The Ultimate Incentive Part 11 (or 10B) It's The Final Countdown

tinkerbel

Well I for one cant believe how fast this year is going! How can it already be February? (Happy birthday Dinah!) Its crazy! I keep telling myself its because I was off for the first few days of Jan but really the time is just zooming by! (doesn't feel it on a day to day basis though..)

Hows everyone doing money/debt busting wise? Any updates Dinah? are you on track/got any great ideas to share? I've just had a quiet weekend and am trying to eat out less (not currently working though..) and also put the credit card on one side a little. I usuallly just charge almost everything to this card then deal with it when they take the DD but i had a few shocker months so I've tried to calm down on this.. Tried having cash though but really, if I have cash, i will just spend it immediately so if there are any smart ideas out there..?

Hope you like your new job Birdie and are looking forward to yours Ruby!

clearmydebts

Hi Tink!

I know the time is flying I think! We are also making a conscious effort to eat out less. We did get a take away last Sat but had allowed for one once a month so need to be good the next 3 weekends. Lol.

ruby_eskimo

Birdie85 wrote: »

Sounds fun Ruby! I hate that feeling of having so much to do that I can't decide where to start so just bury myself in things like MSE instead! I moved jobs/offices last week (they basically just split my job description in 2 and moved me into a different department along with my manager, but it's good. More of the work I like, less of the rubbish!) and I'm so glad as there's a new guy started on my old team yesterday and I *hate* teaching people new systems etc so I've dodged a bullet there! I got a glimpse of him this morning and he has ridiculously over-styled hair which would have just distracted me! :rotfl:

I absolutely hate teaching people too. Had an administrator who thought he knew everything about Excel and really wound me up. Don't think he was listening to half the things I told him so on his head be it when the inpatient manager wants her exceptions report next week.

Money wise, I was doing well until my new manager told me that the dress code at the new place of smart business wear would be strictly enforced. Hence panic buying a lot of new office wear in the sales! I'm hoping a lot of it doesn't fit so I can send it back.

Birdie85

I wish I knew the secret to keeping spending in check Tink! If I use my debit card I can't keep track of what I'm spending, if I use cash it just disappears (I swear there's a hole in my purse and it just falls out as soon as I put money in it!), I'm terrified of using my CC as I forget to pay it off and get into a horrible spiral of late fees. Maybe a pre-paid CC, once it's gone, it's gone?

We have been trying to eat out less too, or choose cheaper places when we're out. The other week we actually walked to the door of our new favourite burger place (£40 standard spend) then realised that we could walk round the corner to Wetherspoons and get 2 meals with drinks for ~£15 instead! Small steps and all that...

I was in a waiting room the other day and picked up Take a Break for possibly the first time in my life, they pay £75 to print photos in the front. The photos people had sent in were really naff, some of the magazine being 'enjoyed' on holiday but also just photos of groups of people not really doing much and the usual 'isn't my baby cute' stuff. Tempted to send a couple in and see if they pick one, worth a try for £75?! I just wish I had a juicy 'real life story' to sell!

Ruby- I wouldn't worry too much about awkward people not listening to you, as you say, it's on their heads once you've gone so who cares?!

Dinah93

Right, first of all thank you for the birthday wishes and I'm very sorry for the prolonged absence. Last week I was very ill, I don't think it was flu but some sort of respiratory illness that really knocked me for six. I barely left my bed for 3 days, NIM had to call in to work so he could stay home for the first time ever. It took me a good 10 days to feel human again.

When I emerged from feeling awful I had a lot of household basics to catch up on, time with the kids, laundry, cleaning, accounts etc. Now I'm finally to an acceptable level with those bits of life I've emerged with a renewed zest to clear our debt. I really lost focus in January, it felt like everything I did was undermined. NIM got charges on his bank account, his phone bill was way up, he got a speeding fine, parking fine (thankfully he got out of that one) and he missed the self assessment deadline on his taxes so that's another fine. It feels like I make a lot of effort to fit in extra money making and it all goes on fines and charges not off the debt - what a waste!

Today he's taken Grace out to soft play (we signed up to £12 a month membership, with it being winter the park has been used a bit less but she needs to go somewhere every day, he's used it 3 or 4 times this week so getting lots of use out of it, even if she only goes for half an hour), and then swimming. What got to me is if we didn't have debt I wouldn't be sat at home researching interest rates and meal planning, I could have gone out with them.

Grace is potentially on a countdown to illness, her best friend came down with chicken pox 36 hours after we'd seen her, while as a rule it's better to get chicken pox early, for Grace it could be quite serious as about 10% of children get spots in their throat or lungs - her lungs wouldn't cope well with this at all. We've been told there is a medicine that can basically stop the development of chicken pox and she'd not get any more spots after the ones she already had, so going to call the doctor tomorrow to ask about if they'd prescribe this for her if she gets it.

