PigginSkint's DFW Diary

PigginSkint

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGbucSjSLDw


Hope this link works!

The nutter with the flame thrower is my OH!!!

PigginSkint

Hi All

Thank crunchie it's Friday! :jAlso it was payday yesterday! :j

I have to say though that I am feeling particularly rough today (I have a 'visiter' which is being even more troublesome than normal this month):(

I have started giving some thought about preparing money-wise for my holiday and so far I have come up with the following:

• Minimum payments to credit cards should be as close to the actual minimum as possible (I normally overpay by about £5-£10 on each)
• Payment a Day payments should be kept small
• Continue to putting a little bit aside everyday into a savings pot which I can use to pay off a little (and it will be a little) of the cost of the holiday
• As I won't be able to access my internet banking or my spreadsheets while I am away (and so won't be able to keep an eye on things) I plan to put everything except food shopping onto the Egg - so avoiding the risk of accidentally going over my overdraft limit
• When I come back, use savings pot money and anything left over from August's money (payday will be while I am away) as payments to the Egg card.
• All of the above also applies to September!!

We go away on Monday 23rd August and will be back on Saturday 4th September - which is also when we will be going to a wedding and it's my Dad's birthday.

My last day at work is Friday 20th August (3 weeks today - not that I am counting!) and my first day back will be Monday 6th September, which is also the day the car goes back (luckily the car hire place is very close to home and to the station where I catch the train to go to work).

DS goes back to school on Tuesday 7th September, so somewhere between now and then I have to find time to buy him some new school trousers and shirts. His school is becoming an academy in September, complete with new uniform which is luckily being provided free of charge :money:. The only things we have got to get are trousers, shirts (they are providing one but obviously we will need more), black training trousers (which the Ex is buying) and black sweatshirt (ditto). Everything else he has already got.

I really ought to add the following to the planning list for the holiday:

• finish decluttering
• get rid of rest of stuff to charity shop/freecycle/sell
• clean and tidy house from top to bottom
• organise camping gear
• air tent

Right I had better get on with some work!!

Bye all!

PigginSkint

Hi All

A flying visit at the moment!

I haven't managed to finalise my 1st August debt figures yet because I normally play with my spreadsheets at work (and at home as well I might add!:D) but since I have had my new computer I can't get Egg Money Manager to work! It works at home fine, but not on my work computer. I can't really ask the Systems Administrator to sort it out as I don't think that would go down very well!

I will just have to sort it out later! It doesn't look too bad on first glance, but it could have been a lot better! Hey ho! Isn't that just the way it goes!

OH's video seems to be EVERYWHERE! Apparently it had over 80000 hits in the first 3 days - how exciting! Talk about exposure! And the longer version is yet to come!

Right I had better get on with some work!

Bye!!

P.S. Have you ever noticed how much I use exclamation marks? Quite scary really!

PigginSkint

Hi All

I was off sick yesterday - OH brought home a stomach bug from the care home where he works. That was kind of him!

As a result I have not yet finished updating my 1st August debt figures. I might have been able to do it at home if I had remember to email my updated spreadsheets to myself before I left the office on Monday. D'oh! :doh:

Just off to drink some peppermint tea to try to calm down my insides!

PigginSkint

Hi All

I am so busy at the moment - so much to do before I go on holiday (finish a week today).

I am also still not feeling too good - insides still unsettled from the bug and IBS is playing up. In addition I think I might have a UTI - oh joy!

I had 2 interesting letters in the post yesterday re credit cards. One from Virgin (which I cleared last year but still remains open) saying that as I haven't used the card for over 12 months they are going to close my account in 30 days time unless I tell them otherwise. I had been toying with taking advantage of a balance transfer offer (0% for 6 months which I thought I might use for some of my Egg balance) but I don't think I can bothered - bearing in mind the balance transfer fee etc. So I think I might just let that one be closed.

