Flying solo

twiggy86

Update on the bits and pieces clear out....

Gone already...

• Velux window (free)
• Toaster (free)

Collection arranged (and hoping people turn up as arranged!!!)...

• Bedframe (£40) - collection arranged for tomorrow evening
• Old virgin media box (free) - collection arrange for tomorrow morning 
• Some hot tub chemicals (free) - collection arranged for this evening 
• TV unit (free) - collection tbc

No takers yet...

• Glass set of shelves - just listed for free

Not many items and mostly for free so not necessarily MSE (well not for me, but very MSE for the recipients!) but this has been on my radar for far too long - especially for the bulky items!!! Need to rummage around and see what else I can find! 

twiggy86

Morning!

Couple of bits got collected yesterday and hopefully some others today! However, the person who is meant to be collecting the bed is mucking me around! Said I would be home from 5:30 this evening and got a response saying they could come between 9:30-12:30 am!!! Grrr!!! Unfortunately there hasn't been any other interest or I'd tell them to bu**er off!!! 

I only ended up having a sandwich for dinner as the chicken breasts I'd taken out of the freezer were still very much frozen!!! Not a bad thing though as I only have a light snack before acro yoga (which involves a lot of going upside down!) I had great fun at acro last night - they mentioned there is a local weekend event in August which I think I want to go to but it's £99, so need to consider! 

In debt busting news - I'm itching to make a £150 over payment to my CCs... despite previously saying I was going to stick to paying minimums at the moment!!! If I was to pay £150 it would take me from the 11k bracket and into the 10k bracket!!! It would also mean that so far this year I had reached 40% of my target - yes I am behind where I should be half way through the year, however I have been splitting my priorities so far this year! I do have £185 in the spreadsheet for additional CC payments but had been holding on to it! Do I just take the plunge?! Why is it so hard to make a decision?!?!?! 

Bits and bobs for today...

• Leave a couple of bits out for collection 
• Take lunch to work 
  
• Update spreadsheet 
• Message freinds about booking train tickets to London next month 
• Try and pin down people collecting other items! 
• Clean carpet in spare room - once that's done I can actually get round to building the new bed!!!*
• Light dinner before netball
  
• Park for free at netball 

* I have been busy but think I had been procrastinating on this as it then means sorting out my office area, including my craft materials! They're a bit haphazardly organised at the moment which doesn't matter but once they're in a nicely organised room I won't want them just piled up!!! 

PennysIntoPounds

What will it leave you short on if you pay it and can that be made up for? Getting into the 10s would be a brilliant achievement!

twiggy86

Thanks @PennysIntoPounds - the answer is that it won't leave me short on anything except possible extra wiggle room in the budget. In my spreadsheet it's accounted for as being for debt repayment, I just hadn't paid it off the CC as I was faffing between if I wanted to use it as a CC payment or shove in my "misc savings" or something else!! I.e. being incredibly indecisive! Wiggle room shouldn't be required as I am aiming to stick to my budgeted allowances and if I don't then I have my buffers* and misc savings I can fall back on. 

*I treat a balance of £100 in each of my accounts as effectively being £0, so each account always has a buffer of £100 in it should I overspend. (Kind of my equivalent of a small overdraft I guess!)

So I think that's decision made that I should use it as a CC payment to get into the next bracket!!! 

twiggy86

Payment made so my debt total is now £10,999.17!!! 

This means that so far this year I have cleared £2k of debt! I may not be on track at the moment to reach my target of getting the total debt under £8k, but I am on track (just!) to get it starting with a single figure by the end of the year! 

PennysIntoPounds

Woohoo, congratulations! 

FacelessNumber

Excellent news on the extra payment, it must feel like a big milestone!

twiggy86

Thank you both! It does feel like a good achievement! Especially given that I'm not 100% focused on debt busting at the moment (i.e. with doing up the house as well). 

