My debt free wannabe diary

headoutthesand

well done

it really does give you a lift when you see that you can save money from one thing to pay off debt for another.

I have told all my friends and family that i am on a money saving power trip and have agreed that if they need to buy anything - to check with me first incase i can get it via quidco. I don't keep all the money but if it's something small i will.

I also had my youngest sons christening on sunday and asked my sisters and mum to bring food to help feed everyone. I made sure everyone knew it was a no alcohol day too which meant no-one stayd very long but all got a bite to eat at not much expense to me.

Well done - and keep up the good work.

cat4772

headoutthesand,

Congratulations on your son's DFW style christening. And yes, you're right. It is a massive lift to see that you can save money from one thing and pay it off a debt (especially great is knowing that the quality of something hasn't been compromised)!

Cat.x

cat4772

Just thought I'd post my weekly update:

Have spent a fair bit on lunches this week, £20:eek: . That's it, I'm back to taking a packed lunch everyday, no choice now as I've bought the ingredients etc in the weekly shop and I'm not going to get any money out of the bank so I can't spend what I've not got:rotfl: .

Grocery challenge: I'd set my budget at £45, but spent £50 this week:o. This did include a dozen packets of veggie quorn fillets at £1 each though. Real bill actually came to £45.52, but I always round it up and put the difference onto the Christmas shopping card (that now stands at £92.48:j)

PMS challenge is £0.00, but over the coming weeks I'll be able to add £1 every time I use a bag of quorn:D.

Change jar challenge stands at £4.75, but I'll probably not add much to that when I'm taking lunch to work each day!

Money:
House renovation: £4.5K,
(£1800 for replastering the house - I'm waiting to hear about the damp wall and how much that is likely to cost us to repair) before I have the replastering done, but at least the money is earning interest for us.
Balance (£2700) *could* be used to pay off DHs Welcome Finance loan or £1200 tiling in kitchen - floor and walls
£600 palisade metal fencing at bottom of garden (rather than £2K for a wall building)
New balance of £1800 could be used to pay off DHs credit card so he'd only owe £1900! Too many options.

Annual bills account: Currently have £550, had to pay my car tax and insurance, but next month we'll have no outgoings from that account so it should go up to £850!

Also, come September, I'll have some free time (weekends / evenings) so I'll sign up to do some more mystery shopping assignments. Might only generate enough income to have a meal out (unless that is the assignment:rotfl: ), but I do enjoy them.

Work: have made an appointment with the manager to discuss promotion, criteria and what I'd need to do to get promotion! Have decided to just submit the application and see what they say!!

cat4772

Weekly update:

Haven't spent too much on lunches this week as I've been emptying the freezer of all frozen ready meals (we have a microwave at work). Only things I've bought have been breakfast and hot chocolate for a couple of days when I started work at 7am and was working through till 6pm (but that came to £6)

Had to buy a couple of birthday cards and stamps so they'd get to Ireland. Happy Birthday to my brother in Law and Neice!!!


Grocery challenge: I'd set my budget at £45, but spent £50 again this week. I'm going to hold my hands up and say that it was entirely the vodka and coke I bought that pushed the total up (otherwise it would have been £38 on shoppping). Real bill actually came to £45.41, but I put £4.59 onto the Christmas shopping card (that now stands at £97.58:j)

PMS challenge is £1.00, because we used a bag of quorn last week I might use that £1 to buy another bag of quorn cos I know we'll use it!!

Change jar challenge stands at £4.75!

No other real news. Can't take champix -the stop smoking drug - until my period starts (cheap condoms might be prone to breaking but if we'd bothered to use them I'd have an excuse other than 'heat of the moment':rolleyes: ). I'm honestly not sure whether I feel like I could be pregnant:eek: or not.
On the could be: I'm so tired I could win an olympic gold for sleeping, bacon sandwiches smell delicious and make my mouth water (not having eaten meat for 20 years this one is a bit odd). Discomfort on going to loo (which I had with each ectopic so that one's a bit crap)
On the can't be: boobs not hurting - not even a twinge. Not having any baby dreams (I did with previous pregnancies), could just be tired cos I had to rescue the cat from the conservatory roof at 2am (never leave bedroom window open enough for cat to get out:o) and because of all the overtime I'm doing that is mentally draining.

I really don't want to be pregnant at this time - I want to be a year away from paying all unsecured debts off so that by the time a baby comes we'll be debt free and can afford childcare. I'm going to stop rambling and try to stop worrying - cos that isn't really going to make any difference.

cat4772

Good news, I'm not pregnant! I was two weeks late though and had spent £7 on a pregnancy test the day before my period came:mad:. I've learnt one thing from this - I do want a child because I was disappionted that the test was negative - and wasn't stressing too much about all the things that could be wrong (ectopic, anencephaly etc). So, a child is definitely on the books in the future!

We've spend quite a bit this weekend:
I had my hair done on Friday costing £25 - it does look good and is so easy to manage but £25 on a sodding hair cut!!! At midnight I went to the ASDA to pick up HP7 (£5), read it through the night - good to have closure for that story.

We were up and out of the house by 9am as we went to a wedding on Saturday and that ate up nearly £80:eek: (£100 if you include the gift)! I also It was great to see my family at the wedding, but sad when one uncle started to talk about my two late cousins - had to leave the room rather fast - I hadn't been back to Moorends, Thorne, Hatfield or Doncaster since the last funeral - it's hard to describe them, they were my rocks or ports in a storm, and it's always hard when I have a problem to realise that they aren't there anymore to give me a hug and tell me that things will work out for the best. I know this, but it was always reassuring to have them say it to me.

Mark, the cousin who got married, asked our cousin's husband to be best man, but they're splitting up - it's a shame but it's obvious she's not happy at the moment, so I hope she'll be happy when the dust has settled.

It felt really strange to be back in my grandparents house (even though my uncle now owns it I still feel it is my grandparents house). Oddest thing though, about seven months ago I went to see a clairvoyant who said my grandad had sent me a white feather to help me make a decision (her crystal ball had smashed and lying on top was a feather, as soon as she saw me she handed me the feather), since then I've found white feathers everywhere, one every month. Woke up yesterday and went downstairs and there on top of my bag was another white feather!!! I'm not sure what decision I'm supposed to make but I'm sure I'll have enought feathers to make a new pillow soon!!!

Anyhow, back to the real world; now that my period is here I can start taking champix (stop smoking tablets). I've taken the first one this morning and set the stop date as 11 days from now so I'll be a non smoker from 2nd August. I've got a prescription for Wayne to take to the doctors so he can start this drug regime too. Fingers crossed (with luck and lots of willpower) we'll be confirmed non-smokers by 1st October.

Anyhow, with the wedding over and done with it's back to being on the DFW road of budgets and meal plans. I'm determined that we'll be halfway there by christmas! All the spare money (from being better shoppers and managing our money well will be put into my ISA) so that I can blitz some of the debts and get them paid off a little faster, but I think this will be one penny at a time!

cat4772

thought I'd update this.

Spent £60 on Wayne's birthday including his card, pressie and meal! I'm skint now, but I'm not at all sure he appreciates it. All I ever get out of him is that he always has crap birthdays - which makes me feel really !!!!!! as I've shared 9 with him!! I'm starting to think that for our 10th wedding anniversary we should go for a separation, but it isn't what I want!

I stopped smoking - indeed I have no desire to smoke at all. It was a struggle to smoke on Wednesday as every ciggie made me feel sick! And I can't stand the smell. Side effects are 1 minging migraine (today) and nausea - but at least that should stop me from gaining too much weight!!!