The other letter was from Amex re changes to terms and conditions. The main one that effects me is that from November 2010 they are going to introduce an annual dormancy fee of £20 - to be applied if I don't make any purchases on the card in a 12 month period. This presents me something of dilemma. I have a smallish balance on this card on a life of balance APR deal, so I don't use it for purchases. One option is to try to clear the card before November, but as the APR on this card is actually the lowest of all my debts (4.9%) it is not a high priority for clearing - obviously I am trying to clear the higher interest debts first. Also the balance (a little under £800), while relatively small is still probably too big to clear by November (given my other priorities). Another option is to make a very small purchase on the card to avoid the £20 fee - not a particularly attractive option given the fact that it would be at a much higher APR (even with the other major change to the ts and cs of the card - the change in priorities of payments so that the most expensive debt is paid off first rather than the other way round as it is at the moment). The 3rd option is to just take it on the chin that I am probably going to have to pay the £20 fee. It is very likely that this will just be the once as I expect (certainly now!) to clear this card within the next year!

Hmm decisions!

My debt free journey should be made much easier soon. Given the fact that I have just been awarded a pay rise - I will find out exactly how much more I will get each month when I get paid at the end of this month - and the fact that my LTSB Loan will be paid off by May next year (and hopefully sooner) that will give me much more money to throw at debts. At the moment I am paying an extra £20 a week by S/O to my loan and I am planning to increase that, probably to £30 a week, when we get back from holiday.

DS is now back from France - I was chatting to him briefly on FB last night. It sounds like he has had a good time but he didn't elaborate! He will back home (i.e. at my house) on Sunday - can't wait to see him!

I went to my Dad's on Sunday for dinner. My eldest brother brought his new girlfriend to meet the family - brave girl! She has an 8 year old daughter - same age as my niece - so it was nice to see the 2 of them playing together.

Anyway, I really must do some work now. I hope it is going to be nice this weekend as I really need to air my tent!

Bye all!!

PigginSkint

Hi All

I am now back from my holiday - the credit card has taken a bit of a battering but I don't care because we had a fabulous time!

I am desperately trying to catch up with everything (work, Avon, home etc) so I will update in more detail in due course.

Needless to say, the debt busting continues!

Bye for now!

PigginSkint

Hi All

Sorry I have been quiet lately, but since I have been back from holiday my debt busting activities have been held up by being:

a) busy
b) tired
c) ill

I have been working on my spreadsheets but there is still more to be done, so I can't update properly yet.

Normal service will resume soon!

PigginSkint

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! It's been how long since I last posted?! :eek:

There are many reasons for the lapse - life and work have been very busy, I have moved desks so that my back is now to 2 of my colleagues (before I had no-one behind me, which meant I could do what I liked on my PC and no-one was any the wiser! The only reason I can do it at the moment is because I am on my own in the office!), Farmville, Frontierville and Treasure Isle, and I have basically got out of the habit of posting regularly. Not good!

There is much sadness in the PigginSkint household at the moment as we had to have our cat put to sleep at the weekend. He was terminally ill (only diagnosed a week ago) and we knew he hadn't
got long. We hoped he might last until yesterday (Monday) so that the deed could be done as a home visit, which would have caused him less distress, but in the end we had to get a lift from OH's mum and go over to the local veterinary hospital because he was clearly starting to suffer. He had a good life for nearly all of his 14 and a half years, right up until the last 2 weeks, so we have plenty to be grateful for.

Money-wise, everything is plodding on. The Egg card has taken a bit of a battering this year, what with holiday, new TV, freesat box (necessary because since engineering work on the local transmitter we have been getting very poor reception - got a good deal though :money:) , loft insulation, new bike for DS's birthday, OH's business expenses and, most recently, a significant amount in vet's bills. Oh well, the LTSB Loan will be paid off in a matter of months (4 hopefully) - although I have just had to reduce my weekly standing order (for overpayments) because things are looking a little tight this month. Once that is paid off, it will ease things considerably.

We were planning to buy a car reasonably soon (as OH is learning to drive) but I think that will have to go on hold for a little while at least while we clear some other debt. I certainly intend to have one in time for going on holiday next summer - it makes sense rather than spending an arm and a leg on car hire again!

Anyway, must do some work!

Bye for now!

dawnybabes

(((Hugs)))

PigginSkint

Thanks Dawn