye Check-Ups

This morning I paid a visit to the Dentist, was just a check-up and nothing further needed doing so paid £17 for the check-up.

At the Opticians I had a Contact Lense Check and an Eye Test as well. Both free of charge with a voucher from work. I needed new glasses as a result and because I'm on a plan with them for Contact Lenses I could get a pair of glasses half price. So after the discount and getting thinner lenses the price came to £89.50.

I also spent £1 on newspapers and a tv guide for my Grandad and £2 on parking for my Eye Test.

Olympic Success

I've managed to get a ticket for the Olympic Games in London this summer :j

I'm going to see the Men's Volleyball at Earls Court. The ticket was bought through a german site costing €48 in total, waiting to find out the price in Sterling but believe it should be around £36. I am really looking forward to going, amazing to see the Olympics in your own Country!

Finances are still looking good despite the splurge of today. Should still have a bit more to play with at the end of the month as well. All going on my debt and getting rid of it quicker!

MaccaHallam

Entry was for 2nd February, not the 1st!

Was in work today covering someone elses shift. I brought food in with me but it wasn't enough and I was still starving, I went to Boots who were selling sandwiches and wraps cheap so I got a wrap and crisps for then and stocked up on a wrap for lunch in work the next day £4.05. I also bought some dental floss £1.93.

The DD for my laptop £27.70 also came out today.

MaccaHallam

Had a pretty bad day at work today, a big disagreement with my boss. One of my ex-colleagues passed away last week and her funeral is on Friday next week, a day that I'm working. I requested to swap shifts so someone could cover that day and I could do a day for them but as I'd already done a swap this month (before I knew of the death) I wasn't allowed to do another, even in this exceptional circumstance and for a colleague who worked for the same company.

I've been allowed time off during my shift to go which is fair enough but I know of staff that frequently break this rule authorised by the boss so I feel quite hard done by and I let my feelings known. Not that it'll make much difference but something had to be said.

Got 5 days off after this day, exactly what I need. Maybe I should update my CV and see what's out there?

I spent £2.99 on fish and chips at work for lunch and also £2.19 at Spar.

My DD to the Santander CC £70.04 has been paid as well as a DD for an Oldham Athletic lottery I'm signed upto £8.67

I've been doing my diary for a month now. Will do an update to see where my money has been spent. Could be interesting!

MaccaHallam

Here's what I've spent in the first month of putting down all my spending.

INCOME

Income from Employment (after tax) 1,210.48
Gifts From Family / Friends 75.00
Money Won 4.00
Money Received 76.00
Interest 0.62
Topcashback 26.12

Income Total: 1,366.10

EXPENDITURE

Mobile Phone 55.84
Internet 6.95
Satellite TV 40.98
Laptop 27.70

Credit Card Payments 230.28
Debit Card Payments 95.00
Store Credit 46.51

Car Finance 132.64
Car Insurance 78.00
Petrol 173.76
Parking 12.70

Magazines 9.22
Newspapers 6.00
Gambling/Lottery 28.74
Postage 2.33

Lunches 84.53
Presents/Cards 13.68

Groceries 110.75
Toiletries 10.65
Household 8.00

Night Out 35.00
Rail 42.00

Dentist 17.00
Contact Lenses 22.00
Haircut 7.50
Health 2.93

Holidays 46.00
Flights 59.93

Football Tickets 57.00
Football Programmes 6.00
Player Fund 10.00
Olympic Tickets 42.29

Expenditure Total: £1,467.71 :eek::eek:

There's a few items there at are really bad still, am I getting this at all? Bit of a low moment really but shows there's still room for improvement.

Pick it apart if you like, I'll be doing the same. Still got some lessons to learn it looks like if I'm going to achieve my goals.

THIS MONTH SHALL BE BETTER!!!!

MaccaHallam

I'm getting confused with all this. I use a Credit Card for spending on Petrol and Groceries, think I'm counting this twice, once as a spend and then when I pay the Credit Card off.

Should I count it as I spend or leave it until I pay it of a month later?

fallenwiccan

MaccaHallam wrote: »

I'm getting confused with all this. I use a Credit Card for spending on Petrol and Groceries, think I'm counting this twice, once as a spend and then when I pay the Credit Card off.

Should I count it as I spend or leave it until I pay it of a month later?

As long as you don't pay interest on the credit card I'd say count it once, you're paying it once total not twice it's just a slightly lengthened process.

Think of it this way, if you bought a bottle of lemonade on your credit card you only have 1 bottle, you don't have another one when you then pay the credit card.

Hope that helps, keep up your good work, you'll get there :T

MaccaHallam

Here's a few updates, this doesn't seem to be working for me though.

£11.97 @ Halfords, car maintenance de-icer, windscreen washer
£32.96 @ Tesco on presents for Mum.
£7.49 @ Tesco on mini travel ipod speakers that were reduced from £25.

5th February

£60 @ La Bella Italian Restaurant for Mum's Birthday.

6th February

£2.51 @ Tesco
£2.54 @ Train Station on food.
£8.40 on Magazines