Trying to beat this thing called debt..

Kittychick

Well, I had a very good Monday and Tuesday, both NSDs, but then yesterday I went into Manchester and went a bit wild and now gave £8 to last me til Monday!
When I say I went wild I did a bit of frivolous shopping, but things that were needed-heat spray for when I use my straighteners, a cake for with my coffee, stuff like that. I also did a small Asda shop on the way home and my phone bill has gone today. It's always a tight one when both my cc and phone go out in the same week.
Meal plan is still being followed, I did a two week one so I've plenty to choose from at the minute, the shop I did included some Quorn staples so we're definitely sorted until the 1st and probably a bit beyond.
Snows really coming down again now and the Land Rover is playing up so H had to go to work in the little car, bit worried how he'll get on if it carries on-we are in a spot notorious for bad weather and also up a steep hill! Keep telling myself, worse comes to worst he'll leave work a bit early and walk the last mile or so..:eek:

Kittychick

So, I've had another couple of NSDs this week, up to four, but that's more to do with lack of money in my account rather than anything else!
On Thurs I somehow managed to do something to my back-up I just turned to one side quickly and it 'went'. It's like I've jarred it and most of the time it's OK, but every now and again it's so bloody painful!
I had a really weird experience on Weds that I haven't mentioned. I was in Manchester sat in a coffee shop waiting for H to finish work. As usual I had my current project with me and I was laying out various bits to work out placement as a young woman walked past, she looked at my things on the table and came over. She asked if I'd made them, did I sell them... I told her yes and yes.. She them asked for my shop address which I gave her after she'd been and got a pen, she also asked for my Instagram details. I'm in no delusions that I will hear from her again but it was a really positive experience although at the time it really threw me and I was shaking after she'd gone. Since then I have also taken a commission for a small item which has come from one of H's colleagues-i made something as a gift for another colleague-not an entirely selfless act, I was able to take lots of pictures so I can use them as examples. So, all in all a good week.
MSE-wise we are sticking to the meal plan except yesterday evening when we met family members for a carvery (split the bill). Looking forward to starting to rebuild my savings account from next week as all debits have gone for the month now.
Have a great weekend everyone :beer:

Kittychick

We managed a short (but very steep) walk to the shops this afternoon for pain relief and heatpads. I didn't pay but I'm not going to claim today as a NSD as I gave stuff.. I'm very happy with 4 this week.
Back very uncomfy, it's not that I'm physically exerting myself it's things like if I turn a certain way... Maybe that's a strain in itself?
Anyway, had lunch and tea from freezer-things I'd got out yesterday before we did the carvery so that's been nice and easy... Still going in the commission item and getting my 'workroom/studio' a bit more organised...
Snowing on and off all day, hoping for less tomorrow as we couldn't risk the car today so a little stuck
Hope everyone's nice and warm and cosy x

Reb2016

Life gets in the way of posting sometimes, not posted much myself lately either, good to hear you are still around, and it sounds like it is all going well

Kittychick

Good to 'hear' from you Reb, hope you are well x
3NSDs this week which is within what I was hoping for. What I do find is that aiming for an amount of NSDs a week reins in my silly spending as if I popped out for a little thing I never keep to just that one item. This way it helps me to minimise my spending down to what I really need.
Meal plan to be looked at this week as we have a few left over from last two weeks plan-meal outland take aways unplanned mean meals left over.
Tip trip and hoping for a walk later but as usual on a Saturday and it's raining!
More actual mse stuff later I hope x

Kittychick

So, I just wrote a huge post and then it was gone.. No idea what I did but to be honest technology is not my friend at the moment. As proved by the performance at weekend where I somehow managed to completely wipe the FB I'd set up with my 'goods' on it. I'd been working on it all week, trying to get it spot on before I let anyone see it, and then it was, gone! I'm not under any misapprehension that I'll make my fortune but if I can sell a couple of items a month I'll be very happy-the FB page also links to my Instagram and Etsy pages..the main advantages of Insta and FB being there's no fees.
Yesterday I managed to add nearly £6 to my savings account so I now have about £9.50 in there. But, I also have £30 elsewhere and £20 due on a commission I am handing over this week. And even more I have £23+ pending in a survey account that I can draw when it gets to £25. All these added together mean I can definitely look at getting a night away booked for H's birthday which makes me feel so good knowing it's all 'my' money.
I have made my second payment back into the savings account that I used to clear my credit card, only small ones but still about double what my minimum payment was and more importantly, no interest.
Finally, I have made a meal plan that will last the week, done some soup for two lunches and had a good vegan of the kitchen floor - not that you can tell again now I've been out to the chickens! Amazingly one of our girls has started laying again for the first time since September. I think I know which it is and I'm quite surprised really lol.
Right, hope everyone is enjoying their Monday x

