£50k to £0

jbkmum · 19 July 2018 at 3:19PM

I had mentioned that we were going to need to move house - the good news is we don't. The landlord isn't selling and it was a miscommunication from the letting agent. Which is good because I like paying under the market rate.

This means any bonuses or extra money doesn't have to go towards a house deposit yippeeee

Now I fully suspect we will be going on a DMP at some point but I am dragging it out to see if I can save my credit rating, so far I've been managing minimum payments as well as overpaying but there may come a point where I run out of things to declutter. I have the next week to sell as much as possible on ebay and then I'm making a carboot pile.

I've dug out my Girl Name Jack cookbook and we're going to try our hardest to live from the freezer to reduce our food bills. We're only 19 days in to the month and I've already blown our food and fuel budget

Tonight we're eating a chicken and tomato meal with pasta that I made in the pressure cooker and we have a stick of garlic bread left in the freezer. Tomorrow its going to be easy freezer food as DS is going to his grandmas and I will be tired after setting up a friends wedding.

Things to do over the next two days:
1) Send invoice to person buying collectable = + £250

2) List iPad and iMac on facebook selling site (don't actually plan on selling ipad as above but if I get a decent enough offer I will as its one step towards debt freedom. Potential profit could be £600 between the two of them but not guaranteed at all
3) Buy gadget insurance to cover new laptop = -£100 yearly I wouldn't usually do this but after what happened with the macbook I would rather.
4)Smash the terramundi pot - I kept putting notes into it and really I should have kept that emergency cash elsewhere. I didn't think I could be trusted but now would like to put it on debt. Only thing is, I'll need a new terramundi pot

5) List 5 things on ebay

6) Add 5 things to carboot pile
7) Add 5 things to amazon seller account (uni books)

anna_1977 · 19 July 2018 at 3:30PM

jbkmum wrote: »

I had mentioned that we were going to need to move house - the good news is we don't. The landlord isn't selling and it was a miscommunication from the letting agent. Which is good because I like paying under the market rate.

This means any bonuses or extra money doesn't have to go towards a house deposit yippeeee

Now I fully suspect we will be going on a DMP at some point but I am dragging it out to see if I can save my credit rating, so far I've been managing minimum payments as well as overpaying but there may come a point where I run out of things to declutter. I have the next week to sell as much as possible on ebay and then I'm making a carboot pile.

I've dug out my Girl Name Jack cookbook and we're going to try our hardest to live from the freezer to reduce our food bills. We're only 19 days in to the month and I've already blown our food and fuel budget

Tonight we're eating a chicken and tomato meal with pasta that I made in the pressure cooker and we have a stick of garlic bread left in the freezer. Tomorrow its going to be easy freezer food as DS is going to his grandmas and I will be tired after setting up a friends wedding.

Things to do over the next two days:
1) Send invoice to person buying collectable = + £250

2) List iPad and iMac on facebook selling site (don't actually plan on selling ipad as above but if I get a decent enough offer I will as its one step towards debt freedom. Potential profit could be £600 between the two of them but not guaranteed at all
3) Buy gadget insurance to cover new laptop = -£100 yearly I wouldn't usually do this but after what happened with the macbook I would rather.
4)Smash the terramundi pot - I kept putting notes into it and really I should have kept that emergency cash elsewhere. I didn't think I could be trusted but now would like to put it on debt. Only thing is, I'll need a new terramundi pot

5) List 5 things on ebay

6) Add 5 things to carboot pile
7) Add 5 things to amazon seller account (uni books)

wish I'd see this earlier - Apple do a warranty where you can try an item for 14 days and return. My daughter's macbook went wrong in the middle of uni exam period - she took in for repair, bought new one on CC, collected old one fully repaired the next week and then returned the new one she'd been using...

They do this for any apple product

jbkmum · 19 July 2018 at 8:10PM

anna_1977 wrote: »

wish I'd see this earlier - Apple do a warranty where you can try an item for 14 days and return. My daughter's macbook went wrong in the middle of uni exam period - she took in for repair, bought new one on CC, collected old one fully repaired the next week and then returned the new one she'd been using...

