Mind change to debt thanks to MSE forums!

sassychick2014

FinanciallyUnsavvy wrote: »

I'll not shout at you.. I'm incredibly jealous!


So yes.. enjoy your new purchase and don't feel too guilty. You can probably sell your existing laptop even as spares/repair for a bit of cash too to go towards the holiday fund.

I had thought about selling the existing laptop but am going to keep it for a few months first to see if Littley uses it or if there's anything I can't do on the mac - such as the video conferencing software I need for meetings.

Thanks for not shouting at me! lol x

sassychick2014

Magsnoodle wrote: »

Evening,

At the end of the day it doesn't matter what anyone thinks - it sounds as if you have planned to pay it back so that sounds good. And you need it for your work so that is whats important.

I think you are doing brilliantly. Wish I could put £3 away a day - it will definitely make such a difference.
Have a great night xx

Thanks for the compliment. I'm trying really hard and once you get into the swing of it it's not to hard to find that bit of cash. Today I got a tenner out for food & popped the change straight into the pot so it builds up. x

sassychick2014

Hi all

So, today has been a good day. I got paid from the client that I lost so that was a bonus. I only had to do part of the month & they paid for a full month so that was brilliant.

I also got a letter regarding an old debt I'd paid off and obviously panicked when I saw that come through the door and it turns out that the company miscalculated my early repayment and so here's a cheque for £145 - thank you very much! I'm going to put £100 into the holiday pot & the other £45 into emergency fund.

I also got mystery shopping money today of £34.49 so have put £20 to holiday pot, £10 to Christmas & the remainder into the £6 a day challenge (along with the food shop change.)

I've also been invited to bid on a job so will be getting that proposal off and fingers crossed.

Now off to dig the garden, have a good evening everyone! x

sassychick2014

Morning all

So today me & Littley are feeling a bit under the weather. She has a tummy ache (again - no idea why, maybe a certain food is disagreeing with her?) & I ache like heck! Who knew removing paving slabs & digging over the ground underneath for 3 hours would hurt so much! lol Still, I now have strawberry plants growing in one patch & I'm off today to get some seeds to grow veggies in the other patch. I really hope that I can get these to grow as it's part of my attempt to stick it to the over-priced-veg-for-the-smaller-house supermarkets!

I also checked my bank statement and noticed my WTC has gone up by a few quid. I've not had any letter but assume this is because of the budget blah blah that happens each year?

Right, off to do some work then it's time to bank that cheque & buy some seeds. Have a great day everyone!! x

FinanciallyUnsavvy

Hey hun

I hope you and the littley are feeling better soon! If the little one keeps getting tummy aches, maybe you should both keep a diary of what she eats and see if there's something that keeps coinciding with the tummy ache? Like you said, it could be an intolerance to something.

Ooh, growing your own strawberries and veggies! Excellent!! Keep us informed on how they turn out I'd love to give that a go one day when I have a proper garden.

Hope you have a great day xx

Magsnoodle

Hiya sassy,

Sounds like you are doing brilliantly. Hope littley is feeling better - shame if her holidays are spoiled by tummy ache.

Think my laptop is beginning to give up the ghost too. Oh well sometimes you have to bite the bullet. I did put my change straight into the pot this week but it can be tricky if you are only taking out enough a month to get you through.... Lets see how it goes. Looking forward to opening up the sealed pot challenge on the 27th of November....

Have a great Easter holidays with the little one - sounds like the weather will be good. xxx

sassychick2014

Evening all

These last few days have been really good for relaxing and just taking in the loveliness that is my life at the moment - sometimes in amongst all this madness it's easy to forget the here and now isn't it.

As I said we dug the garden, removing slabs to create a veggie patch and on Friday I woke up as stiff as a board! My friend text to say her a*se hurt but my aches were my lower back & legs - which make sense. I have no idea what my friend was doing!!

So, we went to the local store and bought some seeds & seedlings (I think that's what you call them) and planted some lettuce, parsnips, beetroot, onions, carrots, cucumber and some coriander (to help the lettuce or something). We then planted these and Littley has been out there watering them each day. Oh! And spuds! Keep forgetting we got spuds as I think I've killed them already lol. We need to go back to the shop tomorrow though as Littley was upset that a stinking cat had decided to uproot 2 of the strawberry plants & leave a little present in their place. I went to investigate and found she had already got a spade & flung the poo over wall into neighbours garden (they have a cat so poss returning their goods!), replanted the strawberry plants and had cleaned the mess up that the cat had made. She's a good little bee when she wants to be.

