PigginSkint's DFW Diary

dawnybabes

Ooh - tough call ! Wear his undies :-)

PigginSkint

dawnybabes wrote: »

Ooh - tough call ! Wear his undies :-)

Like it! Just off to check trains to see if I can get back home early enough on Sunday!

I didn't make it to the V&A yesterday - I thought it was free but it appears not! Anyway I went to Hamley's instead - good but packed. Then had a walk in the rain and went past Piccadilly Circus, Buck House and Hyde Park Corner!

I think I am going to have a trip to Covent Garden today - I think OH and I are going to a party in Chelsea tonight, though I know he would rather stay in and watch the Hootenanny (sp?) on telly. I could have done that at home. Plus I don't really want to stay in on my own again until OH gets back. If I am here I would rather go and do something!

Anyway, happy new year everyone!

dawnybabes

Happy New Year !!

PigginSkint

Happy New Year!

I shall be going back home tomorrow as originally planned. I checked the trains and there isn't an early enough one on Sunday for my liking - the earliest I would get back would be about 3pm - I want a day at home with my boy before I go back to work and he goes back to school.

Last night was eventful to say the least - I will update more when I get back home tomorrow.

Bye all!

PigginSkint

Hi All

I got back home yesterday - it was very nice to spend the night in a comfortable bed last night!

DS came back today and we have had a bit of a lazy day in front of the telly - he goes back to school tomorrow and I go back to work tomorrow.

I have been spending the evening updating my spreadsheets - still working on them to be honest! However, I have done enough to be able to do my 1st January debt figures and update my sig (see below. In a nutshell, my total credit card debt is slightly higher than at the beginning of December (no surprise there!) but my total non-mortgage debt is lower - I have been able to colour in a couple more squares. Woohoo!!:j

January should be a better month for debt busting (if only because no Christmas shopping to do) but February should be even better.

Anyway, better get on with the spreadsheet updating!

Bye all!

PigginSkint

Hi All

I'm off sick today - my head feels like it's full of cotton wool and it's centred around my right ear, so I think that might be the culprit. I feel dizzy and keep feeling like I am going to faint. If you have ever fainted, you know the headrush you get just before you hit the deck? Well that is what this is like. I am managing to use the computer but only lying down!

Hope everyone is keeping safe with all the snow and ice around. I'm afraid I'm just a big kid - I love snow!

Bye for now!

PigginSkint

Hi All

I’m not doing very well at updating my diary on a regular basis am I? Perhaps that ought to be my new year’s resolution!

I have just bought myself new diaries – finally found some that were (a) nice (b) suitable (c) not too expensive! I always have 2 – a pocket one for work, home management (you know the sort of thing – doctor’s appointments etc) and a larger personal one which I sometimes write inbut mainly it is for sticking in printouts from this diary (I want a permanent record that I can look back on). So hopefully now that I have a lovely new diary, maybe that will be the push I need to update this one a bit more! Plus I watched Bridget Jones’ Diary on telly the other night, and there is that programme on BBC4 at the moment ‘Dear Diary’ – things like that always inspire me to be more regular in my diary writing!!

OH’s debit card broke just a few days before he came home last week. This meant that for the last few days he had to use the Egg card. This would have been fine (because he had got some cash) except that he and several members of the cast and crew went out for a few glasses of pop following the final performance – in fact, they were out so late that OH was just getting back to his flat last Monday morning at about the same time that I was leaving my house to go to work – dirty stop outs!! Needless to say, aforementioned Egg card has taken a bit of a battering!

OH has got quite a bit of work coming up, including the care home, so hopefully he will have enough spare cash to pay back what he currently owes me. I have got him set up as a separate page on my main finances excel spreadsheet and everything he owes me his itemised on there. Every now and then (especially when there is something new) I copy and paste it and send it to him by email, so that he knows exactly how much he owes me – this currently stands at nearly £500. I shall keep reminding him about this, never fear!

