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

fedupandskint

Ta-da! I have finished my Christmas shopping presents, cards, wrap and last few ingredients for bath product making due to start in about an hour or so!

Yipee - only a little food left to get now and use up the savings stamps. I have been very frugal with the cards - 3 family cards for 1£2.97 and 8m of wrap for £2.10 each on an offer 3 4 2 with 2 scented candles as a present for me and mum for Christmas.

Pleased its done as town was mega busy first thing this morning and its not usually at that time.

This afternoon will be a lot of cleaning and I might make it out for a run later this afternoon after I've taken the dog on his longer walk if it stays fine

I collected a sale jacket to day £20 instead of £55 - not too sure - will try it on with a dress later to see what it looks like. Decided the only thing I will buy now for my Christmas do is a new nail varnish in either a deep red or deep plum and no more. Will wear the jacket if I keep it, otherwise I'll wear my other one. It was the price that swung it for me! A black tux style jacket slightly longer line than I expected.

I will also do my nails later as they need some more work and attention as they are still peeling and splitting away after that virus.

Also at long last received 2 £2 coins in my change that I saved to go into the £2 pot after a drought!

fedupandskint

Did quite a lot this afternoon

Cleaned the whole house bar the sweep and mopping floors which will be done tomorrow weather dependent. Also made some super moisturising milk bath nightime mix for sensitive skin and had a go at the bath bombes in a citrus fragrance which I'm not too sure if these will harden a la bath bombe style - will see in the morning how they are.

Tonight I'll be making some mince pies, relisting on fleabay and watching TV. Might have a go at some granola mixture if I have everything in then that's something else done and ready to go.

Didn't make it out for a run afterall today - thinking will go tomorrow

fedupandskint

Relisted 20 items on ebay before I forget all about it.

Feeling slightly worse for wear after 2 glasses of mulled wine that's been sat in the cupboard for a few years after mum brought it back from a holiday. Its very nice though!

No doubt it will be an early night tonight as a result - looks like the nails will wait until tomorrow!

fedupandskint

Well after rather a large amount of glasses of water the worse for wearness passed and I did my nails and then decided to make the mince pies and tick off something else from my list of things to do

15 mince pies now made looking very golden brown with slightly thick pastry while hoping the homemade factor makes amends for that!

fedupandskint

Well, a very activity filled day - up early long weekend dog walk, then out for a run, then walk up to town fabbed up in bright clothes to meet a friend for a seasonal hot chocolate then back home for a mince pie or 2 and then off out for the longest weekend dog walk - legs feeling quite tired now! Burnt off quite a lot today, nice!

Bedding dried more or less on the windy dry day here and next out in a bit to fill the car up and then back for a nice warm bath to soothe off those leg muscles by trialing my new milk bath (of course need to see how it is!) before having anice hot tea of sausage casserole and yorkshire pud.

I did my nails last night, tidied up filed, buffed and treated so today is another face mask and time to tackle those feet before watching the results shows and off for an early night and that working week begins again

I think tonight I'll write up some labels to go on the homemade bath gifts and have a look for some nice boxes to pack them into and then see if one more lot are needed and if so a nice energising bath melt of citrus frangrance to do which I might just do anyway!

fedupandskint

Pleased I made myself go out for a run after work tonight to take advantage on no rain and no dampness and no freezing cold. Pleased with how it went and I can feel some improvement from last week - all going well again now

Also pleased to report it is a NSD today making it number 4 at long last.

Collected bargain £2 sale bargain jeggings which is one pair for me and one for a birthday present for a friend. Hope she likes them, I think she will after saying she couldn't remember when she last had a birthday surprise! I think she will be surprised, I might get her a bottle of the nail polish she wanted which I think is on offer for 342 to go with them. I was very good and used a birthday I already had in the drawer and a birthday bag and didn't need to spend anything today.

