PigginSkint's DFW Diary

PigginSkint

Hi All

I am currently sat at work, yawning my head off and not wanting to do any more work!

Friday was a good day and was an opportunity for me to just chill – it did me good I think.

I was looking through the jobs pages in our local paper on Friday (why doesn’t OH do that!!) and I spotted a job that OH could apply for – it is a Learning Assistant job in a school, starting in September. I pointed out to him that this would be a good route into teaching – get some more experience under his belt so he is more likely to succeed the next time he applies for a PGCE. I made him go straight to the website and print off the job spec and application form. He said he would do the application today.

On Saturday we got up late, I did a bit of housework and then we went into town to do some shopping – needed a few basic supplies like bread, milk, cheese and potatoes.

When we got back OH got his books ready to go out, I cooked the dinner, we watched Dr Who and then all 3 of us went out to put the books out – with 3 of us doing it, it only took about an hour.

That was the day gone really so OH couldn’t do any job hunting.

On Sunday OH was in London all day working on a theatre and dance project with a friend of his. Should lead to a bit of extra money coming in (how much and when I have no idea).

I spent Sunday doing some housework and then as it was Father’s Day DS and I went over to my Dad’s on our bikes (feeling a bit saddle sore today!) and my Dad treated us to Chinese and opened a bottle of wine – so that was nice!

I had some more words with OH on Saturday – I didn’t do the heavy on him but I think he needs constantly reminding!

Needless to say, OH has not got enough money to pay the Halifax bill so I have had to pay it – not best pleased about that, as you can imagine. When I tell him tonight that I have paid it I will remind him that he had better start planning how to pay the next one as I simply won’t be able to do it next month as I won’t be able to afford it.

That reminds me, I got another letter from the Halifax on Thursday about the current balance transfer deal that they have offered me – 5.94% APR for the life of the balance on balances transferred before 30th June – together with a balance transfer form. I am very pleased that they have sent me another form because it means I can do the BT I want to do by post instead of by phone – I hate having to phone because they always try to flog me PPI! Recently I got a letter from them increasing my credit limit and when I fished out my latest statement I discovered that the available credit was enough for me to be able to transfer the whole of the balance (less a few quid which will be the minimum payment this month) from the Egg card. So that’s good news.

Today I decided to use some of the money in my emergency money account to cover the remainder of my spending on the Egg card from the June statement – the new lawnmower and a couple of other things. This means that together with having to transfer some over to cover the Halifax bill, the latest scores on the doors are as follows:

Money remaining in ISA: £167.07

I think that is all the news for now.

Bye All!

PigginSkint

Copied from the 'Make £10 a day in June' thread:

The first of the latest earnings from Amazon has hit my bank account, so I have adjusted my total (in my sig) accordingly.

I have also just sold a CD through Amazon, so that is something else to add when the money comes through.

My first attempt to email Littlewoods about my cashback failed so I tried again this morning and had a reply to say that there is no commission currently available. Strange! Perhaps it takes a while to generate?

I’ve done a few surveys but I have decided I am not going to count any earnings from those until I actually receive a voucher – then I will count it into the challenge total for the month that I receive it.

I had a very busy weekend so I have not had chance to do much else money-making. I have got to go on the computer tonight (do my Avon returns, ready for my delivery tomorrow, a couple of other jobs and free bingo) so I will try to do some then.

PigginSkint

embarrassed_about_my_debt wrote: »

Can i ask why he cant get credit? Poor past or because he doesnt have regular income?

In that case i would say you need to take the card off him, after all it is in your name not his. Then get him to pay you for the bills until they are cleared. He obviously cant work out that if he spends on it he needs to be earning enough to pay it back, otherwise its falling on your shoulders!!

It looks like the only way he will be able to live is on cash/pocket money.

As i said before i read your diary everytime i login just dont always post as dont want to keep going on about the your oh.:o

He can't get credit mainly because he got into some trouble in the past with money - he had a nervous breakdown about 7 years ago and as a result got into a bit of mess with money.

He has 2 weeks to show some serious job-hunting effort otherwise the card is coming off him. Again, this is something he needs reminding of!

