Ultimate Challenge. 457 days / £16600!!!

liltdiddylilt

Wow abundant, well done you!!! I will cheerlead you on all the way. Kat amazes me with her sheer willpower, so I think you are definitely in the right thread for help and to be spurred on!!

Killer are you really going to make me tell in front of Kat? :eek::eek::eek: I bought 2 packs of streaky bacon, 56 cocktail sausages, a joint of pork, a joint of lamb, a huge gammon & a turkey crown... :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
I'm sorry about your dad; that's rough. He can't have been very old Nice that he looked after you all with the life insurance. I think you should do whatever makes your heart happy with the money. I am pretty sure your dad is looking down, extremely proud of you as he watches you taking your first few steps through adulthood with such a fantastic and sensible head on your shoulders.

Kat I don't mind about the overtime being done. It was nice to keep in touch with work whilst I was off on maternity leave and the money was excellent & helped us get to where we are now but I start back on the 9th January with no nervousness and fears... and I'll be very happy to just do my 3 days & go home for 4! My work doesn't offer overtime to anyone, so the few times I have done it when I wasn't on maternity leave, I used to let myself into our office on a Saturday and do a day then & no one was any the wiser! My job always spills over. No lunches usually. But I shall be taking my lunches, MSE'ing and doing my ASDA shopping online in my lunch breaks then I get more time with the littlie when I get home!

I've been looking at our finances a lot today. As it stands we currently have about £850 in guaranteed bills going out from the 28th Dec to the 28th Jan. Not including any food etc. We have got just under £2000 with the money left over from this month & next months wages etc (which are in savings right now)...

CC stands at £413.50 with a £50DD payment next due at the beginning of Jan. We need to make an overpayment to the CC of £163.50 in total in the next 5 months, as then with the £50 each month, it will be empty at the same time as the 0% finishes.

Do I... Leave the money in savings to accrue at least a small amount of interest in the meantime, or do I just pay it off? It's 0%... but it is a debt.. Nice to know I could just clear it & be done... but at the same time, it's nice to see the savings finally start building up!!!:j

NinjaSavingKat

Lilt you will barely earn any interest. The satisfaction of paying it off will be greater than earning £1 or so in interest...? What do you think?

abundant1972

PS. I found this on an old post... Am hoping it will help me when I have run down the food cupboard and at a loss what to make with what's left...

You just type in what you have - eh voila!!! It gives you a list of recipes!!!

http://www.supercook.com/

I'm going to type in rice cake and carrot and see what i get!!!



<5 mins later>

HA!!! They aren't recognised! I KNEW they were EVIL :eek:

liltdiddylilt

I know what you're saying & I keep dithering between the 2 thoughts - save it or pay it off.

I guess the other reason I want to keep it going which I didn't explain is that I am trying to use it to boost my credit rating back up.. When I checked my credit report recently, I noticed my bank account had 6 amounts, covering 2 months each, showing what I owed them in my overdraft over the last 8 months before I kicked it & haven't gone into it since. They were quite large, between 1k & 2k most of the time... & then suddenly paid & gone.. (working in finance I know how it looks) It is going to take another 6 months or so til they disappear from the credit report & I'd like to show, through overpaying on my DD & contributing the extra amount, that I am managing my money effectively. If I pay this debt off, then I will owe nothing & be paying nothing except for a mobile phone...

Seems a shame to waste the £1 too (hehehe!!) when I am picking up roadkill each day of pennies..

liltdiddylilt

Oooh abundant I used that supercook site all the time in the past but haven't for ages. Thanks to NSK my usually stocked 'tin' cupboards are almost bare!!!

Happytogetdebtfree

Lots of big financial plans, I am really looking forward to the start of 2013. The link is great abundant. Im just watching merlin then an early night work tomorrow :-) x

Listerbelle

killerpeaty wrote: »

I would like to ask much less practical questions.
Why did you feel motivated to start your portfolio?
How did you feel confident enough to do it?
How do you continue to motivate yourself?
Obviously, don't answer anything you don't want to.

I'm on my phone, this is really awkward to type on so I will read and reply to everyone/harass you all a bit later. X

I've not forgotten you guys. I'm in the USA until tomorrow, life is a little busy which leaves me little time to think although I am able to rack up the swagbucks as I walk past the laptop every so often. The US site has reusable one-click 6SBs links

NinjaSavingKat

Well now. I have sat on my backside all day and written out my plots and schemes for January's challenge. I am aware I have been a super lazy NSK for the best part of two days but I have managed to forecast my debt for the next 12 months and its eventual disappearance.. this help greatly with my mental well-being you understand!:T

So I take bedlam has set in in households across the UK. I hope everyone has dodged the horrid rainfall we have had and are safely tucked away..

