Fed up of being the family's Money Muppet

scotdebs

Hi FE anything you can sell on eBay to raise some extra ££ to help get through the rest of the month? Also make a start using cash back sites for the stuff you would buy anyway and the free cash back insurqnce searches etc, it doesn't seem much at the time but soon adds up - I have £37 in my PayPal account and over £40 in my topcashback one I'm trying to save them till Xmas ......

FalseEconomist

How funny, was just coming on to post that I've just had two eBay listings end and made 15 pounds- which I'm pleased about. Little amounts like that really help at the end of the month. I do have some more stuff i can sell but I think I might wait a bit- they are slinky black skirts/dresses etc and I think they'll do better in the Christmas party season run up

FalseEconomist

Also time for insurance renewal and even though my renewal was acceptable to me I felt able to ring up and bargain my excesses down from 550 to 200 so am happy about that. Also gave Dir*ct L*ne a ring but the cheapest they quoted me was 400 more!!!! Thanks but no thanks DL, your
Little red phone can beep off happily into the sunset. Feeling ok today- got a chicken casserole in the slow cooker and washing on the line. Am too scared to do any baking though- yesterday I made a banana loaf- it was delicious! I ate about 90% of it. I am such a pie-eater!!!

Would love to take kids to park today, but after a two hour battle of wills about who was putting DS's pants on (am trying to train him to dress himself) the baby had fallen asleep. Now it's lunchtime. Hmmmm, maybe will actually get out of the house this afternoon. Will have to for milk anyway, using over 4 pints a day at the moment and we don't even eat cereal much! Would love to get it delivered but its nearly twice as expensive.

Great. Ds has just come back into the room. He's taken all his clothes off and is wearing his dressing gown. If there is one thing this family lacks it's dynamism.

FalseEconomist

And already PayPal have helped themselves to 66p of my first transaction. Seriously, with PayPal fees as well as eBay fees, I'm not sure selling this way is worth it. Might stick to Facebook groups.

MrsSmith2013

FalseEconomist wrote: »

And already PayPal have helped themselves to 66p of my first transaction. Seriously, with PayPal fees as well as eBay fees, I'm not sure selling this way is worth it. Might stick to Facebook groups.

Hi FE, I am the exact same, the fee's and the hassle make it a bit of a pain for me. I've been trying the selling board at work, and fb pages. I also sold a few bits on Gumtree so that might be worth a try for you too. There's also a for sale bit on NetMums if you're on there - I'm on them all!

I hear what you're saying about if you're concentrating on fitness and health, other things take a back seat, I am the exact same. Recently I've been managing to get stuck into the housework, but am eating like a pig. I can only concentrate on one thing at a time too!!

Happy selling!
Mrs S x

FalseEconomist

Feeling ok about money today- got paid today (only my weekly earnings which this week were only 123) so paid the babysitter what I owed and have also made sure the rent account was topped up
To where it needs to be for the first of the month and have also squirrelled away the 40 odd quid we'll need for dd bills before the 4th- so rest + eBay earnings was left for food and petrol- not too bad I thought then OH rang and said, 'is it ok if I pay Dan the 20 quid we owe him for the car lights?'. This is the first I've heard about this. Of course I've had to say yes. I'm a bit annoyed as yesterday Mr F was making me feel melodramatic for not wanting to drive anywhere because of the price of petrol etc, saying we had plenty to see us through the rest of the month. I soon put him straight, and it winds me up that when I was explaining to him what we still needed to pay he didn't mention this 20 quid once!

So anyway, on to eBay to list one of my dresses. Now this dress is a bit of a guilty secret, as I bought it this month!!! It was from a charity shop
And is pretty and in my size and more importantly brand new with tags, showing an original price of 55. I bought it for 12 so not a huge purchase, but I'm hoping to sell it for around 20 which will not only help out for the rest of the week but will assuage my guilt. I shouldn't have bought it. Hope it does well!! So in writing this I can see I'm as guilty as Mr F for making quiet purchases, and at least his was to get the car fixed! Mea culpa....

scotdebs

good luck with the dress on ebay......dont worry I wont say a word:shhh:

FalseEconomist

Hrumph. Well dress didn't sell- which left us in slightly precarious position til Wednesday (payday). Bills all covered but nothing left for petrol and as my car is on red and I have a night shift 30 miles away tomo night was slightly concerned. So have done something I'm sure MSE will not approve of.....I have a credit card (well a few) on zero balance so I have phoned up and transferred 35 into my bank account. Now before everyone starts shouting about cash fees and interest, there was no fee for this transaction and as I will immediately pay 35 off on Wednesday I don't think this will be a problem..... Obviously long term it means something has gone a bit wrong with the budget but I know what this is- too many treats and trips this month. I think this month has taught me an invaluable lesson- although I have been so much more careful, there have still been times when I/we have treated ourselves a bit, as it feels like the odd ten pounds here and there won't matter and we'll make it through to the end of the month somehow. Well clearly not, when all bills and repayments are coming out of available cash rather than credit cards!!!! That odd tenner would have been extremely helpful just now!

Lesson learned!! In a way (justification coming up) it's not so bad as actually Thursday is our main payday (5th of every month) and Wednesdays money still belongs to August's budget- but still- I'm not proud of myself, doesn't feel too good......

FalseEconomist

On plus side, have used lovetoshop vouchers not only for dd birthday present but those of a Friends son and my nephew too- so no presents need to be bought from septembers budget- hooray!!

FalseEconomist

Hooray! It's September! I love this month- always have done, month of fresh starts and new academic diaries and new shoes and crisp mornings and Christmas on the way. Despite it being the month I got married in and the birthday if my son AND the month Mr F and I got together I have always, and continue to dislike August. And it's over!!

Pay days not til middle of next week though- and night shift tonight, so a bit to get through til we're home and dry.

I must write out all the thank you cards for Ds birthday presents- being back to school means I can give them to people. Hmmmm, there's about 30 to do- might see if the pound shop have any cheap notelets and envelopes.