Kittychick

Sunday morning and I'm up early because we are at our monthly voluntary gig. I have told H I'll get us a chippy tea on the way home-we pass an amazing place on the way home that we only discovered in autumn, and after a day on our feet being nice to people who often aren't that nice back it feels like a reward is deserved- especially when the day is unpaid. So that will almost wipe out my weekly budget but will be worth it!
I'm ashamed to say that I have only had 1 NSD this week, the majority of the rest were very low spend though. Apart from 2. And now I've just realised yesterday wasn't a NSD... !!!!!!, was a NECESSARY spend though (accidental caps), I could have let H pay but he was getting the big shop in so only seemed fair. Must do better
On a more positive front, I have booked H's birthday night away. I have paid £7 more to be able to pay when we get there as I didn't had very the money showing in my bank and wanted to get it sorted. I have at present £9+ in my saving account, £30 that H owes me that I've asked him to hang onto, he's transferring it in next few days, and £20 for a commission that he's 'holding' for me.. Again going to go into my savings account this week so that's £59. I am doing a one-to-one survey on Tuesday for £40 so that's £99 or as I'm thinking if it H's birthday hotel + £21!! That £21 will be the start of my next savings cushion.
If I have enough in my bank account tonight I will pay my weekly cc transfer into the savings account early and aim to do it at the end of the week in future when I can. It will be third payment I have made into the savings since we used savings to pay it off, if I carry on at the same rate it will take just over two years to pay back but it scares me how much longer it would have taken if I'd just carried on with paying the minimum each month.
Right I think that's everything, back later with report on how much I have left after chippy-gate!

Kittychick

Just a quick update, I've paid cc today instead of tomorrow but I'm hoping to pay again next week so there'll be an extra payment this month (I hope)
I've also rounded normal account down so its nowup from 9->13..
Did our voluntary shift today and we just got the numbers through and our team took just over £300 so that's a good result. It costs at least £200 for us to open so our team more than covered that, and everything else is (almost) profit. This month is traditionally a very quiet one and today was the same.. Can relax till next month now..
Looking forward to my bed tonight!

Kittychick

It's been a long time-I got the 'you haven't updated your password recently so !!!!!! off!' message a few weeks ago and couldn't get round it, then I tried today and I'm in, so I've no idea what the point was to that if I'm honest.
So, I'm back, cc has gone down slightly, was £265 in January is now £214 so heading in the right direction. It isn't actually credit card debt now, it was paid off from our savings so I'm paying it back there slowly.
In the last few days things have taken a bit of a turn here and it's not a good one. My anxiety /depression has been raging and I've taken it out on H, to be fair I think to some extent he deserved it, but not all of it. Things are not great between us, and he has got lots of stress with work stuff that just seems to go from bad to worse.. He was under the impression that his pension pot was a certain amount-he'd checked it about a month ago, he checked it again last night and it was about a third of what it was a month ago. There's obviously something not quite right about that and we are both assuming the worst from that-in that if it's the other way round we'll be comfortable with no worries... However, as things stand it's not good at all. So, it's tightening of every belt going and being really quite frugal for us. It kind of feels like a very large rug has been pulled from under us to be honest but as H is saying it's much better we find out now than later.
I have a largish chunk of money that will hopefully be heading my way in the next few weeks it's definitely heading my way, just the time frame that's not certain, so I'm thinking that will head into the pension pot although it won't top it up to what we thought.
Im also seriously trying to push my 'making' business with a few items sold this year-and have been taking advice from people in the know business-wise in return for lessons from me, and I was also gifted a social media conference-type thing on how to maximise your reach (being completely truthful, since I started implementing the suggestions I've noticed a difference) . .. I know this won't make my fortune but, again I am happy for profits to go into the savings, it also fits well with my anxieties and mh issues but I am only going to give it so long and then will look at work outside of the home.
So, that's pretty much it, I'm feeling very delicate right now and not sure where i/we are heading but will be keeping up to date with everyone's diary as I have been while 'locked out'
Back soon

Kittychick

So, it's Friday.
Stuff still not great here but we're plodding on. Did a voluntary session yesterday and met H on way home, picked up bits and pieces in supermarket including several yellow stickers-pies and sausage rolls for 8p each. Had one each last night and others are in the freezer.
H has now signed up to Prolific and between us we have made around £10 this week. I think this is going to be spending money for each of us-H regularly spends on ebay, nothing big but his 'earnings' can sit in his PayPal and cover this. Mine will go into my savings as I enjoy seeing that growing. When we get to next week I'm going to set a NSD target, really no point until we get the weekend out of the way as we have spendy stuff everyday til Tues.
I managed to top up my savings yday by a few pence yesterday so I'm now over the £6 mark-it went down to £2.a couple of weeks ago after an unavoidable expense that I wanted to cover myself. It's a not annoying really as £20 wouldn't have been needed if something had been better organised, will be worth it in the end though - links to the inheritance I'm due.
H is on board with savings etc to be made but only to a certain extent, he keeps saying 'we don't live a very profligate lifestyle' (we don't) but I'm just keeping to the line of 'no we don't, but changes can be made that will help longterm'... I truly believe that and the thing is, it's mainly me that needs to make them, I've been getting into the habit of 'needing' a coffee when we're out and by the time I've paid for that and a cake it's £9 which is ridiculous. Going to get back to having my free Neros coffee on a Tuesday as my big treat and trying to mainly use points st other times-if I can pay for one with points then the other isn't a problem because by then they're both half price... I'm waffling now so I'm going..
Hoping to get my latest make finished midweek so need to get a few minutes in while I can..
Back later, have a good day everyone out there