My motivation!

Stitch2012

Hiya everyone

My name is stitch2012 named after the amount of stitch toys my oldest daughter has

I have been an avid reader of this forum for years but find if I don't have anything or some one to answer to I tend to fall off the money saving wagon.

Im going to use this diary as a cathartic stress relief, the stitch household consists of me, dh, and our two girls.

Hoping to clear my next account which currently stands at £764 and my overdraft which is at £950. Listed 18 items today on eBay making use of the free listings, so hopefully some more pennies to throw at the balances. Husband lost his job last year so we also have an increased in tax credits for this year, so trying to save that as much as I can as next year we will be almost £300 a month worser off.

ATM we don't struggle, we try and live within our means but with two girls , clothing and days out during this summer holiday it's really knocked my bank balance back. Off to check my PayPal balance as I have made a fair bit in those Facebook pages selling, so will update x

Stitch2012

Just checked PayPal got £154, very pleased with that - going to wait for this set of listings to end before I transfer it all over x

Stitch2012

Went to Merry Hill today, returned £74.50 back onto my next account , so balance should be down to £690.

7 out of my 18 items have bids on, really pleased with the progress.

Going to spend the rest of this afternoon clearing out oldests bedroom, I don't know how she accumulates so much stuff, it's not even like a lot is brought into the house but every week I can get a black bin bag of rubbish from her room. She's only 5!! She loves to draw and do craft so I think that's the main culprit.

Hope everyone else is enjoying the lovely weather lol x

Stitch2012

Posted all my items £21 to post! Postage has got so expensive these days.

Took the girls for sushi today, 18 month old munched it down bless her, I don't think the oldest was too impressed.

Made another £35 on Facebook, and 10/18 items have got bids and over the 99p mark, they don't finish till tomorrow so will update my total then x

Stitch2012

Gutted , had a letter from student finance , had to pay £222 back in over paid child care grant, so that's all my next money gone

Originally had £208 in my PayPal account so will transfer that over and wait for the eBay listings to end tonight.

Trying to stay positive and be glad that I had the money available to pay it off.

X

HeadAboveWater

Hello Stitch :wave:

Well done so far on your ebay/facebook selling! You're doing fantastic! And still some stuff on ebay finishing tonight? Fingers crossed for you!

Bummer about the letter But like you said, you've got the money to pay it off, so technically you're no worse off if that makes sense!

Have you got an SOA? Post it and we can check to see if there are any other ways you can cut back your monthly payments.

Will subscribe and follow your progress

Stitch2012

Ah thank you, for some reason I can't copy and paste onto here.

Income
Husbands wage and wtc and ctc
(We receive it because he worked for a few months last year but lost his job so we're getting the help we should have got last year this year - stupid really!!)

£2272

Outgoings

Rent. £500
Council tax £96
Water £44 - cant get a water meter , landlord won't let us and apparently this is the going rate in our area)
Gas and elec £119
Virgin - tv broadband and phone £60
Phone contracts -£42 tied in till next year
Grocery- approx £80 per week, sometimes we can miss a week and use up what we have so £300
Clothing £50 - I've put in that amount as typically we don't spend much on clothes but this is to account for the new shoes/coats, school uniform for the oldest, spread over the year
Petrol -£60 for the month
Road tax -£0 (it is £30 for the year so he will just pay that when the time comes )
Car insurance -£100 a month ( he is 24, you should have seen it when he was 18)
Christmas / birthday -£5o to spread the cost of everything
Savings £100 , £50 I save in my Isa and the girls get £25 each.
Loan - £200

Total £1782

Husband only started his new job in June so we have been recieving this income since July - however summer holiday spending , school uniform , and have been slowly buying bits for oldests birthday later in the yearhave used up all our surplus income.

I'm mainly trying to pay off the next card and overdraft without touching any money in our bank. Money neutral challenge to myself

Stitch2012

17/18 items sold so that's good - made £62 altogether. Going to list some more at the weekend I think, just enjoyed a lovely meal with the family, all paid for by the in laws which is even better lol.

Lots of parcel wrapping to do - great stuff lol x

HeadAboveWater

Well done on your ebay Hoping some more of my stuff goes this time round...

Your SOA looks reasonable and seems as though you've cut down in as many outgoings as possible, and are budgeting well for birthdays/Christmas etc. I'm sure others on here may have suggestions too.

It's good that you're able to put something away every month into savings. Just check to see if the interest you're getting on that is worth more than the interest you'd be paying on your loan. I'm guessing maybe it wouldn't? Maybe put more towards paying off your loan/card/overdraft quicker? What interest rates are on those?

Stitch2012

I start a lot of mine on 99p, it's quite disheartening to think about how much I have actually spent on the stuff, but I try and think every little helps. Do you manage to sell a lot when you list?

The loan is husbands so he pays for it, in the house he pays rent, his loan, tv liscence, his car insurance, his petrol,Council tax, I pay everything else.

My overdraft is 0% till September, I am to get rid of next which is about 30% I believe , then after Christmas work on paying off my overdraft.

I've been paying into my isa since I was 19 so it's become a force of habit, the girls accounts have only just been set up as I have always said with oldests money I'd put it Into an account and the money just gets swallowed up with day to day bills.

So I'm making sure this time they both get their money, now that's finances are looking better.

X

Stitch2012

NSD today, didn't leave the house all day, miserable weather!

Still waiting on a few more ppl to pay me on eBay, before I can transfer it all over x