Muriel's Diary - almost debt free

doingitanyway

Hi Muriel,
Great to have a NSD. Do you aim for a set number each week/month?
I worked out that all the costs for my car combined came to £100 a month but then again I had a very old car!
Re the bedroom, could you sleep in the living room for a few days and get the job over and done with?
Are you using a wallpaper stripper?
Well done for decorating anyway, better than me...I've been procrastinating for months/years...
Have a relaxing evening

Muriel_Heslop

Hey @doingitanyway

With NSD's I don't have a target, if they happen they happen. I am really trying to shop once a week and get petrol as infrequently as possible, I take my own lunch to work apart from buying the odd bag of crisps, and now I'm partly at home, I should be having at least 4 NSD's a week. Obviously I need other stuff sometimes but I've consciously not bought much since lockdown, I have more than I need. Since the middle of March I've only shopped at supermarkets, with 2 trips to the post office and 1 to wilk0. And I only did 2 online orders that needed delivery. I did order 3 things from small businesses that came in the post so relatively restrained compared to some. I'm pretty happy with that - I think lockdown eased me back into a more frugal lifestyle

I did think about sleeping in the living room but my sofa isn't long enough really.  I've only got a little bit left now to do, and I'm hoping to get a professional in to decorate it properly when all the other jobs are done so they'll definitely get it done quicker than it has taken me - I started it in February! I didn't use a steamer, I have before and it was hot and messy so I used some liquid stripper from Wilk0 and it was brilliant, really great value too. I just put some in warm water, sponged it onto the walls, waited 10 minutes, scraped and it came off so easily, some of it in big sheets. It was the easiest bit actually, and so satisfying

Have a pleasant evening too, I'll pop over to your diary

Muriel_Heslop

• It was going to be an NSD but then I sorted my underwear drawer - I'm in dire need so I've done a catalogue order. A few extra bits crept in and I won't keep everything I'm sure, but whatever is left, I'll pay off asap. I've £40 in my clothing budget which probably won't cover everything.
• PA - £2.25
• P0pulusLive - £5  - only £22 until I can cash £50 out
• I received the £2.50 I cashed out yesterday from Opini0n Outp0st and transferred it to my C.H.E.F.S account, balance is now £441.05

I've been back on this site a week and in that time I've been doing more surveys than I have in a long time, and I've earned £21.75. I was only thinking the other day that it would be nice to earn a pound a day from surveys, or £30 a month. Nailing it

I'm feeling so good getting my finances back under control, I dread to think what would have happened if I'd have just carried on winging it. There's a lot in life I can't control, especially lately with all the pandemic shenanigans, but getting control of the things I can change makes me feel better.

Have a good week
 

janb5

I find Populus Live to be the best of the survey sites and at least they pay direct now .

Muriel_Heslop

They are a good site, fair payers, just wish they were a little more frequent. Oh that's interesting, it was a cheque last time I cashed out which meant a trip to town just for that

Muriel_Heslop

• £13.25 for groceries, that's it now until Friday
• Onep0ll - 10p
• PA - 56p

Not a lot to report, I was in work today and it was busy. I'm at home now for 3 days so I hope to get some chores done in my lunch break, makes such a difference!

Our local tip reopened but you can only go if you book, and I've not been able to get a slot despite trying several times. I tried again when I got home and nothing, I've just tried again and bingo! I've been having a clear out and stripping wallpaper so I can finally get rid of it. Simple pleasures eh

Muriel_Heslop

I didn't make it on last night, a night off technology was needed

Tuesday 9th

• NSD
• Onep0ll- 10p
• PA - 11p and 9p

Today

• £25.78 in A1di - I wasn't planning on going but there was a road closure and the diversion took me past A1di, and there was no queue!
• P0pulusL1ve - £3 and £1

I've got to go into work tomorrow now, bit of a shame really as I like working from home but we're needed in. I'm not sure what will happen in future, we may get the odd day at home but as we can now socially distance at work, they may say stay at work. I'll be disappointed as I was hoping to save more money on petrol!

Muriel_Heslop

• NSD
• Onep0ll - 10p
• PA - 38p

I used to religiously check dobl0tto and the free postc0de lottery (I think it's called pickmyp0stcode now) but as with the other surveys, I got out of the habit. I've been logging in again in the last few days just trying to get back in the habit but there's been no wins.....yet

I have had a couple of wins though but not financial. A family member is not great with money and at times I've tried to talk to them and show them how they could deal with their debt, but they weren't very receptive. I tried not to be too patronising but when you've had your lightbulb moment, it's so hard not to try and help others and extol the virtues of working towards debt freedom. So it was music to my ears to hear that they are doing loads of surveys to make some extra income while they are furloughed   I hope that in the future they are able to start to look at other areas of their finances.

And someone I work with is terrible with money, we've often spoken about my debt "journey" and while she is sort of interested, she still struggles to control her spending. She lives it up for 2 weeks then struggles on to payday. I'd said to her you need squirrel money away on payday and forget about it and bless her, she's asked me to save it for her So yep, she's set up an SO and I'll save it for her until she desperately needs it, and she's told me not to just let her have it for stupid things! I'm so proud

doingitanyway

The friend at work is obviously impressed with your 'debt journey.' Glad she is making steps towards changing her situation. I notice you had another NSD
How was going back into work?

Muriel_Heslop

doingitanyway said:

The friend at work is obviously impressed with your 'debt journey.' Glad she is making steps towards changing her situation. I notice you had another NSD
How was going back into work?

I think it's certainly made her think about trying to do something about her situation. Plant a little seed and see what grows

Work was fine thank you, even though I moaned about going in! It was nice to see some colleagues that I hadn't seen since March so that made it quite pleasant.