New 2014 Diary & New Found Motivation

New_me_2014

I'm another one that's loves a list! I always feel I've accomplished something when I cross something off!

MrsSmith2013

Hi All,

I just wrote a big long entry and then pressed the back key by mistake - arrrgghhh!!

So, here goes, again! I have not managed to ebay yet, but have posted a few things for sale on the noticeboards at work. Nothing has sold yet, so definately need to get things on ebay.

Need to do a food shop today, so am off to write a shopping list and a menu after I finish up on here. Heading to Lidl and maybe Asda if there's anything I can't get.

We're still waiting for a reply to our PPI Claims from TSB, I think the date they gave was 28th October so am not really expecting to hear before then. I need to send a claim off to Vanquis as I had a big credit card with them a long time ago and I suspect that I would have had PPI.

I need to call vodaphone today as I tried to switch my old number to my new sim-only deal online last night and it doesn't seem to have worked. Will do that before I head to the shops.

Apart from that I think thats all.... oh, I have paid off £9 from the debt to round down an account to £490 so once thats paid it will only be the 2 credit cards left - although they're the big ones!

Post again later,
Mrs S x

£43 of £888 for October (4%)

MrsSmith2013

Quick diary update to keep the motivation up! I have just paid £7 off the debt to make what I've paid a round £50. I like round numnbers, don't know why!

Not a lot to report, struggling to think of other ways to up the income to be honest. I STILL need to ebey, think I will set myself a daily target of 10 items per day to kick start my ebaying.

Went to Asda yesterday for a few bits and bought some vitamins at 3 for £10, which meant I saved around £8. When I was leaving I thought my total was a bit high, so checked my receipt and the discount hadn't gone through. Went to customers services who refunded it and gave me a £2 gift card for overcharging so that was nice.

Off to tackle a mountain of ironing today as I'm working tomorrow and the ironing pile is starting to take over the house!

Mrs S x

£50 of £888 for October (5.6%)

MrsSmith2013

Hi Diary!

Just a quick update. Had a good weekend and managed to list 47 items on ebay - woo hoo!! Three have bids already so glad about that.

Also going to do a car boot at the weekend, weather permitting. Have loads of stuff to get rid of so will hopefully get some space cleared out and make some pennies in the meantime.

Need to do a new SOA to figure out how much spare we have as there have been a few changes since the last one, but I'm working all week so may look into that at the weekend.

Busy busy! Hope everyone is getting on well with the debt busting.

Mrs S x

MrsSmith2013

Have been trying to scrape by this month, for some reason even with no childcare costs I have still struggled - I am so rubbish!

However, I've been following up on bits and pieces and have contacted the student loan company regarding my refund. They received my payslips etc on 3rd October and I should receive a refund by 31st October as they take up to 28 days to process.

I don't think this will be much more than £100 or so but its better in my pocket than theirs! Hopefully the payroll dept have received notification to stop taking deductions from my pay as this will give me £88 per month more which is always good!

Got 3 bids on my items on ebay, not a massive amount but a start. Will definately try and fit in a car boot sale this month at some point, good to get a declutter before Christmas.

Going to go and do a plan of what I will do with my October wages and where they need to go. Hopefully I can reach my £888 for October and start to make a big dent in this debt!!

Back Soon!
Mrs S x

crunch_time

Wow - well done on the 47 items! If they all sell that's nearly £47!! excellent! Its amazing what people buy! I put something on there last week which nearly got put in the charity shop pile as its so random so I just hoped id make 99p from it and it went for £13.50!! Now off to post it!!


£88 a month on immediate debt is so worth it. I don't even want to think about my student loan - its about £17k after 2 stints at uni and I currently don't earn enough to pay any of it off. Blessing in disguise??? It accrues interest at about £100 a year!! Ha ha! Will forget about that one for a while.


Keep going - doing well!


Crunchy xx

MrsSmith2013

Hi Crunchy, thanks for the reply!

I am hoping that most of them sell, but still only 3 with bids so far!! They end tomorrow so maybe there will a last minute flurry of bids. Fingers crossed.

I wish it was only £88 a month, its unfortunately £888 I have just been planning, as I do like a plan, and I think the next two months will be tough to get the £888 but it will get easier. I've planned right up to March so on paper it looks like I am in control, its just transferring that into reality!

My planned / affordable payments are as follows:

from October pay: £200
from November pay: £200
from December pay: £400
from January pay: £550
from February pay: £410
from March pay: £650

I know I will have to make up the difference to try and get this as close to £888 as possible, which is going to be hard between now and the end of the year, with christmas coming up. I have budgeted £400 for christmas and will try my best not to go over that - hard with kids, especially as I feel this might be the last year DD will "believe".

Anyway, going to try and keep motivation up, and see how I get on.

I have a few things that wil help, like a twice yearly bonus that come out in Jan, and an annual one that comes in March, so they should be easy to smash the £888. Maybe if they're a bit more, they will compensate for the months that I haven't quite made it.

Anyway, going to throw everything I can at this and see how we get on.

Hopefully I'll be able to start a new diary on 1st January 2015 and that will be my last one!! :T

Chat to you all soon I hope!
Mrs S x

crunch_time

Wow what a plan!! A really good idea to have minimum amounts and then see if you can top them! I cant wait to be in the situation to do that - hopefully we will have moved by the new year so I can start a new 2015 diary with new targets!


well done and keep it up!!!
Crunchy xx

MrsSmith2013

Its payday - whoop whoop! :j

Great that its payday, not so great that most of it has already been split between things that needed paying! Such is life at the moment, hopefully not for much longer.

Will update my total paid for October at the bottom of this post, hopefully getting closer to the £888 although am pretty sure I won't meet it.

Was pleasantly surprised by my pay this month, its gone up more than I anticipated, which is great. I am hoping it will make it easier to meet the £888 each month, should be doable, its around £1900 per month, so if you take of £888 for the debts, £650 for house bills etc and £500 for the car I'm only around £100 short so should be able to make that up with ebay, quidco, etc etc.

The car isn't actually £500 per month, but I am hoping to put away extra so that I can take a break from car repayments while we apply for a mortgage so hopefully the finance amount isn't taken off our monthly income - if that makes sense!

Waiting for my student loan refund, which should be in the bank by 31st October, and hubby and I are still both waiting to hear back from the TSB in regards to PPI Claims, his date to hear back is 28th and mine is 30th, so fingers crossed we get something back.

Anyway, off to check my ebay items this week, I sold 13 last week so made about £15 after postage, and have another 37 listings active just now, 2 with bids. Need to keep this momentum up - feeling really motivated just now.

£517 of £888 for October (58.2%)

New_me_2014

Good luck with the eBay listings.
Also what a fab amount you have managed to pay off in October so far. Big pat on the back to you.