This Diary Will Keep Me Motivated!

How_Did_That_Happen?

Haven't been on in a few days, and I think I've relaxed a bit too much.

I'm going to list the non-essentials that I've spent on in the last few days with the idea that this will re-focus me for the next week or so:

Work canteen spends: 3.30 I know this isn't going to break the bank but my waistline didn't need that chocolate cookie. The coffees are medicinal though.

Domino's pizza: 22.00 Very cross about this!!!

Chocolate tasting club: 19.00 I'd forgotten about this. It only comes every three months but we don't need it.

On the bright side I managed to keep in budget for the weekly shop. The kids are, however, behaving like locusts so there probably won't be much of it left by the end of the week.

I did really well using up storecupboard foods and things in the freezer over January, but now this is mostly gone so I really need to watch the spending now.

Getmeoutofdebt, thank you so much for the great ebay and car boot advice. My phone camera is a bit rubbish so my attempts at getting good photos has been rather poor. Think I might try my daughter's Kiddizoom. I have got absolutely tons of stuff, as there is still a lot in our garage from when we cleared out my mother-in-law's house two years ago.

How_Did_That_Happen?

I've been doing some calculations and I think we can get the debt under the 20K mark by the end of February. I think this is an achievable target and a nice early milestone.

We just need to stick to the plan now....

How_Did_That_Happen?

Feeling please today. I've gone through my jewellery box and have found a few odd gold and silver odd earrings and very old necklaces that I will never wear again. Now just to sell them.

How_Did_That_Happen?

Just had a great idea. We've got a mortgage reserve account which we currently owe 5721 on at 4.5% interest. I think the credit limit on this is about 8000 but I need to check. Why don't I transfer money from here to pay off the overdraft, which is 14.9%? Then we'll be saving interest each month which can be put towards the overall debt?
Why on earth didn't I think of this earlier???

I will wait for a bit though. We've just applied for a new fix on our mortgage so I'll wait until that has gone through. Its all with the same bank though - so would this make them think we're broke? - I think they know what's in all our accounts anyway. Hmm... I think I'll play it safe and wait. We should hear about the new fix fairly soon I should think.

How_Did_That_Happen?

I just made 32 selling some old bits of gold and silver. It was only a tiny bit so I'm really pleased.
I treated myself to a couple of bargain gardening bits from Poundland and some boots for 7.99 in a closing down sale.
So I've still got 18 left which I'll use to cover work carparking and bits over the next week or so. Now no need to get any cash out for ages!!

Getmeoutofdebt

Good on you!!

I made quite a bit selling gold and silver. I was buying bits of rubbish from car boot sales that had gold and silver on them and picking off all the metal and saving it up. I also scrounged a bit off family ha ha. Mum gave me all her broken earrings in exchange for a bottle of wine! I sold them and paid it off my overdraft! ha ha! BTW old coins pre 1918/19 (cant remember off top of my head) are silver and from then up to about 1946 are half silver. I had the good luck to get a batch of old coins and the ones that didn't sell for much on ebay I weighed in for cash. I made a lot of money on them! it was a good find!

Some money saving tips may only seem small but when combined with other things you are doing it does really make a big difference!

I had some good luck yesterday! MBNA offered me a partial settlement of £1400 on a balance of £3400!! They will write off £2K if I pay it by the end of feb! £2k of debt gone just like that! I've had to use my overdraft to pay for it but it's worth it for the huge saving!
Good luck & keep positive!!
xx

How_Did_That_Happen?

Hey Getmeout - that's great news about the MBNA debt. Must be a huge weight off your shoulders.

I'm now going to scour the house to see if I can find anymore gold. I'm fairly sure I looked everywhere but you never know.

Why does the month go so slowly when you are trying to pay off debt? I want to fill in the next column of my spreadsheet!!

How_Did_That_Happen?

Not a good MSE day so far today, and its only 11.15. :mad: :mad:

Overspent on the weekly food shop. Only by 15 so hopefully I will be able to claw it back next week. I was seduced by some special offers. Oh well, at least the freezer is well stocked now, and I know what we'll be eating for the next few weeks.

The really rubbish thing is I came home to a bill from NPower. Our direct debit has to go up to 182 per month as we've been underpaying. I am not at all pleased. :mad: :mad: :mad: :eek:

I've turned down the thermostat and I'm going to adjust the timer later and take a couple of hours off.
I don't know if its worth switching. I'm on my third supplier in three years so I think I'm on a competitive rate. I think our main problem is overuse.

Can anyone give me any tips for cutting down our energy use?

How_Did_That_Happen?

I've just ordered my first 5 pound Amazon voucher from Swagbucks. A very proud moment!

So I'm going to add another section to my spreadsheet for additional money earned. That's 37 in the last week.

I'm starting to get really irritated that I don't have a pound symbol on my keyboard. Its a US one. I could do $ but that just annoys me more.
Sorry if the lack of pound signs on any of my posts annoys anyone.

I did a price comparison for gas/electric and we are on the best deal possible at the moment. I need to remember to re-assess this when our deal runs out in April.
The huge energy bill yesterday has got to me a bit. If we weren't in debt we could do things like get new windows, cavity wall insulation or even solar panels. As it is we'll just have to carry on with what we've got and try to use less.

Mara_uk7

Re Cutting down on energy costs, If you change your heating timer, Have it going off earlier at night instead of coming on later . Its horrid waiting till half thru the evening for the house to get warm enough.