Our Journey from Debtdom to Freedom

hazeldreams

Erm...think my week should start properly tomorrow!!Didn't tick anything off the above list but managed to spend a further £15 on 3 umbrellas(could not face a repeat of today - poor kids were drenched as well as me!) and over a tenner on a school trip! All week will have to be NSDs now! Despite the shaky start to the week - I'm actually feeling rather positive - have decided to focus on h**fax card with highest interest and lowest balance, feeling really confident we can smash the o/s balance by Christmas and cut the blighter up! That'll be one down at least! Off to read some diaries...night night all x

hazeldreams

hazeldreams wrote: »

Aww thanks for subscribing brizzled..yes £319 on insurance - it was £567 last month (I know, ridiculous when I think of all of the money I've spent on this over the years when I could've been clearing down the debt)...I've been brave and cancelled more this month so next month it will be £233.76 - I'm not sure I could sleep at night if I cut it down any further at the moment-I will review it again in the New Year I promise!)

Igamogam - thanks to you too for subscribing...I have woken up very early this morning feeling a little panicky so it was reassuring to see some encouraging posts first thing..


So today so far I've:

-prepared and popped in the oven a 2kg piece of brisket of beef from save with J**ie cookbook which should do at least 6 meals for the 4 of us
-put HM bread in BM

Left to do:
-find a payment for my PAD[STRIKE][/STRIKE]
-find somewhere that sells reasonably priced dishwasher salt-we're all out and I really wanted an NSD today..oh well there's always tomorrow![STRIKE][/STRIKE]
-Catch up on some more diaries as I'm finding reading others journeys so inspirational and also really great for working out which strategies will work for me![STRIKE][/STRIKE]

Hope you all have a lovely Sunday!

Hi all
Unfortunately I wasn't able to post yesterday due to a family pet bereavement and a very upset dd1 - she's still so very upset poor thing!

Did manage to make a small PAD yesterday and finish off all the jobs id planned to do on Monday- small steps forward and all that! I pan to update my signature with total paid off each week on a Saturday/Sunday.

Today just tasking myself with one job - meal planning- have made a stock list and plan to map out the whole week food!

Wish me luck!:rotfl:

NoOneAround

Sorry to hear about the family pet Hazeldreams
Hugs for all
xx

hazeldreams

NoOneAround wrote: »

Sorry to hear about the family pet Hazeldreams
Hugs for all
xx

Thanks NOA! Really wanted a NSD today but had to pay for a prescription..boo! Meal planning complete and a trip to aldi planned for tomorrow, hoping to keep under a total of £300 for groceries this month.

Really need to get some NSDs this week fingers crossed for Friday and Saturday as a bare minimum!

Heating has had to go on for a couple of hours tonight-the kids were dithering! Will try and keep it to an absolute minimum for as long as possible!

On a positive note another small PAD today- looking forward to updating my totals at the end of the week...

Have a lovely evening all!

Puzzcat

Hi Hazel,


Sorry to hear about the pet, unfortunately as we know it is part of life, but very hard when we treat our pets as family members.. or maybe that's just me...!! Hope DD1 recovers quickly.. will you be replacing said pet?


How did you get on with your meal plan and trip to Aldi? We don't have one near us but one is being built in the town where my dd has her part time job so I hope to be able to give it a go when its built! I shop all my protein/fish/meat/quiches etc from the reduced to clear/yellow stickered section and have a big chest freezer that I keep an inventory of. I then meal plan from my freezer and just have to buy the bits to go with the dishes... seems to work for me...


Hope your having a good day and keeping out of the rain..!
Puzz. x

hazeldreams

Puzzcat wrote: »

Hi Hazel,


Sorry to hear about the pet, unfortunately as we know it is part of life, but very hard when we treat our pets as family members.. or maybe that's just me...!! Hope DD1 recovers quickly.. will you be replacing said pet?


How did you get on with your meal plan and trip to Aldi? We don't have one near us but one is being built in the town where my dd has her part time job so I hope to be able to give it a go when its built! I shop all my protein/fish/meat/quiches etc from the reduced to clear/yellow stickered section and have a big chest freezer that I keep an inventory of. I then meal plan from my freezer and just have to buy the bits to go with the dishes... seems to work for me...


