Ready to be debt free

DD265

Managed to get another 8 listings up tonight, taking advantage of the 50% off FVFs offer ending at midnight. Still not everything (!) but progress all the same, and I've sold a couple of pretty expensive items today.

Unfortunately some of the stuff I've listed has hit home and I don't really want to let it go, so I've listed it with pretty high prices and if it doesn't sell I won't be upset, but if it does hopefully I won't be too unhappy because it will have fetched a good price.

What I need to do is get all the "for sale" stuff condensed down into a manageable, easy to store amount. I'll need to put it away safely somewhere (and we're a little lacking in "closed" storage spaces) so that when we get cat(s), they don't get into too much mischief.

DD265

I un-listed one of the items this morning and felt a lot better.

Today we've bought the vouchers for (most of) the bed - 5% off at Ikea. We'll still have £40 to pay out plus potentially £35 delivery as I'm still not convinced the longest boxes will fit in my car. Wondering whether I can get some friends together for van hire as I don't actually know anybody with a van.

I asked OH earlier what he wanted to do about Christmas presents this year; last year we limited ourselves to a max £50 spend (unlimited at birthdays, but mine is in January so...). Unfortunately one of the things I'd seen to get him will be about £40 given the exchange rate, so I think I might hold off and get that for his birthday next year instead. I like to buy him really nice quality things but I also like to buy him several things, so it's a real balance with a £50 limit!

DD265

Right I have a confession to make. For the last 2 weeks (oops I thought it was longer) I have been massively comfort eating. There are two implications to this:

1) I have put on roughly 8lbs (praying that at least 1/4 of that is water retention so it's easier to lose!) and I'm supposed to go to WeightWatchers tonight
2) I've not been keeping a close control over my supermarket spending, back in the old habits of £10 here and there.

So as of right now it's back to ground zero. Discipline shall become my middle name :rotfl:

Dewdrop.ja

I did the same when I put the girls chest of drawers up for sale. I immediately felt bad so I took it back down. I only want to sell it so I can buy one that's small enough to fit in a better space but still!

Well done for getting the other bits on there and good luck at weight watchers! x

DD265

The scales said 5.5lbs on so better than I expected. I was actually glad I went, because my leader is extremely supportive but also somebody achieved their goal weight and that was really motivating for me. On the day I started my job, there was an awards ceremony and I decided I wanted to earn one of those myself, and 18 months later my name came up. Hopefully it won't take me 18 months to lose half a stone, but the feeling is the same.

I have sold a few bits on eBay this week but haven't done any new listings since Tuesday. I've been doing other productive things though; finishing some cushion covers I'd knitted, sorting out the wardrobes in the spare room so we use the storage space better. I have another pile of things to take to charity, and possibly the tip; have offered old pillows/duvet/towels to the cat rescue, as I don't think they're nice enough to be sold in their charity shop.

I'm hoping that by the end of the weekend, I'll have totally decluttered the spare room. We've to collect a gym mat (and a couple of other bits) from Mom's so I'd like to have the space where that is going clear. Not that OH uses the weights bench regularly, and I still prefer going to a gym, but it's not costing us anything to have it there and we're getting the stuff for free. Eventually I'm sure I'll sell it all. :rotfl: I don't expect to get all my eBay listings done as well, but I want everything to one side ready then I can just work through it all at my leisure.

DD265

Methinks I need a weekend to recover from my weekend!

Progress was made in the spare room but not entirely decluttered. I have an eBay offer (max £1 FVF) but not sure I have the energy to list anything. The offer ends midnight tomorrow but I have to go and collect something after work so won't have much evening. May let this one slide! Did sell a couple of items this weekend though to post tomorrow.

Had a good catch up with a friend last night. Not too expensive as it was a night in with a takeaway. Went for a "run" today and although I didn't enjoy the running specifically, I liked being out in the fresh air and it was a lovely afternoon. I'd like to be at the point where I can run a 5K/30mins without really thinking anything of it, so I'm on the couch to 5k program. Hopefully I'll finish it this time!

In other news (saving the best until last) we may have found a kitty. There is a chance it'll fall through, but she's a young (few months) black moggy. She's deaf so needs an indoor home, but very playful and honestly you wouldn't have known there was anything wrong with her the way she was attacking her toy. We'll probably still try and get a companion for her, but have to wait for the rescue to confirm she's ours first.

DD265

Ooh I forgot. Yesterday I collected a special delivery letter - as in a small envelope not a parcel. On the back the return address included the word "court" on the first line. Practically pooped myself, but it turns out it was just the IKEA vouchers we'd ordered. :rotfl:

We've confirmed our wedding venue/date too, just waiting for the contract to come through to pay the deposit. We are going to pay it on the credit card for the added protection, but I want to pay it off immediately so I may need to withdraw from PayPal/savings and replenish when I get paid.

afo

Hello

Well done on progress so far - I like your diary!

Have you considered getting a cashback / voucher credit card for all those committee expenses? Not only will you make something each time you have to get a big purchase - 1% is the usual so thats £10 for every £1000, but also you will keep it separate from your own debts.

At my old work I used to have one and if they were late paying expenses or something I could prove that I had accrued interest and get them to pay that as well.

Just a thought...

DD265

It's a good idea afo. If I were staying on the committee for next year I'd consider it, but the plan is to come off so I can focus on the wedding instead.

I'm also not sure whether I'm one of those people that can put all of their bills on a credit card then pay it off in full the following month religiously. In theory I'll be able to test that out as the wedding expenses will go on the credit card (for protection) and be paid off more or less straight away.

I've definitely noticed that once I start spending (regardless of how), it quickly escalates into a spree. I need to get my head around that pattern first and learn how to stop it before it gets out of control.

DD265

I've managed to strain the same wrist twice in one evening, lifting a box which was perfect combination of size/weight to twang my wrist (twice). I'll have the chiro look at it on Thursday; hopefully before it develops into full blown tendonitis. I can still drive and type, just can't lift anything with any weight to it or use a strong grip with that hand. Oops.

Through a scheme at work I can reclaim the cost of my chiro visits (up to a fixed amount per plan year) and this will be the first month where it applies. I go at least monthly as it stands (more often if I feel like I need to) so the cost of visits will exceed the annual limit. I'm considering whether it would benefit me to increase the limit, which would mean making a monthly payment of my own in addition to what work pay for. Need to do the maths.

OH has suggested a DIY cat tree. The ones I'm looking at range from £40-110ish depending on size (I've not looked at the £200+ ones!) but we have a couple of local second hand furniture places so I'll check there first and have re-subscribed to Freecycle on the off chance. I'm definitely of the opinion that the more moggy has to do, the less likely we are to encounter issues. Of course should we ultimately rehome a more sedentary cat, we'll probably want different things for it. I'm not 100% convinced about making one; we'd probably need to buy some tools for a start and I suspect we'd spend more in the long run! Although it would mean we could build whatever we wanted...