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Teetering on the brink

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  • EatingBeans
    EatingBeans Posts: 351 Forumite
    100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Good morning @HampshireH thanks for commenting. 👋

    I did sit and debate with myself whether I still get enough use out of Microsoft 365 to warrant continuing to pay for the family plan but decided that yes I do, at least for the moment. We all use the desktop version of Excel for our budgets (I have tried to love the online version but just can’t stand it), and using the one I am familiar with helps me teach the girls how to use Excel - a good employability skill imo. dd1 now actively uses Excel at work and said getting familiar with it at home first really helped, so I am very keen for dd2 to also have this experience. I’ve also been teaching dd2 to use PowerPoint as she has to do presentations as part of her course and will likely use it in her future, again this has noticeably helped her and she actively uses it, so it stays.

    Part of our “Springboard” plan is that the girls pay for their own software once they turn 18, so just a year and a bit to go and I will probably be able to drop it to a “personal” plan and I can save some money then. 🤞

    Sorry, that seems like such a long answer for such a simple question! haha I think I may still be overthinking every penny atm. 
    End of
    		 Dec-24 May-25
    Brother  £  5,400.00  £  5,200.00
    Overdraft owed  £  1,349.90  £            -  
    MBNA CC  £ 10,534.20  £ 12,056.18
    Barclaycard CC  £  9,667.21  £  8,138.15
    Fluid CC  £            -    £     732.50
    NatWest CC  £ 12,018.14  £ 11,774.23
    Total debt  £ 38,969.45  £ 37,901.06

    Paid off in the month
    -£     914.90
    Total paid off 2025  £  1,068.39

  • EatingBeans
    EatingBeans Posts: 351 Forumite
    100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    £10 mobile underspend moved to pay down overdraft - now at £122.87 aka 24/100 £5’s.
    End of
    		 Dec-24 May-25
    Brother  £  5,400.00  £  5,200.00
    Overdraft owed  £  1,349.90  £            -  
    MBNA CC  £ 10,534.20  £ 12,056.18
    Barclaycard CC  £  9,667.21  £  8,138.15
    Fluid CC  £            -    £     732.50
    NatWest CC  £ 12,018.14  £ 11,774.23
    Total debt  £ 38,969.45  £ 37,901.06

    Paid off in the month
    -£     914.90
    Total paid off 2025  £  1,068.39

  • EatingBeans
    EatingBeans Posts: 351 Forumite
    100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    List 5 things a day ✅ Any more now is just a bonus. I have tried to diversify the type on items I am listing to see if I can pick up on what's hot at the moment as sales have completely stopped.

    I also opened another random box - MORE jewellery! Argh! The best laugh is I very rarely wear any jewellery as I tend to react to most of it, so that will have been another box from mum. I’ve just closed that box for now as it takes so much time to go through it all. One for another day… I spot boots. Now those I can cope with. 😁
    End of
    		 Dec-24 May-25
    Brother  £  5,400.00  £  5,200.00
    Overdraft owed  £  1,349.90  £            -  
    MBNA CC  £ 10,534.20  £ 12,056.18
    Barclaycard CC  £  9,667.21  £  8,138.15
    Fluid CC  £            -    £     732.50
    NatWest CC  £ 12,018.14  £ 11,774.23
    Total debt  £ 38,969.45  £ 37,901.06

    Paid off in the month
    -£     914.90
    Total paid off 2025  £  1,068.39

  • ellenvan
    ellenvan Posts: 228 Forumite
    Third Anniversary 100 Posts Photogenic
    Not sure if this is a thing - but after you have been selling for a while you might notice patterns.
    When doing charity shop volunteering or car boot sales the weekends by payday are best,
    Buyers may now be awaiting payday at the end of the month.
    Also does the time of day when listing affect things?
  • EatingBeans
    EatingBeans Posts: 351 Forumite
    100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Thanks @ellenvan you are correct there are busier times than others. Evenings and particularly weekends tend to be better than during the day for ebay. 

    I regularly used to sell on ebay which is why I tend to opt for that route now as it is still well within my comfort zone. Things have changed a bit since I used it though. Previously I used auctions a lot, now it’s more Buy It Now prices and people sending ridiculously low offers instead. It doesn’t help that eBay have just started adding a Buyer Protection fee on top so now things are more expensive for people to buy. 😕 I mean I have just had an offer for £8.61 for a pair of chairs that have literally never been sat on. That’s just crazy. I even turned down a previous offer of £15 because I am sure they are worth at least £20 (even that seems cheap to me). 

    I take my hat off to anyone who does car boots. I mean it might come to that with some of this stuff but honestly I absolutely can’t stand doing them. I hate being mobbed when you are trying to get set up, I hate people stealing stuff, I hate people asking to buy things for stupidly low prices, it’s literally my worst nightmare. I know some people love haggling but it is just not for me. And I am 100% sure that my girls would point blank refuse to help at a car boot even if I offered to pay them, so I would be stuck doing it on my own. 

