Batten down the hatches.....

catriona79

Orange_Ena wrote: »

Ah hello weekend, very nice to see you again

Today
* NSD.....sort of
* £137.96 spent from my gift balance on Am@zon. For that I got a mattress protector, fitted sheet, duvet, duvet set and pillows for the spare bed, as well as 3 rolls of wallpaper (£5 a roll cheaper than H0mebase have it for) and a curtain pole for the spare room. And a smoke alarm, some hair treatment and the M@rie K0ndo book. Not a bad haul and I still have £1.34 left on my balance :T Definitely need some more surveys now though
* 3 x PA surveys!
* P0pulusLive survey. A £4 survey from the other day hasn't credited so chased up by email. My little notebook has come in handy
* 148SB January bonus claimed
* 265SB earned
* 95p sweep into my FD savings account
* 7 items listed on ebay, if they all sell for the asking price it'll be £14 less fees, not much but a) it's money and b) it's space......for new clothes :rotfl:;);)

Have a good weekend y'all

Morning Ena,

Good work with the surveys and the bargains!
Are you going to hang the wallpaper in the spare bedroom? Smoke alarm - yes, that's a must. As is the mattress protector!
I have found that my lodger's had their own bedding and duvet/ pillows. But the last one is here only for a few months and is from Austria, so didn't bring it with her. She was happy to buy her own stuff, though and I said that I had a spare set (cheap) which she was welcome to, and she took me up on it. So good move to have it there and handy!

Any nice plans for the weekend?

Two days off work - blisssssss!

Orange_Ena

catriona79 wrote: »

Morning Ena,

Good work with the surveys and the bargains!
Are you going to hang the wallpaper in the spare bedroom? Smoke alarm - yes, that's a must. As is the mattress protector!
I have found that my lodger's had their own bedding and duvet/ pillows. But the last one is here only for a few months and is from Austria, so didn't bring it with her. She was happy to buy her own stuff, though and I said that I had a spare set (cheap) which she was welcome to, and she took me up on it. So good move to have it there and handy!

Any nice plans for the weekend?

Two days off work - blisssssss!

Evening Catriona

Yeah the wallpaper is just on one wall, such a bargain too. I'm definitely getting prepared for this mystery lodger, whoever they are!

I bought the duvet set so I could dress the room. It was so cheap so I don't mind if they want it or not. If they want to bring their own, that's fine too. It's only a single room / bed but they might want a double duvet for extra snuggling but they'll have to sort that out themselves.

Ah 2 lovely days off work! No plans really, just shopped, cooked and cleaned today........very dull but necessary :):)

What about you?

Orange_Ena

Hello campers

Today
* £21 spent on 2 new bath sheets and a king size duvet set that had been reduced in the sale....bargain :T
* £43.94 on groceries and bits that I'd run out of. I've been a bit lazy and having easy snacky food lately so this shop was to get mostly proper ingredients for actual meals!
* £7.64 in H0me Barg@ins on household bits and wrapping paper. They've got some brilliant paper with cassettes on it and cassette tags. It's for my friends 40th so it will be a funny reminder of recording songs off the radio on your cassette, trying to press stop before the DJ spoke! People of a certain age will know :rotfl:
* Came over a bit Delia and did some batch cooking. I've made 7 portions of hasselback spinach and ricotta chicken, 9 portions of butternut squash, spinach, yellow pepper and courgette lasagne and 9 portions of veggie mince lasagne :j
* Cleared out the freezer of stuff I really don't fancy eating now and froze the above meals
* Had one bid on an item on eb@y. Got 20 watchers on 12 items but another 8/9 days until they finish
* 65SB earned

That's all for today. I'm not planning on going out tomorrow so it will hopefully be an NSD :T

Orange_Ena

I've been fiddling with my calculator......oh yeah, living dangerously on a Saturday night My debt now stands at £4340 which is a reduction of £2555.44 since April 2015. Can't quite believe it but it's right.

This year, I'm hoping to earn 10% of my outstanding debt from surveys and selling bits and bobs. I think £434 is completely achievable if January is anything to go by.

So that leaves £3906 to pay. There are 11 more paydays left this year and I've been paying £200 per month to these (minimum payments are around £48 I think) so that takes off £2200 leaving £1706, which does not sound too bad at all.

If I divide that by 11 months, that's £155 extra I need to find every month in order to be debt free by Christmas

I'll still have my sofa payments which are on 0% for 3 years so once the CC's are cleared I'll be going after that debt. I'm not sure whether I can be classed as debt free if I still have the sofa payments but for now, I'm not worried about it. Obviously I'll still have a mortgage too.

