Small steps to reduce a big debt!! x

LittleMissGiggles123

First of the month, most of the bills have left the account today & I have the rest of the bills in my diary ready so that I know when they are coming out. This helps me to keep track & make sure there is always enough in the bills account to pay the bills that are coming out, otherwise I see the money in there & transfer it over to savings!


I've almost reached some payout levels on some survey sites again. Only small amounts but it is good that it's adding up. I'm still waiting for my voucher code from Toluna & my cheque from Inboxpounds. I've had an email from IP though saying the cheque gets processed on 4th August, so I was expecting a delay on that, but Toluna don't really update at all other than it's being processed. I gave up on Toluna years ago because I read a lot of complaints about people not getting their vouchers & points not being reimbursed etc. I hope this doesn't happen to me because I really want that £15!


I haven't set my decluttering tasks yet for the weekend but this is usually a bit spur of the moment anyway. I know I want to declutter something, I'll just decide what tomorrow morning. I actually decluttered another basket of stuff in my bedroom on Tuesday, so I'm already on step ahead of my home list for August :T Unfortunately there was nothing in the basket worth ebaying, so no extra money gained from that one.


I hope everyone has a fun filled weekend to look forward to & I'll be popping in over the weekend to check out some of the diaries I'm subscribed to. Looking forward to reading people's updates.


x

giblet1979

Hope you have a lovely weekend too x

LittleMissGiggles123

Monday again! The weekend went so quickly.


I hope everybody enjoyed themselves this weekend. I had a lovely weekend.


Had a family night out on Friday which was lovely. We went for food & to the cinema. Saturday it rained so we stayed indoors which meant I got lots of housework done. Then Sunday we had a relaxing morning, then OH took DD's out for a walk so I had a few hours to get a bit more housework done & relax until they got home. Then later on in the evening I was able to go for a run.


I used to find it hard to motivate myself going for a run, but I know how much it benefits me so I'm finding it a lot easier to get myself out.


Surveys have been a bit slow lately. I'm almost at payout on VO but the few surveys I've had recently have been screened out of. Admittedly I've had loads of Toluna invites but was feeling a bit 'survey frazzled' this weekend so didn't accept all the invites. The one good thing about Toluna though is you can logon to the website & there are always loads of surveys to choose from, so I'll make an effort to get some done tonight. As for the other survey sites, they've also been a bit low on surveys lately but I'm hoping these will pick up this month so I can top up the Christmas funds.


I've got to check the balance of the mortgage this week. Well strictly speaking I haven't got to, but I want to.


Got a few birthdays coming up this month so unfortunately a bit of an expensive month. Then our holiday. Then when I get back from holiday I'm going to make a start on Christmas. Exciting stuff!!


Just realised I didn't get any decluttering done this weekend. I did get a lot of other things done around the house though so I won't beat myself up about that but I will aim to get something done this week.


x

LittleMissGiggles123

Hi Diary


This week is going very slowly but hasn't been a bad week really.


I've reached a payout again on one of the survey sites & also had an email today saying I'd won a £2 reward on another survey site I sometimes participate in. So I converted the payout to John Lewis voucher & have put the £2 reward on my Amazon account.


Have also sold a few more things on Amazon. It's been another one of those weird weeks where it's been quiet then in the space of 2 days I sold 4 things. I've printed the postage for these & packed one of them. Just got to pack the other one & get them to the post office.


I've not had chance to go for another run yet. I was going to go on Tuesday night but it poured down with rain so I gave it a miss. I don't mind a little bit of rain, it's actually quite refreshing, but the heavens literally opened & as I've just got over a bad cold I didn't think it would be sensible to go out in it. Can't go tonight either because we're out. I will take a walk tomorrow afternoon though as I am finishing work early so will be able to enjoy the sunshine before we have the tail end of this hurricane everyone has been banging on about.


I had an email yesterday saying the cheque from Inboxpounds has now been processed, so fingers crossed that should arrive in a week or so. I checked Toluna T&C's and it says rewards take around 6-8 weeks to process, so I have stopped panicking about that for now.


I hope everyone is having a good week. I've had a crazy few weeks in work with lots going on so I am looking forward to getting everything crossed off my list before we go on holiday!


x

LittleMissGiggles123

Last week went so slowly! And I didn't get on here much so didn't update any more.


I went for a run twice over the weekend, so very pleased with myself about that! I won't get to go again this week until Friday as we have plans all week. It's not like us, usually we are pretty quiet during the week as we try to avoid having late nights with our children, but as it's the summer holidays and it's a few special events we are making an exception.


Not much happening on the surveys front. I am slowly building up to payouts again on all of the sites. Toluna has built up very quickly, which I am happy about. I'm halfway to a reasonable payout again. I have already hit a payout level, but there are no vouchers I want in that points range so I'm building up again.


I've had my Inboxpounds cheque too so am going to pay that into the bank asap.


