Batten down the hatches.....

Orange_Ena

doingitanyway wrote: »

You have the funniest cat. You should write an'adventures with my cat' series...:D

Haha cheers DIA. I think if he gets popular like Grumpy Cat or Bob it will go to his head and I'll be more a slave for him than I am at the moment :rotfl: He does take a nice picture though so maybe cat modelling?

Orange_Ena

catriona79 wrote: »

Murder the cat. I would.

:shocked::shocked::shocked::shocked:

I couldn't murder my best mate!

Orange_Ena

Another late check in, really must try and get on earlier so I can catch up with other diaries. I've already rang in sick for tomorrow as I'm still not right so hopefully I'll be showing signs of improvement tomorrow.

Today
* NSD
* 3 PA surveys :j
* 275SB earned
* VO survey
* P0pulusLive survey

My 7 eb@y items finish tomorrow night. Two items have bids on them but one of those has got 42 watchers! Blimey! It's not even a rare antique or a designer bag. It's something from Ike@. I've got another item exactly the same that I was going to hold on to but I might part with it now, depending on the final outcome. Good old Swedish mass produced stuff! :rotfl:

I listed an item on Fr33gle too and I had 4 requests pretty quickly so I'll pick the lucky winner tomorrow. Getting quite addicted to getting rid of stuff. Not my cat though, he's a keeper :rotfl:

Orange_Ena

Well, it's back to work tomorrow for me I'm still a bit lurgyfied but I'm hoping to make it through the day. Oh, and then it's the weekend so 2 days off

Today
* £40.56 on groceries and household bits. I know I could have shopped around for my loo rolls etc but I couldn't be bothered. I did buy special offers though for all that stuff and I've probably got enough loo rolls until Christmas......barring any dicky tummies! :rotfl:
* £20.35 requested from PA
* Youg0v prize draw survey
* 180SB earned

Four out of 7 items have sold tonight with a total of £26.17, although fees have got to come off that and profits will be counted as part of April income. The things that didn't sell will be donated as I've tried twice to sell them and I don't want them cluttering up the place any more. Feels good!

It's month end so time for a round up:

PA - £31.70............total YTD £96.98
Youg0v - 450points/£4.50.............total YTD 1175points/£11.75
SB - 3228SB (enough for a £15! Am@zon voucher)...............total YTD 8305SB
Pinec0ne - 0...............total YTD £6
P0pulusLive - £11...............total YTD £27
VO - £19.75.................total YTD £38.50
TCB - 0...................total YTD £11.77 (still pending payment) plus £10 missing cashback claim ongoing
I-S@y - 910points................total YTD 1425points (enough for a £10 Am@zon voucher)
Inb0x£s - £1.36..................total YTD £3.76
Other income - £36.79................total YTD £156.67

March total - £120.10 :T
Total YTD - £397.43 :j:j:j

Other totals
Nati0nwide sweeps - £7.53.................total YTD £24.51
FD sweeps - £5.26...............total YTD £20.58
NSD's - 10................total YTD 28
Books read - 0.............total YTD 1
DVD's watched - 7...............total YTD 7

Not a bad month again, it's all going well. And I'm amazed that I've actually managed to record everything in my little book and on here. ;) 9 months today I'll be reporting on my final year totals, and hopefully close to debt freedom and in a new job :T:j

I'm not sure whether it's the weather or a bit of time off but I'm feeling really hopeful that I will get there, I will reach a point where I don't have any debt (apart from the mortgage). All this extra income from surveys and eb@y is totally worth it to get there quicker, but I do look forward to a time where maybe I can just get home from work and properly relax, rather than ticking endless boxes on surveys. But for now, this is my life, and my time will come. Well, it had bl00dy better :rotfl:;)

I should be ready for a lodger by the end of April and I'm really looking forward to getting going with that. On Monday, my debt will officially go below £4000 and I'll be heading towards 50% paid off. I thought initially I'd hit 50% by the end of April but I think it's more like to be be May now. No matter, it's going down Once my debt is down to £2000, I'm going to just pay minimums and then crank up the savings so when I look at it like that, I've only £1700 to go! Still hoping for that lottery win / mystery benefactor to land in my life too

Orange_Ena

Evening money savers I'm still not well really but I can't ring in sick otherwise it'll count as another episode of sickness and I might hit a trigger and therefore get a disciplinary. So I've got to go in It has crossed my mind that I hate this job anyway and I'm past caring, but I do need to get another job so I had better keep a good record :D

Friday 1st April
* NSD....but £7.90 on postage for ebay parcels withdrawn straight from payp@l so technically no personal spend :T
* I-S@y survey
* VO survey
* Youg0v survey
* 133SB earned and a £5 Am@zon voucher redeemed

Saturday 2nd April
* £4.95 on ebay postage and paid myself back from payp@l
* £3.42 eb@y profit transferred to my overpayments account. £19 for a collection item outstanding still from Thursday
* £7.31 in M0rrisons
* £2.43 in the farm shop
* £4.27 on 3 picture box frames in a charity shop, ready for some crafty creation
* Dropped 3 items off at the charity shop and did a tip run
* Listed 3 items on Gumtr33
* Listed my sofa on Fr33gle, hoping someone wants it so I don't have to pay for it to be dumped

