Quidsy debt free diary

quidsy

so stuck at home today.

My foot after the op is not too bad but it can't get wet & as it looks like it is going to chuck down any minute it is best to stay in. Also I have managed to get an eye infection so I have one very red, weepy, swollen eye & one slightly irritated eye, I look fab !

I have antibiotic eye drops that cost £4.50 yesterday on top of the £4 spent on regular drops. They do seem to be working but spend last week was out of control.

I booked 2 Sunday cinema tickets for me & the boy for £2 & apart from a crematorium visit to scatter my nans ashes plan on a low spend day tomorrow.

My mission next week is to get my lunch costs to under a tenner. I will report daily on my progress.

A bit of good news though, I have a 2nd sky box in my bedroom, the basic model, no recording, fast forward, rewind or pause options. The box has been replaced yet is still on the blink so the engineer is a really nice guy & after me calling him a couple of times he has managed to get me an upgraded sky+ box for free.

dawnybabes

I buy my sons hayfever meds on line - lots of sites think last batch where from chemist direct and I bought 12 months of certrazine (Zirtek) for about £3. Saves a fortune over the season.

Hope the day goes well.

quidsy

Well it's been a while.

Spending has been ok, not great but I have not created any debt in the last 2 weeks. Budget went to pot though for reason I will explain;

I had my foot op & it is still sore but 2 days after the op I got viral conjunctivitis & my eyes have only just recovered from the redness, weeping, green puss & general pain. As I am self employed I couldn't take any time off work so struggled through with limited vision & continually weeping infected eyes. Fun, not!

So now is a new week. I have a week off soon so this month will be a low pay back. Missing a weeks work leaves a big dent in my incoming money but a week in Cornwall with the fam is just what I need right now.

I did manage to pay £400 of my remaining CC, leaving a balance of around £4,800 but the car is due an MOT & I have to pay childcare this month as the summer hols will start end of next week, meaning apart from the cc & my loan I can't overpay anything this month.

I may be getting an additional £1k at some time this month (inheritance) or next, which is earmarked for cc overpayment but as I don't have an exact date I haven't budgeted for it yet.

Apart from that, this is a new month & I really hope to stay on track for the whole of it, I managed 3 weeks last month till the op & eye infection sent me off the rails, fingers crossed this month is better controlled.

Hope all the DFW are doing better than I have been.

quidsy

Come back from holiday, budget out the window but as I have managed to overpay a bit on cc I don't feel too bad about it. Reschuffled the DF spreadsheet & according to my quite sensible (revised) plan, I should not only be DF by March 2014 I will also have most of the tax bill for this year saved by that point too. This is great news as I am constantly playing catch up with the tax man & am always a year behind, meaning that I can never put away the tax for the actual month I am in.

My mission for next year is to meet my March 2014 deadline for DFW & then put at least 12k away by Christmas.

As I am currently pumping 1500-2000k towards debts & taxman this is certainly doable.

It will be lovely for my sig to say Debt free since March 2014 & now in savings mode.

I just have to stay on track

quidsy

Oh em gee, I don't want to talk too soon or jinx myself but I "may" be DF in the next couple of weeks. I have a parcel of land that has been for sale for 5 years & someone might, finally, be interested.

Keeping all my fingers & toes crossed. eek!

quidsy

Feeling v. Martin Lewis atm.

Saw a suppliment for Argos that listed the Fitbit One as 49.99, as I know these retail at over 75.00 I hot footed it to my local Argos where they took my money then tried to give me a different product.

At the time of sale the girl had questioned the price as the till still said 79.99, I showed her the suppliment which clearly had 49.99 next to a picture & text of Fibit ONE, so she rang it through as 49.99, took my money but put the number of a different product on the receipt.

As I had a child with me at the time distracting me I didn't notice this bit of sneakiness until I got to the collection area where I was presented with the cheaper item. I of course refused it & said that isn't what I asked.