I've not reported much on my £1 per day pots or my Christmas shopping but they are still ticking over. The £1 per day pots are on track for August. I completed them again in July but spent the money on my OH birthday meal. With my Christmas shopping I've got a few things stashed away now for people. I have had some really great deals on some make up & toiletries and I've also had a few freebies, but as they're full size freebies rather than samples I have put them away as Christmas presents too.


I need to get back on to ebay etc too. I haven't put anything on ebay since my last few sales almost 2 weeks ago & I know I have a pile of stuff in the spare bedroom that can either go on facebook, gumtree or ebay. I think I will try gumtree & facebook first as they're no fees and cash straight in my hand so that cash can be paid straight in to the savings account. When it's ebay, I always end up spending the paypal amount or transferring it to my bank account & it gets used up on general day to day stuff so it's almost like I never had it in the first place.


I'm almost at £40 on Nectar now! I'm going to keep these for some special treats at Christmas. We're also on about £40 for Tesco, which I think we'll also keep for Christmas and maybe use if they do the double up rewards on toys etc. It really depends if we see anything we'd like to buy, but if we don't we can always use the vouchers for some small gifts like the statutory Christmas chocolate & biscuit tins :rotfl:


I hope everyone is having a lovely week & not getting caught in all the sudden downpours we keep having!


x

WhiteSnowdrop

You are doing so well with the surveys. I am tempted but need to read up on the tax stuff, I've got it into my head you need to declare it?
I'm about to start christmas shopping, I always use up vouchers too, mainly nectar and boots. It's quite satisfying using up free money!

WS

LittleMissGiggles123

Yes I'm pretty sure you do. I've kept a spreadsheet with everything on so I can give it to my husbands accountant at the end of the year.

It is definitely satisfying using up the 'free money' with the points cards. Even though it's not huge amounts, it still feels like I'm getting something back from these companies that make huge profits! :rotfl:

LittleMissGiggles123

Another day, another payout limit hit - yippee! Only thing now to do is decide what voucher to redeem. Oh & I got my Toluna voucher too so that's been redeemed for a £10 M&S voucher and a £5 Amazon voucher. I was going to get a £15 M&S voucher but the flexecode vouchers don't come in £15 increments, only £10 & £5 but they also didn't have any £5 M&S vouchers so I couldn't even work it that way. Never mind, the Amazon total is creeping up again & that will be a massive boost for Christmas shopping.


I've also just signed up to a survey on one of the sites & at the end of it I get £4. Doesn't seem much in the grand scheme of things but for hardly any effort it will mean I hit the payout limit again so can redeem another voucher.


Money is tight this month with holiday! All the bills are covered but there just isn't much spare cash so unfortunately we won't make a mortgage overpayment this month. However, I am confident that next month we'll be able to make a bigger overpayment because we're on holiday for 3 weeks & already have our spending money, so what we would normally spend on groceries at home will now just be sitting in our account waiting for us to come back from holiday.


Has anybody seen that ebay fees have now gone up? It won't really affect the things that I usually sell on ebay, but it sounds like it will cause higher fees for a lot of business sellers & high value products that people are trying to sell. You would think they make enough money as it is with the already high ebay fees & paypal fees on top, plus the fees are now calculated on your postage charge too which I think is very unfair! I am definitely going to use ebay as a last resort now & will try to use more local sites to get rid of my unwanted treasures.


I need to take a look at the tasks I set myself for this month as I am pretty sure I wont achieve everything I wanted. On the plus, I am finally getting my hair cut tonight.


x

LittleMissGiggles123

So this was the list.


Financial
Save £100 (separate to holiday spending money) - no chance, will have to save double next month
Have 4 NSD's - I have actually managed to achieve 2 so far.
Reach some payout levels again (this might be difficult because surveys seem to have slowed down at the moment) - Done this on a few.
Mortgage overpayment & check balance of mortgage at the moment - won't make the overpayment this month. Will ring to check the balance next week.

Home
Have a baking day - haven't done yet but will probably do this next week as I want to use up the eggs I've got
Set some small decluttering tasks each weekend to complete - not done. Have done bits of decluttering but not set specific tasks. Away this weekend too so won't do any until next weekend.
Ebay a few more items - will avoid ebay & try gumtree and facebook first.

Myself
4 runs, 4 walks - done 2 runs so far
Haircut - tonight!

Holiday prep
Check we have all toiletries & pack these away so they don't get used - got the list ready to shop
Start packing some clothes ready - started
Cancel milk delivery at end of month so nothing gets delivered while we're away - need to do this
Eat as much food out of the house as we can so nothing is left in the fridge or has to be thrown away - oh I'm trying my hardest!

New school term prep - Not done any of this list so will sort next week. DD1 has seen what bag she wants though so makes that choice a bit easier for me.
Order uniform jumpers/cardigans
Get new trousers, dresses, skirts, school shirts
Get new school shoes & PE kits
Get new school bags


x

LittleMissGiggles123

Wow I've not been on here for so long! We were on holiday for a few weeks though & have just been getting back in to the swing of things now.


Things are looking good with the vouchers etc. Am going to update my totals now & then make a to do list.


x