My Intentional Journey to Debt Freedom

Cheery_Daff

Sounds like you are on track and doing an excellent job! 😊

PennysIntoPounds

That all sounds fab, and what a lovely bit of shopping from home with the pot!

Less_Talk_and_More_Action

Thought I would put this separately.  Not much excitement on the skin care/beauty voyage of discovery  Believe it or not, I still have stuff to use up and have not made any recent purchases.  I am using up Liz Earl* cleanse and polish which I do really like.  Still have quite a bit of that to use up.  I have recently found some Origins tinted moisturiser which is unused from last year (and unopened) and still good to go this year.  At the moment I am mixing it with some day moisturiser in the morning and that is working very well so will continue that - it will extend the life of my moisturiser and gives me a slight hint of looking healthier (I am very celtic pale normally...).
I have finished the Liz Earl* glow range cleanser - I actually love this (you mix with water and put on your face and rinse off) but I have banned myself from buying any more until I use up the rest of the cleanser stuff I have.  Still have some Cliniqu* Dramatically Different, Skin Lite (Weleed*) and various bits of Liz E moisturiser to use up.  Lots of body lotion and moisturising gel still to use, lots of toners of various kinds and some miscellaneous items so don't think I need to panic currently!!!!!  I would think that I have enough of everything to last me another couple of months even if I consistently use them all twice a day.
My commitment to using stuff is better - trying to be consistent in all areas of my life so am doing a routine morning and evening and my skin definitely is appreciating it.
On the plus side - nothing purchased for a while and definitely committed to using up and not re-purchasing anything (or indeed choosing something new) until i have run out.  Thanks so much to all of you who have made suggestions - I am going to go back over all of this when I have a few days off in mid-May and write some of the suggestions down as they have been really interesting and helpful and definitely very much appreciated.  Happy to have more recommendations.

L x 

jwil

Loads of great progress being made.  Plants sound lovely!

Less_Talk_and_More_Action

Hi everyone
My weekly budget update.

- I havn't been paid yet - I'm a last working day of the month person. 
- I have some additional expenses coming that I finally got around to claiming and that will see the back of one of our credit cards.  This leaves about £1000 still on an interest paying card and the rest at 0%.  A much improved overall situation.
- The other card will be gone by the end of June so that will be fantastic.  We'll then consider our next steps as OH gets his SP in July.
- I have some leave coming up - mid-May and then first week of June.  We need to spend a bit on one of our spare bedrooms - new carpet (it looked about 30 years old when we moved in and we've been here over 5 years!) and some storage.  Havn't decided what yet but have put some money aside and we'll see where we get to.
- I will decide a budget for the two weeks off and that will be separated out.  That worked well in our last break so will continue.
- Last week's meal plan worked well.
- Work coffee consumption at drive thru - not too bad.  I planned one for Thursday as I drove 400 miles so thought I would need one on the way home, and I definitely did.
- We tentatively have plans to have a more strict late June/July and August - we have no holidays planned.  There will be some socialising but we're not excessive in that area and have a lovely garden so if we get any good weather people often come to us.  We have quite a lot of expense over the latter part of the year (25th anniversary, Christmas away) and first half of next year (my 60th) so we want to beef up our savings for that (we have a good pot already) and we can divert any excess to our loan which will get it a point next year where we could pay off early. 
- Our 0% card is on track for repayment at the end of the time period and we won't do anything with that - no point in paying off early when we have an interest paying (very low) loan.  

So all fairly organised here- we still have a way to go but there is a plan with some flexibility built in and we will have a good look at everything again the week I am off in May.  Gas consumption is starting to go down so our D/D is covering everything and should start to build up some credit over the summer.  We keep an eye on that and submit meter readings once a month.  We are on a fixed rate until September with the Octo people, so we are paying slightly more than the cap at the moment.  We did that fairly consciously as we have been paying less than the cap over winter and a few months where consumption is low won't make too much difference.

Hope you all have a good week.

