Ultimate Challenge. 457 days / £16600!!!

Happytogetdebtfree

Well i had all intention of saving £500 this month so when next payday came i could pay the card in full however i thought with it been xmas it would become easy to start frittering so i made an overpayment and im glad i did id of been making excuses to spend now ! I get paid early this month the 21st, normally its 28th ! so i will be clearing the card then and been a very sensible budget queen lol

mayfair1985

Happy, are you sure we're not the same person?

NinjaSavingKat

I am wondering if you are the same person:p...however I did the same thing. I over-paid £300 at the beginning of this month as well as paying off my £350 overdraft that I wasn't being charged for. I set myself a challenge of not starting the New Year with a CC/ OD or Owing money to my EX and by golly it was done! I find it easier to over-pay at the beginning of the month and just live on what's left!

The bike is in the garage and I pick it up tomorrow. Woulda like to have known how much it would cost me but I am determined to scrape it back.. £15 indicator is not needed though so I am happy about that!

I have been very slack with eBay this month but have my fingers crossed for you Mayfair..its great when things sell above and beyond what you would expect. I might take better pictures this weekend of the things I have left for the sheer fact of getting rid of some tat before the New Year... I need to start making more money although I am not sure what I will do when I run out of things to sell....:p

However there seems to be a lot of money in it if you are able to gather a job-lot of something and sell them individually! I might look into this....***** hmmmmmmmmmm NSK rubs chinny chin chin whilst devious thoughts come to mind *****

Right I am off to research ...be good until I check in again tomorow...

Onwards and Upwards...

missladyannie

Hi Kat, the rough breakdown is:

Old Natwest card - £710 - 20%
New Natwest card - £850 - 20%
Barclays - £2600 - 0%
Tesco - £1400 - 0%
Asda - £1600 - 0%

Loan - £9504 outstanding, I pay £244pm, £129 of that is interest

liltdiddylilt

Evening everybody.

Please bear with me; I have been to my works Christmas do! Total spends £0.00... Total eaten: 5 delicious courses!! Total to drink: 1/2 bottle of white wine & 3 SoCo & lemonades... Ohhhhhhhh dear! Still, it was a lunch do & I was home by 7 to put littlie to bed suffering now though.

I am amazed by the trolley finds you all have. I need to start hunting for receipts more!! I struggle because I mainly do my shopping online as I find it keeps my costs down massively. Zero temptation when typing in 'carrots' etc. Muffins on offer do not come up

Mayfair, good luck with ebay!! I posted a 5 year old iPod shuffle on there & was amazed when a bidding war started on the last day. I put it on for a start price of £5 as I was happy to get that for it... and it went for £24.64 :eek: plus postage of £3.95 (which I put as that's what all the others said...) & it then only cost me £2.37. One mans rubbish is another mans gold eh

Just sold another FIFA player on ebay. That's another £15 this week from that... Every little helps eh

I admire the way you have all knuckled down for the month. I joined DDD to make sure I didn't overspend this month. I've stuck to the budget but bought things I didn't expect to buy so I don't really know where I am... Well done on the overpayments guys!!

I get paid early this month. Tax creds & child benefit come in a week early and same with my wages. It's all going into the savings until the 28th December so that I don't overspend! IT IS NOT THIS MONTHS MONEY!!! Lol.

Off to drink lots of water...

missladyannie

liltdiddylilt wrote: »

Evening everybody.

Please bear with me; I have been to my works Christmas do! Total spends £0.00... Total eaten: 5 delicious courses!! Total to drink: 1/2 bottle of white wine & 3 SoCo & lemonades... Ohhhhhhhh dear! Still, it was a lunch do & I was home by 7 to put littlie to bed suffering now though.

I am amazed by the trolley finds you all have. I need to start hunting for receipts more!! I struggle because I mainly do my shopping online as I find it keeps my costs down massively. Zero temptation when typing in 'carrots' etc. Muffins on offer do not come up

Mayfair, good luck with ebay!! I posted a 5 year old iPod shuffle on there & was amazed when a bidding war started on the last day. I put it on for a start price of £5 as I was happy to get that for it... and it went for £24.64 :eek: plus postage of £3.95 (which I put as that's what all the others said...) & it then only cost me £2.37. One mans rubbish is another mans gold eh

Just sold another FIFA player on ebay. That's another £15 this week from that... Every little helps eh

I admire the way you have all knuckled down for the month. I joined DDD to make sure I didn't overspend this month. I've stuck to the budget but bought things I didn't expect to buy so I don't really know where I am... Well done on the overpayments guys!!

I get paid early this month. Tax creds & child benefit come in a week early and same with my wages. It's all going into the savings until the 28th December so that I don't overspend! IT IS NOT THIS MONTHS MONEY!!! Lol.

Off to drink lots of water...

Morning Lilt, hows your head!?

I have considered online shopping as that would definitely keep me on track - I have to say that supermarket shopping is my downfall with spending, not normal things like clothes and cds, give me Tesco's anyday!! It is a psychological thing that I must have full cupboards and freezers.

I think if I lived on my own I would be better off (food wise) as I eat all sort of weird concoctions, but DH is a bit of a snob (not with brands so much) but with what goes together. For example, lamb and sweetcorn is a complete no no... what is all that about?!?! he would have had a fit if he had seen what DS and I had for lunch the other week at his mum's house. I had to raid the freezer and came up with... oven chips, yorkshire puddings and garlic bread!!! haha!! It was a snacky lunch ok!!

