Finally Facing Up to our Debt

[Deleted User]

That's great news hun x

Lemon_Tree

That's great news not having to pay interest will make a huge difference

miss_jelly

Happy Monday!

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Ours went by in a flash (as always) and I can't believe we are now in December. I know everyone says this but this whole year has flown by so quickly!

The weekend was fairly low spend which was nice - I went to the gym Saturday morning (no cost there as I pay a monthly membership - and this I justify as I use it 4-5 times a week and it really helps with my mental wellebing) and then myself and the hubby popped out for some lunch. This was a little indulgent I admit but since our LBM we have seriously cut back our eating out and takeaways - we now allow ourselves a meal out at the weekend as our treat. I then had Saturday night in and used a meal up from the freezer so no spend there. Hubby was out at a boxing match with his friends but his ticket was paid for by another friend so again relatively low spend.

Yesterday we went to my MIL's for a roast dinner so again no spend there. I did make a cake to take with us but we had all the ingredients already! So all in all a nice low spend weekend. Which is a big difference to how we would have normally spent a weekend!

Today I am working from home so no spends planned. I have booked a grocery order for click & collect on Wednesday morning so we will see how that goes. I have also done my first meal plan for the week - normally I have a rough idea of what I am going to cook however this week I have actually pre-planned our evening meals and so have just ordered the relevant bits of those. Lunches I have left ad hoc as I am always happy to make something up with whatever we have in and my hubby will normally sort himself out. So hopefully if this is a success I can start making some further savings on our grocery spend.

Our iron disintegrated over the weekend which is highly annoying but I have managed to order a replacement one with some John Lewis vouchers that we were gifted for our wedding so no cost there. Previously I would have felt bad for spending the vouchers on something as 'dull' as an iron and instead put the cots on a CC! Which is completely madness.... so I have viewed this as a useful purchase which hasn't cost us anything - plus I managed to get a really good discount due to the cyber sales from the weekend!

Finances are currently all up to date - just waiting for hubby to transfer some money over and then we are set for the month.

We've got quite a few Christmas related events coming up so it will be really interesting to see how we get on. But on the present front I have a few bits left to get but I intend on using the money I have made from eBay etc to cover these.

So all in all a pretty productive start to the week. The sun is shining, it is crisp and fresh here and I've got a slice of lemon drizzle cake with my name on it!

Speak soon
xx

miss_jelly

Sorry Lemon Tree and Purplemumof2 - missed your replies when I just posted.

Thanks for your kind words - I am very aware how lucky we are to have a family member able to help us out and we fully intend to get ourselves back on the straight and narrow so that we never need to ask for help again.

miss_jelly

Afternoon!

Just checking in as I wait for some protein flapjacks to cook in the oven. Have had a pretty productive morning - was at the gym first thing and on my way back swung by the supermarket to pick up my food shop from click & collect. Must say I was very impressed with the process - especially as it meant I was home with everything by 8:15am.

I've done a load of washing which is now hanging on the airer and I have written my Christmas card list. I think we should have just enough left from last year without having to purchase anymore which is nice. This Christmas really is turning into a very frugal one which is good. My husband and I are spending Christmas Day on our own which we are looking forward to. I do love hosting and having everyone round but we have done that the last two years and truthfully after the wedding we just want some time on our own to just be. The good news is we have some vouchers for M&S which we received for our wedding which we are planning to use to buy a truly lovely Christmas spread for ourselves. So hopefully no cost there which will make it all the more tasty I am sure!

I've just reached my first £5 on Prolific but I think I am going try and let it build up for a little bit before I cash out.

I plan on sitting down with hubby later today to go through his finances for the month as he has been paid and then we can work out our final figures towards our remaining CC's - which will be really good.

So all in all a fairly quiet, but productive day!

Hope everyone is well x

OnlyPariah

I just thought I'd pop in and offer my support. You were asking about survey sites. How are you getting on with these? I do a few and in about 3 weeks managed to earn £20 which is awesome.

Prolific Academic is probably my most profitable but you need to make sure you're logged in and can see the tab in your browser. It will auto refresh and let you know as soon as a study is in. Some are really quick for 30 to 40p but some studies will pay up to £2 odd. I think £2.48 has been my most.

I've also just signed up to TopCashback and bought a £16 electric toothbrush from Amazon through the site. I got 80p back for doing that. All my future purchases will go through there.

MallyGirl

I am a member of TopCashBack, Quido and EasyFundraising. I check between the 3 on which is paying out the most for the retailer I am about to use. TCB is usually best but not always - I have been signed up for a long time with them and my TCB cashback total is just short of £2000. There have been the occasional big kickback but on the whole it is pounds and pennies here and there.

JennyJukes

miss_jelly wrote: »

Afternoon!

Just checking in as I wait for some protein flapjacks to cook in the oven. Have had a pretty productive morning - was at the gym first thing and on my way back swung by the supermarket to pick up my food shop from click & collect. Must say I was very impressed with the process - especially as it meant I was home with everything by 8:15am.

I've done a load of washing which is now hanging on the airer and I have written my Christmas card list. I think we should have just enough left from last year without having to purchase anymore which is nice. This Christmas really is turning into a very frugal one which is good. My husband and I are spending Christmas Day on our own which we are looking forward to. I do love hosting and having everyone round but we have done that the last two years and truthfully after the wedding we just want some time on our own to just be. The good news is we have some vouchers for M&S which we received for our wedding which we are planning to use to buy a truly lovely Christmas spread for ourselves. So hopefully no cost there which will make it all the more tasty I am sure!

I've just reached my first £5 on Prolific but I think I am going try and let it build up for a little bit before I cash out.

I plan on sitting down with hubby later today to go through his finances for the month as he has been paid and then we can work out our final figures towards our remaining CC's - which will be really good.

So all in all a fairly quiet, but productive day!

Hope everyone is well x

Just a tip with prolific, I think for the first 3 cashouts you can only cash out on Tuesdays and Fridays so it's probably better to cashout ASAP for the first three so that you can cash out instantly in future

Naomim

miss_jelly wrote: »

I've just reached my first £5 on Prolific but I think I am going try and let it build up for a little bit before I cash out.

OnlyPariah wrote: »

I just thought I'd pop in and offer my support. You were asking about survey sites. How are you getting on with these? I do a few and in about 3 weeks managed to earn £20 which is awesome.

Prolific Academic is probably my most profitable but you need to make sure you're logged in and can see the tab in your browser. It will auto refresh and let you know as soon as a study is in. Some are really quick for 30 to 40p but some studies will pay up to £2 odd. I think £2.48 has been my most.

I've also just signed up to TopCashback and bought a £16 electric toothbrush from Amazon through the site. I got 80p back for doing that. All my future purchases will go through there.

MallyGirl wrote: »

I am a member of TopCashBack, Quido and EasyFundraising. I check between the 3 on which is paying out the most for the retailer I am about to use. TCB is usually best but not always - I have been signed up for a long time with them and my TCB cashback total is just short of £2000. There have been the occasional big kickback but on the whole it is pounds and pennies here and there.

I've just reached my first £10 with Prolific. Going to see how it goes for now. Yesterday had loads of surverys, today... none.

I've used Quidco for a few years and had £1,500 back. Again most of it the odd £1 here and there. I have just switched energy supplier and got £73.50 tracking. Every penny helps!

Naomim