As much as I am desperate to be debt free so that I can leave my job, I'm not quite sure what I'm doing. I want to fling everything at becoming debt free, then walk away from the job. Doubts and worries are creeping in about getting a new job straight away, then relying on CC's to get me through and ending up in a sorry old mess. Part of me wants to save up all my money, but still have the debts and then if a new job doesn't work out, I'll have the worry of living off my dwindling savings, but STILL having debts!

So, until the next time my mind changes, I think I've decided that I'm going to blast the debts down to a slightly more manageable £2000, while still saving for yearly costs and monthly budgets, then start saving like mad. I'd rather walk away from my job sooner rather than later, and have some savings and less CC debt than I've got now. The minimum payments will be doable providing I get a job, it may take me longer, but to be able to leave my job will be a huge relief. Bit of a comprise but there it is :T

I'll still hold out for a lottery win / PPI claim / rich mystery benefactor / pot of gold at the end of the rainbow which would render the above plan somewhat unnecessary :rotfl:

doingitanyway

Hi Orange Ena,

Your plan to reduce debt but build up savings at the same time sounds like a good plan. My debt comes from 2 years of struggling to find work, so it's easy to increase debt loads whilst looking. The employment situation is better than it was but still tough. Of course you'll have your lodger which will soften the blow. But you will fine. You're doing so well :T

have a good day
DIA x

Orange_Ena

doingitanyway wrote: »

Hi Orange Ena,

Your plan to reduce debt but build up savings at the same time sounds like a good plan. My debt comes from 2 years of struggling to find work, so it's easy to increase debt loads whilst looking. The employment situation is better than it was but still tough. Of course you'll have your lodger which will soften the blow. But you will fine. You're doing so well :T

have a good day
DIA x

Thanks DIA. I hope my plan works, I just want to be living without debt so much, but I'm desperate to leave my job more, so it's a bit of a compromise. I think I need this next year to get prepared for a new job role, get up to date with my CV and courses, and of course find a lodger that will pay me almost what my mortgage is :T

Thanks again, have a great week x

Orange_Ena

Back to work tomorrow, not broken my arm yet :eek::(:D

Today
* NSD
* P0pulusLive survey
* Youg0v survey!
* PA survey
* 6SB earned
* Half listed 7 more items on eb@y but need to take photos so I'll do that by Tuesday
* I've now got bids on 2 items out of the 12 already listed and I have 37 watchers :T

Have a good week

Orange_Ena

Well I didn't go back to work on Monday and I haven't broken my arm, but instead I had a complete wobble / panic attack and just couldn't face work so I rang in sick. I managed to get a GP appointment that morning, burst into tears saying how miserable I was so my GP has signed me off for 2 weeks and prescribed antidepressants. She was asking me if something had happened at work and then I felt worse cause I'm not being bullied, nothing terrible has happened, my boss is lovely, my colleagues are great........I just don't want to be there. I can't do my job anymore. I'm sick of driving. I'm isolated as I work on my own a lot. I do see people all day, interacting with clients, but I only see colleagues twice a month. I hate the work. I hate the stress. I just don't care enough to be in a role that requires me to be caring and sympathetic, I'm going through the motions and faking it. All my sympathy and any empathy I had has been used up and sucked out of me and I can't recharge it. I am non-rechargeable :eek:

Anyway, apart from that, I feel ok. While having time off is obviously not a long term thing, I'm grateful for a bit of a breather. And the debt busting continues, natch!

Monday
* NSD
* 2 PA surveys
* I-S@y survey
* VO survey
* 60SB earned

Tuesday
* NSD
* 5 PA surveys, yes 5! :T
* £80 moved from my fuel account to my overpayments account seeing as I won't need more fuel before payday
* £1.18 sweep into my overpayments account
* Youg0v prize draw survey
* Another 8 items listed on ebay and if they sell for the asking price, it'll be £35.46 less fees
* 139SB earned

Today
* £41.05 on groceries, laundry stuff (totally addicted to Unst0ppables scent boosters) and YS stuff for the freezer
* £60 for my hair cut and coloured, all budgeted for
* PA survey
* 2 VO surveys
* 184SB earned

I've got some items on eb@y and out of the 20 listed, I have 73 watchers, bids on 8 items and total sales so far of £34.63 (less fees). Money and less clutter = win/win

doingitanyway

Hi Orange Ena
It's horrible when work leaves you feeling that way. I recall having a job where it got harder and harder for me to go in. I was walking into the building slower and slower until one day I couldn't go in the door at all. You did the right thing by going to the GP and getting some time away/off. You are still doing great on the generating more income and decreasing clutter. Take it easy. DIA x

crazy_cat_lady

Oh you really sound like you need a rest. Time off will do you the world of good - try not to feel guilty about why you're off or not there or anything like that - just rest and relax as much as you can. I confess to having felt like crying before work every day this week...