I interviewed for and got a job this week, can work as many or as few hours as I want, but I have to work the same hours and days each week. So NIM starts his new job tomorrow, after that he should know if he can be guaranteed not to work say Mondays, or Mondays and Thursdays, and I can get back to the lady who has offered me the job with my availability and we can start to work out what I'll be doing. It's not bad money, £15 an hour, I'd quite like to do about 6 hours a week, as I have to drive to classes so working 6 hours would probably be about 9 hours out of my week and I don't really feel I have much more time than that to give with both children too young for school.

So to do list for the next few hours:

• Set up direct debit to ensure First Direct account always gets enough money not to get a charge
• Set up an easy access savings account (all our debt is 0%, and I find I am a lot more motivated to save than to send it to a credit card as then we're being given money for nothing! We used to have a saver you could name, it was great as I loved to send money to 'our house fund' rather than account 12345678. As soon as the debt is cleared we want to save for a kitchen extension as the current one is too small to all sit around the breakfast bar once the kids are too big for the highchairs that clip onto the edge of the table, and we don't have a dining table)
• Make a list of when cards end their 0%
• Meal plan for the week
• Put order in with Tesco
• Vine reviews
• Do biggest losers chart
• Look into/swap energy over if it makes sense

For the week:

• Post sold ebay item
• Check any amazon prices and update
• Get all other products I have under the bed photographed and on etsy
• Call sky, find out why broadband/phone bill has shot up
• Call nursery, shift her sessions for the week as it's a hospital heavy one and they all fall when she's due in nursery!
• Go through and address the stack of paperwork in the red bowl
• Plan and book center parcs activities
• Set aside £200 into an account for matched betting and place first bets
• Apply for Ben's passport
• Send gardener money for pruning the trees
• Find prices on flights/ferries to Ireland for wedding, book cheapest option
• Chase £20 amazon voucher
• Make a list of who owes me what for the slings I've sold and chase politely

poddle911

Hey Dinah
Sorry to hear you've been so ill, but glad you're on the mend and fingers crossed Grace doesn't come down with chicken pox. Congrats on the yoga job - sounds perfect and great to have something so flexible (no pun attended!) to fit round the kids.
Just a thought on the first two items on the list - i think if you set up a saver with First Direct you don't have to meet the minimum £1000 deposit each month. (I don't know if you can rename the accounts though - I find that sort of thing really motivating too.)
Good luck with that huge list!

Dinah93

Dinah93 wrote: »

So to do list for the next few hours:

[STRIKE]
• Set up direct debit to ensure First Direct account always gets enough money not to get a charge[/STRIKE][STRIKE]
• Set up an easy access savings account (all our debt is 0%, and I find I am a lot more motivated to save than to send it to a credit card as then we're being given money for nothing! We used to have a saver you could name, it was great as I loved to send money to 'our house fund' rather than account 12345678. As soon as the debt is cleared we want to save for a kitchen extension as the current one is too small to all sit around the breakfast bar once the kids are too big for the highchairs that clip onto the edge of the table, and we don't have a dining table) [/STRIKE]
  [STRIKE]
• Make a list of when cards end their 0%[/STRIKE] One of my 0% cards is actually getting interest and has been since September! Only £2 a month but still, just goes to show how unobservant I've been!
• Meal plan for the week
  [STRIKE]
• Put order in with Tesco [/STRIKE] Lots of fruit and veg, we actually have quite a lot of stews etc already made and frozen so we will work through those a bit, but quite literally the only fresh fruit and veg we currently have are onions. The shop was £40.99 where usually a weeks shopping is around £100.
  [STRIKE]
• Vine reviews [/STRIKE]
• Do biggest losers chart - NIM said he'd do it but then he's vanished
  [STRIKE]
• Look into/swap energy over if it makes sense[/STRIKE] Swapped over, apparently this will save nearly £20 a month

Pleased with that. Off to bed now, had a very focussed and busy day, tomorrow is going to be taken up with hospital appointments and messy play, hope I can get a bit done on the evening but it might be a lost day as it's just me so time tends to get eaten up with kids and housework until 8.30 when they're finally in bed, and there is only so much I can do in that hour and a half before bed.

Birdie85

Sorry to hear that you were so ill. Glad you're feeling better now. Really hope Gracie doesn't get the Pox!

How frustrating that you got so many fines and charges in one go! That all adds up to a fair bit too...

Great news about getting the yoga job! :T 6 hours a week sounds great.

Hope everyone else is doing well and nice weekends were enjoyed! It was quite spring-like here yesterday, lovely!

clearmydebts

Really lovely to see you back and I am glad you feel better. Congrats on the job too, I hope it works out

I hope Grace doesn't get the pox. Fingers crossed she can get the medication from the GP.

I would be frustrated by all the charges too. Sometimes it feels a bit like that in my house too. I now fill in OH's tax return because we were getting fined every year. I'm probably babying him to some extent but it stops me blowing my top!

wendz86

Glad you are feeling better Dinah.

So annoying about all the money problems in Jan. I always find Jan a rubbish month anyway so best to start again in Feb fresh.

Really hope Grace doesn't get chicken pox and you can get the medicine.

Fab news about the job and sounds like the hours will work well.