A new debt free journey

supersaver1000

Well done on the hair lcc and on the extra hours.

Sorry to hear about the ticket. DH got a ticket when he parked in an NCP rail station car park a couple of years ago. He couldn't understand it as he'd paid by his phone so thought there was a mix up. He appealed it and they said tough. So I did a bit of online research and we appealed it again. They then said he hadn't parked in a space, which was ridiculous as he'd gone to the station at 6 am, which you could see from his payment, and there were loads of spaces. So we appealed it again and asked them to prove it by sending us a photo. The next we heard from them was that this time :rotfl: they were letting him off :rotfl: but don't do it again :eek: ridiculous. But don't let them bully you. It's quite scary that they keep putting the price up but when it's a parking charge notice they have to prove your guilt.

Ss1k

lcc86

Thanks supersaver, myself and my neighbours have dealt with this company before and they are a pain. I've seen the photos they took and have sent them my photos so we will see what happens. Such a bullyboy tactic, good job I know where their land boundary actually is in legal documents! But yeah it's not nice having threatening letters through your door and what not. This company has a blurb on their website saying they are reputable and consider all appeals, but I know otherwise lol.

Oh well, in other news I treated myself to an iced drink in caffe Nero today. It came out of my unallocated weekly budget but I still felt guilty, even though I very very rarely buy drinks out. Must keep working at finding that balance.

supersaver1000

As long as you enjoyed it too lcc. I treated myself in work today, but won't bother again - was dire for some reason.

Good to hear you have the measure of those monkeys. :cool:

Ss1k

lcc86

End of another working week. Not doing much this weekend, picking OH up from the airport tomorrow and also have some chores to do as usual! On Sunday I'm going for lunch with my sister.

Next Tuesday is our mini family reunion which I'm really looking forward to. The dreaded dentist appointment is on Thursday morning. I'm desperately hoping there's nothing wrong, the pain I'd had has actually eased off a lot to the point where I barely notice it. Just keeping fingers crossed. Ive always been really lucky with my teeth as I've never had to have any work done, and would like this trend to continue! I've also secured another 3 hours work next Friday evening. I'll get paid for this towards the end of July so it will be an extra £40-£50 after tax.

I've been for a run already this evening, it was a bit too hot so suffered a bit! Just going to chill and read tonight and get an early night, I feel knackered!

lcc86

Been a quiet weekend, and very MSE so far :money:

I did all my chores on Friday night/Saturday morning so had yesterday afternoon and all of today to pretty much just chill. Did a little top up shop yesterday, spent £9. Today I'm off for lunch with my sister, should come in under £10. Cheap and cheerful

I was a little naughty and restarted a charity direct debit for £3 a month. I know previously I cancelled my charity direct debits as I felt I couldn't justify them (£15 altogether) when I was struggling every month, however I reinstated one as I figured that now I'm going to be saving £150 a month on fuel I feel I can justify £3 a month again.

I think I'll post an updated SOA in the next month or so just to help me keep track of things once I've changed jobs.

On another note, I've been making excellent use of my Amazon fire TV stick, but hadn't realised just how much of my Internet allowance it would use up! :eek: I'm tied into BT for about another 9 months so I can't look for a cheaper provider with a bigger allowance atm. At the same time, it looks like I'll exceed my allowance this month and be charged extra. Now that I know how much this seemingly innocuous little gadget impacts on my data usage, I can keep track of it for future months. Might just have to grin and bear any extra charges this month if it comes to it. Lesson learned!! :mad:

lcc86

The only update I have today is that my appeal for the incorrectly issued parking ticket got rejected. Funnily enough the company said they didn't get any of my evidence, so rather than ask for it they just dismissed it outright :rotfl: so am now going through an independent appeal panel who hopefully WILL actually look at the evidence...

Still haven't received my money from music magpie, it's been well over the seven working days they state it takes, so I have sent a chase email.

Off to London today to meet the family. All budgeted for, the most expensive part of the day will probably be travel!! Damn London transport...

lcc86

The trip to London with the family yesterday was brilliant. I had such an amazing time and it all came in under budget so I have no guilt or anything, which is so unusual. :j

I did feel slightly worse for wear today and induldged myself in some naughty snacks but again, all under budget! One week left until payday, and although I have overspent on food (all very healthy) I'll be able to squeeze by and hopefully make a small overpayment to the debts.

In other news I have upped my Internet package. I worked out that by paying an extra £7 a month for unlimited data, I will save money based on what I've used in the week or so since my last bill. Yes it goes against my MSE ways but I've done it in the most responsible way I feel I can as I'm tied into my contract for a while yet.

Hopefully have some news on the zero hours job front, the second one should be starting soon and currently have quite a lot of hours going, so I'm hoping to earn some more money to put towards the debt. Ironically the main job which I'm leaving shortly will now be offering transfers and opportunities for promotion despite saying some time ago neither would be possible for at least the next financial year. On the one hand I was a little annoyed to hear that, but at the same time, I just want out as it's been overall a very negative experience and it isn't a service I want to remain in based on how I've been treated. I think I need to stay put in my next job for some time, while still keeping an eye out on relevant career opportunities.

Right, it's been a long day so I'm off to bed. Dentist appointment tomorrow morning, fingers crossed it won't be costly. I'm also going to treat myself to a cheap new mascara and some hair dye tomorrow, as I used to always feel more confident when I mixed things up and made myself feel good, so I'm going to have a little pampering session this weekend :T

lcc86

Dentist came in bang on budget and no problems, just a little wisdom tooth pain :T so glad I don't need to worry about that now.

I've pretty much spent my weekly allowance today on the aforementioned hair dye and mascara, but hey, that's what an unallocated allowance is for!

I'm working tomorrow evening until 8.30 on one of my zero hours jobs, then on Saturday I'm finally off to do some horseriding :j can't wait. No spends planned apart from the horseriding which is already budgeted for. Looking forward to a nice chilled weekend.

lcc86

Work went really well on Friday evening, I'm definitely feeling like I did the right thing in accepting this zero hours job. It was a bit of a step into the unknown but it seems to be paying off. I haven't got any further work planned for the next two weeks at least which helps maintain that work/life balance I've been yearning for. Ill be volunteering next week which I also enjoy.

On Friday I had a really in-depth conversation with some colleagues who I'll be leaving shortly about our careers. It seems I'm not the only unhappy one, we're all expected to wear an awful lot of different hats but without any training, and we're working in areas where training is definitely needed in order to do the best job for the young people we work with. We all expressed a desire to want to specialise and make use of our qualifications, and it prompted me to do a little research into my own future and where I want to sspecialise. It will probably mean undertaking some more training, something I'll have to save up for, but it's definitely something I want to pursue.

Horseriding yesterday was amazing, I haven't felt such a buzz for such a long time :j I've booked another session for next month. It's not something I'll be able to afford every week or even every other week, but I enjoyed it so much that I want to make time for it once a month if I can.

Money wise, the pots are all a little empty now as I'm four days away from pay day. Luckily the only things I need to buy are pet supplies, which are budgeted for anyway, and they don't cost much.

Next month is a five week month between paydays (hate those :mad:) so I need to get my budget spot on to avoid ending up completely skint. I had a bit of a moment yesterday afternoon where I thought about how long I'd been in debt for overall and how fed up I am of struggling payday to payday. But then I realised that I've made progress, this diary and other's diaries have been a God send, and it won't be long until I'm debt free again - this time for good! :money:

parsniphead

Hi Icc86

I have just finished reading your diary. You seem so much more positive now. It's great that you are living your life while paying off debt. It makes such a difference.