With regards to my laptop. The mac came Friday and I've been fiddling around trying to migrate everything over & learn how to use it. The neighbours have found it very amusing to hear me calling Littley in from the garden to ask how to do something! Considering I train people how to use the internet & their computers it's very odd to be asking an 8 year old where my photos have gone!

And finally! Littley and I decided that even though we have money saved for our trip in 3 places (a sealed tin, the ISA & also an account with the actual travel agent) we've only been colouring in the amount we have saved at the travel agents. For those of you who may not know we have a map of Oz that we're colouring in and when it's all purple we're off. So tonight we opened the sealed tin to pay in tomorrow and found we had £88 in there so that was added. We then looked into the ISA and found we had £200 in there so that was added too. This means that we have now coloured in Western Australia, Northern Territory & have now started on South Australia. We have managed to save this extra £288 mainly from the £6 a day challenge and by doing extra bits such as Mystery Shopping & surveys. We now have a whopping, drum roll please....... £1088!!!!! My gob has never been so smacked as I cannot save money for love nor money so this is brilliant for us both. As we're now over halfway towards the costs (or a third including spends) the boost we have got to get the rest is immense.

With that in mind I'm now going to cash in some survey points so will add that to the pot too. Night everyone xx

RainbowBridgeReturns

What a wonderful update. £1,088 is phenomenal and you are still making great headway with your debt.

It sounds like you have got the balance just right. I was so pleased about the £145.00 refund. Things like that are such a boost.

Enjoy the holidays x.

sassychick2014

Hi everyone

So today has been a good day. Instead of jumping in the car as normal to go to the shop I rang a friend who we met on the way and walked. It was really lovely in the sunshine, got us walking a few miles, saved us petrol costs & got the kids together - lovely.

We then managed to walk past 3, yes 3 charity shops without going in - such a rarity it's unreal! Finished this off with cuppas at mine & putting netting on the veggies so the damn fox can't poo all over them any more. I know manure is supposed to be good for them but I'm sure they don't mean foxes!!

I paid the £88 in from pot today & already had £6 waiting to go over so that's been put onto today's £6 challenge. I haven't added the £88 obviously as that was extra.

Have a great evening all xx

sassychick2014

Afternoon everyone

Today Littley was invited to a birthday party which was for a 4 year old and I was under the impression parents had to stay, so I did. As I didn't know anyone and this was the first big party the host had done I ended up sorting most of the food, tidying, kitchen area and am now totally cream crackered!! I'd forgotten how tiring they can be and am so grateful Littley has decided that she doesn't want big parties at the moment.

Afterwards we headed off to Halfords to buy Littley a bike for her birthday. It's not actually for another month but she's got it early for several reasons. 1) the weather's lush & we wanna go for a bike ride, 2) we can cycle to school and I can get even fitter, 3) the money was already sitting there and 4) Halford's have a 50% sale on atm so she got an even better bike than if I'd have waited 4 weeks. Can't argue with that can you?

She's now aware that she's not got much birthday pot left for me to spend so has asked if she can put some of her birthday money towards it and some towards the holiday pot. She's so desperate to go to Oz! She has a cheque each year for a specific amount of Grandma so that's going towards the bike & I can get her a little something extra or a treat for her & her friend. But she's asked everyone else for money for the trip.

I applied for another job on PPH last night. I noticed that I had a lower %rate on there and so felt this was holding me back on people responding to my proposals and when I looked into it I found that an old client had put a review on there that, when dealt with, was actually an error on her part. An email to the client asking her to ask PPH to remove it worked and I have now got a higher %rate again. With this in mind I bid on another job last night & hopefully will get something from that.

I have transferred £10 from mysurvey today so should get that next week so will put that towards the holiday.

I'm debating going to my friend's at the coast for a few days this weekend. It's a 4hr round trip so will prob have an overnight aspect to it and all I usually do is pay for petrol & a round of drinks so it's not too pricey but I keep thinking I need to put the money in the pot. I'm not to sure what to do to be honest so any opinions would be grateful.

Right, I am absolutely shattered so going to check a few more things then have a nap I think. Maybe then I won't keep snapping at Littley - feel awful about it but can't seem to stop

Have a good evening everyone x

Quick update: I was invited to go for a job a month ago but missed the deadline so applied anyway. Just got an email asking me if I can do the work this month. So glad I replied, even if late. This could be an ongoing thing but on an as&when basis so fingers crossed!