My Mega Light Bulb Moment

kirtsypoos

LBM,

I've just stumbled across your diary and am so impressed with how you are powering through already, you are making fantastic progress!!

I love meal planning and batch cooking, it keeps me within my food budget more often than not, and if I go over it tends to be because OH has snuck some haagen dazs in the basket! I make all our lunches in a big batch cook at the weekend so there is no reason for OH to do a Greggs or chippy trip which he was very fond of a few months ago!

Keep up the good work, you'll be on the debt free roll of honour in no time!

bambisonamission

You'd have been proud of me LBM I went through the carp wardrobe at the weekend, ebayed a load, have a big car boot box or 3, and once they are gone the wardrobe will be half full!

Fantastic sales figures, you'll be paid off in no time!

LightBulbMoment

Good Morning everybody,

Chica - That is fantastic news with regards to ebay, keep going mrs. We will both have nice decluttered houses and reduced credit card bills.

Kirstypoos - It was really nice of you to read my diary. I did find meal planning really hard at first as I have never really been an organised person if I am honest. However, I am getting into it now and cannot believe how much money it does save. Each week I would go through the fridge and put all the out of date food in the bin. Not any more apart from the really odd thing. It annoys me to think of the money I used to waste / put on my credit card for no reason at all. This morning I have lifted out of the freezer three containers with different left overs as there is only three of us eating at home tonight. This is food I would have put in the bin, but put it in containers and put it in the freezer. So a win win situation less cooking which is great and a free meal tonight.

Bambi - Go for it! I am so happy that through me going on about selling all the junk it has encouraged you to carry on with ebay. Why do we all have so much junk in our houses. Some of the stuff I have been selling I look at it and wonder why it was purchased in the first place. It has made me realise I think shopping was my hobby, which is really sad. I joined a gym in November last year and go there three / four times a week now. This has replaced my shopping time and costs so much less.

Well sold another two things yesterday so they will be going to the post office today.

Going to have another NSD today to meet my target for the week.

This sound really crazy but I cannot wait to get all the figures at the end of the month to see were I am up to. This exercise has made me so much more organised. It has encourage me to look at each account with regards to interest rates which I had never bothered with before.

I have moved some of the money around this month to 0% rates which did cost some money but they all had 0% interest for 12 months so was well worth paying the BT fee. I think this will show more next month than this month as the BT fees will be added in this months figures.

Any way I have really gone on for way too long now. Have a great day everybody and dont spend what you have not got.

Take care

LBM

Dramaqueen33

Hi LMB!

Didn't want to read and run What a fantastic start you've had! WONDERFUL! You're enthusiasm is very inspiring. Good luck with your journey. I've subscribed X

LightBulbMoment

Hi Drama Queen

Thank you so much for reading and your comments. I have been listing more items on ebay again, it is turning into a full time job! But two more things sold yesterday so that is good.

Well we all had different left over meals for dinner last night that I had put in the freezer instead of the bin as I had done in the past. So a really cheap meal for us all last night.

I have stuck to the food budget again this week and I am going to go shopping again tomorrow evening, because I am finding that works really well for us. Cuts out a lot of the takeaways over the weekend.

Well I have had a look at my bank account and the balance is £778 which is great as all the DD have come out and it is nearly the end of the month. Just shows you by keeping an eye on what you are spending.

Any way have a great day everybody.

LBM

LightBulbMoment

Good morning everybody,

Well another two sales on ebay this morning, so the sales keeps coming which is great. I have listed another five things this morning so keeping to my ebay goal.

I am going to do the shopping again tonight, as that is working really well at the moment. However, before I go I am going to write a meal plan so that I can really concentrate on what I buy. DD is off school next week so the money I usually put on her account in school I am going to add to the food budget as she is going to be home for lunch every day.

I have made another payment this morning from the credit card with the highest interest so that is coming down nicely. I have got £2450 left on that card. So I think my goal is to pay it off by the end of August.

Next months Goals

1. Keep listing on ebay.
2. Keep to food budget.
3. Join a challenge group. DONE I have joined the NST challenge for June, which may help me keep focused.
4. New Goal that is introduced this month. REDUCE MY PETROL COSTS. I usually put £25 a week in fuel in my car. I am going to try and reduce this by £5 a week by being more organised and trying to double up on journeys or walking a little more if I have the time.

Any way everybody, have a lovely weekend.

LBM

LightBulbMoment

Good morning guys,

It is such a lovely day today. Went shopping and spent £70 on food shopping which leaves me with £20 for during the week, which is really do able with DD being off school.

Sold another two things on ebay when I had a look this morning, so will wrap them and take then the post office later when I go past.

I have had all my statements in and my new total is £31,754. That is not too bad as I have moved some money around this month to 0% deals for 12 so have incurred some BT fees. So I am happy with that as the interest rates will be so much less for the next twelve months that will really help me.

I am going to aim to pay another £1000 off this during June so I will have to keep to my goals to be able to achieve this. I have a card with a really small balance and I keep having a look to see if they have a 0% BT offer on as they have in the past, but still nothing there. Once this offer becomes available I am going to move the rest of the money over that has interest charged. When this is done I will have all the amounts on 0% which would be fantastic.

Can somebody tell me how people work out the percent of debt paid as I do think this is a really good motivator.

Well off to list some more items on ebay again. I am just hoping that with payday coming up lots of nice people will buy buy buy all my lovely junk.

Have a nice day everybody,

LBM

dottydebts

Hi, I have a spreadsheet that calculates how much debt I have paid and it's basically amount paid minus interest divided by the total amount of debt. For example, if your total was £200, you had paid £100 and paid £5 interest your calculation would be 95 ÷ 200 * 100 = 47.5%. Hope this helps!

Tuesday_Tenor

Well done on great efforts and achievements so far!

The percentage figure is

Amount you've paid X 100
Original debt

Or to phrase it another way:
Multiply the amount you've paid by 100, then divide that by the original debt.

Or a calculator will have a % key. Divide amount paid by the original debt and press the % key.

HTH

ETA: well, mine's the simple version for when you're completely on 0% interest.
Dottydebts is right to remind you about the interest!

LightBulbMoment

Hi

Thank you both so much. I can now say I have paid off 3.61% of my debt in the first month.

Now onto the next 96.39%:(

LBM