PigginSkint

Copied from the Make £10 a day in June Challenge thread:

Hi All

I have now calculated my latest commission from Avon (commission earned, less returned products for the current campaign, less the cost of products with no discount – books, delivery bags etc). There are a number of different ways I could have calculated it (taking into account returned products from previous campaigns, free replacements etc) but I have just gone with what seemed to be the simplest but still as accurate as possible. If I am consistent and stick with the same method of calculation, that should work! Also I have decided to use the date that I place the new order and pay for the last one as the date earned (because by then I will have collected all the money in). So I am about to add £54.52 to the total in my signature!

Once the money from my Amazon sales goes into my bank account, that will be a reasonable amount to add to my total (note to self: must list some more).

I didn’t win anything on the free bingo again (G) last night but I started to find my way around the site a bit better so I can make more efficient use of my time now.

I have started playing Banana Lotto every day, which is basically a points for clicks site. You get to play 10 cards per day and for each entry you just have to click on a banner/ad to validate your entry. I am gradually earning prize points which can be redeemed for prizes – vouchers I think. It all helps doesn’t it?!

PigginSkint

Hi All

Following on from my last post, I seem to be doing quite well on the Make £10 a day in June Challenge. As this is my first month doing it, the only way is up!

When I got home last night OH was actually looking at job sites on the internet, which apparently he had been doing all afternoon! Hooray! He had been waiting in all day for his Betterware Coordinator to come round to pick his order up – I think OH ought to be confined to the house more often if this is going to be the result! (Anybody got any chains?! ) While I was sat next to him on the sofa he actually applied for a couple of jobs – he was on a site where he had already uploaded his CV (something he did last week) and so it literally took a couple of clicks to apply for a job. If it is that easy (having done the donkey work of updating his CV already) then my hopes are higher that he might actually apply for a decent number of jobs!

I wanted to get on laptop myself but there was no way I was going to disturb him while he was doing something so important!

When I got home yesterday I told OH that I had paid the Halifax bill and how much there was left in the emergency account. I made it quite clear to him that I would not be paying that particular bill next month as I won’t be able to – I simply won’t have the money – so it is up to him to work out how he is going to do it. I think he got the point!

I had a meeting at DS’s school today – the annual review of his statement of special needs. Everyone is really pleased with him – he is coming on really well. Obviously he still needs some support (don’t want to lose it as would be very hard to get back – he currently gets 10 hours a week) but on the whole it was very positive. I don’t know whether I have mentioned it before (probably have but can’t remember) but in case I haven’t - DS has ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder). He does not ‘suffer from autism’ as they insist on calling it in the media – DS doesn’t suffer anything, that’s just the way he is! He is just a ‘normal’ (hate that word!) boy whose brain works a little bit differently, that’s all!

My Avon order came this morning and because I was late leaving home (because of the meeting at school, which was at 10:15) I managed to get most of it bagged up before I left. Perhaps as well really as I will leaving work late today – got to try and make up the time I lost by arriving at 12:30pm today. I gave DS’s stuff to the Ex when I saw him this morning so I haven’t got to take it over to him when I get home – so all being well I should be able to finish bagging up my orders and get my books ready to go out.

Right, I think that’s all for now.

Bye all!!

PigginSkint

A couple of things I missed from my last post…

I checked my Egg card online this morning and it would appear that when OH went to London on Sunday, the only thing he used the Egg card for was to pay for his train fare! My God! Am I actually getting through to him! Normally there would be payments for food, cash taken out of the cashpoint machine etc. I have to say I am pleasantly surprised!

No change at the moment to the amount left in the emergency funds account but I think that is likely to change tomorrow. My Egg minimum payment goes out tomorrow and there won’t quite be enough in my current account to cover it. I will start doing Avon deliveries tomorrow but the money from that won’t be going into my account quick enough. I am trying very hard not to go over my authorised overdraft limit so that I have still got some options to play with – like taking a repayment holiday from my LTSB loan. That would really help if I could do that – a bit of breathing space for a month! (The monthly payment on that is £182.83)

Money remaining in ISA: £167.07

Now I really think that is all for now, but knowing me I will still have forgotten something!

Bye for now!

