Paying the car tax via EBay, and other shenanigans.

mfmaybe

Evening. It's the end of another NSD here, I think I'm on 4 out of the last 5.

Had a bit of a wobble earlier today when a fantastic opportunity came my way and I had to turn it down for financial reasons. Definitely not something I could stretch to in the short term, but it made me cross. Initially I was very downheartened but I am trying to focus on positives. I'm already taking steps and that's all I can do.

So positives. I remembered I had a Starbucks card with £4.50 on it so I can get a contraband latte when I am at a client event on Wednesday. I have £150 of nectar points and £218 on my credit card (which I have to take as vouchers). I have 2 tiny bids on eBay stuff. And my budget is really helping me keep focus. :T

The bigger stuff I will worry about another day.

roxy7699

Wow to your nectar points, I felt good with £25.

mfmaybe

We've been collecting for years and only spent £10 worth! I'm not even sure what I'm saving them for.

roxy7699

Lol, I understand you can get double value when you spend on deals, I'm just using to reduce my food bill and putting the equivalent towards bills.

mfmaybe

I've realised we could spend the nectar points on easyJ which might appease the OH. He's desperate to go skiing, I've said no as it's not in budget. But we might have the opportunity of free accommodation so if I could get the flights at a much reduced price too, then lift passes would be our only significant outlay. It would be self catering, and we buy food each week anyway so no incremental. But it is still money to spend that takes away from my debt free aim, or more things I need to sell on fleabay. Depends how persuasive he is...

It's still 2 weeks to pay day, and only 3 DDs to come out. I don't think I realised everything was done by half way through the month. I'm not sure how yet, but this may prove helpful information.

From what I can see, I'm on track to be £100 better off in my account than I expected. This doesn't sound like much, but because of the fact I put everything on cards and pay in full, there is an "up to 56 day" lag on seeing the benefit of lower spending. I guess in a way I under declared my debt in the first instance, as I always consider the "live" balance as already accounted for. However I am looking 2 months out and seeing much reduced balances on the daily-use card, so my control is having an affect, I just can't see it yet! And I included these catch up payments in my forecast so it's all under control. I just need to make sure I continue to be very strict with the food budget, make my own lunches, stay away from coffee unless homemade, and try to limit fuel useage. Easy

roxy7699

Easy as pie - your doing well.

mfmaybe

Just switched electricity supplier. Small saving on the bill I hope, fixed for a year, and looks like £23 cash back too

mfmaybe

Evening :hello:

I am annoyed, as had to spend money today! But in other ways it is ok as it was unavoidable spend. Train fare can be claimed back on expenses, Starbucks was paid for with a balance on my app, so the only true expense was lunch. I thought this might be provided by the event I was at but it wasn't, so had to pay. Still, I would normally be in the office on a Wednesday, with around £6 of fuel costs, so because I was elsewhere today and by train, I didn't "spend" the fuel. Net net it was a cheaper Wednesday than normal

However I have discovered a couple of DDs that were higher than expected, so payday projection is now £22 worse than I thought. To counter that, I have another 3 things on fleabay and current bids on all items stands at....<drumroll please>..... £6 :rotfl:. Ok so this may take a while! I have two relatively expensive things listed, the rest are all quite small; and many of them have 4 or more days to run, so not panicking quite yet. At least most of them were listed for free, with only one charge so far, exempting final value fees.

mfmaybe

Quick one today. Didn't spend money as such, but paid the vets bill so that kind of counts. Gas fill paid for too it that was out of joint account. 2 fleabay items sold, should be a profit of a tenner or so. Will post those on Saturday. Lunch ready for tomorrow so hoping for a NSD.

mfmaybe

A few days since I posted. Friday was almost a NSD but on the way home I bought a bag of horse feed. Was going to run out on Saturday and it would have meant a 30 minute round trip, whereas I was driving past on Friday anyway. SO didn't get a NSD but it was a good decision!

Yesterday was a busy day, got some DIY done (had all the stuff I needed) and got my 2 sold fleabay items posted. So spent money but it was an investment

However had a vehicle malfunction last night that's going to be expensive. Isn't that always the way? Trying hard not to let it get me down.

Today I did the shopping and put fuel in the car (not the broken vehicle!) so definitely spent, but managed to only spend £25 at MrS, including a litter tray! However, have really been running our frozen supplies down so I doubt it can continue.

Sold another thing on fleabay tonight for a wee bit more than I was expecting. 2 items didn't sell though so trying to decide about relisting as I'd used a free listing originally.

Lunch ready for tomorrow. Meals planned. Only 9 days to payday :cool: