6 months to freedom / Race against the bank

littleweasel

Hello!

Decided my holiday fund and Xmas savings are pointless while I'm getting charged loads of interest, so paid another £107 off the debt and am now a third of the way there :j I think if I really try hard I can be debt free by Christmas in any case. We will see...

Spent £1.85 (coffee and an orange) today- also had my Tesco delivery (£26) although I sort of paid for this last week. Not been refunded for the failed delivery yet but when I have been it should cancel today's out.

Been slacking on Slice the Pie but joined Swagbucks on Sunday and am now over half the way to an Amazon voucher. I don't mind doing the surveys every day (if I qualify for them!) but the TV, games, videos etc are really boring, can't be bothered with that. Hopefully I'll be eligible for at least one survey every day I think I will spend the vouchers on silly treats to get me through the last few weeks in November, I feel they may be boring if I want to make any more big payments to the overdraft!

littleweasel

Paid another £250 off the OD. This is from savings, unfortunately, so not the result of my newfound thriftiness, but noddle says the bank have put a late payment marker on my account even though they haven't actually recalled the overdraft!! so I have to pay it off as quickly as possible before it shows as bad arrears. Will do another £250 mid-month so I don't feel so powerless. After that I will have to find the money from elsewhere. There might come a point where my debt doesn't reduce but gets shifted around as I have to spend on my credit card to make up for money put into the overdraft.

Good things today, though:
-spent £1.10
-almost at £5 voucher with Swagbucks
-earnt £10 Amazon voucher through university questionnaire
-got free theatre ticket courtesy of a friend, although I might spend a little on some wine for us ;-) I wonder if I can get some little bottles from the supermarket??

littleweasel

Oh dear...forgot my lunch today, so spent £2.20 in addition to standard £1.40. Got a piano lesson today (£15), also for some reason my nectar points wouldn't redeem on ingredients for dinner tonight, so I had to spend £7. I don't think I will need to spend more than £5 on shopping for the rest of the month, though...

littleweasel

*shuffles in*

Spent a bit too much yesterday. Most of it was budgeted for:
-popcorn flavourings £7
-music books £12 (needed)
-afternoon tea £15
£34 (I had budgeted £40)

BUT I also bought a pair of boots. Justifying them on the basis that I haven't got any flat black boots for winter and won't be able to get the only pair I do have until I see my parents at Christmas (you can see the self-justification happening as I type...!). The good news is that they were £32 rather than £80+.

Other than that, I am almost at an Amazon voucher with Swagbucks. Might impose a total spending lockdown for the next week...I wonder whether I can have 5 out of 7 NSDs? That would make up for the boots...

littleweasel

Spent nothing at all today and got my first £5 Swagbucks voucher. Not bad for a few surveys!

Tesco finally got around to refunding me after they made a complete mess of my last few orders. They refunded me the delivery charge as well (even though I had a free delivery voucher which they replaced) so they are out of the bad books for the moment. I've spent more time on the phone to them than I care to, though!

Still got a load of lasagne in the fridge and enough fresh food to last at least until the end of next week. I might need to top it up by spending my nectar points but otherwise don't think will need to spend any more on groceries until payday. I am hoping to clear the overdraft entirely then, although will probably have to spend on my credit card as it won't be the cheapest month ever. Though this won't be too bad as I should then be able to clear my credit card entirely in December's payday before the interest hits!

littleweasel

Another NSD! I wonder if I can make it 8 out of the 15 remaining?!

Didn't do much today...I am sort of laid low with, ahem, lady problems, so all I wanted to do was sleep and eat. I did start on a Secret Project which I've been meaning to do for ages now (and which could potentially earn me some money, although that's not my primary motivation for doing it).

Also did my daily Swagbucks survey...I reckon I can get an £5 Amazon voucher a week which is pretty good going for not much extra effort. Today's was actually quite interesting, I wonder if the product will ever make it to market?!

Houmous and cucumber sandwich for lunch tomorrow :-) the next two weeks might seem long, but I need to stay on track if I want to pay off the overdraft on my next payday. I really don't need or want to buy anything so it will be social stuff (if anything!) that derails me.

amr547

Good luck - you can do it!

littleweasel

No spend so far today although I'm finding it hard to resist crisps or chocolate from the canteen!

Because of the slight splurge on the boots I have £60 in spendable money to last me until the 30th (payday is the 31st), not including piano lessons/direct debits etc (already subtracted) This £60 has to cover:

- quiz night after work tomorrow (shouldn't be more than £10)
- train fare to a race on Sunday (again, £10)
- dinner with a friend next week (£10...the magic number)
- and any extra groceries (milk etc) I need to top up other than through nectar points, plus the usual miscellaneous spends that seem to add up. Eeep, it's going to be tight. I really want to have at least another £275 to throw at the overdraft left by the end of the month, though, or it will be unlikely I can pay it off entirely next month. I wonder how quickly music magpie pays out? I have loads of old CDs and DVDs to get rid of...

Scuff

Hello there! I started my music magpie process thing on 18th Sept... Still waiting for pennies they're anticipating 3 more days, so I'd say bargain about a month??

littleweasel

Oh...thanks! I'd better get going if I want it to help me out in November, then...

I think I'm getting a cold, grr. Feel a bit stuffed up and sore throaty today. Have brought in lunch (hummous and cucumber sandwich again!) and there's a quiz after work - hopefully can avoid spending too much. I might put it on the credit card as it's more important i have the money available in my current account to transfer to the overdraft this month - but hopefully can wipe it out in payday. 14 days to go.