My Mega Light Bulb Moment

LightBulbMoment

Hi Ramblehan,

Thanks for stopping by and reading my tales of becoming accountable for my spending!

To be honest I am getting quite a buzz out of all this sorting out and selling stuff in its own way it is quite therapeutic and so much cheaper than a beauty session.

I have also loved seeing the changes in interest rates on my credit cards as I did have some that were charging 26.9% so to see it going from that to 0% for twelve months is fantastic. I have said it before it is all about being more organised and taking control which I feel like I have done.

All the credit card debt is now on 0% until July 2017 which gives me twelve months to absolutely batter paying off as much as I possibly can before I have to start to move it all again. I know you pay a transfer fee but it is so much cheaper than paying all that interest for twelve months.

The time I have spent messing about with moving balances can now go onto something else not sure what yet but I am going to get my thinking cap on. I think it is going to be something food related as my cupboards are full of all sorts of stuff that does need using but I just need to be a little more organised than I am at the moment.


I am hoping that seeing the balances come down faster will motivate me more to try and pay more off the debt.

Any way I hope everybody is ok and spending as less as possible. I am going to have some lunch and get back to work as I have had a lot of work come in which is great.

Take care everybody.

LBM

kazwookie

Hi

Just stumbled across your diary, well done.

I would love to have buyers on ebay pay up as fast as your seem to.............I won't post untill they have paid up.

You never mention your OH as such, is he on side and watching what he spends / keeps to a budget?

Do you children understand what is happening and also doing their bit to help, ie not leaving lights on / chargers plugged in etc

Good luck

LightBulbMoment

Hi kazwookie

Thank you for dropping by and reading my diary. To be honest I have only had one problem with ebay and the buyer said the item had not arrived so I claimed the amount back from the Royal Mail. They sent a cheque for the full amount and I put it into the bank, so it was sorted.

My OH is fine with all the changes I am making and does agree that enough is enough and we need to get sorted and get this amount paid off. He does jump off the wagon sometimes but then quickly recovers and moves on from it. About eight years ago we decided to double the mortgage payments so were over paying quite a lot and now we are in the fortunate position that we no longer have a mortgage, which is great.

The only problem I do have with my OH is he does like his holidays. We usually go away in July for two weeks. But this year we have decided to leave it till maybe the first week in October as it is so much cheaper than and only go for one week, which will be cheaper again and less spending money. I agreed to it but I have insisted we go all in and also it is going to be a relaxing week not going off and doing lots of those expensive trips and all sorts of stuff so the amount we spend will be so much less. So everybody is happy.

As for the kids ( two young adults I should say ) I feel like a long playing record about lights, leaving tv's on, phone chargers, the list goes on but I do think it is starting to work as the lights and tv's are not left on as much but I am going to keep at them both. But I do think this is a problem in every house and it only registers with you when you get your own place and have to pay for it yourself. But that is the world over.

We will get there. Oh also my DS gave me another £250 off his debt which is great. It only leaves £100 outstanding which he has said he will give me next payday:T. Before I started this diary I would not have asked him for it, but he needs to learn that he does need to pay back the amount.

Take care

LBM

LightBulbMoment

Hi Everybody

What a horrible day it is today, I am really fed up of the rain now.

Well I done my meal planner list and went and done the shopping which was in budget again:j.

Put petrol in the car £20 again so still in budget with that.

I still have not used any credit card to purchase anything which I am so happy about. Also I cannot believe how it feels to have all the credit card debt on 0% for twelve months. Only two months ago I was paying 26.6% on some of the cards. The silly thing was I did not know what the interest rates on each of the cards actually was. Using this diary has been such a great aid for me to get focused and on the road to sort my finances out.

Any way I must go as I have so much to do today.

Take care

LBM

System

Hey LBM - I agree getting everything on 0% is fantastic - and you will save money on interest that way definitely. Just don't make my mistake, which I perpetuated for the last 4 or 5 years - moving from one 0% deal to another, and never really paying anything off, just letting it slowly creep upwards!! I'm pretty sure you won't make my mistake though!

Have a good weekend x

LightBulbMoment

Hey ramblehan

Thank you so much for stopping by. I know what you mean. I think it would be so easy to sit back now and just pay a minimum payment. But I do think this time next year will come around so fast so I need to keep chipping away at it to reduce the figure.

During July I am going to stick to the goals from my food budget, petrol budget, ebay and trying to do another car boot sale but that depends on the weather.

I really would love to get it down to say £26000 by the end of this year. So that is just short of £4500 in five months. That works out at about £750 a month or just under £25 a day.

Is this going to be my next challenge goal, Bring it on! I feel like I am brain storming whilst writing this post, which is really good as I had not thought along these lines until I started writing this post. Thanks for that and all the other support this diary has brought to me.

Take care

LBM

LightBulbMoment

Hi everybody

What a horrible day it is today, I am really fed up of rain now:(.

Well, I have had this months electricity and gas statement and it is just short of £10 less than last month, which I am really happy with.

For the past few weeks I have been turning lights off all the time and feel like I am a long playing record with saying to everybody turn the lights off. I think they are all fed up of me know so dont do it as much. I have also batch cooked quite a lot so think this has reduced the electricity as well. Yesterday I dont think I could have got another thing in the oven whilst it was on as I cooked a chicken for tonights tea at the same time as yesterdays evening meal.

But, I still think the slow cooker is the best bet as it is so easy and energy efficient.

Well a few things sold on ebay over the weekend so they have been wrapped and I will be posting them later on today. I really really need to do another boot sale but the weather is always so bad, it is starting to annoy me now.

This week I am going to :
1. keep to food and petrol budget.
2. Keep an eye on the gas and electricity
3. List five things a day on ebay
4. Batch cook a few extra meals for the freezer.

Sounds doable to me.

Take care everybody

LBM

LightBulbMoment

Good morning everybody,

Well another two sales on ebay over night so they are going to get wrapped and to the post office later which is fantastic.

I have found another extra job to do this week which is worth about £300 so I am busy doing that at the moment together with all my other normal work. As a result I think listing ebay items is going to be out the question this week as the additional job will have to come first.

My house insurance is due on the 17th of this month so I need to had a l look at that as the renewal came and it is £228 for the year. I am sure I can beat that. I am going to try and beat the price and also get some cash back through Quidco. So my task for the day is to sort this out as I dont want to leave it and have to rush finding a new insurance at a junk price.

I am also going to pay for the house insurance with my bank card and not credit card like I would normally do. Thinking about it I have not used my credit card no for nearly THREE months:T:T:T

Any way everybody have a really nice day and dont spend too much money

Take care

LBM

LightBulbMoment

Hi Everybody

Well, this morning I have been onto my four c/c accounts and done a little tidy up and paid amounts so that they are all nice tidy numbers. It is really sad I know :rotfl:

Total paid up to now this month is £517.41 so I am going to try and get this to £750 paid this month if I can. I really need to do another boot sale I just wish the weather would be nice and just stop raining, as this would make the £750 do able this month.

Finished that extra job last night so I need to get on with my normal work now and catch up but it really was worth it. However, Ebay will have to take a back seat this week now so I can catch up.

I found a house insurance through Quidco that was £138 which is great. It had £25 cash back and also a £40 debenhams gift card so going to go with that one as it is much cheaper, got cashback and I will use the gift card to buy some christmas / birthday presents.

Any way must dash as I have a lot to do today.

LBM

System

Hey LBM - nice work on the new house insurance quote - sounds like a great deal. i hate the auto-renewal rip off!
I wish we could pay as much as you can a month - you'll have things blitzed in no time at all!
Take care and happy ebaying! Ramble x