PigginSkint's DFW Diary

Hi All

I am trying to keep up with my new resolution to try and keep my diary relatively up to date...so here I am again!

Nothing terribly exciting to report money-wise today, just the usual!

I made my regular Saturday trip to the bank to pay cash in - OH's contribution to the household bills. As usual, it was a bit more than he actually needed to pay me so I used the excess to put towards what he still owes me on the Egg/Barclaycard. (Note to self - need think up a nickname for this card. It used to be Evil Egg, but now Barclaycard has taken it over, it needs a new name)

I am very close to paying off the Crapital One card. I have been trying to pay a little a bit extra every day (today's, or should I say yesterday's, was £1.14 being the 14th of the month) and I have been paying £25 as the minimum payment (which is an overpayment in itself, the minimum is actually £5). Very soon the balance will be under £100, so I am very nearly there!

I have managed to pay quite a lot of extra payments to the Egg/Barclaycard this week and hope to do more before the month is out.

All in all, the start of 2012 is looking pretty good and my 1st February figures should be a lot better than 1st January. The next few months should be pretty OK too - February and March there will be no Council Tax payments and April and May there will be no travel pass payments (which go straight out of my salary 10 months out of 12) so there should be some extra money spare for overpayments.

Onwards and upwards!

Anyway, my bed is calling me now, so nightie night!

Thanks Hopeful!

I am overpaying like a good'un at the moment! The balance on the Egg/Barclaycard should be quite a bit less by the end of the month. I have decided to let the first payment for the loan go through before I do any overpayments on it, so I am doing overpayments to other things instead. My new debit card has arrived and other paperwork is gradually trickling through.

For the first time since I have owned a digital camera (which is at least 5 years and could be closer to, ooh, 8 years!) I have actually ordered some prints! I got a deal emailed to me last week - 99 prints for 99p. I forgot when I was sorting them out that it needed to be 99 and not 100, but I had a hard enough time deciding on 100 to print, so I just decided to pay the extra 9p for the extra print. With the p&p it came to, I think, £2.57, which I think for 100 photos is pretty good! :money:

Right, I have had a run of late nights this week so I am absolutely kn*ackered, so I am going to have a lovely soak in the bath and then an early night. Night all!

My photos have arrived! Can't believe I'm so excited! :j There's a couple of nice ones that I might stick on my wall at work. I ordered a few copies of 2 of the best photos of DS and his girlfriend in their Prom gear last July. The Ex and his mother can have one each - I don't mind doing that seeing as they were only a penny a print! :money:

Thank goodness it's Friday tomorrow - this week at work has been absolutely frantic and I still not feeling too well. I am feeling completely exhausted.

I am really chuffed to have been invited to a leaving do on Monday evening. It's for one of the medics that I have been working quite closely with for the last few years. I don't normally get invited to any of their events, but apparently she asked specifically that I be invited, which has given me all sorts of warm fuzzy feelings inside. I know it will cost me a bit of money (although not a a hideous amount) but I don't really mind just this once - she is a really lovely person and I am going to miss her.

Anyway we are just watching a DVD and then I'm off to bed. Night all!

Has it really been that long since I posted on my own diary?! Oops!

Anyway, something happened today which I just had to share. I could have been really offended but I just had to laugh at the stupidity of it.

When I got on the train this morning, I'm afraid the devil got into me a little bit - normally this leads me to choose a seat that someone has put a bag on. This morning, I spotted a woman that I have sat next to once before - that last time she seemed to take offence to the spread of my winter coat and looked like she was chewing a wasp. This time I took one look at her face and decided to sit next to her again. Honestly - you should have seen the body language. You would think I had been rolling in dog poo by her reaction!

The best bit was when she got out her phone and decided to type in a text, holding her phone so that I couldn't help but see that she was writing - I rather think that it was her intention that I should be able to see what she wrote. This is what she wrote (I kid you not):

'That horrible woman has sat next to me again - quite revolting! I shall have to go to Boots and spray lots of perfume!'

Can you believe it?!

By the way - I don't smell! I know because as soon as I got to my office I told two of my colleagues what had happened and one of came right up close to me and had a good sniff and say 'but you don't smell'! I might have been 'glowing' a little because of my walk to the station but that's all!

You know what I think she was objecting to? The size of my backside. It's like being back at school - ooh I don't like you, you're fat, you smell!

Well, finally, for the first time in 6 months I have updated my signature - (check it out below)! I have been off sick this week (nasty chest infection) so it has given me the opportunity to get up to date with various things. The scores on the doors are as follows:

Total credit card debt
1/6/12 £17,113,24
1/5/12 £17,398.04
1/4/12 £17,926.13
1/3/12 £18,115.81
1/2/12 £18,257.54
1/1/12 £18,984.23

Total non-mortgage debt
1/6/12 £21,948.38
1/5/12 £22,329.86
1/4/12 £22,813.97
1/3/12 £23,076.24
1/2/12 £23,295.14
1/1/12 £24,031.23

So after some quite large blips, things are definitely starting to look more positive. The total credit card is now at its lowest level since my LBM (light bulb moment for the uninitiated) in August 2006. I did manage to get it under £18K briefly in June 2010 and have struggled ever since to get down to that level again. I am now within spitting distance of getting it below £17K - very pleasing indeed! :j

These figures would have been even better is OH hadn't had to have some very expensive dental work done and some other expenses. Also, I have recently paid the deposit on our next camping holiday (just over 7 weeks and counting) and a few new camping supplies (nearly all paid off already :money:) - including a brand spanking new comfy camping chair. This will replace the one bought for a fiver on Mablethorpe beachfront about 5 years ago,which is now falling apart, and will join the other 2 bought about 2 years ago. No more arguments between me, OH and DS this year over who gets the comfy chairs. :rotfl:

There are some expensive times coming up, what with the holiday and car hire for 2 university open day visits for DS, but I am confident that we will be able to manage the expense much better than we have done in the past....providing OH doesn't throw any more major spanners in the works!

I think that's all the news for now.

Bye all!