PigginSkint

Hi All

Well, as expected I have had to transfer some money from my emergency account to my current account this morning to bring me back within my OD limit. As the amount in the emergency account was £167.07 I decided to transfer £7.07 to leave a nice round number! When I looked at my current account again (luckily this money transferring business is instant) my available balance was still showing as nil, so I had to go back and transfer some more – so I decided to stick with round numbers again so I transferred another £10. That did the trick, I am glad to say!

Money left in ISA: £150

I managed to finish off bagging up my Avon orders last night and got my books ready to go out. I brought the first batch of work ones with me this morning and have got rid of one of them already (I phoned the customer last night to tell her I would be bringing it in today). She asked me if I minded her paying in £1 coins (£19 order) – did I mind?! I am always desperate for change (particularly £1 coins) so I was delighted!

Last night I did not manage to get any surveys or anything done. I didn’t get home until 7pm last night, then I had to cook myself some dinner (OH was out at a rehearsal), finish off bagging up my orders (discovered quite a few bits missing – grrrr!!! :mad: ) and get my books ready. Doing my books took longer than normal because I had to prepare a whole new batch of order forms because I had none ready – stamping them with my name and address, highlighting the bit that says ‘Please leave book outside’ – before I could actual put this campaign’s details on (delivery date, campaign number and circling which day I will return for the book).

I think I am going to draw up a timesheet so I can work out exactly how long I spend doing Avon – mainly for my own interest but also to encourage OH to do the same! Hee hee! He might realise a few things (a) how much time it takes him to do Betterware (b) that he badly needs to get more organised (c) that I still work far more hours than he does so he has got no excuse!

Tonight I will probably do the first half of my deliveries round my territory – I will only do half because I shall be late home, so late starting an I won’t have any helpers because OH will be doing his Betterware deliveries and DS will be at his Dad’s. So with any luck I might be able to pay some money into my account tomorrow.

Right, that’s all the news for now – better get on with some work!

Bye All!!

PigginSkint

Hi All

Not a huge amount to report today...

Did more of my Avon deliveries today - some people weren't in and I have to take some more work ones with me tomorrow. I have got some money I can into my account now though.

Also got my Avon books out tonight -so that is another job done.

I've sold another book on Amazon tonight. Woohoo!

OH is in the bath at the moment but is planning to finally do the job application he is meant to be doing when he gets out. How like OH to leave things till the last minute! He has also got to do his Betterware order tonight - he is doing his office duty at his agency tomorrow so he will be out all day. His mum is coming to house-sit tomorrow for when the Betterware Coordinator comes in the afternoon.

Well, I think that is all the news for today.

Nighty night!

PigginSkint

Afternoon All!

Thank God it’s Friday!!

I am not terribly pleased with OH today – he didn’t come to bed last night. The reason? He is so blimmin disorganised he didn’t actually start doing his Betterward order or finalising his job application (deadline today) until about midnight! Oh well, I suppose at least he got it done, but have we really got to go through all this palaver every time he applies for a job?!

Yesterday I had something go through my current account that I had forgotten about (a £5 top up for my mobile phone) so when I checked my available balance yesterday morning was nil again. I transferred £1 from my other account and that sorted out that blip. So the latest is:

Money left in ISA: £149

I had another go on the free bingo last night and still won nothing. However I have now spent all of the funds I deposited (£10) so there should be no obstacle to the quidco cashback now - £20, so a profit of £10.

I sold another book on Amazon last night – woohoo! I have just amended my spreadsheet (mmmm! spreadsheets!) to show my running total – when all the payments hit my bank account I will have made £19.62 profit from this month’s Amazon sales alone! Not to be sniffed at!

I have just been to the bank to pay some of my Avon money in, so no more nasty surprises when something goes through that I have forgotten about! I have got the rest of my work deliveries with me today so I will do those in about an hour. Then I have got the rest of my territory deliveries to do – people who weren’t in last night. I might try them tonight if I feel like it, otherwise I will do them tomorrow.

Right, I think that is all the news for now.

I might try and post again later, but if not, have a good weekend everyone!

PigginSkint

ooh ooh ooh! Just had to post again to get my post count to hit 800! How exciting!:j