Mrs Spendalot WILL spend less .... the diary

mrsspendalot

Well diaries seem to be a popular feature on here for keeping people up-to-date on progress etc. so I thought I would give one a go and see what everyone thinks. Hopefully it will help me keep on track.


Today I have brought my arrears up-to-date on my newspaper delivery (oops - forgot to pay since january ) and have had my topshop statement and have actually paid off more than I thought - only by £6.71 but hey, that is over one month's normal payment at the moment :j


I have decided after going on the snowballing site (whats the cost) that I am going to pay off my debts in size order. The debt free date is the same either way, and the interest difference is only £5 something because the bulk of my debt is non-interest bearing. I therefore think that the psychological benefit of seeing the number of debts decreasing would keep me focused and motivated.

The first debt on my list to tackle is my £68.34 debt to Topshop and I am going to try and clear that this month (no point putting it off )

It is my son's first birthday a week today and I have asked family to get him clothes as this will mean less for us to shell out on clothes for him. He doesn't need any toys as he got toys at Xmas and had loads passed down from my other kids. We have got him a little sit and ride Thomas though, bought it from Amazon with free p&p :T

Today I have been on quidco and got some quotes for home insurance which is up for renewal next month, and I can get £120 cashback if I go through Lloyds TSB :T I figure this is a good idea as that will pay off half of one of my other smaller debts.

earned a £1 for signing up to yougov and am going to do pigsback as well

Thanks so much to this site .... I feel so empowered :money:

mrsspendalot

Oh, and can everyone please give some collective good luck vibes for my husband as he has a job interview in the morning. It is the second round, and would be £4k more pay and permanent as opposed to his current temporary contract. Thanks.

Sea78

ooh well done on sorting your debts! I would agree that taking them a debt at a time will help motivation.

Hope your son has a lovely first birthday:bdaycake: and gets lots of lovely clothes too.

Good luck to your OH for tomorrow - fingers crossed!

Sea xx

pk2007_2

Hi Mrs S
good luck to your OH for the interview and to you on your dfw journey.

mrsspendalot

Well the interview went as well as it could .... just have to play the waiting game now ...... should find out within a week. Keep everything crossed

mrsspendalot

Well it is getting to that time of the month now when all the bills get paid. Today I have paid off:

Littlewoods £100
Barclaycard £20
Capital One £10
Thames Credit £50

So my debt is going down .... by the end of the month I will have broken the £10k barrier

Verbatim

Wow, well done.

Good luck to OH and enjoy your son's birthday.

mrsspendalot

Well today I have decided to have a go at ebaying. I have ebayed before but always ended up finding it a lot of hassle and stopping. However, in the interests of debt-freeness I am going to start again. I bought 3 bridesmaids tiaras from debenhams last year in their end of summer clearance for £1 each with the intention of ebaying them, plus the kids are going to part with some books and I have about 100 CD's which I never listen to ... ever! I also have loads of videos which we never watch. Not quite sure when I will ever get the time to list them all though! If I can get my daughter to agree to part with them, there is also stacks of barbies that she doesn't play with anymore not to mention the £100's worth of baby annabell things she also has stopped playing with. Hope i can make enough to clear a debt anyway ... we'll see

lynsayjane

ooh another mrs s! welcome to the land of debt free diaries! I like your plan of working on them one at a time, it gives you such a boost to clear a debt howevere small. My smallest was also the only one I paid interest on, as it was an overdraft and I paid so little interest I mostly ignored it in favour of clearing credit cards until I did the snowball and thought, hmmm that makes sense! clearing that was a huge boost to me!

will be keeping a beady little eye out for you!

Sea78

That's great!

I thought Ebaying was a bit rubbish when it seemed that for some things I would only get a few pence at the end, but I set up a spreadsheet, and put in the total price (inc p&p), then a column for selling fees, final value fees, paypal fees and postage fees and total profit, with totals at the bottom. This has helped me work out that even if some things don't sell I can see exactly what money I have got from doing it AND what postage I need to take out of the Paypal account to my bank account to cover what I've spent. it's hepled me be more organised as well as I've now sold quite a lot.

Remember to check Amazon too, especially for some of the CDs and books - check how much you'll get for the final amount though as I sold a CD for 65p and ended up 2p down after postage! Silly me for not checking though. You have to go right through and it gives you the final amount justbefore you confirm the listing. Much quicker than Ebay though - gives details over on the ebaying board i think - big long thread but has all the instructions on what to do so v helpful.

Wishing you lots of rich bidders!
Sea xx

Sea78

Oh, and how did your OH do at his interview?