Hope your having a good day and keeping out of the rain..!
Puzz. x

Hi Puzz, thanks so much for your kind words...DD1 is a little better today poor thing...not sure about replacing it yet - its still a little raw for her and tbh, i'm not sure we can really afford to - its how I position that with the little one that will be tricky!


Stuck to list at Aldi - and still spent a fortune, although I haven't done a big shop for over 3 weeks and the cupboards a literally bare! Now only have £118 left until 1st November...now that will be challenging!


As for the rest of the day...better left unsaid methinks! Had a b**dy awful day! Had to pay out £55 on an unexpected bill (had saved £100 for emergencies but still gutted that I've had to use it!) Going to blitz the cupboards this weekend and really go for it with the ebay listings to try and recoup the loss!


But on the plus side - I'd taken a snapshot of my debts on 1st September and not really focussed on how much I'd paid off...I just focussed on PADing on top of the minimum payments (although I also threw some scraps of savings here and there to give it kickstart)- I've just done a quick recky up and am gobsmacked that I've cleared over £2k and more than 2% of the debt - that's cheered me right up!


With Christmas coming I'm not sure we can keep up this pace though...but still it just shows what can be done when you knuckle down!

hazeldreams

Happy Saturday All!


MSE ways have gone slightly awry over the last 48hrs due to us all being struck down by the lurgy! However, everyone feeling a little better today - so I've got the breadmaker on making ciabatta and a huge chicken roasting in the oven which should do at least 3 meals and lots of sandwiches too.


Have updated YNAB as didn't get chance to yesterday and made a double PAD to account for not doing one yesterday.


Not had the heating on for 48hrs because of the fevers, but have had a small electric radiator plugged on in the main room all morning - starting to wonder if this is cheaper than having central heating on or not?


Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

hazeldreams

Afternoon everyone! All is good in hazeldreamsland! YNAB is really helping with the budgeting - this month I reordered and went to a lower level of detail with the categories so I can better understand where our money goes - its harder going with entering the data as it take a while to find the right categories, but its really helping me understand a little more about our spending habits. For example I split out alcohol from the grocery budget and allocated £50 for the month on 1st October - I'm horrified to find we've already spent £52.20 this month on alcohol - obviously a weak spot that we need to reign in! Also hadn't budgeted anything for prescriptions/pharmacy but with the illnesses in the household over the last week we've already blown £20.43 in the local chemist! At least I now can see this split out from my spending money so I'm not scratching my head every month on how I managed to get through so much money and I can then really identify which areas we can give up a little on (alcohol!) and which I need to think about budgeting for (pharmacy!)


I've also started the clear out - all my wardrobes and drawers are cleared- 1 bag of really old stuff to throw away, 2 bags to try and sell via these cash 4 clothes people that come and weigh it and then take it away and give you cash per kg and a whole freestanding rail of clothes to try and get rid of on ebay - although I might try facebay for the first time too - any feedback on whether this is worth if for selling clothes? Did want to attempt girls wardrobes and drawers but with a sick household I think I need to give the kids some attention also!


One step at a time I think - will aim to clear out all wardrobes and the loft by the time its half term and then try and tackle listing it all in one foul swoop over half term when I'm on leave - wish me luck!


Have a lovely afternoon all!

Igamogam

I would give even your very old clothes to weigh in - where I take mine they dont check the bags for quality - I believe anything they cant use they recycle..............well I hope they do and it doesnt end in land fill. Oxf*m will give you a £5 voucher for M&S items. Also if you have a Nect*r card you can link it on the Oxf*m website and any items sold in their shops ( not just clothes) will generate Nect* points - Think I have made about £12 this way this year on stuff I didnt want and would not sell on Eb*Y.

Eb8y is a bit of a minefield regarding clothes - unless you have new stuff or designer I would say steer clear and sell on fceb**k.

Happy decluttering ........good for the soul:)

NoOneAround

Hi Hazel, sorry to hear you have all been poorly - hope everyone feeling fully better today.
Wow- well done on clearing such a large amount by PAdding :T
I also have loads of old clothes - just never seem to get the time to get everything posted - have been following a few FB pages and some things do seem to sell well and quickly - plus you only deliver locally or arrange for items to be picked up. Posted a few things to test a few weeks ago but no interest, so need to post a few different things - toys/dvd/games seem to go really well, clothes seem to be hit and miss - but I did manage to sell some toys through local Netmums site- free to post!
xx