Small steps to reduce a big debt!! x

LittleMissGiggles123

Well I contacted SP & they said that I can't have a refund of the credit balance because they estimate that my usage is going to increase so are actually putting our DD up by a massive £20 per month!! I told them this is completely wrong & not in line with the current usage, plus the fact we have solar panels & are out of the house all day 5 days a week, so there is no way our utility bills should be that high. Our credit balance proves this for god sake! Unfortunately the person I spoke to didn't get this logic & said I could have the refund if I really wanted it but they would still be putting my DD up. Gggggrrrrr!!


Anyway I have decided enough is enough & I am switching. So this afternoon I did a comparison using our actual usage for the last year. Had a quote through the comparison site saying we can save £20 per month if we switch. It's on a fixed deal but only until August 2015 so if I don't like them I can easily switch again next summer. I'm getting to quite enjoy this comparing & switching. I used to think it's too much hassle but I think of the cashback I've earned the last few months by comparing & switching various products, plus the savings I'm making on the actual bills themselves & it is definitely worth spending a bit of time on it.


Anyway, I went to TopCashback to check if the utilities provider was offering any cashback, which they were, so have clicked through & switched.


Very pleased with myself again. Not only will we save £20 per month but we will also get £50 cashback.


So for all those people umming & aahing about the time it will take to do this, just look at it this way. It took me 5 minutes to compare, 10 minutes to put all my details in & I guess it'll probably be another 5 or 10 minutes when paperwork comes through, meter readings need checking etc. So for approximately half an hours work I've got £50 cashback & save £240 a year on our bills. Not bad work if you can get it :rotfl:


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LittleMissGiggles123

What on earth is going on with the weather today? I hope it brightens up again before the weekend!


Not got much to report really. Everything ticking over as always. My £1 per day pots are actually complete for the month so I've put that money in to the secret hiding place now & starting again for July.


I also remembered today that I am owed £130 expenses from work. Got to remember to put that through today. Luckily I do the banking & payments, so there will be no problems with unexpected delays etc. I'll be paying myself before anyone else :rotfl:


I have been thinking about my July goals. I'm going to check back on my June progress & then set my July goals. I think on the money front it will be relatively small goals because we have to save spending money for our upcoming holiday & our eldest daughter needs some clothes for holiday too so a little bit spendy next month. Will try & cutback in other areas to compensate.


Ok be back in a tic


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LittleMissGiggles123

Financial
Personal small savings £100 - Done, actually got more than I thought I would get but going to put the extra towards holiday spending money
Mortgage OP £100 (starting small so I can increase as I get more money savvy) - Got this, just waiting for the regular DD to go out now
Have at least 1 NSD a week (not had one yet this week) - Had 1 last week & have had 1 so far this week. Will hopefully have 1 tomorrow so 3 out of 4 intended NSD isn't bad

Home
Get washing basket empty (this rarely happens!) - done, all thanks to OH helping out
Paint downstairs toilet - NOPE, but then I did say a few posts ago that we're actually going to ask the decorator to do this when we get him to come in & do our hall, stairs & landing
Declutter dining room - this actually wasn't very cluttered. There are some things I want to get rid of but it was definitely not as bad as I thought, I think I was just looking at it when I was in a 'the whole house is a mess' kind of mood.
Declutter master bedroom - done, again thanks to the OH's help

Myself
Get a long overdue haircut - still not done yet. I have to do this soon as although I do like my long hair, it is looking scraggly now
Try to go running (or for a walk) at least once a week - have gone for a few walks with my daughter so this is sort of on track, but could definitely do better. Also went for a run this week so this is improving every week.


Ok so July goals are


Financial
Save another £100
Mortgage OP of £100
Have at least 1 NSD a week
Get to some payout levels on survey sites


Home
Have another baking day
Keep washing basket low
Declutter DD1 bedroom to freshen up a bit


Myself
Haircut!!
At least 1 run & 1 walk per week


I think those goals are easy enough to achieve.


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LittleMissGiggles123

Yay I reached a payout level on Valued Opinions so have now cashed that in for a Flexecode, which in turn has been cashed in for an Amazon code. So that's another £10 on the Amazon Christmas fund now :j


Payday today. Money has gone in & everything looking good for next month. All bills are covered but it's going to be a bit tight next month because of saving for holiday spending money. I definitely need to keep cutting back on groceries & lunch time spends. We've got a quiet weekend planned this weekend so I will put together a list of meals that we can batch cook for dinner & will also come up with some ideas for lunch. Then I can make a shopping list.


Apart from that I've not really got much to report today. Looking forward to the quiet weekend, although I don't think it's going to be as quiet as we hope it will be. Weekends are never quiet when you've got kids


I've been completely useless with listing stuff on ebay so I must get round to that soon! It's all my daughters summer clothes that no longer fit her so if I don't sell it all soon it'll end up cluttering up my spare room until next summer! No point trying to sell it after July really because people will then be preparing for winter.


So a kick up the butt for me, I'm going to list some on Sunday night & then another load on Thursday night. OH is away for a few nights next week & I always struggle to get to sleep when he's not home, so I'll do this to keep myself busy for a bit & hopefully it'll tire me out enough to be able to sleep well when I go to bed.


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LittleMissGiggles123

A NSD day yesterday - yay! Not today though because I needed to get some bits for lunch, but I only spent £1.55 which is a lot less than I would usually spend on lunch so made a small saving there.


