OK I'm going to do this!

browneyed_girl

Just found and read through your diary. Looks like you’re doing really well so far and seem really motivated, which can sometimes be half the challenge!

I find that Prolific is one of the better survey sites - pays really well for your time and the surveys are for academic research, rather than all this market research malarkey and are therefore generally much more interesting to complete. I also use Swagbucks, mysurvey (now called LifePoints I think) and Valued Opinions (which is the only one that exchanges points for vouchers rather than Paypal, but the choice is really good and includes supermarket vouchers).

Keep up the good work! :T

darrannah

browneyed_girl wrote: »

Just found and read through your diary. Looks like you’re doing really well so far and seem really motivated, which can sometimes be half the challenge!

I find that Prolific is one of the better survey sites - pays really well for your time and the surveys are for academic research, rather than all this market research malarkey and are therefore generally much more interesting to complete. I also use Swagbucks, mysurvey (now called LifePoints I think) and Valued Opinions (which is the only one that exchanges points for vouchers rather than Paypal, but the choice is really good and includes supermarket vouchers).

Keep up the good work! :T

Thanks browneyed_girl, I’ve signed up to prolific this morning so fingers crossed I start getting a few pence from that. I’ve tried swagbucks before but couldn’t get on with it.

Yesterday DD2 had cookery at school and needed 1/2 a pack of mince, so I decided to get another pack out and make lasagna, but because there was too much, I’ve made 3 little ones for the freezer.:T
DD2 had 2 friends over last night so an unexpected £5 spend on pizza and pop for them :mad:

I’ve decided that this week I am going to split my grocery shopping. Usually I do a monthly shop, big bottle of shampoo/conditioner, 24 toilet rolls etc and usually end up spending more than I wanted to, so I’m going to try just shopping for the week on a Monday morning with a budget of £50 and then £20 for top ups through the week, see how we get on.
I need to give meter readings today aswell, I was victim of the eversmart energy collapse a few weeks ago, I automatically transferred to utilita but to the tune of £400 extra :eek: so after a bit of research I’m not on Scottish power, hope they are as good as the reviews.
The budget has been written and I hope to pay off the studio account and the lowest card, that will be 2 accounts gone on Monday, can’t wait.
I’m off to ask the rabble about next weeks meals and write a shopping list accordingly,

Enjoy your day,
Suzy xx

darrannah

Yes, it’s pay day, that’s the only positive for now, the bad news is some of the cc balances have gone up too, so the new balances this morning before any payments are
Cc1 112.20
Cc2 180
Cc3 364.33
Cc4 1159.44 :eek:
Studio 31.22
Next 1320
Without fail every month, £50 goes into my help to save account, that’s upto £660, I don’t count that as it’s savings and won’t be touched for another year. This is NOT my EF, I have a separate account for that.
£300 has been transferred to the bills account to cover DD’s for the next month, they are all staggered through the month but I like to make sure I have the money for them. I would get enough other money through the month to cover them but I prefer it this way, hubby is the opposite and would rather pay the bills with the money throughout the month and pay more on the cc’d on payday. I’m not sure which one would work best?

Shopping is going to weekly from this morning so £50 budget and then £20 for top ups through the week, I think this should be enough for 4adults and a child.
I’ve done a cupboard inventory and I don’t need too much this week so should come in under budget. :j
I shall update later this evening with balances after I’ve paid them, for now,
Enjoy your day,
Suzy xx

darrannah

Good morning, kids are out to work and school :j there is a wash in and I’m feeling positive.
Yesterday was probably the REAL start of the debt busting, I know it’s not on the scale of some of the other fantastic diaries I’ve read, but to me it is constantly on my mind. I would love to save for a house one day, I would be a little late to the game currently being 40 :eek: and the prospect of owning is a fair few years off yet, but it’s a goal. I have a help to buy ISA set up which has the initial £100 deposit only in it, I set it up the month before my 40th to make sure I got it and I plan to pay into this in the future, but for now is not my priority :money:

Shopping was done yesterday and I had budgeted £50 for the week, I went a little over and it came in at £62, however I put that down to going from monthly to weekly, so there were toiletries and cleaning stuff that I had run out of and needed to buy, but I won’t need next week, I’m guessing it’s going to take a few weeks to settle down and into a positive routine. On the whole, I’m happy at £62

£50 was put straight into savings (now upto £660) and bill money was transferred, I’ve also set up a separate account for my grocery money that I will “pay myself” every week,:T DD2’s dinner money for the week transferred to her school parent pay system and £10 pocket money transferred to her bank.