Last night the bed and the TV unit were both collected - got £40 for the bed, which is better than nothing and so good to finally get it out the house taking up space! I also cleaned the carpet in the second bedroom and washed the bedding so that it's nice and fresh. Then went to Home Bargains and grabbed a new duvet, pillows etc plus bought a couple of towels as mine are so tatty! Then went to the pub for a quick beer - friend bought them as I paid last time - then on to netball!!! Finally got back home at 10:30 where I then put another load of washing on a quick cycle so that I could get the mattress protector washed and dried so that I can actually make the bed up when I get home later!!! So a very busy and productive evening!!! 

Dad was at mine this morning making the bed - already texted to say he's all done!! Also asked him about an outdoor light I had uncovered (still brand new in the box) as wanted to know if it requires an electricity supply - which it does so would be a bigger job to fit and I'm not that bothered. So I said I was going to give it away on FB and he's said that he wants it, which is good as it's something else out of the house! Also got rid of 4 very tatty pillows this morning and have earmarked a few other things to list next week! 

Not entirely sure of exact plans this weekend. Me, bf and a load of my friends have tickets to a local outdoor event (which runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday) - however they give the weather rubbish!!! Tickets were only £15 so it's no big deal if we don't go, although I do want my friends to meet bf - and of course, always nice to see my friends!!! Will be fun if the weather is ok, but might be a bit miserable if its raining (currently forecast!!) Then Saturday night me and bf are going for dinner with my mum, dad and brother which will be the first time he meets them!!! Dad has said he's paying but we'll see! Then Sunday bf has invited me to lunch with him and his kids - however I do want him to check that they kids are cool with me being there given that it's fathers day! I have met them a few times, but feels like a big deal maybe?! 

Anyway, on to today...

• Load of washing on 30 degree quick cycle 
• Hang washing on airer 
• Change bedding on my bed and put covers on new duvet and pillows for new guest bed, so that I can simply put the bottom sheet on when I get home as the rest is done
• Make lunch to take to work 
• Update spreadsheet (to reflect a NSD) 
• Pop to shop on way home for a couple of bits
• Snap receipt 
• See what the evening holds - suggested possibly going to a local pub where there's live music if we don't fancy the outdoor thing! 

PennysIntoPounds

So productive! And great on the £40.
Seems a shame to waste a £15 ticket, get yer waterproofs on! I'm sure the organisers will appreciate someone turning up too 😂

twiggy86

You'll be pleased to hear @PennysIntoPounds that we ended up going along at some point on Friday, Saturday and Sunday! So definitely got my money's worth out of the ticket! 

Friday night me and bf went down for a few hours and met some of my friends. As the weather looked rubbish I opted to drive so that we were free to leave whenever without feeling "stuck" - parked for free at my best friend's parent's house which was about a 5 minute walk away. Did buy us dinner there and a drink, then bf bought other drinks. 

Saturday morning we booked our train tickets and hotel for going to stay in London in a couple of weekend's time - so that's fun! At the moment I have used money from the "misc savings" but will decide if that is what I want to do or utilise a different pot or my personal funds - although I don't have the full £193 in my personal at the moment. Then we went back off to the festival - very chilled, just sat around with my friends. Bf bought us lunch and a drink as I paid for dinner the night before. Then went out for dinner with my brother, parents and bf - brother paid, much to my dad's disgust! 

Then Sunday we went to pick up bf's children and bf took us for lunch, before dropping his son back (who wanted to see his girlfriend!) and then took his daughter to the festival for an hour or so before then dropping her back! Then just went back to mine and watched the football!

So a very busy weekend!!! But in total I spent £45, so that isn't bad going!!! 

Also excitingly, when I finished work on Friday I made up the new bed and dragged my desk and unit into there meaning I now have an actual guest bedroom!!!! At some point I want to get a bedside table/ storage and some new bedding but it works for now, just seems a bit bear!! 

So enough waffle about the weekend... onto today's bits and bobs:

• Load of washing on 30 degree cycle 
• Make lunch to take to work 
  
• Update spreadsheet 
• Snap a couple of receipts from the weekend  
• Shuffle some money to correct accounts
• Start writing shopping list 
• Continue with decluttering 
• Possibly pop to shop on way home for a couple of bits
• Maybe clean out tortoises if I have a chance 
• Dinner from stores/ bf cooking me dinner