Say No to Credit Cards Diary

Scott-Weiland

Say_No_to_Credit_Cards wrote: »

Good morning,

Well, I have just checked my bank account and I have £16.67 left until pay day on 31st August :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:, so not good. However on the bright side I have enough fuel in the car to last until next months budget, and I also have £73.88 left in the food money kitty which will last us, when I have looked at what we have in the fridge freezer and cupboards. This month feels like it has gone on and on and on for some reason.

So needs must and I sat last night and listed quite a lot on ebay to try and generate some cash as I really do not like being that low in my bank. All the monthly bills and credit cards have been paid together with some over payments but I feel I have left myself a little short.

My dad is doing great now and is on the road to recovery which is amazing given his age.

Gemsy81 - Thanks for dropping in on me. The car boot sale what can I say!. I looked at the weather and it said it was going to be nice so on Saturday I loaded all the stuff into the car. Got up at the crack on dawn on Sunday morning and the rain was horrendous so I got back in bed. Later on I emptied the car and put all the stuff back into the garage. To say it was a de-motivator was an understatement. I know this can happen, and all the stuff is now ready for next time. I keep looking at the weather as I really really need to go to generate some cash. So fingers crossed for this Sunday.

lindez - Thanks for visiting. I keep on making a PAD I think that is why my bank account has reduced so much this month. But, it also keeps me so focused on those balances as well. I have decided each month I am going to purchase a few presents and use anything that is in the unwanted gifts boxes in the loft this year. I am not going to use any credit cards at all because that is the reason I am in this mess. So we need to keep a close eye on each other and make sure those cards do not come out to buy gifts that people most probably do not want or need.

Scott-Weiland - Thanks for dropping in. If I am honest I have not looked at survey sites as yet as I am so busy with my dad and trying to declutter. However, this is something that I am going to look at next. Which sites do you recommend?

Take care everybody and have a great day

SNTCC

Opinionoutpost.co.uk
Onepoll.com
Prolific Academic
Yougov
And Swagbucks

There good starting points

Say_No_to_Credit_Cards

Morning fine people out there,

Well to say I am having a busy time is an understatement at the moment.

Quick update. My dad is great and is now self sufficient apart from if he wants to go any where as he cannot drive, which is fine.

Food - I have £42.58 left in the food kitty until the end of this month so that is also manageable.

Petrol - Still got 1/3 of a tank left so that is also in a good place if I do not use it a lot over the weekend.


The good news. One of my friends has her own business. She has got a massive order so asked did I have any time to give her a hand. So I have made time to help her out. I told her I did not want paying because of the tax and national insurance because it would be a pain for just this one time. So in return for helping her this week and next week she has gifted me a Asda gift card that will cover the food budget next month. So the money that I would have allocated can now be used as an extra payment. Happy Days.

Moguline - Thank you so much for the information on the surveys. As soon as I have finished helping my friend out I am going to go and register with them all, because any extra cash can also be paid to the credit cards.

jwil - What can I say about car boot sales. I was going to do one on Sunday but I also keep looking at the weather and it is going to rain all day again. Really gutted to be honest as I was also hoping to get rid of the mountain of junk ( amazing items! ) in the garage. Lets keep our fingers crossed for the weekend after this as my bank balance really does need an injection of extra cash.

Sugarcandy - Thank you so much for your kind words. I honestly think it is so easy to fall on this journey. The most important thing is at some point you realise that and start again. Just keep thinking when this is gone, it is going to be fantastic. I am going to go and have a look if you have a diary. If you do not start one as I feel this really keeps you focused because in a strange way you feel accountable because people are reading and watching what you are doing.

Scott-Weiland - Thank you once again for dropping by. I am going to go and get myself registered with the ones you have recommended and go from there. Thank you so much for taking the time. How is the training going?

Also challenges for next month:

1. Stay within the food budget,

2. Stay within the Petrol budget,

3. List at least one item a day on ebay. I have decided to do this as I find that I put stuff in a box to list. Then if I cannot find a few hours to list the contents I do not do it. So I feel I can always find enough time to list at least one thing a day. So in September I will have listed at least 30 items.

4. 7 NSD,

5. 2 Car boot sales ( weather dependent)

6. Buy four gifts for people on the Christmas list.

Right I am gone as lots to do and little time to do it in.

Take care everybody and thanks once again for reading my junk.

SNTCC

Say_No_to_Credit_Cards

Hi Everybody,

I have just got back from taking my dad for an appointment. When we were on our way home he put an envelope on the dashboard of the car. He said to me that he was not taking no for an answer. He had put some money in the envelope as he knew it was costing me money for fuel for the car driving him around and back and too to his house with food. He also said to me that I had been cooking for him a lot and it must have cost me money to feed him all the time.

This is right but I did not want money for it is I did not mind doing it. So he said to me he had hardly not spent any money over the last couple of weeks for the same reasons and he was not taking no for an answer.

In the conversation he said to me that he knew I had not done ebay and missed out on going to the car boot sale when the weather was nice because of helping him. So the money was for this as well. He had put £200 in the envelope.

So having thought about it I am going to add this to my extra income for August, because he is right in what he said. I am going to pay £100 of the credit cards and keep the other £100 for any further expenses for extra fuel and food that we may use due to the extra running around and meals.

I feel like I am turning a corner so much at the moment and somebody is looking down on me and giving me a helping hand at the moment. Which feels fantastic.

