The 300k debt-free diary!!!

pandapaws

:A Thanks to you all for your messages of support after my first post, both about the money and the baby - it really does help!

We've had a hectic week!


We had offered a while ago to tile the bathroom for my parents, and finally went up to do it Sun-Tues, which nearly killed us! But it looked FANTASTIC when we were finished, and the plumber doing the installation thought it was a professional tiler who had done it, and said he could easily get us work for the next 3 months if we're interested! As they're 300 miles away, and hate tiling, so I don't think so, but it's something to think about for the future! Anyway, my dad was so chuffed he insisted on giving us £400 (not counting the £100+ they spent on on food, toys and other stuff while we were there - see where I get my extravagant nature from?! But they don't have a penny of debt, and won't even use Switch - maybe a lesson to learn...). About £180 of this was expenses for tiles etc we had bought, and another £80 or so went on petrol getting there, but that's still a healthy profit, and means that we can pay it straight to our Argos card, which we need to pay £110 to by mid Aug as it was a 0% buy-now-pay-later deal. So that'll be one thing I can cross off the list as soon as we do it!


Had a banking nightmare this morning when our £396 HSBC loan payment Standing Order came out our bank account despite me having changed the date to the 18th, which is after we're paid. This meant that other bills that should have come out today/tomorrow would have bounced as there wasn't enough cash available left. Spoke to the most EVIL woman in the world in the Halifax Belfast call centre who basically called me a stupid liar, in not so many words, and said there was nothing at all that could be done - we'd being charged £40 for one bounced direct debit, and unless I could get to a branch straight away to pay money in to cover the others, there's be another load of £40 charges too. GRRRRRR!:mad: :mad: :mad: .
So I hung up and rung back and got a lovely bloke in Leeds, who said she was talking out her a**e (in not so many words!) and extended our overdraft temporarily to cover everything, said he'll refund the £40, changed the SO date to the 17th (again!) and put in an official complaint about Mrs Belfast. So all fixed, although I was on the phone for over an hour and a half in total. Thank goodness for Mr Leeds, and also for SayNoTo0870.com - at least the calls were free!


Finally got our new Egg cards, but unfortunately they arrrived while we were away, after the end of the month and we therefore missed the 2 x free £10 for signing up for their money manager. Do you think they held on to them deliberately?! So we'll get the card statements out tonight and work out the best thing to do - think we've got a £6k limit between them at 0% for a year.


No news on a date for the baby yet. My doctor's 'urgent' request for a dating scan sat in his secretary's typing basket for 6 days before being processed :mad: , and I now need to wait 3 weeks for a booking appointment with the midwife, before they can send me for a scan, which would be another fortnight more than likely. I can't wait another 5 wks, so I have decided to bypass the system, and I'm going for a private scan on Monday with a little company in Peterborough (miles away!), which is costing £95 plus about £20 in fuel. I can't really afford it, but getting the money from my dad was unexpected, and this is just too important - I need a rough idea of a date to plan around, as well as just making sure that everything is where it should be. I did money-save a bit at least - our local private hospitals wanted between £160 and £295 for the same scan!


Will update the SOA after the 18th after we've been paid, and looking forward to seeing how much actually gets paid off each month! I might put it in a signature if I can work out how, and how to keep it short given the amount of debt!:o Any tips welcomed! I'm also going to make a concerted effort to post on other people's diaries - I read them all the time, but have always been to shy to post (stupid, I know!) but getting loads of nice messages myself made me realise that it helps loads. All comments are most welcome here whatever they're about!!!


P.S. I definitely won't be posting when in labour - last time I was pregnant we were in the middle of moving house and I was towing a trailer I'd just bought home from Lincoln when the contractions started big-time - it was utter hell!! This time I'll be taking as much pain relief as I can get and I'll be totally unconscious, realxed, and pain-free until they hand me the baby, which will be so relaxed after the easy birth that it'll smile, have a quick feed and then sleep all night. :rotfl:

blackangeluk

Hi, just been reading your diary and you sound really positive. Good news about the extra money for the Argos card. Well done for being persistent with the bank as well, it really does pay off.

Look forward to reading your updates. With my mortgage and loan I am facing a similar amount of debt so I can appreciate your position.

