Enjoying the journey to becoming debt free - paying back the credit cards

fedupandskint

hmmm - meal planning for the next few days.

Yorkshire puds tomorrow with leftover liver and onions from today, then thurs needs an easy tea as have a lot of appts to go to - leftover yorkshire puds with reheated chilli? A bit of a mishmash but still uses up something from the freezer and some leftovers. All with lots of veg, hmm think that will do.

A very mixed week of food using up what's in and trying hard to not to buy too much else so here I go with the rest of the week's meal plan

Wed - liver, onions, potato, yorkshire pud and veg
Thurs - chilli, veg and yorkshire pud
Fri - fish curry and rice and chapati
Sat - cheese and onion plate pie with veg
Sun - cheese and onion plate pie with veg leftovers

fedupandskint

Just stumbled across the £2 challenge for 2013 and decided to join in the keep focused. Saved £86 so far this year and aiming for £200 by next year. Will have to remain very disciplined and focused to find another £114 in under 12 months! Of course I can now I have a reason to continue saving - afterall a girl's got to have a treat with all this debt busting going on!

The plan is to use it for my birthday next year which is a big one and to get something to keep and that means a lot to me - no idea what at the moment but plenty of time to think it over. Oh boy, is it going to be a carefully thought out spend, not a frippery waste of an idea like it would have been in the past on ridiculous beauty products and make up - thinking a piece of jewellery at the moment - a necklace I think to wear everyday.

fedupandskint

Well at long last I am feeling better and that horrible flu virus is now really on its way elsewhere as I am recovering well this week.

Fab news for this week is I thought I'd try and build myself back up a little after the illness and have taken the dog on a nice long walk yesterday and today which were lovely to get some more fresh air and also to feel more like my usual self again!

Second lot of fab news is went for my usual dental appt - normally have to go every 3mths for a clean and last time 4mths ago I was told my teeth were in great condition and could return in 4mths. Went today and was told this time they were even better and didn't even require a scale, just a little polish - now that makes a nice change and a welcome one and I can go back in 6mths for the first time in a long long time! Just goes to show how downbranding on my toothpaste worked a treat because when I used a very expensive one for all those years it didn't achieve this result. The one I use now I'm really happy with and its often on offer for 1/7th of the price of the previous one. I had a big smile on my face when I left the dentist with a strong feeling of 'at last!'

Sale items arrived today - a top for work clothes £7 instead of £25 and will replace one that is well worn out and also now too big and I have worn it countless times over the last 6 or 7yrs so I reckon £7 is ok to replace it! Also an ivory top for summer next year also £7 instead of £19.50, a top for going out in a lovely blue £9 from £25, that I'm not sure about at the moment and a long skirt the same reduced to £12 from £45 which I'll try on when I feel less hormonally bloated than I do right now.

Discovered the work Xmas do is on the winter solstice date this year - nice! Not sure what I'm going to wear yet - shall I wear the bargain red dress I bought last year - very decent high neckline with shutter pleat detail, black patterned tights, black shoes boots and short black tux jacket with a long silver necklace. That's what I'm thinking now and trying hard not to buy anything new - feel quite undecided at the moment. Would be better to wear the dress I already own and haven't worn - much better in fact.

Also today was NSD 10/15 as I claim back the dental treatment fee so off that goes tomorrow to be claimed

fedupandskint

Lots of little jobs done today

Dr appt - been and got final sick note before going back to work - no need for chest x-ray now I've recovered and all blood tests came back ok too which I expected

Then took dehimidifier back for an exchange after it broke down, took ages to sort out however got there in the end and now have a replacement, thank goodness I managed to find the receipt after the big paperwork file last week! Really glad I didn't put it off and managed to sort that out before going back to work.

Then went to vote despite not feeling terribly enamoured with the pcc elections wanted to vote for having a say in the process regardless and I'm sure the turnout will be very low. Then posted dental appt claim back form off. Also treated the car to a deep clean wash after it was in a right old state being stood for weeks in this weather

This afternoon I'll take Mr Dog on a nice long walk as tomorrow is car service and MOT day and a very expensive day at that - still it needs doing of course and hopefully my car will be all ok for winter and the year ahead.

