Batten down the hatches.....

Orange_Ena

Absolutely pooped! I've been so busy the last few days cleaning, tidying and finishing off little jobs and I'm not finished yet.....I really could do with 2 more days off

Thursday 6th April
* NSD
* 0nep0ll surveys
* VO survey
* Opini0n Outp0st survey
* PA survey

Friday 7th April
* £2.20 on a sandwich
* £3.10 in the c0-op
* 0nep0ll surveys
* Opini0n Outp0st survey and!£2.50 redeemed and transferred to my CHEFS account
* Youg0v survey

Saturday 8th April
* £8.10 for 2 taxi rides
* £200 to the decorator, for the bathroom
* £8.28 in T3sco
* 2p roadkill found
* 2 VO surveys
* Opini0n Outp0st survey

Sunday 9th April
* £20.90 in M0rrisons
* £277.47 for a hire car, I should get £200 back as long as I don't prang it :eek:
* 109SB earned and a £5 Am@zon voucher redeemed

Monday 10th April
* £4.30 in C0sta
* Youg0v survey
* VO survey
* Opini0n Outp0st surveys

Tuesday 11th April
* £3.50 in T3sco
* £16 for fuel

Wednesday 12th April
* £2.85 for breakfast in Wethersp00ns
* £154 for new glasses and sunglasses :cool:
* £22 for a new top
* Youg0v survey
* 0nep0ll surveys
* Opini0n Outp0st surveys and £2.50 redeemed and transferred to my CHEFS account
* PA survey

Thursday 13th April
* £57.97 in Dun3lm, bought 3 towels, a new bath mat and some foam and fabric for my Ll0yd L00m blanket box makeover
* £40 is Asd@ on 2 t-shirts, jumper, bra, 2 storage baskets and a tumbler for the bathroom
* £45 for bathroom flooring, the sale started today! It'll be £40 fitting on the day
* £34.56 in M0rrisons
* £2 in T3sco
* £40 received from 0nep0ll and transferred to my overpayments account :T
* 0nep0ll surveys
* Opini0n Outp0st survey and £2.50 redeemed and transferred to my CHEFS account
* 2 PA surveys

Friday 14th April
* NSD
* Youg0v survey

Saturday 15th April
* NSD, I had to order some cat food from the vet but I can pay when I collect it next week, so I can keep my NSHW (no spend holiday weekend) intact :rotfl::D;)
* £50 cheque received from P0pulusLive, probably won't get banked until next Friday :T
* PA survey

Sunday 16th April
* NSD

Today
* NSD
* £20.03 received from PA and transferred to my CHEFS account :j
* Youg0v survey

DMIC 3/17

I've been a bit of a spendy spenderson :eek: Some of it was sort of planned, some not! I had a bit of a mare on my drive home a week last Friday when a warning light came on. Something definitely wasn't right so I headed straight to the dealer just before they closed. I didn't expect anyone to look at it but I just wanted reassurance that I could keep driving it :rotfl: I didn't get that reassurance.....in fact, I was told not to drive it as it could invalidate the warranty. They said they'd try and look at it Saturday but we're very busy so it was doubtful. I rang Saturday lunch time to see if they'd looked at it but no, they hadn't. They'd got no courtesy cars either so I was panicking about work. Last minute days off are a nightmare as there's usually no cover. I didn't want to use 2 days leave either. I looked at trains but I would have had to get a train into Birmingham then back out again which would be 2 hours each way, plus a full day at work which I really didn't fancy. I only needed a car for the Monday and Tuesday so I decided to hire one. That turned into a nightmare as the guy on the phone that I booked it with gave me a different price to the one when I picked it up but it all got sorted eventually and I had a slightly better car than the one I booked. Minor problems really but so much hassle to sort out

I didn't get my car back until Wednesday in the end (free clean - result! and no charge as it's a lease car) and shock horror, I actually walked a few places. I live close to my little town but I usually drive there on the way to or from somewhere else, and I really don't like walking for no reason, I need a bit of a purpose but I really enjoyed it so I must do more of that. Weather permitting, obvs :rotfl::D

I've barely stopped the last 6 days though. In no particular order I've finished fitting my landing carpet, made over my ottoman, painted a wicker chair, decluttered more stuff, rearranged my craft stuff, thoroughly cleaned everywhere (even moving furniture) except the kitchen, sorted out my medicine box, put stuff in the right rooms, depersonalised shelves, washed all the sofa throws, loads of piddly little jobs, a few surveys.....doesn't sound loads but I haven't stopped. I wish I'd relaxed a bit more now though cause I'm exhausted I was hoping to get the kitchen cleaned, cupboards tidied and decluttered etc but I've ran out of time so that will have to wait until the weekend. I'm tempted to sleep downstairs so I don't mess upstairs up :rotfl::p

Even though I'm desperate to move and all that, I feel like I need a break from house stuff before I put it on the market. My bathroom floor will be done next week, then just a couple of minor jobs to do and then I'm done. The way I feel now, I might just enjoy a clean and finished house for a couple of weeks before it all starts cause once it starts, they'll be no break. Once my house sells *please please* I'll be up and down to my home town, I'll be dealing with solicitors, getting moving quotes, making lists, keeping on top of everything as well as working. When I moved from my flat to here, it was within the same town and I can still remember how stressful everything was but with the location change now and the difficulty getting time off work, I just know it's going to be horribly stressful. Exciting as well but that'll come nearer the end I expect

More decluttering, some to go to the charity shop and some for selling if I get round to it....

