Caz counts it down

cazmanian_minx

Kaz2904 wrote: »

*Delurks* Lifetime spreadsheet? Sounds interesting. I've tried to project a sort of well we'll need such and such amount monthly but we're 30 years off so it's hard .
Would love to hear more.
And would love to say, yay on your debt smashing!
*Relurks*

That's more or less the idea. You have a column for each year and put in expected income from salaries, pensions, maturing investments etc. in the years they fall due and deduct your outgoings, bearing in mind what year you finish paying your mortgage, travel costs going down once you no longer commute, factoring in a rough guess at inflation and then see whether you're going to be facing old age in comfort or misery! One of my friends has kindly sent me a copy of hers and for the next few years it's broken down into quarterly figures, then as the projections get more guess-work-y, it goes into whole years at a time.

I was going to say I haven't done a lot today, because we're going into town to shop tomorrow instead of today, but I've mucked out (twice), taken a week's worth of hay from Mr Minx's woodworking shed to the field shelter shed using the wheelbarrow (the ground is too soggy to get the quad down there still), done a load of laundry, done the ironing, chopped a load of kindling and helped Mr Minx lift and stack the unchainsawed log pile.

The Tesco Price Promise has unexpectedly coughed up a £1.13 voucher after weeks and weeks of nothing I used to get one every week and then it stopped - I suspect the computer analysed our usual spends and adjusted the prices in the Thurso store, since we were about the only people using it up here!

I'm trying to work out what other expenses I have left for this month to make sure I have enough space in the NatWest overdraft for my tax bill. I'm collecting another 30 bales of hay, that's £90, we have another 3 weekend shops to do (£240-ish, but half will come back from Mr Minx), I *really* need a haircut (£25) and I've had a letter from the dentist to say I'm due my half yearly check up, which means a trip to Inverness where I'll probably fuel up (£65). So that's about £200 on top of the £2455 and then the £1054 tax bill at the end of the month, which will put me at an overdraft of £3709 with the limit at £4050 - a bit close for comfort :eek:

Time to get some stuff on eBay I think :cool:

cazmanian_minx

Not much to report today. We did the weekly shop and managed to spend £75 on not very much - Tesco seems to get more expensive by the week.

I've been trying to find a suitable treat for Merlin to do some clicker training with him. He's sensitive to molasses, but I didn't realise just *how* sensitive until he broke out in itchy lumps after just one Spillers Treat (about the size of the top half of your thumb, mostly apple) a day for 2 weeks :eek: I got some dried apple rings from Tesco today and tried him with one this evening - he spat it out with a disgusted look on his face and stomped grumpily over to the water trough, so that's out :rotfl: I've heard that the Equimins treats are molasses-free, so the local tack shop owner is getting me some to try.

I was up about three hours before Mr Minx this morning, so I went back to my Textbroker account and wrote another article for them. Assuming it's accepted, I'll have enough to cash out for the first time next week. 2 more until my first 5 review - I got assessed as 4* when I started, so I hope they'll keep me at that level. I shall have another go at the proofreading test when it's available to me again, as that's something I really enjoy doing.

cazmanian_minx

News is just breaking that HMV may go into administration tomorrow. I'm not surprised, but I'm sad - I worked for them for 9 years in stores and at head office and still have friends there.

The Textbroker article was accepted and I've cashed out €14,77 which is about £12. I've written another one today, on how to bluff at online poker...right up my street and it's even for the online casino I play at!

Mara_uk7

*Waves* Hello from across the pentland Firth ! Loving your diary, Your progress is amazing & inspirational. Love how you bounce right back from the rocky days !

cazmanian_minx

*waves back to Mara, though there's low cloud on the horizon today and I can't actually see you!*

As expected, I woke up to the news that HMV is probably gone. I'm gutted for all my friends still working there - please, if you go into the stores over the next few days and get refused a return or use of a voucher, don't take it out on the staff. It's not their fault, they have to do as the administrators tell them, and I'm sure by the end of today I'll have heard of several physical assaults on staff there I'm not quite sure what this means for my pension - I joined the final salary scheme and was one of the last to do so, which means I've got 30 years until it pays out and I'll be one of the last to get paid. I suspect there won't be very much left in the pot by then. It's underwritten by the government guarantee scheme, so I'll get something, but not the amount I was expecting.

Still, no point in thinking about retirement money when the day-to-day money is still in the red, eh? The good news is that there's enough available in the business overdraft to pay all the bills until the end of the month I just need another £1500 to pay me on 1st Feb, £585.08 for Royal Mail on 6th Feb and £606.54 for a supplier on the same day.

cazmanian_minx

260 words written on the use of mediation services for divorcing couples and that's my 5-article limit reached on Textbroker - I now have to wait for the Textbroker team to review my work so far and decide whether I'm still a 4* writer. Assuming they keep me on, I'm going to try to do more of this; there's a poster on the Textbroker thread in the Up Your Income forum who's making c.£50 a day, which would be a HUGE help.

marietje

Well done! I'm very impressed by your progress. Keep going and you'll have it paid off in no time.

cazmanian_minx

Tesco has given me another voucher, £2.40 this time

Not a lot going on here today. I'm trying to knock my stock spreadsheet into a format I can bulk upload to Sage Instant Accounts. I've cracked it, but now I've got to remove all the old products from Sage from the last time I tried this, which means zeroing off all stock quantities, clearing down the transactions and then deleting them and I'm going a bit cross-eyed.

catshark88

Hi,

I have just rejoined MSE in an attempt to reduce our horribly large new mortgage (we paid for a tonne of renovation work), was clearing out my subscribed threads folder and came across your diaries again.

Am so pleased to hear that you are enjoying Scotland and that your jewellery business is still going well. Fab to hear about your ponies and so sorry to hear about your dogs. :-(

Remembering the incredible focus and determination that you showed all those years ago, to reduce your mortgage, move, set up your new business etc., I am absolutely certain and confident that you will reach your new goals very soon. If anyone can do it, you can!

I have a diary over in MFW if you are ever over that way.

Good luck and I look forward to reading of your progress.

CS

Hiddenidenity

*Waves*

Helllo Oh look way over the 50% now Well done x

Hope your okay x