Today
* £100 on replacement skirting boards, they look so much better
* £42 for some lounge curtains and 2 cushions from Wilk0 via TCB (£1.76 tracked). I've been without curtains for nearly 3 years in my lounge so it's about time!
* Sorted out some unwanted books, DVD's and CD's and have divided them between Mu5ic M@gpie and Z1ffit for as much as possible so hopefully I should get £10.53. All that money spent and now stuff is worthless, but at least I've had the enjoyment :cool:
* 10 books and a few CD's that I got free with newspapers years ago put in the charity shop bag
* 4 items listed on eb@y, not expecting much
* £20.35 received from PA and transferred to my overpayments account
* VO survey
* PA survey
* £1.02 sweep into my FD savings account

Last week, when I kept eating out, I was going to Subw@y. I've never really been before so it was all quite new to me but it's quite expensive. I did used to buy meal deals nearly every day but since I've been debt busting, I've rarely bought lunch out. Anyway, I decided to try and make my own version. I think I paid £3.59 or £3.79 for a flatbread with filling so I knew I could make it cheaper:

Flatbread - 16p (95p for 6)
Half chicken breast - 47p (£1.89 for 2)
2 cheese slices - 20p
Onion - 3p
Drizzle of dressing - 2p

Total cost = 88p :j:T
And a 10 out of 10 on the yummometer! :rotfl:

YNAB is all up to date and all my accounts tally amazingly. Making a fresh start was a good move. I think I was going wrong because of cash and keeping track of the transfers and what I'd actually spent. I don't spend much cash anyway but I think I'll just withdraw £30 cash a month, pretend that's all gone on YNAB, try really hard to track and then put any remaining change in my tin and start afresh the following month. Makes sense in my head so I can but try. Whatever change was in my purse or at the bottom of my bag has gone in the tin so proper fresh start.

Talking of my tin, I thought I'd see how much was in there, just out of curiosity. It's a c0ca-c0la tin from H0me Barg@ins, and it doesn't have a bung in the bottom to get the money out. I didn't really want to use the can opener so I spent nearly 15 minutes teasing the money out with a knife. Yay, there's £28.59 in there which I'll save for now. I was about to put the money back in, then I spotted it........the top section just pulls off for easy access. I dunno!! :rotfl::D

GoingToDoIt

OMG Ena I have that can for pennies! Also I keep mine in the fridge just so it's out of my way, so the change is always really cold. Yeah the top just comes off
I think it's good to have some "walking around" cash, you never know when you will need some pennies for an emergency choc bar or top up shopping or emergency lunch. And putting the change in your tin is a good idea (I'd spend the lot, no doubt!)

Orange_Ena

GoingToDoIt wrote: »

OMG Ena I have that can for pennies! Also I keep mine in the fridge just so it's out of my way, so the change is always really cold. Yeah the top just comes off
I think it's good to have some "walking around" cash, you never know when you will need some pennies for an emergency choc bar or top up shopping or emergency lunch. And putting the change in your tin is a good idea (I'd spend the lot, no doubt!)

Well why didn't tell me that before? :rotfl: I bet you knew how to refill the sweetener dispenser too? That's right, the lid comes off and there is no need to try and prise and poke the bottom bit of plastic dispenser nearly ampututating a finger :eek::rotfl::rotfl::D

Good idea about the fridge, might just have to steal that. Good point about emergency chocolate, you never know when that's going to strike

doingitanyway

Well done on recreating the take-out food. Cheaper, better, more nutritious too, that's what I like

I can see you rolling the money out of the piggy bank with a knife and then discovering the lid lifts off :rotfl:

How was the farm shop? I'd love to go to a farm shop...

Have a good money busting week
DIA x

catriona79

Hahaha!!! Oh no re: money tin a true lightbulb moment


I did that too with YNAB in January and think it all tallies now too. But I'm stealing your method of putting "spare" purse cash into my money box.

Sorry you're still not feeling well enough and sorry you're having to go in today. Annoying.

Well done on all those practical achievements with sofa, new curtains, old sofa listings, skirting boards etc. Have they been fitted now? It makes a lot of difference, I'll bet you're proud of your house now!

Fingers crossed for you !!!

Orange_Ena

doingitanyway wrote: »

Well done on recreating the take-out food. Cheaper, better, more nutritious too, that's what I like

I can see you rolling the money out of the piggy bank with a knife and then discovering the lid lifts off :rotfl:

How was the farm shop? I'd love to go to a farm shop...

Have a good money busting week
DIA x

Ah thanks DIA, it's very yummy. I must start eating other things though, I get a bit stuck

Haha it was ridiculous, all the times I was shaking the tin, tipping it back and forth and I didn't notice the lid. Every time I look at the tin now I see it. How did I not see it for a year? :rotfl::p

The farm shop is great, it's a really good one. They have everything you need. Loads of fruit and veg, local produce, a nice deli section, bread, nice jars of chutneys and jams etc, cakes, cheeses, eggs, meats, pastries. Oops, just dribbled :rotfl:;) Do you not have one near? I guess maybe London (I think you're in London) might not have an abundance of farm shops. Some days I pass 3 on the way home