Good luck with the baby x

hypno06

Good luck for Monday!

pandapaws

Thanks - quite nervous about the scan, you never know what they're going to say - as well as the obvious problems they could find that don't even bear thinking about, there are a lot of twins in my husband's family!!!
:eek: :eek:

I'm going to have to go out and buy some new clothes today as most of my things are cutting me in half already! That means a trip to Meadowhall, which will be my first 'proper' shopping trip since starting this diary. I'm going to list the things that I need/won't feel bad about buying below, and maybe this will prevent me from frivolous spending as I won't want to have to admit to buying a load of unnecessary junk!

Things I'm allowed to buy:
Some new underwear (won't bore you all with the gory details, but expecting to have to spend up to £50 in total in M&S. This should see me through the whole pregnancy though)
Stretchy, comfy trousers for both work and for around the house
Will look for Christmas presents for other people if I find REALLY good bargains - this will save money in the long run and hopefully avoid loads of spending before Xmas. But, can I resist buying stuff for myself/family/house that I don't need while looking for these bargains?!
Will try to resist the foodcourt, but know in advance there'll probably be some food/drink spending - will try to keep to a minimum.
Chocolate lolly from Thorntons - always buy my 2 yr-old one if he's good when we're shopping. 60p for peace & quiet = excellent value for money! Also, creche is still shut after the flooding, so that will save me the £6 I'd normally have spent on stress-free shopping!

Definitely don't need:
Tops - got loads, and many are big enough to last for a good few months yet
Shoes/Handbags
Anything from Boots
Anything with a designer label (unless VERY reduced and included in 'need' categories above)
Anything baby related, however cute it is!

Wish me luck against the retail giants and their beautiful temptations!!! Promise to update a full and honest list of actual purchases when I get home - please everyone be really horrible to me if I've been naughty!

pandapaws

Quite pleased with myself. Didn't make it to Meadowhall due accident traffic on motorway, so went into Doncaster instead. Bought the following:

2 pairs trousers in M&S - £2.50 each in clearance!!! (Bought the same ones before for £30 each, so best bargain ever!)
9 pairs knickers for £4 M&S - were reduced to £2.50/per pk of 5, but one pack only had 4 in it, so she gave me it for £1.50!
Silk scarf from M&S reduced to 50p - will be nice extra for mum's Xmas
Nightie, £3.99 M&S (was £20), towards MIL's Xmas
Maternity bra, £5.99 in TK Maxx
Handbag for £5 in TK Maxx which I'll sell on Ebay for £20-30, so doesn't count as naughty!
1 packet of gummy sweets £1.09 (bad, but couldn't resist and was so chuffed with my bargains, so bought with the knicker-saved money!)

The only thing that I shouldn't have bought:
A baby bath seat. Was only £9.99 in TK Maxx and I wasn't going to get it except that last time I had baby I looked everywhere for one of these in exactly this style and couldn't get one. I did resist loads of gorgeous baby things that I normally would have bought without thinking, so not too worried about this unnecessary spend, especially since I saved so much on the other things I bought that I had budgeted more for.

Didn't have to pay anything for lunch, MIL bought it for me since I'd bought last time!

Sorry for boring with the details, but I promised myself that I'd post everything I'd bought, and it honestly did work - I left several things that I normally would have bought because I didn't want to have to admit to the world I had bought unnecessary stuff, so please bear with me!

dawnybabes

Congratulations and well done you !!:beer:

Meadowhall Boots has lots of half price special offers on at the mo if you manage to get there - I entered that lions den this morning ....

hypno06

Sounds like you got the bargain hunting pretty much sussed!!

Why can I never find bargains like that when I go shopping!! Perhaps it is because I no longer go shopping

And the idea of having to confess all obviously worked - we will expect the same of you every time now!

pandapaws

Wasn't so good today - we went out for lunch which cost £12, mainly because we were both at work and had the little one with us all day, and needed to get out.

But it was a very nice lunch!!!:rotfl:
Tomorrow is another day!

pandapaws

dawnybabes wrote: »

Meadowhall Boots has lots of half price special offers on at the mo if you manage to get there - I entered that lions den this morning ....

Do you know how much of Meadowhall is open properly again? Is M&S fully open - desperately need more maternity bras!!!

Will look in Boots, Ta!

elantan

i'm enjoying reading your diary and already finding it inspirational....have you considered those nappies for babies that are re-usable my friend loves them she uses either toilet roll or cotton wool (when she has money) to clean baby with then these re-usable nappies she swears by them saved her a fortune