We will get this debt down & the savings up

Sun_Addict

Well done to OH 👏 Always worth haggling. Hope your lurgy starts to get better soon. Enjoy Strictly 💃

Makingabobor2

Well Strictly was a bit rubbish tonight I thought. So many of the tunes just didn't fit the dances. Thought Helen was best. Still at least as I wasn't 100% paying attention I managed another Curious Cats survey & cashed out another £1.05

Sun_Addict

I thought the Strictly theme last night was the worst one ever. What on earth were they thinking! Looking forward to the Halloween theme next week though.

LittleMissDetermined

I had to catch up on Strictly as I had gone out, and I agree the theme didn't really fit with the usual Strictly vibe, I see what they were trying to do with the 100 years of the Beeb but not sure it worked well.  Halloween is my fave one but we are out in fancy dress on Saturday so will have to catch up again haha.

Hope you're feeling a bit brighter @Makingabobor2?
LMD x

Makingabobor2

Ooh LMD....not another night out....   Are you Trick or Treating? 

Well not much to say today, been another quiet day, although I did get just over £7 land in my PP account from TCB & surveys. Got quite a bit more waiting to be approved on Prolific and to make up to the required amount on other survey sites....some are just sooooooo slow.   I feel like everything is happening slowly at the moment, although I do realise that becoming debt free is a marathon and not a sprint. I keep telling everyone else that, so I need to realise it myself.  Its hard trying to pay off a mortgage and get rid of the other debts....but we will get there. By next summer things should start to improve with our income, so that will help...although all the household bills will have risen a lot by then.....lol

 Thinking I may have turned a corner with the lurgy, didn't feel quite so bad today, although TBH, I could have easily stayed in bed and slept a lot more. At least the weather was nice, so hoping the sun will make me feel back to 100% soon. Thinking of having a look at what extra supplements I should be taking to boost my immune system and give me energy. Already take vit C, Vit D, Probiotics & Selenium. Trouble is they are all soooo expensive & I am trying to spend my money on more important things.  Hoping to start exercising more again now as well, I haven't done anything for a few days.....feel lazy. 

So my long term plan over the next few weeks is to look at our spreadsheets and see how things are going. Got to see if anything needs tweaking at all. Going to start some autumn cleaning, deep cleaning each room and shampooing carpets before winter. Also need to get the garden "winter ready". Its all go isn't it?

LittleMissDetermined

Glad to hear you are feeling a little better, don't try and do too much too soon as it can lead to a set back. Yes, another night out I'm afraid... this time with hubby, a night in town in fancy dress.  To be honest, because he works shifts we don't get many weekends together when he's off so we like to make the most of them  
I find the payouts come in fits and starts, it's slow for a few days and then I get a good payout - hope you get something soon 
LMD x

CMD79

Makingabobor2 said:

Just a quick update on the day so far, hoping everyone is having a good day. Sun is shining, so hoping it will make this dreaded lurgy go away as I had a bad night coughing, runny nose and couldn't get comfortable, but OH bought me a bar of lovely dark good quality chocolate when he popped to the shop for tissues for me on his way home from work, so that cheered me up. 

Also OH has scored another brownie point today as we had the email from internet/tv/phone provider...won't say who they are,...saying it was time for a price rise.   We have been with them as loyal customers for well over 16 years now and every time they want to put up the cost, we seem to manage to wangle a better deal, so just shows it can be done.  We only have the basic TV package as don't want sports channels and OH manages to find any films we want to watch, elsewhere. So they wanted to put it up from £40 to £59.  So he checked online to arm himself with all the info available and rang up. He told them that on their website they are offering new customers a deal for £37 plus faster internet & a new box for free.  The woman he spoke to had a long look and said they couldn't do that for us & if we wanted a new box it would be £25!  OH said, no we don't really want a new box, but explained that it seems unfair that new customers are getting deals of £37 and yet they want to charge us £59 for being loyal.  So she said they couldn't do anything, so he asked to be put through to the "leaving dept". 
 Soon as he explained we would leave....(which we didn't really want to do),  they suddenly decided they could do us a deal at £37 for 18 months. So not only did he get us a cheaper price than the planned rise, its also £3 cheaper than we've been paying for the last year!!  Result and brownie point for OH. 

On other financial news, I cashed out £10.21 from surveys and have a small amount sat in Curious Cats that I may get to cash out later.  So extra £10 paid off the mortgage today.  Which is very helpful as we had a letter the other day saying with the new % rate rise it is going up another £6 a month from end of November!  Its still cheaper than trying to get a fixed rate at the moment and as we only have 3.5years max left, we'd rather stick with the variable rate. 

Also got a few ££ sat in TCB, but don't know whether to cash it out or leave it to build up from a few more online shops. 

So all in all a good day so far. Very quiet on the survey front, but it is a weekend, so I'm not surprised. The sun is definitely cheering me up and I hope I will feel quite a bit better by tomorrow. Although rain is foreacast, so not sure we'll be going for a walk or anything, which is what I should be doing as not been out for a couple of days while I've been feeling bad. My exercise routine is suffering, but if I do much I just start coughing. Will try tomorrow to get back to normal 

BTW @CMD79, I looked up a couple of those mystery shopping companies you mentioned, but was a bit worried that one was asking for bank details to get paid into, at the initial sign up. I didn't go ahead with it, as I was a bit worried about giving the details. Are they genuine and legit?  which ones are best?  Have you been with them a long time? 

