MaccaHallam's Debt-Free Diary

MaccaHallam

A bit of good news today. Was contacted by the Manager of the local Dominos who has looked at everything and will refund the error in charging me twice. I should expect a refund of £15.99 in my account within 3-4 working days.

Specsavers also gave me a call to say my new glasses are ready to collect, will do that when I make my journey home.

I'm currently down south at my dad's for a few days, returning home tomorrow. We were supposed to be heading to Stevenage to watch Oldham but the game has been called off due to a frozen pitch.

I've signed up to a free month's membership with Netflix, signing up via TCB has earned me £12.12 and I have just cancelled the membership so I don't pay anything. A nice little earner for little effort.

MaccaHallam

From looking at my monthly SOA I won't be paying anything on holidays, flights, rail, dentists, olympic tickets & OAFC player fund.

£217.27 I won't be spending that I did last month.

On top of that I seriously need to cut back on what I spend on lunches, parking and Gambling/Lottery. These are areas that I can cutback on with ease if I plan ahead.

Other categories I will try to spend less on Petrol by driving more carefully and use the car as little as possible.

MaccaHallam

It's been the week from hell for me this week. I attended my ex-colleagues funeral on Friday, then found out my Aunt's partner had died as I was on my way back from the funeral so sadly I've got another one to go to shortly.

Went down to my dad's for a few days to get away from everything but I've managed to damage my laptop somehow, a magnet got too close and has appeared to damage it very badly. It's currently at a friends who is trying in vein to get it working again or trying to get as much data recovered as possible.

I've not updated my spending diary because of this but I've kept a record so will put this on shortly.

Really hoping next week will be better, it can't get much worse!

MaccaHallam

The game I was supposed to be going to in Stevenage was called off due to frost. A blessing in disguise financially as it will save me £21 to attend and I doubt I'll make the rearranged date.

I received a call from Dominos Pizza who agreed to refund £15.99 which should be in my account within a few days. :j

A DD of £7.87 was paid to 3Mobile for wifi internet for my phone.

Spent £7.08 at Tesco on some groceries.

Went out to the pub with my dad for a few drinks in the evening instead of going to the game, was a very good night!

8th February

Was travelling back home, got up a little late so had to get a taxi to the station £6 to get there in time.

I did try to get a coffee as well from the coffee shop there but was told by the man there that he didn't know how to make coffee and he was the only person there! :eek: So I went without coffee and saved a few more pounds!

On the way home I collected my new glasses from town, parked where it was free to and walked a little further in.

My first Car Breakdown DD came out today £7.13 and I put £16 petrol in to get to work for the upcoming days.

9th February

Got a statement from my Santander CC. From spending on the card at supermarkets, department stores and petrol I earned £9.97 cashback which was taken away from my balance. £468.20 needs to be paid off the card next month when the DD comes out.

I went to Delice de France for lunch £2.99 and bought some things from Spar £4.49

10th February

Got some more petrol on my way to work £20.01 my ex-colleagues funeral was in North Wales and I was driving some people from work over as well.

Went to Delice de France again and spent £2.99 and on my way home from work had a chippy supper £1.85.

11th February

No spend yesterday as I was full of a cold and trying to repair the laptop I had damaged, a friend came over to help and has taken it away but has been unable to do anything so far.

Need to consider my options, don't really want to buy a new laptop when I'm still paying for the one that is currently broken. What do I do?

MaccaHallam

Went to Tesco to do a big grocery shop. Used mysupermarket before to get more for my money. Spent £74.10 in total which qualified me for a 10p off a litre of fuel voucher which I'll use shortly.

In the evening I bought a product from Maplins costing £8.99

13th February
I had made a couple of purchases from the apple online app store costing £3.98.

My mobile phone bill arrived today, the payment next month will be £47.10 my contracted bill is £47 so only added 10p this mnoth which is a lot better than in previous months.

I used my petrol voucher today also and filled my tank up, got a couple of pounds discount and spent £51.62 altogether.

14th February

Went to the football in the evening after work, ticket already paid for but spent £3 on a programme, £1 for a ticket in the half-time draw and £1.80 on a hot drink and snack to keep me warm during the game. Was a good game as well that we managed to win, our first of 2012! :j

15th February

Didn't spend anything at all, brought food in from home to work, was too busy anyways to spend anything!