Not much else to report apart from I'm really glad I'm feeling so much better now

fedupandskint

Well the car passed its MOT with flying colours also had a service and no other problems so that's a relief that its all done now. Next car job is to save up for car tax and a timing belt job asap between now and end Feb approx £245 this time around for both of these.

Plan is to use an ebay payment of £57 to start off the saving fund leaving a further £188 to save up.

Option 1 - £188/3 = £63 per month to save
Option 2 - save £30 per month over 3mths and use £100 from ebay sales to make up the rest

Think option 2 looks more manageable right now.

Also need to factor this in over the next year;

Car Savings plan 2013
Service - £130
MOT £50
Wear and tear (wipers/bulbs) - £40

Plan is to save £20 per month to pay for this again in 12mths time. I've never thought about it in this way, to divide the cost by 12 and then save for it each month. Usually I struggle to pay for it and cobble the money together over a couple of months. This makes much more sense to do it this way and I'll start it off on payday in my newly discovered car savings pot. This amount will give a little bit left over to either pay for work that needs doing next year or to go towards car tax and so on for the year after.

Blimey, what's happening to me getting all grown up and sensible about this - why did I never think like this before? Ah well, better late than never eh? If I stick to this plan I will be so pleased with myself this time next year to have done this. Then its onto doing the same for the car insurance payments and get off monthly installments for the first time in my driving life and pay for it in one go - now that will be another massive step forward I can tell you

fedupandskint

Onto other things other than cars now.

Took lots of photos inbetween running around all day ready for free listing days this weekend. Looks like that will take up a few hours this weekend again! Still its well worth it in lots of ways - declutter, sell what I don't use, use the money to pay back my credit card debt and go towards other things like the car rather than use credit cards or fritter away on purchases on ebay.

Walked for about 3+ hours today so lots of exercise and although I woke up with a cold this morning (when does it stop!). Thankfully, I feel ok and can more than cope with a mere cold after that flu/virus nightmare over the last few weeks and certainly feel better for all that fresh air and activity today but quite ready for a rest now!

fedupandskint

Have spent a couple of hours listing on ebay - 21 items on there now and some more to go on tomorrow.

Happily a NSD too - 11/15 NSD now

Just waiting for an ebay to collect something from last week and then put the first lot of money into the car savings pot to start it off as per the plan

Then its time to take mr dog out on a nice long walk now its cheered up outside and that's about it for today. Making a cheese and onion pie for tea to try out with veg and then watch usual Sat night tv and a dvd

Tomorrow is a lot of jobs to do outside, bit of baking if I have time and finish of the last bit of cleaning, washing and ironing and so on.......

fedupandskint

Ebay collection made and cash put straight into car savings pot as per the plan devised yesterday

Listed some more on ebay - now have 28 items on there. Will list a few more this evening then that's quite enough in one go! Will leave the rest until the next free listing day as over 30 items finishing is enough to keep track of in one go!

Right time to make a start on that pie ready for the Strictly special then its time to watch my dvd whichis the film adaptation of the book I read the other week. Will be interesting to see how that compares

fedupandskint

That's quite enough listing for one day - 32 items listed today on free listing weekend. Might stick a couple more on there tomorrow and then that really is it for this time around!

I am also pleased to report that the cheese and onion plate pie Was a roaring success made with 85g of cheese, 1 onion 1 egg and 250ml milk and half an old block of defrosted puff pastry. Wasn't too sure how this would turn out after blind baking the base and it swelled up like a pie top. Anyhow, turned out well after deflating and rebaking with filling. Like the nicest cheese and onion pasty ever without the grease overload, nice-er of course!

Well that's the next 2 days meals sorted out with the left overs. Think I'll do some kind of retro pud tomorrow evening pineapple upside down cake or ginger syrup sponge pudding with custard.

WelshWoofer

Can I come for tea?
Cheese and onion pie and old school afters with custard - yummy!

Good to hear that you are better now - that bug really lingered! How is the ebaying going? How much have you made now? I did it about a year ago and managed to get quite a bit of cash together from tat I didn't want anymore.

Just wondering, now you're feeling better do you want to join in on a little exercise challenge for December? I need something to keep me going in the winter especially now I'm at target and with Xmas looming. Maybe a number of miles or minutes done in December?