Conquering Debts Once and For All...

Box_of_Fluffies

Hi :wave:,

I've finally decided it's time I started my own diary. Like many others I've been lurking for a while. It helps to write things down so hopefully it'll help to keep me on the straight and narrow in my bid to be debt free.

I'm really pleased with my progress this month. No debts have been paid off, but I have managed to buy DS2 new uniform and school shoes and DS1 new shoes in cash. In previous years we've had to pay using the credit card. :mad:

We also had a conversation with our bank today and switched to a bank account with no charges (in NZ most banks charge a monthly account fee). So that's $12 a month we can use towards paying off our credit cards. Wish we could do a transfer balance to a 0% card but it's not feasible right now, but we managed to get a lower interest rate on our current credit card (from 19.45% to 12%), saving us about $450 a year in interest.

Both DH and I spent the afternoon cooking. Really enjoyed it, the boys were in dining room, listening to a bit of Joe Satriani. I made lasagne for dinner (and a small one for the freezer) and a microwave chocolate cake. First time I've tried one in the microwave and it was yum. Enough left for tomorrow. DH was busy making pies for tomorrow's dinner and again, enough for the freezer. At this rate we'll need a new freezer. :rotfl:

Watching the movie 'The Good Shepherd' with Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie and Robert De Niro. Good film but seen it before. It's getting late so might just call it a night.

PinotGrigio41

Hi , I'm glad you have decided to start a diary. I will subscribe and hopefully we can jolly each other along if we have fed up days !

The microwave chocolate cake sounds lovely, you might need to pass that recipe on especially if it was nice and easy to make !

Hope you enjoyed the film, we have it but yet to watch it , good to know its worth watching twice !

Box_of_Fluffies

PinotGrigio41 wrote: »

Hi pinkpiggy, I'm glad you have decided to start a diary. I will subscribe and hopefully we can jolly each other along if we have fed up days !

The microwave chocolate cake sounds lovely, you might need to pass that recipe on especially if it was nice and easy to make !

Hope you enjoyed the film, we have it but yet to watch it , good to know its worth watching twice !

Hi Pinot,

I'll dig out the chocolate cake recipe and PM it to you later. It was so simple, yet delicious and I'm not usually a chocolate cake fan. Not so good on the waistline though.

Box_of_Fluffies

Sunday, Sunday... la la la la. Woke up in a good mood today. Everyone else is still in bed so enjoying some quiet time with a :coffee:

Must tidy the house today. I spent Thursday/Friday cleaning out the kitchen and the rest of the house is looking a bit sorry for itself.

We have a few things listed on trademe (NZ's equivalent of Ebay) which finish tonight. There are no bids as yet but lots of watchers so fingers crossed we sell them all.

Oh and must put all equipment back in the car tomorrow ready for our first job of the year!

Box_of_Fluffies

My kitchen smells delicious. Have just made ginger biscuits and scones. Along with the leftover chocolate cake from last night's dinner that should keep us (well the boys) in sweet treats for a few days.

Mr Pink is busy taking more photos of things to put on trademe.

Still got car to sort out for tomorrow but I think we'll have lunch first.

PinotGrigio41

I love that bit of quiet time in the mornings when noone else is awake !
Thanks for the recipe I might try it out this afternoon if we have time. Looks so easy. You have been very good with the baking, are you usually this productive ?

Box_of_Fluffies

PinotGrigio41 wrote: »

I love that bit of quiet time in the mornings when noone else is awake !
Thanks for the recipe I might try it out this afternoon if we have time. Looks so easy. You have been very good with the baking, are you usually this productive ?

It depends on my mood. I generally bake at least once a fortnight but it's part of my plan to save a little cash this year.

Box_of_Fluffies

Hi ho hi ho it's off to work I go... got my first job of the new year today.

Our new boarder is moving into the spare room later today. It's going to be a weird having another person around the house, especially a female... maybe she'll balance things out a bit.

Box_of_Fluffies

Heck that was a long day at work (11 hours from leaving home to returning home).

To top off the long day I somehow managed to trap my index finger in the garage door of the house we were closing up. Said a few choice words, looked at my finger and thought, that's going to bruise. Moved my hand to pick something up and realized there was blood spurting out. Fortunately I carry a first aid kit in the car so Mr Pink was able to patch me up. Still very sore and stings like hell when it gets wet.

Tea was chicken risotti and pitta bread out of the freezer, usually it would've been a takeaway so quite pleased with myself.

Today was definitely a NSD. I really ought to join that challenge.

PinotGrigio41

Oh yuk that sounds nasty, I am very prone to doing silly things like that !

Hope your first day back at work was good. Long days are a killer arent they. Our days average 12 hours with approx 4 hours round trip travelling, but thats life eh, the bills need to be paid .

I made the cake ( well I tried to make the cake !) It looked like brown jelly !! where did I go wrong ??!!

Box_of_Fluffies

PinotGrigio41 wrote: »

Oh yuk that sounds nasty, I am very prone to doing silly things like that !

Hope your first day back at work was good. Long days are a killer arent they. Our days average 12 hours with approx 4 hours round trip travelling, but thats life eh, the bills need to be paid .

I made the cake ( well I tried to make the cake !) It looked like brown jelly !! where did I go wrong ??!!

That's twice I've done it now. Our travelling yesterday was a 1½ hour round trip. Sometimes it's shorter, sometimes longer.

Good on you for making the cake. Brown jelly :eek: Not sure what you did wrong. Mine was a lovely dense cake, that was quite rich. I've been having a look at the net to find some more easy to make cakes.. will let you know if I find any.