1st of the month so most of the bills have now left the account. Still got a few more to go out this month but there is money in the account to cover everything.


Apart from that I've not got a lot to update at the moment, well nothing I can think of yet. I'm sure I'll remember loads of things once I've shut down, but maybe I'll log on again later if I think of anything. I'm just quite enjoying reading a few diaries at the moment to see what tips I can pick up.


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WhiteSnowdrop

I've added NSD to the challenges I've set myself as I really think they make a massive difference to the little spends you end up making each day.

WS

LittleMissGiggles123

WhiteSnowdrop wrote: »

I've added NSD to the challenges I've set myself as I really think they make a massive difference to the little spends you end up making each day.

WS

You're right, it really does. I estimated that I was spending around £4 per working day on lunch. So that's £20 per week just for my lunch! That's not including the normal grocery shop, the occasional treat of going to the pub for lunch etc. I always struggle to think of ideas for my lunch so I didn't want to be unrealistic & say I'm going to take something in every day, because I just get bored of sandwiches too quickly. So instead I'm trying to have 1 or 2 NSD a week & will increase that slowly.


I've had 1 so far this week but today for my lunch I spent £3 on fruit & that will last me until tomorrow too, so hopefully tomorrow should be a NSD. Fingers crossed.


I've got to get going with my to do list for this month. Last month I was good on some things but not on others. I will review it now to make sure I've got everything in there that I want to achieve & make sure I stick to it.


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LittleMissGiggles123

Financial
Save another £100
Mortgage OP of £100
Have at least 1 NSD a week
Get to some payout levels on survey sites


Home
Have another baking day
Keep washing basket low
Declutter DD1 bedroom to freshen up a bit


Myself
Haircut!!
At least 1 run & 1 walk per week


This is my To Do list for this month. On the financial list, so far this week I have had my 1 NSD, so that's good & it looks like I should be able to get 1 more this week. Survey sites are a bit slow at the moment, I am getting screened out of a lot that are sent & then other sites have no surveys at the moment or are just prize draw entry rewards rather than an instant reward. I don't know if I'll achieve the £100 saving this month because I'm putting money away for holiday spending money instead, so although I'm saving it, it's not going to be there for very long because our holiday is in August.


On the home list I haven't had another baking day yet, but it is only day 2 of the month :rotfl:. However, I might try & have a baking day this weekend. The washing basket will be tackled again this weekend. I was keeping on top of putting a load on each day, but didn't on Monday or Tuesday so technically haven't done any washing in July yet apart from the load I put on this morning before work.


And on myself, I went for a run last night so that's my run for this week done & will probably go out for a walk on Friday evening. Haircut, not sure when yet but as soon as I have an opportunity I am going to just pop in to supercuts. I just need a few inches taken off so I'm not going to go to the expensive salon that I used to use.


So progress already, just got to keep it up now.


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LittleMissGiggles123

So yesterday was a pretty productive day. Had a school fete in the afternoon & thankfully didn't spend too much money while we were there.

Then got home and listed some games & DVD's on Amazon and music magpie. I checked all the DVD's etc on Amazon first to see if they would actually be worth listing. Some of them weren't selling for much so by the time I would have paid the seller fees & postage I wouldn't have made any money. So I put those ones on music magpie. Total amount I'll get from MM is just over £25. Not a lot but will be more money than if I'd listed everything on Amazon & less effort too, plus free postage.

If everything sells on Amazon I should get around £100 after postage etc.

I was really organised too. I remember from selling on MM previously that they say not to put more than something like 30 items in one box, so I got boxes out ready & submitted DVD's until I got to a batch of 30 & then completed that sale, then started another list. Have 3 boxes to send but the local Sp@r is one of the drop off points so I will be able to get those sent asap & get my money.

I'm going to try & do little bits like this every night next week, small batches of stuff that will then add up eventually.

I hope everyone is having a fun filled weekend. We've had a busy day today, got some plans tomorrow but hopefully not as busy. I am going to go for a walk tomorrow though, get out, get some fresh air & a bit of exercise. LO wants to take a walk to the park anyway so I can hopefully tire her out a little bit. I also want to have a baking day tomorrow.

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LittleMissGiggles123

Advertising companies are always trying to convince us all that we need all this 'stuff' to make us happy. Yes, it's their job, I've got no issue with what they do.

However, I always notice how it's the most simple things that make me smile.

Take today for instance. Me & our youngest daughter went to Mr T's to pick up a few bits that we needed. At the entrance they had the local food bank volunteers handing out 'shopping lists' to ask people for donations. I asked my little one to get a list & choose 2 items off the list to donate. As much as I like saving money, I actually much prefer helping other people & also think if you do these small things to help other people, karma will return that favour when you most need it.

Anyway, I'm rambling! My daughter chose jam & cereal, she even chose which one she wanted to get them (value brand too, very MSE, even though she's 6 & didn't even look at prices).

As we left the store she gave the donations to the lady & she got given a sticker & got to choose a little chocolate from a box of celebrations. She was very pleased with this, which made me so proud of her for being so pleased with something so simple.

When we got back in the car I asked her if she knew what a food bank was, thinking she wouldn't really know much about it. Well I was wrong! She sat there telling me that some people haven't got proper homes or enough money to buy food so a food bank is for helping those people who have not got much & it's always good to help people in need. She then said that she was very lucky because we had a nice house & we always had food in our cupboards.

Right now I cannot think of anything that would make me smile more than she did today.

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