My debt-free diary

laura2481

Managed to not spend a penny last night! And even came out with profit! The boss sent us £10 each to spend on drinks. I had 4 drinks totalling £7.20 = £2.80 up on the deal Also got the bus there and back using the daily bus pass i had so cost me no extra than what I had spent going shopping in town

Have spent today making wrapping paper and gift tags, and homemade mince pies!

And have not left the house so not spent any money! :T

laura2481

Well, I have just had the stomach bug that BF had the other week. Feeling a little better today, I'm going to do a few more dooyoo reviews to get upto £10 to claim an amazon voucher! And nearly finished my christmas shopping! And have been looking for things for my BF's mum to get him, so been bargain hunting the net. Quite busy for just the morning

laura2481

another day ill :(I was fine yesterday but this morning- relapse! Getting fed up. but at least I will have another no spend day! Feel bad about calling in sick though... can't be helped.

laura2481

Day no 4 ill I am going to have to go out today though, I need fruit juice and painkillers. Can't be bothered though.

laura2481

So excited! Baclaycard have given me my money back!
Claimed in original letter to Barclaycard £140 Given £8
In second letter pointed out total charges + interest= £151.20. Said 'give me £102 and we'll call it quits' Today they have credited my account with £143.20 :j :j :j :j

So, although I only asked for £110 total in my 'final demand' they coughed up the full amount + interest

Only thing is it's on my credit card, does anyone know how you get it back? Do you just have to buy things? or can you close the card and get them to send a cheque?

laura2481

Well, it's christmas eve eve and I've just been thinking back on the last 2 months and it's really not been too bad!

So far I have:

1. Organised my finances with a spreadsheet
2. Organised mine and BF's joint finances for bills with a spreadsheet
3. Successfully claimed back 150 pounds from Barclaycard
4. Paid 50 pounds off of my barcalys overdraft
5. paid boyfriend back 30 pounds
6. overpaid barclaycard by 34.88
7. saved 150 pounds (need for mortgage for april!)
8. bought all of christmas presents without even looking at a credit card
9. earned 15 pounds extra amazon voucher doing dooyoo reviews
10. stopped carryig my credit and bank cards around with me, working with cash where possible
11. not had a nervous breakdown!

Well, I think that's pretty good going! Looking forward to the new year!

laura2481

Hmmm, feeling a little dispirited. (Is that a real word?) After feeling so positve just 4 days ago I feel really annoyed. Grrrr. Checked the joint account and found that the amounts weren't adding up like my spreadsheet so after much digging around I've figured out that no council tax actually came out in november- it came out 1st december instead and decembers is going to come out on the 31st so we will basically be paying twice. Aaargh! It's no wonder people get into problems, you have to pay the closest of attention at all times, you just can't rely on things to be simple!

This post is now a random collection of bits and pieces which i want to have 'to hand'

Debt at LBM march 2008. £5865.


HSBC CC £2524 Halifax CC £508 Virgin 0%CC £2472 BF £80 Total £5584
Debt at LMB Nov 08= £6814. Current debt £5584 -£1230




8oz sr flour
8oz sugar
8oz porridge oats
8oz margarine
1tbsp golden syrup
1tbsp hot water
1/2 tsp bic soda
mix flour, oats and sugar, melt marg, syrup and water in a pan stir in bic soda and add to dry mix, mix well, make smallish balls and put on greased tray and flatten slightly with a fork, 180oc for 15 mins, cool on the tray, you just want them golden in oven not brown

well here goes...i started with plain white tiles which were the right size then i went onto www.streetmap.co.uk and typed in the name that I wanted to appear on the coaster. Then I chose a map to use from the results. Then I made moved the arrow (there is a 'move arrow' button) which highlights the road/street/place because I didn't want it to appear on the finished image.The map that appears will be made up of lots of image files - it looks like a grid. I right-clicked on the individual square which i wanted and saved the image. Then I printed it out onto white tissue paper. To do this it is the trickiest bit - there are some tutorials on youtube on 'how to print onto tissue paper'. Then I cut the image to fit the coaster. Then I used PVA glue to glue the tissue to the coaster. Then I used a spray-varnish to seal it & make it waterproof & heatproof. Not too difficult but just time consuming. I used some adhesive-backed cork to back them, so they don't scratch surfaces when they are used. You can use felt which does the same job.
The one thing that I was prepared for, is that the glue made the ink run a little on the tissue paper, but to be honest it gives it a really rustic look which I've come to like, but I think if I was more careful and used a lot less glue I could have avoided it.
Last edited by katiecoodle; 09-10-2011 at 10:04 PM. Reason: added a bit




:bdaycake: