Fighting to be Frugal

Silly_Spender

And oh my, what was with Howard leaving GBBO! I thought it would have been Glenn for sure after that show stopper challenge fail. Glad Glenn is still in though, I found Howard to be such a worrier! My favourites are definitely Ruby and Christine!

wegle

I really liked Howard in a sort of cute dithery way! I thought Glenn was gonna go but he's the one I'm supporting really as he only lives about 10 miles from me! I don't think he really deserves to win but I like that he's more of the sort of normal hobby baker like me.

I'm not sure who should win overall though. I did really like Kimberley at first but she's started to get on my nerves a bit. She's very good though. I actually think Ruby has the most raw talent and natural baking instinct so maybe she should win. They're all brilliant though!

Silly_Spender

Well up nice and early for a day off and lots to do today.

I get what you mean about Kimberley wegle, she's getting on my nerves too! A lot of people seem to be saying Ruby is fake though, and she knows how good she is really, but I think she's genuinely humble about it.

Got quite a lot of cards to post out that were sold yesterday (nearly £75 in the paypal account now and another £70 on bids on items ending today!! :O) and have also listed some of my handcrafted bracelets to sell. I've put the bracelets as a Buy It Now multiple quantity listing though as I have a set price for them and have quite a few of each colour of the style I'm trying out.

Can you post links on here to eBay? Would really like some opinions on whether I'm charging far too much for them, everyone here that I ask is quite biased and tell me they are worth it but I would like a completely unbiased opinion

Also going to be costing up custom printed pillow boxes, business cards that have gemstone descriptions on, and engraved sterling silver jewellery tags that have my logo on them. I have all the places in mind for these things and I think with all of it, my jewellery would be sold as a complete 'package' as opposed to a bracelet on it's own. Might be more appealing to buy as a gift then

The After Eight fudge went crap by the way. I must have needed to put another 100-150g of dark chocolate in as opposed to just the 340g of After Eights because there was way too much mint cream to chocolate ratio. After being in the fridge and not setting, and then the freezer, and taking ages to even start going hard, it's now in two decent sized jars and will be labelled "Mint Chocolate Spread". Although it tastes gorgeous, it's not fudge.

Going to try again but this time, I'm going to follow the standard dark chocolate fudge recipe, add a teaspoon of peppermint flavouring, and at the end before putting the mixture into the cake tin, mix in a bag of Mini Matchmakers or Aero Bubbles.

Silly_Spender

Well just posted the 9 lots of cards that sold over the last day or so, so eBay is now up to date. Was going to pay for the 9 stamps and a few microwave sub rolls (£2.78 for them both, not TOO bad I guess) with part cash part card but if you spend under £5 on the card there's like a 25p or 50p charge. So I put it all on the card instead and have put the £5 note I had in the sealed money tin.

I had said I wasn't going to put notes in but I think I might have been tempted to get some chocolate or pop with it later on, so now I can't!

More bids on more auctions, looks like it's going to be a good day again for sales! Going to list more handcrafted jewellery now I think with a cooking programme or two lined up on the iPad

Rounded my bank balance down as well and put £6.82 into the Argos fund. Overdraft fund is being neglected a little but I would like to smash the Argos completely out the way as quick as possible, and then go at the Overdraft with guns ablazing!

Silly_Spender

Just took £50 from Paypal and put it in the Argos fund! Not going to clear the paypal in case there's a problem with one or two of the buyers and I end up having to refund so kept 20 quid in there. Waiting on another 70 to be paid in from sales too

Can't wait to cross Argos off completely and really get to work on the Overdraft!!

HOK3Y

Oh wow!! You're over 70% on Argos!! That's awesome, SS!! :T

scottishspendaholic

You're doing brilliantly, well done!

A wee tip on eBay, I sell regularly on there & HATE getting hit with a big bill for selling fees 4-6 weeks after sale. What I do straight away before withdrawing anything, is pay my eBay selling fees + a few ££ extra so I'm in credit. I do this once I've sold something or a few auctions are ending. You can find your up-to-date balance in 'Account' in my eBay & pay a one-off payment via Paypal. I find this keeps me on track & I know what's actual profit.

I've just made rocky road & coffee & walnut cake & am going to make custard creams before bed - all for the coffee morning tomorrow, phew!

Xxx

Silly_Spender

Thanks! Feel like I'm getting somewhere with it, just can't wait to be rid of Argos and be working on the overdraft now.

I did pay off the ebay fees before I transferred any cash to my bank, was something like £25 in fees! Quite a lot but been more than worth it considering profit so far and potential profit if my jewellery was to sell

Could just eat some coffee and walnut cake! Mmmm, bet it'll all go down a storm in the morning! X

wegle

I do the same, pay the ebay fees myself before I withdraw the cash. I've been stung in the past when I've forgotten!

Great going on the Argos card SS. Barring your Student Grant debt you will be shot of everything else so quickly if you keep up this pace! Are you able to make overpayments on the Student Grant once you've cleared the OD?

Silly_Spender

Yeah I really want to avoid forgetting about the fees because if it comes about as an unexpected expense it'll really annoy me!

Can make overpayments on the student grant yeah wegle and really cannot wait to be shot of everything!

Will do a proper update later but as a quick overview of the last few days:

Good:
- more sales on ebay!
- more money in the tin!
- massive discounts on deleted alcohol at work, so got about 80-90 quids worth for about £30 after my staff discount as well!
- been with the OH 3 years tomorrow! Going to Manchester for our 'anniversary'
- got more Christmas shopping done today
- got an absolutely gorgeous gilet from Zara as a present from the OH, then turned into a bad point

Bad:
- quite a few naughty spends, on unnecessary things, like the aforementioned alcohol
- spent £20 on a buffet meal in Liverpool on Sunday, and I think I'm put off buffets now, not because it was in any way different to ones I've had before, but will go into that later
- after half an hour wearing it, managed to snag said absolutely gorgeous gilet, very tiny, very small hole, but as I know it's there, it's gonna get to me. Hopefully we can exchange it for another in Manchester tomorrow. Although this feels like a slight deceit as OH is gonna say it was already there, I really hope they buy it. I love it.

Have put £33.89 into the argos fund, as well as £18.50 into the sealed money pot!

Oh and yesterday was an NSD! So I didn't make the extra target of 11 but I got 9 and my original target was 8. I'm going to set Octobers target to 15! I did start almost halfway through the month this month so raising the figure