Otherwise with money - we're not doing too bad. We've got £500 for our holiday in 17 days, but I should have another £600 to add to that (£300 to transfer for big one offs, £200 for two weeks pocket money and £100 from food shopping minus cat food, litter and milk). I spent £40 on a suit (trousers, skirt and jacket) and I think it's money well spent as a) I've received so many complements in them, b) I've made sure that the tops I have already look nice with the suit so I don't have to buy any and c) they fit! They're my only treat until October / November so I don't feel too guilty!

cat4772

I feel really stupid about this, but I always put my purse in the work safe whilst I'm at work. Only thing is, I've broken the safe key with half the key still in the lock!:o Can't get into the safe, let alone have access to my purse.

The emergency locksmith was CRYING with laughter about it but he can't break into the safe without a specialist barrel to replace the barrell he'll have to drill through and it will take about a week to 10 days to get one. So I think I'm going to have a No Spend Week this week and next week!:j

Thank god I filled the car up at the weekend!

cat4772

Oh well, I found out at work that I'm not entitled to the training money, but I can get something towards work based learning. Both courses I'm interested in are vocational so no money to me. Means that I have to choose one. I think I'll start at basics and do the psychology course. I can always use the academic library for help / inspiration.

Had to buy some sandals (the ones I was wearing literally broke on my feet). Spent £30 on two pairs (each pair should have been £35, but I'd never in a million years spend £35 on sandals). They do feel like my feet are in heaven when I wear them though. If they last me two or three years, then that's only really £10 - £15 a year on sandals!

My neice and nephew are over from Ireland and they've given me a message from their mum saying we HAVE to go out on 24th August when she's in Yorkshire. Damn, I know that's going to cost me a fortune.

I'll update later about Christmas and holiday!

cat4772

OK, I've felt really out of it for a week now; spent £140 on clothes on Friday (yes I they'll come in handy but I don't absolutely need them). I got something for Wayne as well. Tapping in my pin number felt GOOD! I feel moderately guilty now, but only when I think about paying it back in scenario B. I paid for Wayne's birthday present on my credit card (£230 - trip to spain next year).

I went out last night and realised that I'm not happy. My eyes have lost their sparkle and don't smile when I smile. I don't smile - there's nothing to smile about.

I got home from work this afternoon, and put the TV on and there was chat flirt & date. I don't flick like that so it must be Wayne who watched it last night. It reminded me of his affair two years ago, why if he's happy would he watch something like that on TV? Because he's not happy. I want to do a course at college but I'm worried that Wayne'll have another affair. !!!!!! am I worried? If he does it again, it's over. But I don't want it to be over - that's why! AARRGGHH!!!!

Random workings from 2am:
scenario A: don't do the course, stick together to pay everything off DFD January 2010. I'm unhappy.

Scenario B: do the course, split up, separate debts. Though initially i'd have an unsecured debt of £140, my mortgage would cripple me. Wayne would be entitled to 50% of the house and I can't afford to buy him out (even though the mortgage is in my name).

We're supposed to be going on holiday on Saturday and although I'm looking forward to the holiday I don't want to be with him.

If his drinking wasn't so excessive we'd have a better chance.

So all this depression and uncertainty makes me miserable and to feel good I spend money (thankfully not as much as £140 a day, but maybe £4 or 5 a day on utter crap that I don't need - but the kerching of the till makes me feel just a little bit better for a little bit of time).

My best friend is worried about me because I let slip a little of the utter pointlessness filling my head so every 30 minutes or so I'm having to text her to say I'm fine (otherwise she texts my brother to ask him if he's heard from me). I don't want my friends to worry about me. She'd asked about the plans for renewing our vows and I can't face that at the moment. I need to cry but I don't want to mourn the death of my marriage and relationship with Wayne. So now my brother is aware that something isn't quite right (thankfully BF is sworn to secrecy so will not tell my brother), but that's two people that look at me with their head tilted and ask in that really concerned way "is everything ok?"

And the bottom line is I have a decision to make / question to ask and I am afraid I will not like the answer.

I'm going for a walk - that always used to ease my mind. Well ease it enough to have a half decent night's sleep anyway!