Laura's turn on top! 2008 DF diary xxx

lauradora

Happy new year everyone xxx :smileyhea

I haven't started a diary again this year as the last one was a failure and I kind of thought that everyone and their dog was starting one and I didn't want to get in the way but sod it. I'm here doing this cos i'm trying to keep track of it all by keeping it in my paper diary an on bits of paper and I just can't track my progress properly.

So....

I'm not going to @rse around posting an soa because I'm sick of the sight of them!! Besides which after being a member here since I think Dec 06 i'm confident i've got my outgoings under control.:money:

Just to fill the space I want to introduce myself a bit although i've been here for ages i've spent all my time finding out about other people and never told anyone about myself.

I'm laura and I live in Doncaster with my 6yr old daughter Daisy. I am single mum and always have been-this, combined with irresponsble spending and borrowing is basically whats landed me in all my debts. I'm not working at the minute which is keeping things slow but I am looking.

Therefore after a year of being a DFW I started with £15772.59 of debt, and have since paid off £1093.24 to bring my debts to £14679.35 (xmas 07)

To me this is JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!

I did take out a consolidation loan last year which has also slowed thoings down. naughty naughty I know . I am part of the pay off 20k by xmas 08 challenge

So my challenge is;

:eek: Pay off £14679.35 by Christmas 2008:eek:

Personal HSBC Loan £11752.72
Old business debt £1426.63
HSBC Overdraft £1500

Now i've snowballed it and apparently as long as I pay off £1250 a month i'll MANAGE IT! :eek:
Right now things are definitley not moving as fast as I had hoped they would...not been paid by csa AGAIN!:mad: But my total paid out of 14679.35 is a mere

215.97:eek:

However still not too bad for a single mum on benefits

I will get rid of those horrid overdrafts I will I will!!!!

So this is going to be the year I kick the living !!!!!! out of my debts and i'm going to keep tabs on it on here!

lauradora

Thinking of selling the car??? I've pretty much made my mind up buts its a big step..._pale_

marc.faulkner

Good luck Laura.

With the car, I'd be asking two questions if it was me making the decision...

1, Do you need it to get anywhere in particular, for example a work place? (This would be my reason for not selling, as without it the only way I could get to work would be to walk 8miles, or get a taxi!)

2, How much is it worth - and how much will you get for it, after any finance and selling costs?

You're right, it's a big step, but if it clears a chunk of debt then it sounds like a good idea.

lauradora

Cheers marc.

Its not worth a lot at all, probably a few hundred quid if that. The fact is I dont need it for aything until I get a job. I'm thinking of selling more for the saving of petrol and insurance money. But the more i think about it the more it scares me!! I would lose out on quite a few of my mystery shops without a car.:rolleyes:

lauradora

grrr just got home and some morons have wrecked my washing line :mad: I thought I had left all my bad luck with getting robbed etc in last year :mad:

But today has been a relatively good day. i have been down to my allotment to plan for all the lovely free veggies i'm going to grow myself this year. I have finally got round to filling in that bloomin passport form thats been lurking in my drawer for months.

Got myself a load of leeks while I was down there so am going to cook them all off in white sauce :dance: and freeze them. The name of the game this week has been batch baking. i'm really cutting it fine at the minute, i'm really missing my csa money!!!

lauradora

Long day shopping today!!! Pleased to say that I didn't spend over my budget.;)

The Doncaster Car Boot has finally returned!!!! Its been gone for ages and i've really missed it so i'm getting stuff ready to take next week to make some pennies :money:

Also had one of my store cupboard meals tonight like a good girl :whistle:

Victory will be mine!!!!

lauradora

I have finally gotten round to trawling the cashcade bingo sites recommended by SS. I finally got round to downloading roboform therefore can hit those comping sites with a vengance today!!!! GRrrr i've got the eye of the tiger today :A

lauradora

Had a good getting things done day today. I have spent a good few hours on the the comping forum and have done at least 15 pages of comps so should be seeing some progress soon. :beer:

Total on the cashcade bingo so far is £71.52. Going to keep going as i haven't exhausted them all yet and intend to make a few more quid!.

Total on grocery challenge so far is only £29.77:D out of £50 for the month of january!:j .

I am determined to get this £3000 mini challenge cracked before I go on holiday so I can lay back and relax when I get to sunny (I hope) Florida:cool: .

Still cutting things fine as I haven't had the csa payments yet but I spoke to them yesterday and them seem to think we might be getting somewhere.......i'll not hold my breath though eh??:mad: .

Should really call it a night now but am hooked on comps!!! But then again theres always tomorrow:p .

Happy saving xxx

lauradora

Been feeling really down again over the past couple of days. Just seem to be so skint no matter how careful I am. Jumped on the free bingo again tonight though and i'm now at a grand total of £196.08 :j :j :j

thats all very well but of course it takes ages for the money to hit your account. Still no csa money. Will have to make it my mission to badger them to death again tomorrow until I get my money out of them. :mad:

So far spent £38.18 out of my £50 budget for the month and i'm starting to think I just might manage it.

Could face the car boot this morning will have to get my self in gear for next week cos the stuffs piling up around me as I'm sat here now!:p

So whats next after free bingo??

lauradora

Right doing an update before I treck off up to scotland to go skiing for the weekend :j

I've gone over my budget on the grocery challenge. However i'm not too bothered about it as I had guests all weekend and held a dinner party and managed to only going over by a little bit. Just got to make sure I dont run out of anything else before next week.

I finally got the csa payments through that i'm owed :j so have managed to throw a few quid at my debts so my new total is £14313.58. I have paid off £365.77 so far this year towards the 20k in 2008 challenge, which considering i'm still on benefits isn't too bad.

i applied for a job this week for the first time since well before xmas :eek: and have seen a few more lurking around that i'm thinking about applying for.

Dad paying for this weekend away as I am so skint :rolleyes: and have been workin extra hard down the allotment So hoping to relax, do some good skiing and get some more financial planning done.

Have a good weekend everyone xxx

Penny2myName

Have a great relaxing weekend laura.