Getting clarity on my finances

Stingy_3000

Hi Fantastiyk!

If you have a decent internet connection, have you considered doing surveys and swagbucks? Maybe the kids could help. I learnt about it on this website, i spend 1hr-2hr a day and i get £20-£40 worth of Amazon vouchers a month. I have been saving them to treat myself in the January sales :-)

All the best

fantastiyk

Hi Stingy,
I have bad internet connection at moment - we are haggling with BT over it as it used to be great.
Though I am impressed how much you make for a few hours a day. I was thinking of doing something like that for Christmas presents as our kids usually want things that come off am@zon anyway. And our printer has given up. Am@zon have the best range at the keenest prices from what I've researched so I think I will bite the bullet and join up.

Thank you.:)

mamato3

Hi Fantastiyk - hope everythings good with you and you got some of your cds sold on bay of E! Yes it is very tedious doing the listings I haven't listed at all this month just couldn't face the boredom of it lol! I have also been very bad with the surveys pretty much just ignoring them in my inbox! Again the boredom of doing this sends me a little crazy!!!

Hope you're well and having a good MSE month x

fantastiyk

Hi Mamato3,
Thanks for stopping by

Nothing sold on eb@y as yet - oh well - I sort of forget about the stuff after I've put it on.

It all seems a bit tedious at the moment. But I have been going since May and to be honest I've never stuck at debt reduction for this length of time before so that's a positive!!!

I have to keep reminding myself that the debt is going down and faster than it could have been - and we are covering all our bills - granted this is challenging but we are doing it. And hopefully in the not too distant future I won't have to juggle money between accounts a few times in the month to keep all covered, I'll be able to let the excess stay in each account until it's needed for that account. Robbing Peter to pay Paul is tiring.

Am going to have a wee quick look back over things today and see how far I have come.

Had a small weak moment this morning. My sister texted and asked if everything was ok, just out of the blue. At that moment I thought "how did she know its not ok" and I almost texted her back and told her I wasn't and I don't want to do that because she would give me the money to pay it all off. I love my sister dearly but I don't want anything to spoil our relationship. And I think me owing her money or her bailing me out would.

fantastiyk

I haven't been on here for a while. Money has been so tight I haven't had anything to add to my Christmas fund or pay off my debt.

I sold a cd on ebay and by the time I had postage and ebay and paypal fees taken off I made 19p :mad:
I would have made more if I had sent it off to musicmagpie as it was still in the original packaging. I was seriously not impressed.

So I haven't renewed or put anything on ebay this weekend. There has to be a more profitable way than that.

We have sold our car and downgraded to one with a smaller engine with the intention of saving on diesel. It was just too much before.

No actual money saved though by the time we taxed and MOTed it. But savings in the long run hopefully!!

I have been having a read at some of the other diaries though and they have kept me sane and inspired.
Thank you.

fantastiyk

Nothing new to report, payments wise.

I am feeling motivated though - and managing to stay within our budget. I'm finding it easier to make food stretch and I freeze leftover mince and stew even if its only a little. When I have 3 days frozen leftovers put together it makes enough for a full dinner - just need to add potatoes! :money:
To think over the years how much I threw out or stored in the fridge for a few days and then threw out.

The cc payment is due out next week so numbers will reduce.

Hope to put a little away for Christmas after that for the next 3 weeks until the next cc payment is due. Kids haven't asked for anything for Christmas so will wait til I have a bit more saved and then tell them how much we can afford to spend on them. Some of them are saving for things themselves so they might just prefer a contribution to that.

specialkaye

Hi fantastiyk, just found your thread today and you are doing really well.

Looking at things from a slightly different perspective as I am living with my parents who are dealing with debt. Well not so much actually. As I only work part time I am trying to save them as much money as possible to try and way my way. Have been sneakily turning the timer for the heating and the temp for the hot water down a bit as they put it on when they arent even home!!!!!!

Did you get round to joining up to $wagbuck$? Its my sisters 21st in Dec as well so they are really coming in handy. Its easy enough for everybody to join up and do, plus you can take advantage of the referral to double up bucks for searches.

If you are paying £9 a month for a £300 overdraft then that is £108 a year which is over 35% interest if you are wanting to compare it to your credit card.

Did you get anywhere with BT? might be worth threatening to leave and see what they can offer you. see if they have a customer retention department.

Hope these help *subscribes*:)

fantastiyk

Thank you Specialkaye, I never could figure out how to go about working out the interest on it and yet I knew I paid £108 interest in the year its so easy to see it now.
The only thing is that since the crisis Ulster bank had in June, they have refunded this charge every month right up until now - so I have been getting the £300 overdraft for free for the past 5 months. Now I know it makes more sense for me to pay it off first.

I am still trying to put a bit away for Christmas - which is happening much slower than I'd anticipated. Everything seems so much dearer this last few months. I still have an automated dd going out every month to pay the minimum on my cc and I pay a few pounds over that to keep it reducing. So come January when I have the Christmas holidays over I'll have to put away the money to reduce my overdraft first while still making the minimum payment on the cc.

I have tried to pay it off before and have never succeeded for more than a couple of weeks in keeping it in the black. I had got too used to dipping into it. I am thinking of saving the money up first in another account and then transferring it over when I ask them to change it from a ufirst account to an ordinary current account.

I have half joined sw**bucks - my internet connection broke mid joining - they did send me an email asking me to complete my registration but I haven't done it yet. We were having a lot of hassle with our internet connection lately with the connection breaking regularly which is why I'm not on here that much any more, so I'm not sure how I'd manage s***bucks with it.
I have been more actively looking for work and so has hubby - so is everyone else in the area!!
We are in a contract with BT til March. Found out that some of our neighbours who have their internet with other companies are having even worse problems than us as its the BT line at fault their suppliers are having problems with BT also. As there are now so many people on board complaining it should soon make a difference. I had hoped to find another internet supplier for March but am wary of having more problems than we have been having.

You sound like a very supportive child to have. Our youngest is the one who switches off lights and closes doors etc. The older kids are very generous with things like the electric and heating etc.

fantastiyk

Just got my cc statement in the post.

Balance: £2240

Overdraft: £300

Total debt: £2540

Will just be making the minimum payment next month as I'll be putting anything spare to Christmas.

However, should any extra money come our way - it will be going to the overdraft first - thanks to Specialkaye, I see this is our biggest interest debt - at 36% and needs to go asap!!!

specialkaye

How are the Christmas preparations coming along?

You get clued up on swagging?

Just a quick note, after reading some other treads it seems like minimum payments on credit cards are actually a black mark so if you're trying to rebuild credit rating/saving for mortgage etc then it may be wise to set 'minimum payment' as minimum payment plus £10.

If you have a few low spend xmas people to buy for have you thought about making some edible goodies? Stuff like fudge that doesnt go off could be kept for ages and given as gifts throughout the year.