365 Days to Make a Difference

Emzilla

Evening all.

So, I'm excellent at starting new diaries, but dreadful at keeping them going

I've had a few weeks away from the DFW board and from earning extra money, and it has shown on my bank balance. OH gets paid tomorrow, but most of that is taken up with bills and other payments, and the same will happen when my payday rolls round - it's a vicious circle.

The only way I can see out of this circle is to bring in more cash, so I can clear some of the arrears we're paying off so it frees up more of our wages.

The main ones are the gas arrears (£485.02 - these were £2,321.68 at the end of June, so we've done so well to clear that much off in 3 months) and council tax (£879.76). The monthly payment for those comes to £420 a month, so clearing those would be a great start.

I thought it would be interesting for me to see where I am in 365 days time. What position will I be in financially? How many debts would I have cleared?

Day one will be tomorrow. :cool:

Emz xx

[Deleted User]

Happy new diary

MrsPorridge

Good luck.

jwil

Good luck Emz xx

Emzilla

So yeah, I'm not even going to come up with an excuse as to why I haven't posted for a while. I'm simply rubbish at keeping up with diaries, as my first post states.

I must change my procrastinating ways!! Laziness is my enemy!!

I'm going to restart the 365 days today and really try my hardest to stick to this. In 365 days time, I want to have cleared a lot of debt!!

It's not all bad since I last posted. I am waiting on £20 worth of Amazon vouchers, which can go towards Christmas presents. I've also got £18.04 cleared on Prolific and £6.35 pending. Received a £10.01 payment from Jackpot Joy (free game) this morning too.

I've started to look at the reduced stuff after work. Monday night, I got 4 yoghurts, 2 donuts, a chicken salad sandwich, 2 jacket potatoes with cheese, a roast chicken ready meal and a fish and chips ready meal for £2.04!! Bargain!! And this is good quality M&S stuff too

Off to get some stuff done in the 5.5 hours I've got before I leave for work. Degus need cleaning out first and then will catch up on some surveys.

Emz xx

Emzilla

Took me a bit longer to clean out the degus yesterday than I thought. I did the chinchillas too though, so at least I've got today to earn some money instead.

I got some more reduced stuff last night. Bananas, tuna sandwich, lasagne, 2 packs of chicken (for sandwiches) and a chocolate chip cookie for £1.52.

Received one of the £5 Amazon vouchers this morning, but have just claimed another one, so still waiting on £20. I've got £14.99 in my Amazon account.

Also did a £1.60 Panelbase survey yesterday, so will have enough to get £10 out of there once it clears. Another 35p added to my pending Prolific balance. Still stuck on £18.04 with £6.70 pending.

Emz xx

MistyMountainTop

What a good idea. I'd like to see how far I can get in 365 days as well. Here to subscribe!

[Deleted User]

Well done on your food bargains, Emz:T. Great savings there:j. To be honest I'm surprised you haven't been doing it all the time, especially as you are on the spot at the right time to find the reductions. It's a tried and tested way many DFWs eke out their budgets;).


We've had some weird and wonderful food combinations for some meals thanks to what was available at the time:eek:. Sadly. my nearest supermarket is almost 7 miles away and it's hit and miss whether they'll have anything reduced that I want/need when I'm there. Not really worth going specially on the off-chance. Have noticed that Morrisons have some reductions first thing in the mornings (I tend to be there when they open at 7) but it's not the mega price cuts they have just before closing time. Still, every little helps;)


Lovely to see you back posting:j. We've missed you. Don't beat yourself up about procrastinating. Real life has a nasty habit of scuppering the best of intentions;)

Emzilla

MistyMountainTop wrote: »

What a good idea. I'd like to see how far I can get in 365 days as well. Here to subscribe!

Thank you - good luck with your 365 days!!

Emz xx

Emzilla

carbootcrazy wrote: »

Well done on your food bargains, Emz:T. Great savings there:j. To be honest I'm surprised you haven't been doing it all the time, especially as you are on the spot at the right time to find the reductions. It's a tried and tested way many DFWs eke out their budgets;).


We've had some weird and wonderful food combinations for some meals thanks to what was available at the time:eek:. Sadly. my nearest supermarket is almost 7 miles away and it's hit and miss whether they'll have anything reduced that I want/need when I'm there. Not really worth going specially on the off-chance. Have noticed that Morrisons have some reductions first thing in the mornings (I tend to be there when they open at 7) but it's not the mega price cuts they have just before closing time. Still, every little helps;)


Lovely to see you back posting:j. We've missed you. Don't beat yourself up about procrastinating. Real life has a nasty habit of scuppering the best of intentions;)

Hi CBC

I have bought reduced stuff before, but usually just want to get out of work at the end of my shift. I have started to force myself to take a look and see if there's anything worth buying. We get left with what the customers didn't want to buy, so there's not always anything decent.

Emz xx

Emzilla

Received the £5 Amazon voucher I requested yesterday - now that's quick!! I did redeem for another from My Survey though, so am still waiting on £20 worth of vouchers, with £19.99 in my account.

Slim pickings on the reduced stuff last night, but I did get a sandwich for OH for 16p.

Did a few other surveys yesterday, but nothing at payout yet. Prolific is sat at £18.64 paid and £5.85 pending (one survey I did just went straight through to the completed page, so naturally that got refused payment).

Emz xx