The duty manager went away with my suppliment & it turns out that the suppliment was mis printed but the Duty manager (illegally) refused point blank to give it to me for 49.99, even though I had paid for it & was not told that I couldn't have it at point of sale, so I took the customer service number, got a refund & next day called.

After a very long discussion with a helpful girl on the phone, where she called me back several times (I invited her to look at security cameras where she would clearly see that there was no discussion at the till after I handed over the suppliment & paid for it 49.99), she called me back to say I could have it at 64.99, nope I said, I want it at 49.99, how about 59.99 , lowest she can go, now I want this as a gift & after the first call where she had insultingly offered me a 5 pound voucher as a "good will" gesture, which I told her I didn't want, I agreed to 59.99. The item was duly put on hold & I was given a reservation number.

After work, I go to the store & the reservation they made for me is still at 79.99!!! Off to the till to speak to a very nice young lady who looks at the 'puter & states that there is nothing on it about getting it for 59.99. Me, by this point, is fuming, so she gets a full run down of the previous day 7 that days telephone coversations & I think inorder to get rid of me gives me it for 59.99 plus a 5 pound gift voucher.

Happy as.

Afaik they have to tell you at point of sale or else honoour the advertised price but as I couldn't prove the conversation at the till where I confirmed what I wanted & that it was 49.99 in the paper in my hand & that the girl at the till had rung up the wrong item without telling me & as the duty manager at the time was being such a !!!!!!, I took the 59.99 good will gesture but am happy as with another 5 pound off.

Never give up.

quidsy

So...still not heard much on the land sale front, had an email saying still waiting from the buyer so still not holding breath on that one.

Paid another 1k off the only CC I have now (yay me) so balance of that is now down to around 3,800, not checked on line to be 100% accurate but it's all good with me.

Doing a boot fare this weekend to make a bit of extra cash & plan on having another big go through to see what else can be sold or cleared out.

Apart from that not much else to report, just boring mse stuff.

quidsy

Been super slack on updating this so let's see where I am at...

Budget is kind of on track, may have to push it back to May 2014 but will see.

This is down to me wanting to save 500 a month from November as a slush fund for emergencies. I know this goes against the whole pay off debt first but by December my only one will be a zero interest anyway so if it means pushing it back by 2 months to have some security in case of job loss etc then I am willing to do it.

No news on the land sale front, have decided to go hard !!! on the potential buyer, he has had 5 years to stump up for it, he either can afford it or not but if he can't get the money then it is going on the market. I want my money, he is standing between me & Debt freedom.

Budgeting wise: Well, not great, tend to over run on everything so have started withdrawing the food & spend money each week & using an envelope to keep track, seems to be working much better, just have to stay off the internet shops!!!!

What else? Home front is fine, off on our hols in 5 weeks, son is back at school & seems to have transitioned fine, I doubt he even realises he has a different teacher! Hubby has to have another op but has decided to push it back until after our holiday, sensible really, he doesn't want to be incapacitated whilst visiting his home land. That's all I think, boring, steady life as usual.

quidsy

Blimey, last update nearly 2 months ago.

Well here goes:

Debt has increased, had to utilise the cc to pay for some parts of the holiday, necessary evil as visiting family but not as bad as it could have been, we stuck to our spending money budget but just didn't have enough to cover hotels too so...

Also tax bill came in 2k over estimation (insert sad face here!) so here is the revised outlook;

0% loan = 6700
16.9% CC = 5200
0% Taxman = 8200

Total = 20,100

Still on track to be DF by May 2014, sooner if this guy stumps up for my land, but I am not counting on that so another 7 months of this & I hope to be free.

There are no more holidays, day off, trips or anything else planned until this is done. I am at the last leg & need to end this.

quidsy

Well haven't I been a little slacker?

New Year, new resolve.

Just over 2k down on the debt total since last update so that is a good move forward but 2014 is the year I become DFF (debt free forever)

I think I will use this diary to track everything.

Budgets
Debt repayment
Savings (I can dream right? )
And to keep a record of any extra spends/windfalls

Happy 2014 everyone.