    I guess I am stuck with ebay. And possibly Vinted if that ever gets going. I forgot that people  like to see a seller with good feedback to feel confident to buy and that might be hurting me on Vinted as I have literally never sold anything on there. I guess I take my long history of 100% feedback for granted on eBay. 
    End of
    		 Dec-24 May-25
    Brother  £  5,400.00  £  5,200.00
    Overdraft owed  £  1,349.90  £            -  
    MBNA CC  £ 10,534.20  £ 12,056.18
    Barclaycard CC  £  9,667.21  £  8,138.15
    Fluid CC  £            -    £     732.50
    NatWest CC  £ 12,018.14  £ 11,774.23
    Total debt  £ 38,969.45  £ 37,901.06

    Paid off in the month
    -£     914.90
    Total paid off 2025  £  1,068.39

  • ellenvan
    ellenvan Posts: 228 Forumite
    Third Anniversary 100 Posts Photogenic
    Oh we are all different - car boot selling is in my comfort zone.
    Listing on ebay not.

    The main thing is you are trying to raise money.
    What about any auction houses locally or second hand furniture shops for the chairs?
    But mainly keep doing whatever you are comfortable doing.
    Every little helps as the saying goes.

    Have you tried any more of the 2Good2 go bags or any Olio goodies this week?
  • EatingBeans
    EatingBeans Posts: 351 Forumite
    100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    I think you are right - it doesn’t matter how the money comes in and every little does help. 

    Sadly no TGTG bags or Olio food this week. Frustratingly, I have had to watch stuff being listed and just let it go because I can’t go out at the moment. Fortunately though, I’ve had enough stuff in to make it work - suddenly I am very grateful for the loaves of bread I stashed in the freezer. 😁 Still no takeaways! 🎉

    Thankfully, the TN is starting to ease up slightly, so I am really hoping to be back working tomorrow but even that will just be wfh. I suspect it will be at least next week until I can venture outside again. In fact, the lack of eBay sales over the past week has probably done me a favour as getting things to the Post Office would have been a real challenge. 

    Onwards and upwards! 😁

    Oh, and just wanted to share that the actual balance on the ‘pots’/overdraft account is now just £133.88 overdrawn which I am finding super exciting. I literally cannot recall the last time that account was in the black - must be at least a year ago. It feels so close now and then I will stop being charged interest on the ‘overdraft’, and more can go to paying off what I owe.🤞I am determined to have that all cleared by the end of the year.
    End of
    		 Dec-24 May-25
    Brother  £  5,400.00  £  5,200.00
    Overdraft owed  £  1,349.90  £            -  
    MBNA CC  £ 10,534.20  £ 12,056.18
    Barclaycard CC  £  9,667.21  £  8,138.15
    Fluid CC  £            -    £     732.50
    NatWest CC  £ 12,018.14  £ 11,774.23
    Total debt  £ 38,969.45  £ 37,901.06

    Paid off in the month
    -£     914.90
    Total paid off 2025  £  1,068.39

  • ellen_vannin
    ellen_vannin Posts: 424 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 100 Posts
    The end of the overdraft looks close.

    eBay parcels - does Royal mail not collect from home in your area?
  • SuzeQStan
    SuzeQStan Posts: 1,677 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Homepage Hero Photogenic
    Silver linings on the lack of sales EB - glad your pain is starting to ease. Second @ellen_vannin excellent idea about RM collection. Do the other couriers offer a similar service or is that more costly?
    Lancashire
    PV 5.04kWp SW facing
    Solar Battery 6.5 kWh 
    🐙 Intelligent Go

    Mortgage freedom January 2024 - paid off 7 years early by making overpayments where we could.

  • EatingBeans
    EatingBeans Posts: 351 Forumite
    100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Thanks @ellen_vannin RM collection sounds like a great idea for when I am not working, but when I am, I suspect work would get a bit annoyed with me constantly pausing meetings to answer the door. It’s bad enough now fielding deliveries for the dd’s! 😬 Something to look into though.

    I am back at work today (wfh), back to a million e-mails, most of which are rubbish. But then I stumble across a reminder that my pay is due to go up from 1st March. Woohoo I thought, how did I forget about something like that?🤔 Then I read a bit further, roughly calculate the increase and realise it’s likely to be around £10pm. Yep, that’s probably why I forgot all about it. Oh well, £10 is two £5’s so it will be better than nothing. 

    End of
    		 Dec-24 May-25
    Brother  £  5,400.00  £  5,200.00
    Overdraft owed  £  1,349.90  £            -  
    MBNA CC  £ 10,534.20  £ 12,056.18
    Barclaycard CC  £  9,667.21  £  8,138.15
    Fluid CC  £            -    £     732.50
    NatWest CC  £ 12,018.14  £ 11,774.23
    Total debt  £ 38,969.45  £ 37,901.06

    Paid off in the month
    -£     914.90
    Total paid off 2025  £  1,068.39

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