NST - January. Bobs post bauble debt busting challenge

FunBrum

apple_muncher wrote: »

funBrum - when are the birthdys? And for which ages?

6th- 43yr male, (friend)
14th- 2yr grandson
16th- 28yr daughter-in-law
27th-1yr granddaughter
28th-31yr daughter

I have a feeling there is another...or it could just be my fear creeping in! :eek:

short_bird

January 2016 is quite quiet. February, on the other hand... gigs, anniversaries, travel... So it needs to be a careful January. This month, I need to renew the lease on my (privately rented) flat and am not sure how much that fee is until the letting office reopens next year. This procedure may be a little more complicated as I live in an attic flat, built into a roof space. And the roof's got a slight leak...:eek: So hopefully there won't be insurance claims or removal costs in the near future, I only moved here in August

1. We are aiming for maximum no spend days this month. First 3 days of the year, I will be in London, at the end of the sales. Now, there's a challenge I'll carry on with the lunches to work and have put away money for travel counting it as "fuel" since I can't drive: any day I take lunch to work and take the bus is an NSD as it's all budgeted for.

2. Not in debt. And I'm very lucky to be able to say that. And I'd like to carry on being able to say that.

3. State your intentions. The intention is to continue to discover where the money goes; sometimes, it flows through my fingers like water. I've managed to reduce one utility and found out when that contract ends so can start to look for a better deal. Really good deal on the gas and leccy. However, whichever way I slice the pie, and however many savings I make, there isn't enough coming in and the savings are dwindling. (Single, no children, no pets)

4. Check in every day. I'll catch up with you on Sunday 3rd on my return.

5. You will donate £5 to a good cause of your choice. £5 goes out 1st of every month to Medecins Sans Frontieres but I'll send some money to the Mountain Rescue Service who helped a lot of people in the floods. A large part of Mountain Rescue's work is getting people and their pets out of rivers, so they'd got the inflatable boats for use in Salford and York.

6. Plan your diary. Waiting on confirmation from 1 person and that will help other events fall into place. If I still have a living room ceiling, they can come to me...

7. Plan your grocery spends carefully. And I'll be shopping from my freezer and store cupboard.

8. Get something for free! Yep, I'm looking

9. Earn extra Sell, sell, sell... Unsure if I'll get any extra hours this month, so it's time to have that clear out and build an Etsy store.

10. Check your credit report Did that last night with Noddle and that's all good

Time to pack for that there London...

chocolatelover93

Bob - Yeah I thought it was odd too considering the house we lived in before everything went through fine only think I could think was that I had got married but even then everything on ClearScore is under both names. We also had a problem with our NPower DD which ended up in us falling behind and that was in my name but we've been paying it off so not sure.
Although EA said that it could be because I've not really had credit

I've decided what my charity donation will be my husband is northen and his family live in in the Calder Valley where all the floods have been over Christmas (luckily they all live in the hills and haven't been affected directly). The town hall had an Amazon wishlist of things they need to help the victims (rubber gloves, buckets, dehumidifiers and bits like that) so I've decided I am going to buy them an item on their list to help out.

Bobarella

jeanangeo wrote: »

Been there and feel your pain. I am now super paranoid and pen all replies longer than a few sentences into a text editor before posting...

Most sensible! That will teach me for writing stuff whilst on the motorway with dipping reception (in the back not driving I promise)

Bobarella

dolly84 wrote: »

Bob - that has happened to me on many occasions and then I just can't be bothered to type it up again.

Bah it is infuriating for sure!

Bobarella

chocolatelover93 wrote: »

Bob - Yeah I thought it was odd too considering the house we lived in before everything went through fine only think I could think was that I had got married but even then everything on ClearScore is under both names. We also had a problem with our NPower DD which ended up in us falling behind and that was in my name but we've been paying it off so not sure.
Although EA said that it could be because I've not really had credit

I've decided what my charity donation will be my husband is northen and his family live in in the Calder Valley where all the floods have been over Christmas (luckily they all live in the hills and haven't been affected directly). The town hall had an Amazon wishlist of things they need to help the victims (rubber gloves, buckets, dehumidifiers and bits like that) so I've decided I am going to buy them an item on their list to help out.

What a worthwhile cause indeed. I'd donate to that too but guessing we aren't allowed to use links here for that.

It's an interesting question on whether arrears on energy bills causes a lower credit score. I'd doubt it myself. But as we said it's about keeping a clear file rather than scores it's unlikely to be important in the long run.

Bobarella

Short_bird - I don't use it myself as I never have and feel budgeting is not an area I'm too bad at. But many people on here swear by yNAB for tracking all your spends. Have you heard of it?

Bobarella

Must try harder - a great number to start on. A very worthwhile charity as well. With regards to selling your up cycled goods could you see if there is a craft fair coming up you could take a table at cheaply?

chocolatelover93

Bobarella wrote: »

What a worthwhile cause indeed. I'd donate to that too but guessing we aren't allowed to use links here for that.

It's an interesting question on whether arrears on energy bills causes a lower credit score. I'd doubt it myself. But as we said it's about keeping a clear file rather than scores it's unlikely to be important in the long run.

I don't think so not sure how you would find it if you did want to. I can PM you the link if you would like?

Yeah I think you're right going to be keeping a close eye on it from now on. Might give Noddle a try as it seems to have a lot of good reviews and also free

must.try.harder

Bobarella wrote: »

Must try harder - a great number to start on. A very worthwhile charity as well. With regards to selling your up cycled goods could you see if there is a craft fair coming up you could take a table at cheaply?

I love the idea of selling at a craft fair but sadly I don't think I have enough stuff to sell and would have to purchase more stuff to then upcycle...but I will definitely finish the ones I have and get those old bits of furniture on ebay in the new year