So hope you all have a good rest of the day and its Strictly tonight. Wonder who will go this week?  

Yes, don't blame you for 3.5 years... though one thing I will say, is take a look at TCB for mortgage lenders. Last time I looked, it was megabucks - though potentially any change on your mortgage would negate any gains pretty quickly! 

Good work for the OH! You have to play the game with all your contracts. It doesn't pay to be loyal all the time.

Yes, I know what you mean about the bank details. Grassroots and Bare I have been with since... well, before I was married, so 10 year, plus. Not used them all that time, but been signed up to them. The others I have signed up with since my LBM early this year. Tern pay the week after you've done the shop, and even if you do it on a Sunday, I've been paid on the Monday. They have a lot of quite easy ones too, though only worth it money wise if you're close to where they are. Typically, I earn between £7.50 and £15, though occasionally £20. I have worked out that when they first post jobs they are £7.50 and then if you hold out, they need more evaluations, so they increase the fee to make it more worthwhile. The ones that are £7.50, I've stopped doing because you can only do the same shop every 3 months, so within the 3 months, it'll probably come up again at a higher rate, and that is working for me so far!! 

The others I listed, are all on the same SassieShop system, so I'm confident they are legit, have completed shops within the last 2 weeks with them, but not yet been paid. So I'll let you know when I get the money, but they are doing all the same things the others do.

If you want to start somewhere, Tern are my favourite for speed of payment and ease of shops. Grassroots can be YEARS in between shops! Literally!!! But they do pay quickly when you get one and some are less than 20 minutes start to finish including the report! I did 3 back to back a few weeks ago without getting out of bed in less than hour- for £6 each.

Let me know if you need any more info.... xxxx

Makingabobor2

Good Morning world its a brand new day....windy & wet, but the sun is forecast....hope so as I have sheets in the wash

@CMD79 can you explain how you do mystery shops without getting out of bed??   Sounds great.... .   I have new signed up with Tern and TBH, a job came up straight away, but as it had to be done today, I didn't go for it as wasn't going into town today and would be silly to go just for the job. I'd rather take them when I can plan a shopping day at the same time. Its about 4 miles each way & I shop there most weeks anyway, so its all about the planning....lol   I'll take a look at Grassroots, thanks.

Survey wise, its been a very slow week. Prolific has been a lot slower, although I do have a few ££ still waiting to be approved...fingers crossed.  With the other companies I just seem to keep getting screened out such a lot. Makes me cross when you answer so many questions and then they say sorry you're not a match.... .     Is it only me, or does anyone else talk to their computer/phone at the end of the surveys?  You know, when it says..."Thanks for taking part", or something similar. I find myself saying   "You're welcome"....lol

I'm so near & yet so far with my target to make £5 a day this month. With it being a weekend coming up, I'm not sure if I'll get anything else to cash out.   I will have to look if there are any other survey sites to add.   Although I do have a few bits I was going to list to sell on local FB pages, so if I get round to that later, it might bring in a bit of extra cash...fingers crossed again.   

On the debt front, I spent yesterday going through paperwork to do with all the creditors. Its all filed neatly but every now and then I get rid of some of the old unimportant stuff and shred it. I also have a spread sheet I keep up to date. But at the moment its only going down slowly, but that will change soon, I am confident.  I am certainly grateful for the amount we paid off already and the fact that I now am able to make a bit of extra cash here & there. 
  
Talking of being grateful, I used to keep a gratitude diary, as I'm "that sort of person" and believe a lot in "that sort of thing"....lol.. You know, the power of positive thought etc etc and The Law of Attraction. Read some brilliant books on the subject.
  Anyway, it occurred to me that I have stopped writing my gratitude journal, probably because by the time I go to bed I'm too tired.  So maybe I should write in this diary what I am grateful for each time.  This last week I would say I am also very grateful for OH managing to get that great deal with broadband provider. I'm certainly grateful for all the extra money I have managed to make this month.  Would like to think that eventually I can aim for £10 a day, but think tiny steps at the moment.   And I am definitely grateful for all of you supporting me & cheering me on. 

On the home front, I've started my autumn/winter clean & declutter. Looking for anything I can sell/donate to charity shop/get rid of.  I did it last year, but feel I wasn't ruthless enough. Hope to have been through everything by next week and then going to get out the carpet shampooer and give every room a good clean. I hate shampooing carpets, its such a faff, but I always like how it looks & smells afterwards, so worth the hassle.  

Well the rain has stopped while I've been typing, so I'm off to peg out the washing.   Oh, and just to add, I am feeling a lot better now. Just a silly niggly little cough and think I need to just sleep better....should go to bed earlier maybe. 

Sun_Addict

I’m glad you’re feeling better. It’s nice to think about things to be grateful for, we tend to dwell on the rubbish things and overlook the good ones. There’s a lot to be thankful for if you take time to think about it. 

Makingabobor2

Sun_Addict said:

I’m glad you’re feeling better. It’s nice to think about things to be grateful for, we tend to dwell on the rubbish things and overlook the good ones. There’s a lot to be thankful for if you take time to think about it. 

Yes indeed. Even though we still have debt, I do feel that our life is a lot better than it was when we were spending more.