LJ's Mortgage free road to early retirement

financialbliss

LouiseJ wrote: »

It's really freezing here with a mega thick frost, more gas coming today so thats another £68, thats twice this month! Not funny!

I just happen to know (roughly) where LouiseJ lives - and it's around 30 miles from me, give or take.

I've been told this evening by a friend that for the last two mornings, the temperature reported by his car on the way to work has been minus 6c, so yes I'd agree it's been cold !!!:snow_grin

It's probably been very similar in your neck of the woods.

No wonder I've felt the cold at the bus stop

FB.

LouiseJ

I completed a Mystery Shop for Gapbuster on Tuesday it was a Drive through one at Fast Food chain. I had to get a receipt, which I did but when I looked closely at it once I got home there is a white stripe all the way through it where there is no print at all.

Some of the information that I need to submit the results is missing and despite sending off 2 queries no one has replied and I am now getting follow up emails (from an unmanned server) saying that I am late with the result and I suspect today I will be told that I am too late for payment.

The frustrating think is that they cannot be contacted by phone as they are Austrailian based and email is their only communication although they sometimes ring me to offer assignments that are urgent.

The payment for this assignment was £5 + £3.40 re-embursement. Don't they know I'm trying to pay off my mortgage here!!!

Have another 2 assignments this morning at clothes shop and supermarket. Thankfully with Retail Maxim this time.

LouiseJ

I have been looking at the gambling loopholes and thought I would try some of the less complicated ones.

I did the WINK bingo free £10 play + extra £5 if using WINK promotion code.

To my amazement I was indeed given £15 to play with and won £34.08 which I have now withdrawn.

The only rule is that you must withdraw at least £30 and have made a deposit so I topped my account up by £5 and withdrew the winnings + £5.

So if I had won only £15 I would have deposited another £15 and withdrew £30......easy peasy.

Thats one crossed off my list so off to try 888ladies £10 free.

I am also playing all Gala free games tonight but with over 3500 players I will have to be really lucky.

LouiseJ

Can you beleive it. I have been banned from all cashcade sites after winning on Wink bingo. Since then I have not been receiving any more £10 free play offers and when I investigated I was told that I failed their risk assessment test and my account would be closed.

I guess they are looking out for people who withdraw any winnings from the free money.

My OH however didn't draw out any winnings until after he bagged over £70 in £10 bonuses. We withdrew a total amount of £110 so not bad for a few hours boredom.

There are still £5 and £1 bonuses to try for but we are a bit bingo'd out at the moment. Maybe next weekend.

The car only cost £40 to fix after all the worry.

financialbliss

LouiseJ wrote: »

The car only cost £40 to fix after all the worry.

Phew - Guess that's a big relief and a lot cheaper than 4k?

FB.

setmefree2

Good news about the car:T:T:T:T

LouiseJ

LouiseJ wrote: »

OK I have seen that I was really overbudget on the spending front for last month.

So my budget for February is:

£200 Food Following Grocery Challenge again and lots of home baking!
£23 Work (I will take a flask in for the days I need to buy tea & DS can take £1 instead of £2 on the day hes at college, he only buys junk anyway! OH wont take a flask or stuff to make his own coffee as he says by 3pm the coffee is cold and discuisting and if he makes his own he will have to make for everyone in the office. So he will be taking £1 a day for 5 cups of coffee.
£200 Petrol I really dont know how to get this down but will try to drive more efficiently.
£15 Takeaways Can we allow ourselves One??
£100 Meals/nights out/drinks in house We are already going for an Indian meal after the Moz gig and OH will still be going out once a fortnignt, will have to cut down on drinks in the house. Cant seem to find any really good deals on lager at the moment.
£8 Lottery I know, but youv'e got to be in it to win it!
£68 Bottled Gas This is for our central heating and is the cheapest supplier.
£24 Guitar tutor He visits once a fortnight and our son is progressing really well.
£24 kids pocket money They will only get this if they remember to ask for it and they are definately going to have to help around the home more!
Total Spend £662 If I can get it down to this I will be happy!

I hang my head in shame as our spending for February was:

£255.47 Food- I can only think that the half term affected this plus the fact that our cupboards and freezer was totally empty at the beggining of the month.
£33.70 Work- OH is starting to get back into the habit of buying hot meal on Fridays with colleagues...seems fair enough.
£232.00 Petrol - This is rediculous but I really dont know how to reduce this!
£44.74 Treats - OK this is a new one! I have bought some new make-up which will now last me all year and was reduced....But! OH is starting to like the online bingo sites just a little too much and in his account has spent £40 and won £20...which still makes him £20 down!
£27.20 Takeaways - Chinese £18, Pizza £9.20
£132.18 Nights&Meals out/Drinks in house Over budget again!
£18.00 Lottery Ours + £10 OH work
£18.00 Pocket Money- Only thing under budget
£136.00 Gas - Had to buy 4 bottles instead of 2 due to very cold weather.
£24.00 Guitar Tuition
£86.27 Other - Including Parking/Postage/£8 DVD rentals/£40 car repair/Printer Ink/Valentines day cards & presents.
Total spend £1007.56:eek:

Trying to stay positive but I have to admit I do feel really down when I look at these figures. I have managed to go over budget on everything.

LouiseJ

Just read the electricty meter for February and have used a whopping 772 in four weeks at a cost of £67.18. It has got to be the electric heaters as we have not used the emmersion heater at all last month. It has been so cold here and our house is very drafty despite having cavity wall insulation and double glazing.

What a Crap month!

angelavdavis

Don't feel so down LJ. Some months are just like that and at the moment, there is little you can do about the cost of petrol and fuel - its hitting all of us.

Ref going out costs. Do you belong to any loyalty reward schemes?

I have been doing piggypoint clicks and have just received two free Odeon cinema tickets and a £10 off voucher for Pizza Hut from my points, plus got two tickets for the dive show in London next weekend from Tesco and have booked a hotel for Saturday night in the City using my Intercontinental hotel points I have been building up whilst travelling with work. Its worth checking out some of these offers - it doesn't take long to build up the points (tesco deals are doing money off vouchers for Cafe Rouge for example).

Is the petrol being used for work travelling - can you claim any back?

Ref DVD rentals - why not sign up through quidco to a free trial and cancel any other membership you have to save money for a few months? I do think OH needs to stop the online gambling though!

LouiseJ

Thanks for that Angela

To be honest most of the going out budget has gone on drinks bought for in the house. OH has had 2 nights out costing £40 but we have had no meals out at all and I have only been to the Morrissey concert on the 1st and I drove and a 50th birthday party to which I also did the driving.

I am worried at the amount of alcohol OH is drinking at the moment as we seem to be going through a box of lager a week on top of nights out. I spent about £10 on bottles of wine for myself in the month.

Sometimes I feel that it is me that is making all the sacrifices and then at other times I think that really he doesn't go out/spend much compared to other husbands/partners. I have a friend who's OH is out at the town every week easily spending £30-50 a pop.

I agree that the online gambling needs keeping an eye on and I think that he does it out of boredom.