In better news, despite the fact that OH still owes me money and all the spending I have done on the Egg card in recent months (holiday expenditure, Christmas shopping, new printer – which was a bargain, by the way! – etc) I am actually doing really quite well at the old debt busting!

My total debt figure at the beginning of January 2010 is nearly £5000 less than it was at the beginning of January 2009 – not to be sniffed at! I am hoping 2010 will be a better year for debt busting – certainly the early part. I have the following things in my favour:

• We are getting a 0.5% payrise in our January paypackets, backdated to last August
• Last small HMRC payment was November 2009 =I am now £25.57 a month better off
• Last large HMRC payment was January 2010 = I am now £82.86 a month better off
• 2 months off paying for Council Tax = £93 a month better off in February and March
• 2 months off paying for Travel Pass = £130 a month better off in April and May

In addition:

• Amex Blue will be paid off this year, even if I only make minimum payments = £25 a month better off
• Minimum payments on other things are falling rapidly which will free up more money for debt busting on the remaining debts

I will put all my detailed figures in a separate post.

Bye for now!

PigginSkint

Hi All

O.K. the scores on the doors are as follows:

Total Credit Cards
01/01/2009 = £22,869.20
01/12/2009 = £19,781.19
01/01/2010 = £19,855.81

LTSB Loan
01/01/2009 = £5,850.42
01/12/2009 = £4,137.73
01/01/2010 = £3,976.85
Total Non- Mortgage Debt
01/01/2009 = £33,732.25
01/12/2009 = £28,973.92
01/01/2010 = £28,865.66

The LTSB loan will definitely be history by the end of next year - what a happy day that will be! I will be £182.23 a month better off once that blighter is gone! Imagine how much debt busting I could do with that! The plan for this year is that as soon as the balance on the Egg card is back down to £0 (soon I hope!) then I shall start flinging extra payments at the loan to try and get it paid off a bit faster.

There are going to be a few drains on the finances this year – possibly! OH turns 40 in a couple of weeks’ time. My SM will be 70 this year. Also, if OH goes to America with Peter Pan (he’s not had an offer yet, but it is possible) then I shall want to go and visit him at some point – if he goes he will be away for at least a year and we have no idea whether he would get any trips home or anything. The plus side, of course, is that he will be earning a fair amount of money, so that will help. Oh well, we’ll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it.

My Avon delivery is due tomorrow, so tonight I plan to get all my books ready to go out and possibly prepare my returns – I am in 2 minds whether to send the stuff back actually. This is because they are 2 ‘mystery’ orders – people who haven’t put their name and address on the order form. I did put a note out with my last lot of books to try and track down the owners, but nothing doing as yet. Hmmm decisions decisions!

Anyway, I had better get on with some work I suppose

Bye all!

PigginSkint

Goodness me - I am doing well at updating regularly, aren't I?!

I have had a fairly carpy day today after a fairly carp weekend! Not only am I doing battle with the old Black Dog again, but yesterday I managed to get a shard of a broken cooking dish lodged in my finger - just behind the 1st knuckle of my right index finger. Ouch ouch ouch! :eek: I couldn't get it out, by this morning it hadn't worked its way out and so today I spent the whole afternoon in A&E near to where I work - to no avail. Xray showed it was lodged deep, doctor failed to get it out and so referred me to hands clinic (got to wait for an appointment) so they can discuss the pros and cons of removing it by minor op or leaving it in! :eek: I can't believe they are even thinking of leaving it in! It's agony! I am not too bad at the moment as it has a large sticking plaster on it, keeping it straight (bending it hurts like hell) but what use is a finger I can't use, can't bend and I'm afraid to touch - just scrape me down from the ceiling if you do?!

Anyway, enough of the rant!

dawnybabes

PigginSkint wrote: »

Goodness me - I am doing well at updating regularly, aren't I?!

Nope you're not !!!!

Ouch. that sounds really painful, my mum has a tiny shard of glass in the palm of her hand, been there 20 years + occasionally you can feel it creaking but its just settled.

Hope it gets sorted soon