16th February

Woke up late so didn't have time to prepare anything to bring to work, ended up buying a Jacket Potato and drink for £2.99 and also bought milk for the staff £1.43.

I spoke with my sister as well about coming down to hers for a few days after Easter and helping her with my nephew. Got train tickets for £10.50 only using Southern Trains, and with using TCP got 6.06% back or 63p. :T

17th February

Collected my train tickets from the Train Station at Manchester Airport. At last my final day in work for the week, not in Monday either so a nice long weekend.

Payday is next friday also so nearly made it to the end of the month with money to spare or more money to throw at my debts. Things are looking up again or so I hope!

MaccaHallam

I was planning to go to watch Oldham play MK Dons yesterday but I couldn't get enough people in the car to make it cheaper to go down. Good job really as we ended up losing 5-0 in a shocking performance.

I've booked a 2 hour skiing lift pass at chillfactor for next week costing £20 and £5 for clothing hire.

From looking at this website I found a deal with Which? to subscribe to their magazines 3 month for £3 and then via TCB they pay you £5.55 for doing so. A £2.55 profit.

Went to the chippy for tea for my grandad and I, that came to £6.75.

MaccaHallam

As it's near the end of the month and I've got a surplus of cash in my account for a change and nothing else to pay until payday on Friday I've paid £45 off my MBNA CC, only have a £55 balance on it left so that will go when payday arrives.

Did a shop at Tesco coming to £62.18 after a £5 discount, also got a 10p off a litre of fuel voucher as well to use on my next fill up.

MaccaHallam

Didn't spend anything but found out the day of the funeral of my Aunt's Partner would be on Wednesday, a day I was down to work. After a quick word with my boss I got a days unpaid leave to go to it.

21st February

First day back in work, brought food and drink in from work and didn't spend anything once I was there, another no spend day.

22nd February

The day of the funeral, picked a few family members up and headed over for the service. Went well as funerals go. Drove my dad to the train station as he lives down south, got £10 petrol money for my efforts. A DD for an online subscription for Oldham Athletic came out also for £4.29.

23rd February

Back in work and last day in thankfully.

Today was the overtime draw as there was too much demand for the spaces available. I was drawn as first reserve so will get overtime if anyone drops out but as it stands no extra income coming in next month.

Didn't bring food into work and paid the price for this. Spent a bit of money, firstly 50p towards the milk fund, £1.70 on breakfast at Greggs, £2.99 on lunch and £3.90 at Boots.

Filled the car up full with petrol and used the 10p off a litre voucher which brought the price down to £51.31 including 2 packs of bacon they were selling for just 10p! They were going out of date so in the freezer they've gone!

Last day before payday and I've made it with money to spare and paying extra off my debts. Been a good month when I thought it was going wrong. Hoping March will be an even better month and making more serious inroads into my debts.

Feeling positive!

MaccaHallam

Payday has arrived and a payment of £1,262.09 into my account.

I went to Chillfactor for a couple of hours skiing with friends, had a great time just wish it could have been for longer and in the Alps and not Manchester.

After skiing we went to Nandos £10.20 and got an ice cream £2.55 before heading home.

Went to Oldham Athletic to buy some tickets for the next few games. Oldham are doing an amazing promotion of 5 home games for only £15, fantastic value. If you are interested search for Oldham's website for details. I spent £75.00 in total but will be getting £40 back for the tickets I got for my friend.

The DD for my broadband internet with O2 £7.21 came out.

When I returned home I made some payments towards my debts. The DD to Barclaycard £31. Also made payments to NatWest £75.00 and Barclays £25.00.

I paid off the rest that I owed on the MBNA CC £57.74 :j Will cancel this card in the next few days.

Next debt to concentrate on will be the NatWest Debit Card. That has the highest interest rate currently and I expect to make more payments to this as the month goes on.

MaccaHallam

First of all made a payment of £10 to very.co.uk. Went to the football in the afternoon, my friend gave me £40 for the tickets I had got him and I spent £8.10 in total during the game.

The game wasn't one of the best but we managed to win 1-0 in the end! Off to watch the Rugby tomorrow, hopefully will be more entertainment there!