2016: Health, Wealth and CCJ Demolition

Emzilla

Had to get a few bits last night - bread, milk, sandwich stuff etc. All the money in my purse has gone and we're down to around £10 in the account. Shouldn't need to get anything else before Friday now though.

I filled the car up this morning, so no worries with petrol. Chinchillas and Degus are still giving me the evil eye .

I've spent most of the morning catching up on surveys on My Survey. I had about 29 available when I started (and around 20 points). I've ended up claiming a £5 Amazon voucher and have around 300 prize draw entries (someone's gotta win!!).

I've also chased up a £10 voucher I ordered from Bingoport on the 29th April!! Already emailed them once about it, so not happy with them :mad:

Hopefully those two vouchers will mean I only owe another £25 to my sister.

Working 4 hours later today (4-8).

Emz xx

[Deleted User]

I can't remember if you ever mentioned doing Prolific Academic surveys, Emz. Can really recommend them:j. The surveys are really varied and interesting (although I'm not always eligible for a lot of them but at least it's obvious before the start and there's no screening out after answering loads of questions like some survey companies).

Quite good payers too and surprisingly for academic studies there seems to be a massive increase of surveys on offer as we go into summer when I'd have expected them to dry up.

I've had about £35 in payouts already and am 50p away from another £20. Can claim from £5 but Paypal charge small fees for withdrawal so I wait until £20 when it's free;)

Emzilla

carbootcrazy wrote: »

I can't remember if you ever mentioned doing Prolific Academic surveys, Emz. Can really recommend them:j. The surveys are really varied and interesting (although I'm not always eligible for a lot of them but at least it's obvious before the start and there's no screening out after answering loads of questions like some survey companies).

Quite good payers too and surprisingly for academic studies there seems to be a massive increase of surveys on offer as we go into summer when I'd have expected them to dry up.

I've had about £35 in payouts already and am 50p away from another £20. Can claim from £5 but Paypal charge small fees for withdrawal so I wait until £20 when it's free;)

Thanks CBC, I do Prolific surveys, but haven't looked recently. My PayPal email is different to my usual one, so I don't often get to see the invites.

Emz xx

Emzilla

Done a few more surveys this morning. I'm just £1.50 away from a £10 voucher on Valued Opinions, so won't be too long before I get that.

I've set myself a few goals for July:

1. Pay off the Argos card
2. Pay back my sister the £40 Amazon vouchers
3. Complete the £10 a day challenge
4. Start to PAD towards my gas bill arrears and try to get them sub £2k

I'm very shameful off the gas bill arrears. It's for 2 properties combined (last flat and this flat), so they have been hanging around for ages. The gas company have been very good in letting them fester for a bit (they know about my health problems), but it's time to try and get rid. Once I do, I can actually change supplier for the first time in years!! I'll make a payment every day towards them, even if it's just a few pounds. At least then the gas company will see I'm trying to clear what I can.

I don't think I'll get enough Amazon vouchers for the Chinchilla's new cage this month, so that can wait for next month.

Starting work in 2 hours - only a 3 hour shift.

Emz xx

[Deleted User]

Emzilla wrote: »

Thanks CBC, I do Prolific surveys, but haven't looked recently. My PayPal email is different to my usual one, so I don't often get to see the invites.

Emz xx

I don't ever seem to get Prolific invites either and need to check in several times a day:(. Very annoying as the log in procedure doesn't always work very smoothly. I waste quite a lot of time just trying to get started. There's a thread on MSE which mentions when a new survey is available but it isn't foolproof as not everyone is eligible for the ones mentioned and they are often closed by the time I see them

Emzilla

Well, I thought my gas company were being pretty good about the arrears. I must have sensed that something was brewing when I decided to try and make an effort and start paying them back.

I got a letter at the weekend saying they were taking me to court to try and get a pay as you go meter installed. I called them today and queried why they hadn't told me it had gotten to this stage. I was told that someone had come by the house (no note left) and they had called me a few times (don't know what number they tried, but I heard nothing).

Please note, I am well aware that this is my own stupid fault. I am not blaming the gas company in any way.

So I panicked a bit at the weekend (before I called them) and tried to think of a way out of this mess. I realised it's not going to help to panic. I spoke to the woman at the gas company, and she said they would need £1,780 to stop the court action.

The court date is on 26th August. I know that might sound impossible, but OH is getting a bonus at the end of this month. That should be at least £800-£1,000 (it was £800 last year, but he got a better review this year). We were going to try and save that money, but I have said we might need to use it to pay some bills off (he's not fully aware of the arrears, as they're in my name - he's worse than me with money!!). Savings can always be replaced, but stopping this going to court will save hundreds in costs.

I get paid Friday, and that will include a bonus of £150, so I'll pay that off straight away. I've been thinking of what else I can do. Work are not keen on giving me extra hours at the moment due to my sickness last month (which I can understand). I think the next best thing to do is Textbroker. It pays weekly, I can do it around my working hours and I can do it anywhere (out and about, round my mum's, at home etc).

So, everything else is on hold (apart from the CCJ obviously). I need to get that court date cancelled.

Emz xx

(if you're thinking of posting saying how stupid I've been, please don't - I'm fully aware of how stupid I've been - but I'm trying to sort it out and will then take a long hard look at my finances to stop this sort of thing happening again).

in_need_of_direction

Is there any value in setting out formally steps you have taken so far and what your plans are?

Emzilla

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

Is there any value in setting out formally steps you have taken so far and what your plans are?

I've let the gas company know what I plan on doing if that's what you mean? They've noted it all down. She said it was good that I've contacted them, so I guess that goes in my favour.

Emz xx

Emzilla

I had an email earlier to say I've won my choice of dress from this website: http://www.bibico.co.uk/collections/dresses

I'm thinking maybe ordering one of the more expensive ones and seeing if I can sell it to put towards the gas arrears.

Emz xx

in_need_of_direction

Do it. I'm always in awe of how much you achieve when you put your mind to it.