Small Steps Out Of Massive Debt!

joedenise

GC - If you have to put business expenses on your personal credit card then I think you should at least be able to claim that back immediately - you've been charged it now not in May when you will be using the hotel. Also I don't think it's fair that organisations expect people to use personal CCs it means you are the one accruing interest while their money sits in an account somewhere earning interest.

Do you have a microwave at work? If you do a cheap, filling lunch is a jacket potato & beans and can be cooked in a few minutes. Also means you probably won't want a big dinner in the evening.

Denise

GeorgianaCavendish

Thank you everyone, I've just emailed out finance department to find if they can reimburse me for the hotel advance charge - fingers crossed!

I had a scrounge in the kitchen cupboard at work and found a Cup-A-Soup sachet and a jar of peanut butter that I bought last time I was working on a big project that kept me in the office until 9pm. I'm just about to pop out to buy some bread then I'll have peanut butter on toast with a soup chaser for lunch, and I can take the bread home with me (I'd need to buy another loaf tomorrow anyway). This time 2 weeks ago I would've spent £6 in Pret without thinking about it!

Baby steps!

Naomim

Disco_Dolly wrote: »

Just catching up, I really must start listing stuff on Ebay again, I definitely have a few dresses that could go up.

Setbacks are a pain but you definitely have the right mindset. :T

I have a fair amount of stuff to post on Ebay too. It's just such a pain. I try selling on local FB pages but people do mess you about far more.

joedenise wrote: »

Do you have a microwave at work? If you do a cheap, filling lunch is a jacket potato & beans and can be cooked in a few minutes. Also means you probably won't want a big dinner in the evening.

Denise

Good advice! I keep soup at work for those emergencies.

I love the fact you are having it for a chaser!

We all have the horrible things that "pop up" out of no-where and set us back. It's these small struggles that we have to face up to to make the big changes.

Keep positive!

Naomi

mummytogirls

How annoying about your 2 set backs today! Well done on the course of action you have taken though :T xx

boxofpaws

I hate selling stuff on eBay. Enough so that a few years ago I vowed I would just take stuff to a charity shop instead. People practically want you to give it away for free anyway.

A few years ago I sold a broken washing machine for parts. It sold at 99p which is probably all it was worth. But the guy actually emailed to ask me how I wanted paying, which I thought was ridiculous, so I said '99 1 penny pieces please'. And guess what? He did.

GeorgianaCavendish

Haha! That is too funny about the guy counting out 99 pennies, I wonder if he had to raid his sofa cushions and coin jar to find the exact change " no no, she said she wanted pennies, I can't give her a pound coin!"

I've had some really cheeky buyers on ebay in the past (including the one who told me she wanted to buy a dress I was selling to wear to an event and then send it back to me, she wouldn't get it dry cleaned but she would pay the postage! ... I know it goes on, but why tell me she was planning to do it? :huh: ) and having a run of difficult buyers or seeing things go 'under value' makes me wonder if it is worth it. BUT I keep reminding myself that I have managed to make a decent amount from ebay over the years and that my stuff isn't worth what I paid for it, it is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it now.
I am hoping that as well as making some cash, this exercise will be a wake up call about my spending habits. Virtually everything I'm selling was bought in the last 2 years and I can remember exactly what it cost (I probably still have the debt sitting on my credit card in fact!), weighing up another offer of £1.50 for a dress that cost me £40 is pretty depressing but it is definitely stopping me from checking out any of the new stuff arriving in shops at the moment!

But, on a related note, my mum took some M&S stuff to Oxfam before Xmas and they gave her a voucher to use at M&S. I think it was a 'spend £30 get £5 off' type, not a gift voucher but still - worth keeping in mind!

GeorgianaCavendish

After feeling quite demotivated by the Barclaycard hotel charge, I had a look at the DFW Challenge boards for more inspiration and the threads about No More Buying X Until I Use Up What I Have really caught my eye. I'm sure that we have a good number of books that I haven't read and I know that I have a bunch on my Kindle that I'd downloaded when free or in 99p sale that I haven't read. I've also got a lot of unused toiletries (Christmas and birthday presents mainly, but there are also some "bargains" that I bought in the sales and a whole box of samples). I quite fancy the idea of No Spend Sundays where my evening homework is to start reading a new book and try out a different nail polish or body lotion.

Also, and I know this is a bit obvious, but HOW CHEAP IS ALDI?! There isn't an Aldi where I live (and also I practically live next door to Tesco so I rarely go to other supermarkets) but I was intrigued by all the stuff I saw on the forums about Super 6 veg offers so I just looked at their website. OMG! The prices are amazing! Not just the veg either but all the meat too. I've looked up the nearest branch to me and will be making a trip there when I've used up all the stuff in my freezer & cupboards.

GeorgianaCavendish

A new week of debt-busting!

Over the weekend I managed to get another 12 items up on eBay. All my auctions end on Sunday so fingers crossed I will make a bit of cash that way. I also got confirmed for the market research group on Friday so that will be £50 in cash.

I've been researching new SIM only contracts for when my current contract ends at the end of March. I'm currently paying £27.50 a month for 6GB data, unlimited texts, unlimited calls (and £20 for the handset). I often have to buy a top up of data which is around £6 a month. I've been looking at Tesco Mobile SIM only deals which look pretty good, does anyone have experience with Tesco?

This week I'm aiming for 2 NSDs this week. I'm away for a friend's 30th birthday this weekend, there's a group of 10 of us staying at a cottage in the country. We paid for the accommodation costs at the end of last year but I need to budget for food, drinks, petrol, maybe group taxis and the activity on Saturday. Trips with this group of friends have always been very expensive in the past but a lot of that has been mindless spending, so I think this weekend will be a good test of how my budgeting holds up in real life. I had a chat about it with my husband last night and he is fully on board, he called it stealth-budgeting - sticking to a budget without telling everyone what we're doing and having a lot of attention on how much/little we're spending. (He had his own LBM last week when he realised that he could have bought a second hand Porsche with the amount of money that went towards his debt repayments last year, so he is feeling quite motivated at the moment!)

Naomim

I'm with Tesco Mobile. It's not SIM only and I don't use anywhere near that much data but I find them pretty good. I think there's a comparison tool on here somewhere.

I laughed at "stealth-budgeting" although I'm the other way. I happily tell all my friends I'm straight up skint and can't afford anything. They love me finding deals, coupons & discount vouchers but maybe that comes with being *slightly* older? We all have kids who basically drain the resources and will to live out of you.

We have an ALDI near us. It opened just over a year ago and I'd say is a victim of it's own success. It's always rammed, queues out the car park and staff frantically stacking shelves with tills opening and closing all over the shop. I did a weekly shop there Sunday and spent £47. This is food for 4 for one week including packed lunches, with meal planning.

I still need to get my stuff on eBay. Wednesday will be my day!

Naomi

GeorgianaCavendish

Thanks Naomi, I will have a nose around the site and see if I can find the comparison tool. I've got about 6 weeks until my current contract with O2 ends so lots of time to shop around.

Most of my friends haven't had kids yet, and I do think that there is an element of wanting to live it up when this group get together (we all went through the skint uni years together and I think we've been massively overcompensating for all the times we smuggled vodka into clubs in water bottles etc!).

I'll definitely check out ALDI next week, I can put up with a bit of chaos if it will cut my food budget! Do you find that you can get your weekly shop with no hassle (substitutions etc) or do I need to be a bit flexible and go with what is in stock?

All my ebay listings have multiple watchers, no bids yet but I'm hoping they are waiting until nearer the end of the auction