I was also very strict and made myself transfer some money for the car savings pot as per the plan. This now leaves 2 more months saving £50 per month, then its onto £30 to cover saving for next years MOT, service and the following year's car tax. This is the first time I have ever thought about saving for car tax. At last the penny drops and I'm saving for early next year's and the following year as soon as that next one is paid for. Baby steps though and is still taking some getting used to remember doing this.

Not much activity on ebay - still a few days left so will not worry too much for now

fedupandskint

Not much to report this week apart from quite a tough week at work, lots of long commutes and big traffic jams and I am more than ready for the weekend.

Last night I made some HM Baileys which was delish! Very hard not to gulp it down like a milkshake so off it went into gift bottles in the fridge out of the way! Also made some HM muesili to go into the hampers so that's another job ticked off and not a huge amount left to do now bar some more making and baking.

Looking forward to a quiet weekend with a couple of runs in if the weather dries up and warms up then sort out some cleaning as per usual and also write a few cards to post.

2 items sold on ebay which I posted today thanks to the great ebayers who were quick payers so that's all for now on ebay until after Christmas and the free listing begins once again. The spare room is starting to look a little less cluttered which I'm pleased about. The pile to sell is getting a little smaller and the money has gone towards the cc

Also I was very good and drew out the money to go towards the car savings pot for repair and tax. On the way home it unusually cut out which was weird. Hoping it was just a power drain due to the weather and everything being on rather than anything much. I'll get it checked out this weekend though for sure, the thought did occur to me it might be the battery that needs replacing.

Well, I think I might make the final batch of bath melts tonight to cheer me up after tea and a vanilla slice which was the cause of my lack of NSD today. Don't think I've got much chance of hitting my target for December as I'm still stuck on 5 with 15 left to get - might get somewhere close to it if I'm a bit more organised and less tempted than I have been this week. Its very tempting working next door to a large supermarket and other shops when I need a break from the office and a bit of fresh air and 'just have a look'

fedupandskint

I've been out and about doing some of the christmas food shop and also filled up with liquid gold. I was very good with the christmas shopping - stuck to the lists, used points, used savings stamps and spent £28 in total on usuals, christmas pop and food and some winter stocks - bread flour and so on. Pleased with this and I'll be carrying on with the savings stamps again for next year as that was a big help this year even though I saved £25 of stamps, not £100 as I don't need that much.

Updated on the 1% thread as I've more of less done for this year with ebay unless there's another free listing weekend before then. I'll be back on track in 2013 as next year is the aim of a big pay off to increase the 1% totals. I've gone from 0% to paying back 7% in 2 mths so I'm hoping if I keep my focus I can tackle a higher 1% over next year.

This thread has helped me so much, my spare room is much less cluttered, the stuff I bought when I was really fedup has gone to new homes and a lot has been paid off the cards. I've set up a new savings pot for car tax, repairs, service and MOT which is nothing I have done before. It feels nice to be prepared for a change and not scrabble around for all the money like I've done for many years.

Just need to keep the focus and keep looking at my notepad with my notes and plans in to keep me on track. I really want to bring my credit card DFD closer some more too which can only be done by overpaying. Hopefully when one card is paid off by April next year I can increase the repayments to the others and bring the date closer again

fedupandskint

What a busy day!

Shopping all done, car filled up, house all cleaned bar the mopping for tomorrow, mince pies and jam tarts made, dog walked, shred done instead of a run, stew made for tea and lots of washing up done!

fedupandskint

Hmmm, how can I feel rough this morning after 2 rum and cokes last night finished by 8pm? Rather strange to feel this way, is it because I am unused to drinking these days and feeling slightly worse this morning than last weekend after 2 glasses of mulled wine? Maybe its my body saying leave it alone as you have for all those months and I don't like it anymore. May be a completely AF Christmas or almost AF with just 1 or 2 drinks consumed.

Anyway, finally got around to sweeping and mopping the floors at last and my least favourite job is now done. Have also made the final lot of bath melts which are solidifying ready to package up tomorrow and I'll have a tot up of costs and try and get a good estimate for the total spent and per bath product. I'll put the hampers together too and see how they look.