Lilt you are also very good at putting your wages away for an extra week. I think my CB comes in early as its due on xmas day, but that normally goes either into savings or onto a card so that one doesnt matter so much. i have worked out my wages in advance and will split into 5 and manage it that way instead. I think i have two hours overtime and 4 travel claims this month so that will bump it up by about £50 I hope

Im off up to Sainsburys today to take back a DVD I bought which was the wrong one, hopefully they will exchange as I dont have the receipt but it does have their price sticker on the front. Then i will pop next door to Halfords to pick up a free deicer and scraper from 02 priority moments!! I was going to go into Brighton to brave Primark for a nice £7 skirt a colleague was wearing yesterday but its a bit of a trek and I am trying to be good as i've turned over a new leaf, so I will stay local and clean the house instead!! The weather is miserable outside anyway

Have a great weekend everyone xx

Happytogetdebtfree

Morning miss lady, and anyone else who is up. I have been up since 6am couldnt sleep i dont know why so decided to be productive and read some mse stuff and fiddle with spreadsheets. Ohs bonus is coming in january now, which will be a nice uplift post xmas and prevent any crazy sale spending. I have rejigged the spreadsheets to accomodate this.

I was reading a story on the main board how a person paid off 34k in 25 months on a dmp thats amazing and really shows some really good focus can move mountains, its renewed my dfw energy lol. I am really looking forward to saying bye bye to mr virgin card it saves me £25 a month but it rids me of a horrible company!
I have decided once i am rid of the unsecured negative wealth i am getting the garden done and then i will be on to clearing the secured loan and waving tatty bye to it! I am really looking forward to saving up sensibly i feel like it will really give me a good sense of achievement, i plan on getting 3 months salary in our current account and then i will slowly add to it to increase it to 6 months salary. Other targets include accumulating enough to pay things yearly instead of monthly, thus reducing the monthly outgoings... SORRY i am rambling.

Lets end this post on the following, what do people class as feeling financial secure and wealthy? I mean i feel financially stable we can more than afford our outgoings etc but have no savings as everything is put into overpaying the neg wealth. Now my ideal of financial security and wealth are:
- 3-6 months salary
- Yearly payments of insurances and council tax and other non variable payments.
- 1 luxuary holiday a year that is comfortably affordable
- a current account balance that never dips below 1k, i dont live payday to payday at present but it would be nice to know if you felt the urge to splurge you could within reason i mean a new pair of shoes not a brand new car lol
- the ability to save and pay for a car outright. Thats enough from me for now Happy saturday xx

NinjaSavingKat

Good Morning Kittens... I had a good old sleep in, some random breakfast as I am slowly running out of food and cuddles with the Mog and buckets of tea...

Happy I think I need to start with your comment first as I have been thinking more and more about this! I would like the following which isnt far off what you mentioned...
- 3-6 months wages tucked away.
- Ability to afford rent to live on my own.
- Enough to travel somewhere in Europe once a month since the Eurostar is so accessable.
- Enough extra money tucked away should I have to move at short notice.
- And enough to still put money away to save for a mortgage / house deposit...( oh and shoes )..

However on my current wage it impossible so I am making provisions to get out of the industry that I am in completely and change my circumstances whereby I am paid a decent wage but don't have to rely on overtime. I am living month to month at the moment with no savings to book tickets etc or make plans in advance.. I rely on each wage payment. Something I am planning to change.

I don't want to make massive changes just yet - getting rid of the bike loan is a priority and then I might think about it! But I want to move to something that I will REALLY enjoy doing, can sink my teeth into and expand on. I am not sure what that is yet!

Lilt how are you this morning then eh? Good on you for getting everything free though!

MLA - you know you have to be well fed and watered before you venture anywhere near a Primark. I am quite a happy shopper usually and can saunter until I find what I want ..ultimately I love Primark and its prices. I certainly don't through out the clothes "once they've been worn" as it seems to be suggested by some programs that research into the clothing industry and the small kiddies in India being forced to stitch them...

I do however feel the urge to shove people out of the way, never smile, headaches ensue within minutes of arrival and I for once in my life sympathise with men who are dragged there...:o

Ahemmm... that was a loon attack sorry...

So the reason I am truly stopping by! The SALES have started early this year! Apparently we as consumers are spending less and less meaning the stores are having a loon out and starting their sales a lot sooner than usual....Hmmm there has to be something up with this.. I am gonna start another thread...watch out for The Sales Myth Buster..or something like that...
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Listerbelle

missladyannie wrote: »

Listerbelle Good luck with your exams etc, are you studying in the UK? Small world as I work at a hospital recruiting doctors! Maybe we will meet one day!!

Thank you The exam is a professional one which I'll sit in London in February. I work in East Anglia/greater London.

Yes, you never know. Meanwhile, I'm trying not to let my MSE life distract me too much from my studies, but I'm madly trying for a last few swagbucks for a $25 amazon voucher

Happytogetdebtfree

Good evening people, well a productive day had! Supermarket was jam packed with crazed people doing some shopping ive never seen it so busy lol! Anyhow had a nice surprise in the post a letter from nram, if you have noticed there was some issues with there documentation which means they were unable to enforce intrest charges from 2008-2012 so they are investigating all parts but it is likely they will remburse all intrest paid back and reduce the loan which is nice although i count it all as one with the mortgage ( this is seperate to my secured loan discussed before) so really it makes no difference to me but nice to have something back. I am looking forward to the 10 day count down to the xmas dinner lol and then it will be full steam ahead for finances diet and the usual new year resolutions hehehe x