We got Listerbelle in the USofA, anyone else spread far and wide for this year Christmas Day?..any further away?..

So... another goals of mine, a lesser known and much lesser commented on will be my desire to return to my body-building ways. I am not a butched out crazed protein guzzling nut-nut but I truly believe that nothing tastes as good as muscle feels...:rotfl:..so my diet will be taking a battering in order to lose pounds and gain some serious muscle mass...

I might even go as far as to buy a bikini that I want to wear on my 30th...take a picture of myself in it now and post it on my wall as motivation when I feel the need to scoff an entire bag of Tesco's cheese puff for dinner....

I used to work in a gym, rolling off the reception desk where I worked and onto the gym floor onto the machines where any number of personal trainers wanted to "help" was easy... now when I have to make the effort in getting to the gym in the first place things are a little harder...

Grrr.. I can't do things by halves. It's not my nature. Its all or nothing and I have to do it very precisely. This means knowing my exact weight, body-fat content, lean muscle mass ( or lack of )..how many calories are required to get what I want and meal planning like a loon... remember TUPPERWARE IS YOUR FRIEND!

So watch this space.. my 5'8" frame needs to drop somewhat from its 76kg status....

Now where are those mince-pies....

Onwards and Upwards!!!

abundant1972

Hey all...

NSK - maybe there is another thread waiting to be created there - focusing on working out and what foods to eat and how you calculate dietary needs etc... Is a HUGE topic i know.

Living out in the countryside with no social life to speak of or decent pubs and clubs - my goal was always to return to the city and have a life again - before I got too old to enjoy it... London/Manchester has always had enough variety of night life to support people of any age... and my goal was to become debt free AND get in shape so that I was in a position to move and start having some fun again!!! It's not that I feel you have to have the body of an adonis to have a good time - but it helps me to feel better about myself, and I genuinely feel staying fit is important.

Suddenly joining this thread has made me think - 'I could be debt free this time next year' and whilst I'd want to save some money before moving to the big smoke, that doesn't give me masses of time to get in shape and fit again...

I have lost weight (was able to get in 29" trousers the other day!!!) though haven't weighed myself in ages... but have just lost ALL motivation to go to the gym and apply myself... It could be to do with all the upheaval during the last few months - I haven't even wanted to go out and socialise... I'm hoping things will start to get better now that I'm more settled...

The danger with me is taking on too many things at once. I have this new job to focus on and am really going to have to apply myself and do extra reading/study... The budgeting hopefully will take care of itself now it's rolling... my diet is pretty good most of the time <scoffs another mouthful of pringles> it's just my motivation to exercise has GONE!!! NSK - do you have a magic wand you can wave ha ha!!!

liltdiddylilt

Evening all...

Kat I LOVE the gym!! I signed up about 9 months before I found out I was pregnant & went religiously 6 times a week, including aqua aerobics but mainly cardio & WEIGHTS!! I got really addicted and would spend over an hour on the treadmill/cross trainer & bike, then nearly 2 hours of an evening doing a full circuit of the weights with all the men. Getting the women off the 'inner thigh' weights was a pig though:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I stopped going when I was pregnant. Number 1 because I mistook massive kidney issues (gone now, pregnancy related thank god) for a chronic bad back & Number B I suffered so badly with all day morning sickness that I couldn't eat, had no energy & couldn't face it. Goal after DFD is to join again. I went on a version of the atkins diet whilst I did it, trying so hard to lose weight. Lost about 6lbs in that time. Toned up a tonne but I was so disappointed... Cue pregnancy sickness, I LOST a stone whilst pregnant, & haven't put it back on :D Tone this mummy tummy up & I will be HOT :) :rotfl::rotfl:

Did the final xmas shop for food this morning. Boiled a ham, then glazed it with dijon, honey & brown sugar & it is now calling to me from the kitchen side. We have HM leek & potato soup to use up leftovers in the fridge for tea. I have to make some brandy butter later but basically we are DONE!!! Hunkering down for Christmas now. I will be going outside ONLY to walk off far too much food, from midday today until as far asI can get, but at least the day after Boxing Day. Shall not need meat from now until kingdom come methinks. January challenge... buy zero meat. February challenge, live a vegetarian life?!

I am more excited about Christmas this year than I have been since I was 12. Christmas in my own home, with my OH and baby girl, mountains of presents for her.. my lovely tree & turkey dinner. I even made orange, lemon & clove pot pourri today with vanilla and nutmeg smells like Christmas!!!