In the words of Yazz...

Fudgefund

Thanks Robin, PLMBL and DFW123! It really means a lot to me that you're all still here despite my floundering.

The good news is that I've stuck to budget this week and managed to stick away about £3.64 in my closed pot. I was meant to be going to watch a Roller Derby game today but it was £8.50 and I couldn't afford it while I'm committed to getting my credit card paid off on the 14/02/14, so I'm here instead. Less than three weeks to go now, I just need to dig in for that time and then I'll really feel I've achieved something. I think I'm still in debt with Barclaycard now because I just haven't been committed enough over the past two months.

In other news, me and DB always buy something like a takeaway on our paydays as a treat, which works out well usually, as I'm paid mid-month and he's paid at the end of the month. I bought a D0min0s pizza deal last night for £14.99 and it took ageeees to appear, so after an hour I called them and they said it was on it's way. It turned up cold and with mushrooms on it (not what I ordered and ugh!) so I scrunched up all my courage and rang them to complain. They sent a replacement pizza deal for free so I now have a free meal for tonight! I know having two takeaways in two days is a terrible idea and not something I would consider ordinarily, but for now money saving wins out. I'll pop it in the oven later and pick the mushrooms off. :money:

Going food shopping later, hoping to stay under £30 for the two of us. I've been stopping DB having a thoughtless bag of crisps etc at home so they can be carried over to the next week and it's starting to pay off. I think he is mostly amused. I hope so anyway.

The diet was going well this week until the pizza debacle and I managed to walk to work twice. I'm going to try and make it a full five times this week, as I am actually enjoying it and the time spent in the daylight makes such a difference to my mood. Speaking of work, I've been told by my Manager that if I stay I'll be promoted to the next pay scale (I work in the public sector) so that's something to think about. She seems keen to reduce the stress in the office so perhaps it will all work out. I am keeping my options open though.

beanielou

Keep plodding xx

Fudgefund

Thanks Beanie. I do feel a lot like I am plodding at the moment - I could do with a bit of interval training I think!

I am once again livid with Barclays - there's no incentive to pay off an overdraft like wanting to move bank. I was charged a guarantee transaction fee of £8 by them in December which was completely unjust, and I telephoned, complained, and got the charge revoked. However, this call took 27 minutes which largely comprised a young man continually putting me on hold saying he was completing a complaints form, whilst I hopelessly hung on waiting for the green light. Fast forward a month and I have received my bill from Orange... the call has cost me £9! This is actually more than the charge itself and I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I spend all of my time trying to brand down on things like Marmite whilst Barclays are laughing all the way to their own bank. I've put in a complaint, I'm now waiting for the response but not holding my breath. :mad:

And breathe. Generally the money saving continues to go okay, I've been working hard to keep within budget and I'm on course to just pull in under my overdraft limit before payday next Friday. The depressing news is that I've had to book some train tickets on my Barclaycard (if I'd left it they would've cost a lot more), so it's looking less likely I'll be completely credit card free in 10 days time. I have come extremely close and I know I have given it my all, I may just have to be slightly more patient and pay off £50 next month. The thing is, after Christmas my debt with them had ballooned to £800 (I was not ready to admit this on my first post-Christmas post), so I know I'm on the right track whatever happens.

I've had a very good week diet wise, and I'm hoping for a positive result on the scales on Friday. DB came home from a trip to the shops on Saturday with a big bag of half price peanut m&ms which were swiftly confiscated from his clammy hands. A 300g bag has over 1500 calories in it! I know full well that if left to his own devices he would just sit and eat them all in one sitting, so I'm going to weigh them out for him instead. Living with me is a right barrel of laughs.:rotfl:I've managed 3/3 walks to work and I even went for a run on Saturday morning. I really want this to be the year I actually lose the 50lbs I've been carrying around for the past few years.

I have no plans to go out this weekend (yes, I'm looking forward to the weekend already) so I'm going to stay in and attempt some NSDs. I only have £40 to last me to payday next Friday but I'm confident I will succeed, I've pulled off greater escapes before. I just need £20 for shopping, £4.40 for my weekly coffee with work friend, and £8 for two cinema trips. I'm sure nothing else will come up in that time. Hm.

Fudgefund

:j Yes, I am here on Saturday night when I should be in bed. But I had to share my good news with people who would really appreciate it, as I'm not sure the rest of the general population would. In my last post I said I had made a complaint to Barclays about the cost of the phone call I made to put an unwarranted charge to rights, and I genuinely had no hope they would reimburse me for the call (I thought they would say I should have had the foresight to call from a landline). I had a text message to say they had dealt with my complaint and went on the online tracker, and as they give you real time updates on their handling, it appeared to take all of three minutes for them to make a decision. They said a letter would be sent (but no indication of what this would say) so my heart sank and I waited for the inevitable rejection.