104. landing carpet
105. old bathroom blind
106. big heavy mirror
107. hanging shoe rack
108. letter rack
109. cat food (fussy puss)
110. cat scratchy thing - not good enough for either puss
111. cat wormer, bought in error so I'll put in the cat rescue box at the vets
112. 3 books
113. 3 storage jars
114. Christmas and other greeting cards, I've too many
115. handbag
116. A3 document carrier
117. biscuit tin
118. 2 unused photo albums
119. storage basket
120. shopping bag

I think I'm all caught up now Hope everyone is well. I'm hoping to be back tomorrow night to catch up with diaries. Over and out :)

doingitanyway

I have no idea why you don't think you have done much. You have done loads!
I agree you should have a few weeks to breathe out and relax before you put the house on the market.
The CHEFS challenge is taking off isn't it? It always makes me smile
Have a good week Orange Ena

Orange_Ena

doingitanyway wrote: »

I have no idea why you don't think you have done much. You have done loads!
I agree you should have a few weeks to breathe out and relax before you put the house on the market.
The CHEFS challenge is taking off isn't it? It always makes me smile
Have a good week Orange Ena

Haha thank you, I guess I was quite busy and that unfortunately carried on! Hence another delay

The CHEFS challenge is going well, I feel like I might actually gather together a decent amount

Hope you're well DIA x

Orange_Ena

A lovely Sunday today, made even better with a rather lovely bank holiday tomorrow

Tuesday 18th April
* £12.69 in T3sco
* £10.99 in the pet shop
* £30 on fuel
* £34.30 for a big bag of food from the vet
* 0nep0ll surveys
* VO survey

Wednesday 19th April
* NSD
* 3 PA surveys
* 0nep0ll surveys
* Opini0n Outp0st surveys

Thursday 20th April
* £5.50 for the toll road
* £4.20 in the c0-op
* 0nep0ll surveys
* 5 PA surveys
* Opini0n Outp0st surveys and £2.50 redeemed and transferred to my CHEFS account

Friday 21st April
* £4.20 in the c0-op
* £2 in Icel@nd
* £4.49 in B&m
* 0nep0ll survey
* PA survey
* Opini0n Outp0st surveys and £2.50 redeemed and transferred to my CHEFS account
* Youg0v survey

Saturday 22nd April
* £20 on fuel
* £6.76 in T3sco
* 78SB earned
* PA survey

Sunday 23rd April
* NSD
* PA survey
* Youg0v survey

Monday 24th April
* NSD
* 3 VO surveys and a £15 Am@zon voucher redeemed

Tuesday 25th April
* £18.79 in T3sco, including a bottle of prosecco for a pressie
* 0nep0ll survey
* PA survey

Wednesday 26th April
* £40 for my bathroom floor vinyl to be fitted
* 2 PA surveys
* 0nep0ll surveys
* Opini0n Outp0st survey

Thursday 27th April
* £4.10 in Sainsbobs
* £22 in Asd@ for 3 cardigans in the sale
* £3.58 in H0me Barg@ins
* £4.81 in T3sco
* PA survey
* 0nep0ll surveys
* Opini0n Outp0st survey
* Youg0v survey
* P0pulusLive survey

Friday 28th April
* £15.01 on fuel
* £4.10 in the c0-op
* £12 for a meal out
* 0nep0ll surveys
* Youg0v survey

Saturday 29th April
* £32.49 in L1dl
* £47.65 in M0rrisons
* P0pulusLive survey
* PA survey
* Opini0n Outp0st survey and £2.50 redeemed and transferred to my CHEFS account
* VO survey

Today
* NSD
* PA survey
* £20.25 requested from PA


DMIC (Daily Mortgage Interest Challenge - to earn more than £4.11 per day) - 8/30 :T


April stats

PA - £29.95....................total YTD £102.36
Youg0v - 575pts/£5.75..................total YTD £27
SB - 466SB.....................total YTD 1107SB
Pinec0ne - 0....................total YTD £6
P0pulusLive - £6..................total YTD £33
VO - £8.25..................total YTD £25.25
TCB - 0................total YTD £1.74
i-S@y - 180pts..................total YTD 465pts
Inb0x£s - 45p..................total YTD £1.80
Other income - £20...................total YTD £52.84
Roadkill - 2p..................total YTD 13p
0nep0ll - £6.35...................total YTD £34.95
Opini0n Outp0st - £15.70.......................total YTD £43.70

April total - £92.47
Year to date - £333.77


Other totals:

• Nati0nwide sweeps - 0..................total YTD 0
• FD sweeps - 0.................total YTD 0
• NSD's - 11...............total YTD 45
• Books read - 0....................total YTD 0
• DVD's watched - 0....................total YTD 0

Orange_Ena

Eeeee it's been a while and quite a lot has happened since I last posted.