SNTCC

Turningpenniesintopounds

Well done on everything you’ve achieved so far, SNTCC. Have subscribed to your diary, it’s both motivating and uplifting :T I’ve no doubt whatsoever that you’ll hit that magic £35,000 by the end of the year x

Say_No_to_Credit_Cards

Turningpenniesintopounds wrote: »

Well done on everything you’ve achieved so far, SNTCC. Have subscribed to your diary, it’s both motivating and uplifting :T I’ve no doubt whatsoever that you’ll hit that magic £35,000 by the end of the year x

Thank you so much for your kind words. I really intend to hit that target before the end of the year. If there was not the expense of christmas I would have put that target lower.

My plan is to try and get organised and have all the christmas gift bought and paid cash by the end of November. Then that leave December free for extra food bits. In that way I will not be tempted to use a horrible credit card.

Take care and have a lovely long weekend.

SNTCC

enthusiasticsaver

I have just caught up on your diary SayNo and you seem to be doing brilliantly. I have been busy helping my DD with my DGDs as she had a new baby in April. Sorry your Dad had an accident but it sounds like he was very grateful for all your help and what a thoughtful man to give you money to compensate for no ebaying. Whatever happens around debt and finances family is the most important thing.


Looking at your signature it looks like you have repaid more than 8% of your debt in just a few months. Fantastic result particularly as none of your family seem to have noticed. The regifting sounds great so long as you don't regift it to the person who bought it for you.:rotfl::rotfl:

Say_No_to_Credit_Cards

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I have just caught up on your diary SayNo and you seem to be doing brilliantly. I have been busy helping my DD with my DGDs as she had a new baby in April. Sorry your Dad had an accident but it sounds like he was very grateful for all your help and what a thoughtful man to give you money to compensate for no ebaying. Whatever happens around debt and finances family is the most important thing.


Looking at your signature it looks like you have repaid more than 8% of your debt in just a few months. Fantastic result particularly as none of your family seem to have noticed. The regifting sounds great so long as you don't regift it to the person who bought it for you.:rotfl::rotfl:

Hi enthusiasticsaver,

Thank you so much for dropping in and reading all my waffle, I really appreciate your comments. I think it is so nice of you to help all the people on this forum in the way you do.

The debt is coming down now and I feel so much more in control, which has help me so much. I cannot believe it is 8% paid off, that is fantastic. As for the food shopping I have found it so easy to cut back the amount we spend. For anybody reading this the things I have done to reduce the food bill without any change to the quality of the food we eat is:

1. Reduce the amount we waste, put in the bin that has not been used,
2. I have started shopping at a few shops instead of doing the total shop at Asda. I really cannot
believe the amount you can save by doing this.
3. Making a lot more food from scratch, this has been a life saver as it cost so much less to
make and tastes far better than anything you buy in a supermarket.

Other silly changes I have done is:

Add water to juices so that they go further,
Add Quorn mince when it is on offer to mince dishes I make so they can be used for two meals instead of one,
Fill the heinz tomato sauce bottle with a non branded one,
I also buy a good coffee and then a cheaper one and mix them so the coffee is still nice but goes further,

I cannot think of any others at the moment, does anybody else do stuff like this and if you do what do you do?

enthusiasticsaver, as for the re-gifting I know I am being very careful with who gets given what. At the moment it is saving me a fortune which is fantastic. For some reason people tend to buy me bottles of champaign or proseco which I do not like. These are great to give as presents and I tend to put a little something with it. The cupboard is still very full and I have got three big boxes in the loft full of all sorts of gift that nobody in the house wanted.

Right I am off now to do some tidying up, sorting out and ebaying some stuff.

Take care and have a great weekend.

jwil

You are doing really well. That is really kind of your Dad, and also your friend! 8% cleared is a great result!

I add lentils to mince to bulk it out and also grate in veg so they are not so noticeable.

Reducing food waste is one of the biggest things you can do for the environment as well as your pocket, so you've got a double bonus with that :T

Ipsos I Say is another good survey site and you can cash out for a £2 amazon voucher which doesn't take very long.

Say_No_to_Credit_Cards

Morning everybody,

What a horrible day. I am so glad I made the decision not to load the car up for the car boot sale. Fingers crossed for next time.

Woke up this morning to two sales on ebay so that takes me to £91.23 profit this month from ebay sales. I am hoping this will start to pick up when the kids go back into school. Roll on September.

So with the ebay sales, the money from my dad and gift card from my friend for helping her that means an extra £541.13 this month, which is fantastic. I know some of it is in the form of a gift card that I am going to use for food next months but I am so happy with that.

Going food shopping later and I think I am going to try Aldi this week as I never really go to this shop. So from reading all the post about people saying it is great and cheap I am going to go and do a little tester shop. I have enough money in the food kitty to last until the end of the month, which is fabulous.

Later today I am going to have a good look at all my credit cards and work out when some of the deals will be ending on the 0% as I think some of them are due to end early October. I just hope I can find a way of moving the amounts to stop me having to pay interest on the amounts. That is my main job for today as I dont really feel in control of the cards at the moment as I have no idea when all the different rates change and that is no good at all.

jwil - Thank you for stopping by. That is a good idea for the lentils and the carrots. Do you family notice when you do this? I have added Ipsos to the list for when I get around to doing survey sites. It is great news on the 8% I just cannot wait to get it to 10% now,

Any way everybody have a great day and I am going food shopping now.

lindez

Hi say no to credit cards,
Just caught up on your weekly update. Wow 8% paid off so far is brilliant, well done.
Hope you manage to get a 0% deal to transfer you cc. Thank you to the posts about survey sites I too will have a look at these.
How lovely of your dad to give you the envelope hope he is now feeling a lot better.
Take care x