Other bills were paid as follows
Cc1 paid £22.20 current owing £90
Cc2 paid £20 currently owing £160
Cc3 paid £134.33 currently owe £230
Cc4 Paid £299.44 currently owe £860
Studio paid £31.22 currently owe £0 :j paid off and closed :T
Next paid £100 currently owe £1220

I’m happy with how things are going at the moment, hubby (although he has nothing really to do with the finances, and due to his condition doesn’t go out often so doesn’t spend, means that the debt is essentially is all down to me!) and kids are FULLY on board especially DD2, she is even picking coppers up of the street for the jar :rotfl::rotfl: Weekly meals have been chosen by everyone, and gym rota is in place.
I just REALLY need to crack this decluttering and organisation malarkey :rotfl::rotfl:

For now, enjoy your day
Suzy xx

Chrystal

Great Post!
Sounds as though you're definitely on the right track, so keep on keeping on and you'll get there sooner than you think.

darrannah

Chrystal wrote: »

Great Post!
Sounds as though you're definitely on the right track, so keep on keeping on and you'll get there sooner than you think.

Thank you Chrystal I certainly hope so
I’ve had a NSD today which is VERY unusual for us, I even baked some shortbread for the kids which went down a storm :j I’ve had a lot of work on today (catching up from last week) so maybe that’s the reason for the NSD ....I haven’t had time to go to t FB shop:rotfl:
I’m off to bed now as up early again to finish the work that I should have finished today :mad:

darrannah

Nothing much really to report over the last few days, I’ve had a couple of NSD’s :j but have done a top up shop of £13.68 which covered bread, milk and packed lunch bits. The weekend is going to be the biggest test though cos that’s when we spend most of our money :mad:
I need to get to the allotment at some point today for some kale for dinner and to water the other stuff. Speaking of dinners I’ve managed to freeze some more extra portions so no wastage :T

CT went in yesterday but had to buy hubby a new phone, his kept searching for a network, speaker didn’t work (always had to have phone on loud speaker) and the camera was rubbish, one of our friends were selling one so we got it fairly cheap, but tbh he needs one in case he needs to get in touch with me while I’m out!
Next week I am going to start doing the “payment a day” instead of skimming for the EF I shall put towards CC1 to get that paid off,
Friday morning is granny’s phone calls, but I’m off to strip the beds 1st,

Enjoy your day,
Suzyxx

darrannah

Morning, just logging on to mention a few things, I’m still getting to grips with changing my shopping to weekly but I managed to come in at just over £4 over budget (£8 less than last week) but there was a lot of meat on offer so I filled the freezer, which means I won’t need as much next week.
“Payment a day” started today so I’ve skimmed the bank account and put £4.11 on cc3 so that brings that back down to £231, it was used for an online purchase the other day for DD2’s birthday next month.
Meal plan has been set by ‘the rabble’ for the week and shopping was done accordingly.
It’s starting to get cold in a morning and evening now so have had the heating on once this week so far for about half an hour. We are quite lucky that due to the insulation, this house is very warm anyway, it has a “heat distribution” system, which basically means for example if I’m cooking it will take the heat from the kitchen and distribute it to other rooms in the house
There’s only one thing I want to buy this week which is some thicker tights for DD2 for school. (She won’t wear trousers :eek: )
Electric company is coming to fit smart meters next week, so should be able to keep a closer eye on the gas and electric spend.
That’s about it for now so off to do some work,

Enjoy your day, Suzy xx

darrannah

Tax credits went in today so I have made 3 “PAD’s”
Cc1 paid £5.89 leaves £80
Cc2 paid £20 leaves £140
Cc3 paid £14.24 leaves £220
I have a £15 Cashback due from TCB and there is £2.79 I can transfer from surveys, but I might keep that where it is for now.
Did a bit of a top up shop yesterday and spent around £15 so not too bad
I have no work on today so I am going to go bake goodies for the weekend

Enjoy your day,
Suzy xxx

[Deleted User]

Well done on the Pading you're doing great.

Have a lovely day x