I decided to apply for a new CC so I can balance transfer to get a longer 0% deal, and I went for a Barcl@ycard 32 months at 0% with a 0.6% fee. All good.

After I'd done it though, I contacted my mortgage lender to try and get an idea of what I could borrow on a new lower income when I move with having the debt I have (£2500 on a CC and around £700 outstanding on a sofa loan) and it makes a huge difference. The difference between affording to do this grand move and being stuck where I don't want to be. If I get a new job on the top of the band, with my current debt, I can only borrow a total of £58000. But if I had no debt, I could borrow £73000. I need the top amount, along with my equity, to get anywhere decent in my more expensive hometown. :eek:

So now I feel like I'm being forced to pay off my debt! It's annoying really as it's 0% and ticking along, and I've been saving instead but I suppose it's the push I need to make my cc debt reduce. As much as I want to be debt free, it's a bit of a safety blanket. Debt is all I've known since I was 18 and living in my overdraft at uni. And being in debt stops me going wild in some ways. Up until about a year ago, I was hammering the debt down, then I switched to saving money and paying the minimum to debt, and using the money to get my house finished. If I suddenly became debt free, I'm worried I'd think woohoo, I've got £500 at my disposable and fritter it away. I'm sure I wouldn't,! but being in debt panics me to not go wild. Obviously my circumstances are about to change and I'm probably going to be lucky to break even each month let alone have money to blow :eek::eek:

I've skimmed existing savings and diverted what I would have saved this month, plus reduced my H@lifax EF to zero, skimmed my main EF fund to just leave £1000 and reduced my penny challenge fund to nothing and managed to scrape together just over £1200 to pay off my CC. I've still kept some savings accounts intact as I know that I'll be in a mess if I don't have that money available.

All of this shuffling money about has totally messed up YNAB and I'm too tired / thick to work it out so once the payment clears, I'll start afresh with it. One thing is for sure, YNAB will be easier when I'm only dealing with positive amounts :rotfl:

I'm also glad I went for a low fee credit card otherwise I would have paid a lot more to transfer all my debt, only to pay a lot of it off a few days later :cool: Nevermind.

I'm hoping to get on the market very soon too, within the next 10 days preferably. Still got a bit of tidying and cleaning to do but nothing major and I am oh so ready for this :D

Anyway, all of this had been prompted by an email inviting me for a job interview :T:j Out of the jobs I applied for ages ago, it was the one I wanted, but I had given up waiting. 10 weeks it had taken them to get to that point, and then the interview was 2 days later! Good job my boss was cool about it I think it went ok but I could have kicked myself on the way home, wishing I'd said this or that. They said I probably wouldn't hear for 2-3 months :eek: but that I must chase them up. And all the time I was thinking, no, I need a delay so I can move house :rotfl::rotfl: If I get this job after a little delay, it could work out really well. If I don't get the job, then I'm no worse off but hopefully well on the way or even living in my hometown. Please interview gods, let me have the job.......but don't let me know until July........:D;)

GoingToDoIt

Whoop whoop this is all so positive! Exciting news! I know what you mean though, I feel like crying at the thought of anything causing my rdf to reduce it's such a labour of love building the pots up.
But it will all be worth it if it means you can move to Hometown. And ideal timings - get your house sold, buy a new house then start fab new job at top of band, meet new people and have amazing life...simples! Really pleased for you Ena, everything crossed til July

crazy_cat_lady

It's all go Ena - fingers firmly crossed for good news on the job front, with any delay that you want as well.
Sounds like you have a plan with the debt payments etc as well. I understand it's hard to let go of the 'security blanket' but try and look on it as a positive change and a new start.

doingitanyway

Really interesting what you say about debt having the ability to control spending. I think that might be true for me too. I fear once I am DF I will go on a massive spending spree. In fact I know I will (although hopefully spending on the right things like essential work on the house and a cooker...)

Huge well done on getting the house to the stage where it can go on the market

Exciting interview news too

Orange_Ena

GoingToDoIt wrote: »

Whoop whoop this is all so positive! Exciting news! I know what you mean though, I feel like crying at the thought of anything causing my rdf to reduce it's such a labour of love building the pots up.
But it will all be worth it if it means you can move to Hometown. And ideal timings - get your house sold, buy a new house then start fab new job at top of band, meet new people and have amazing life...simples! Really pleased for you Ena, everything crossed til July

Thanks gonna, it's all good. Haha it so is, you save a bit, try and build it up, then something happens and you need the money. Ah well, at least we had it for a bit

Oh I love that little summary, sounds brilliant

Orange_Ena

crazy_cat_lady wrote: »

It's all go Ena - fingers firmly crossed for good news on the job front, with any delay that you want as well.
Sounds like you have a plan with the debt payments etc as well. I understand it's hard to let go of the 'security blanket' but try and look on it as a positive change and a new start.

Thanks CCL, much appreciated. Gosh it is so hard to let that money go, I know it's not mine really, but it's still hard. I feel better today that I've made that big payment!