However...

I checked my online banking this evening and there were two absolutely magical credit transactions. One read 'PHONE CALLS' - £20 and the other 'WITH OUR APOLOGIES' - £50! :j I was so excited I thought my heart palpitations were back. I've taken a screenshot of my phone for prosperity and I still can't get over my good luck.

This rounds off a really good week where I walked to work everyday and stuck to my diet, and managed to lose 3 pounds. I also had four no spend days and I'm looking good to finish the week under my £40 goal, which means more money for my closed pot. Morrisons are running another loyalty spend thing, so I'm spending £40 there tomorrow (obviously halved with DB), and after three weeks I'll get £10 off. We only need three meals in this week and I have two portions of chicken in the freezer, so I can stock up on things like toilet paper and toothpaste. Honestly Money Savers, my cup runneth over.

please-let-me-be-lucky

Brilliant news!! Well done all round :j Xx

debtfreewannabe321

Oh wowee :j :T I'm super pleased for you hun! What great news!

*Robin*

Lovely to catch one of your posts Fudgie - and with such fantastic news on all fronts - well done! :T :T

Fudgefund

Thanks for the enthusiasm everyone. :A I've calmed down now, but I am still checking my account every so often just for the novelty. I've given Barclays thouands of pounds over the years and it's such a drop in the ocean to them, but I'm thrilled!

I couldn't sleep last night, so I got up at 9 (I realise this is a sizable lie in for most adults!) and went out for a 5k run, which I was pleased with. Things are going so well in fact I have to worry if I am taking a slide into mania, so I'm trying to view everything very objectively. I don't know whether this new found happiness is how other people feel, it's difficult. For the time being I am going to put my new found burst of energy down to the lighter mornings and things going well generally.

Thanks to the up mood, I've summoned the courage to try and sort out my phone contract which comes to it's end on 26/03/14. I can't wait, it was a 24 month contract at £50 per month :eek: taken out long before my LBM and a real millstone around my neck. I have to do these things in the next two weeks:

1) Pay £20.42 (annoying) to get my phone unlocked.
2) Get my Pac code (whatever one of those is, although who cares, it's free) to keep my number.
3) Get a sim only sim from Tesco Mobile at £15 per month. Amazing.
4) Cancel my contract with 30 days notice.

These are all historically things I would hate to do because they involve speaking to people and sorting something out I know nothing about but I'm determined to get a cheaper monthly contract after having thought about it for years. I've taken the first step and applied for a Tesco Clubcard so I get triple points from my phone contract every month, so I look forward to that arriving.

I have thought about what to do with my windfall and I've decided. I know I could pay it straight off my debts but I've got several things on the go this month I was just short for, so I can make up all of these without having a week on skinners hill next month. That will by more of a luxury for me than a new dress.

Gas/electric - I budgeted £90 for this for three months, it was £105, so £15 goes there.
I was £10 short on my budgeting for my haircut, so £10 there.
I'm going to give £10 to a really good homeless charity in Manchester called Mustard Tree, so £10 goes there.
It's Valentines Day on Friday and my turn for 'payday takeaway', so rather than that, I'm taking DB out for a meal (nothing too pricey - £25) which will do as a present. He's being slightly stitched here, but every little helps. :rotfl:

Have a good week everyone.

beanielou

Most excellent news :j :j

Fudgefund

Thanks Beanie. All of that excitement seems a long time ago now, and I'm in the post pay-day phase instead.


My credit card is now down to £70, which looks absolutely amazing on Barclaycard online, so I spend most of my time stroking the expanse of green on the toolbar. I can't wait for the next 26 days to tick over so I can finally get rid of it for good. I know I could've gone for broke this month and tried to get rid of it all together, but I'd have been flying seriously close to the financial sun, and I think it would've got pretty messy. As it is I've got £50 a week again, so I feel like George Osborne announcing 'four more weeks of pain'.


Valentines Day cost me £20 more than I budgeted for which was not ideal, but I did see the Lego Movie and I really enjoyed it. DB's parents have announced they are dropping over today with the newlyweds so we are going for a meal, I really hope it doesn't cost too much.


I'm glad February is such a short month because I've got a lot of expenses this month which mean my outgoings are just that bit higher. The quarterly TV licence and the gas/electric have squeezed me quite hard. March will be a challenge because it's a five week month and I'll be attempting to crack into my overdraft so I'm going to have to be disciplined. In short then, roll on April.