L x 

PennysIntoPounds

Well that all sounds very good indeed, and I agree you're definitely allowed a budgeted-for coffee when driving 400 miles! How exciting to be in sight of one of the credit cards being done. The spare bedroom revamp is also exciting, and well done for allocating money for it. I know you said you haven't decided yet, but do you have secret hopes for how you'd like it to end up? If you have others (as you said it's one of your spare bedrooms) would it make a good study/library/walk-in wardobe or somesuch? Especially if Mr LT is nearing state pension age, you may want him to have a place to do things in, or a place you can go if he gets under your feet 😁

Less_Talk_and_More_Action

Hello everyone
A bit late for my weekly update as we have been away for the weekend.   Moneysaving news as follows:

- All money distributed after payday.   Only one interest paying CC and one interest free one now (and a loan).  The interest paying one will actually be gone by the end of this month which is great.  That's a month ahead of schedule and some way from where we were at the beginning of the year.
- Bit of a car crisis at the beginning of the week - issue with fluid apparently leaking.  Could have been a really expensive repair but luckily they took it in and checked everything, topped up the oil, took it for a drive and cleaned it and it was fine.  And they charged us - nothing!!!!   They are a main dealer as well so very pleasantly surprised by that (although we do get it serviced about 3 times a year due to my high mileage).
- In a shock move, no drive thru work-related coffees purchased last week!!!!!!   I feel this is definitely a habit I have lost.  I do still have the odd one but it is very much thought through and planned and I'm fine with that.
- I'm away all of this week until Friday (with work) so won't be spending any money.
- Off next week and after setting a budget the last time I was off, we are doing the same again - it is my birthday when I'm off so we have a few things planned but have been realistic we think.
- Bit of house stuff to be sorted next week again we have tried to work out a budget for each area so we'll see how that goes.

Otherwise all quiet on the money front.  I do have a question though -

Do any of you do online selling?  If so:

- What things sell well?
- Which sites do you use and are they easy (I have never sold anything online, don't do facebook or any other social media so although quite functional online generally, just have no experience at all).
- Any tips?

Thanks in advance - I don't have loads to sell but I have given lots and lots of things to charity shops so wouldn't mind re-couping some money from some of the remaining items.  Mainly clothes, sandals/shoes (quite a bit unused or hardly used, some with original labels) and some bags (very good quality).

Any info gratefully received.

Thanks - have a good week everyone.

L x 

jwil

Hope you have a lovely time away and happy birthday!

I sell a lot online, but I don't sell clothes.  I prefer eBay generally for the wider audience and therefore better prices.  They've just removed fees for selling clothes as well.  If I'm buying clothes I use vinted or ebay.  I've never sold on vinted though so not sure how it works.  

Make sure you weigh everything and take into account the cost of postage (including packaging and any insurance for expensive items) when pricing stuff.  Send fully tracked so you know things have arrived.  I use Evri and don't have any problems, though I know some people hate them.  I had a lot more issues using Royal Mail.

PennysIntoPounds

All sounding fab on the money front.

I sell on Vinted, I don't get a huge amount of money but I'm not selling higher range items, but I'd recommend to have a quick check of what posting options are convenient for you (e.g. Evri from a post office, Yodel from random shops, InStore lockers at various locations) then alter your options settings if you don't have access that would make a trip for second hand prices worthwhile

I will say though that the app is great, they guide you as to what similar items have sold for and what sort of postage size you should select, and the user base has a good attitude, never had a customer get uppity or say they haven't received something

And Vinted doesn't charge selling fees which as @jwil says eBay is now trying to compete with so maybe worth putting on both.
I have issues with the user-friendliness and trustworthiness of eBay but I know lots of people use it with no problems so you may as well give it a go!
In fact, I've been meaning to see if I can set up another account after they blocked mine for absolutely no reason, so thank you for inspiring me to get my backside into gear on that 

Less_Talk_and_More_Action

Thank you @PennysIntoPounds and @jwil. I’m not in a rush so am going to do some research and have a look on the platforms.  I was thinking I might buy a couple of cheap things as well to understand how it works from the buyer end.  If I have it all sold by Christmas I’ll consider that good.  

It is so useful hearing about your experiences- thanks for taking the time to comment.  Very much appreciated.  

L x