They do this for any apple product

I was quoted £900 to get MacBook repaired!

Kitten868 · 15 August 2018 at 10:25PM

Check out jwils diary. Firstly because she is brilliant. Second - she fought years against interest and is so much happier now she's on a DMP. Third she is the queen of decluttering and selling. Very inspiring xx

jbkmum · 20 August 2018 at 4:49PM

Kitten868 wrote: »

Check out jwils diary. Firstly because she is brilliant. Second - she fought years against interest and is so much happier now she's on a DMP. Third she is the queen of decluttering and selling. Very inspiring xx

I will check her diary out now thank you xx

jbkmum · 20 August 2018 at 5:33PM

It's been a month since I posted, had a really busy month and just not had the time to write anything!

Debt Levels
Debt level hasn't decreased for various reasons however I've reduced all the limits on my cards and managed to get one credit card to half the interest for 12 months and reduce the payments. Does mean an AP marker but honestly that doesn't bother me. I know it can be just as bad as a default depending on how you look at it but oh well. I have £800 on another card I can BT so tonight will be deciding which card needs it most.

Selling
Haven't done anything selling wise in the past 3 weeks. I still haven't posted my £250 collectable which is tonights job. I've sold most of the "big" electronics such as my iPad (decided I was fine with a Kindle Fire so made £150)
This weeks job is to list my last module's university books.

Buying
I definitely have a spending problem - agreed to take all cards off amazon and ebay, and husband is going to lock them away. I'm only going to be allowed cash. If I want to buy something such as clothes I have to agree it in advance (losing weight so need new underwear!)

Food
We were doing okay with not buying food but relying on cards meant that we kept overspending. Buying plastic pencil cases at ASDA this evening for us to start envelopes from September 1st, also getting a cash tin so my cards can be locked away.

Also need to start properly meal planning again.

I need to buy eggs and bacon tonight - eggs to make banana muffins for DS packed lunch at half term club. And Bacon as we're making Bacon and Brie Risotto for tea which I think is a Girl Called Jack recipe. I unfortunately need to throw some food out of the freezer tonight as it didn't agree with me (husband won't eat it) but I don't think it's that much. Will post my meal plan later for the rest of the week.

Bills/Expenses
I think our bills are quite low. We have a couple of luxuries such as Netflix, I asked husband if we could cancel and he doesn't want to. I need to see if I can reduce our internet from £26 to a better deal. It's already fairly good for Virgin so not sure what movement I have on that.

The only thing I think we can really reduce is our fuel costs, hence I'm looking at getting my bike sorted so I can cycle to work once or twice a week initially. I can't cycle during the holidays as I have to take DS to club but it would probably be quicker than driving in term time. I'll have to shower when I get to work as its all uphill but then I won't be using our water so not a bad thing to do!

jbkmum · 20 August 2018 at 11:40PM

We have £20 in cash left for the rest of the month, which is about two weeks. I'm going to use £10 of that for fuel and the other £10 my husband's going to keep a hold of for bread, milk and fruit.

I made Brie and Bacon risotto tonight using defrosted bacon and leftover brie (A Girl Called Jack). Also used chicken stock from boiling chicken bones two nights ago.

Tuesday:
Lunch - Leftover risotto for DH, packed lunch for DS and defrosted chicken soup for me. I have cereal and crackers at work to get me through the day and must make the most of the fresh ocado fruit at work with a yoghurt.

Will make banana cake in the evening for DS packed lunches.
Dinner- Yet more leftover risotto for all three of us

Wednesday -

Lunch - Chicken and coleslaw wrap for DH (freezer chicken and I bought a small tub of coleslaw today)
I will have lentil soup and DS will have his usual packed lunch but with a banana muffin as well.
Dinner - Tacos, we have frozen taco meat and I know we have some taco shells in the cupboard. We will need to buy an onion and lettuce.

Thursday -

Lunch - Chicken, lettuce and sweet chili sauce wrap for DH ( night befores lettuce). I will have the other half of the lentil soup and the usual for DS
Dinner - Homemade pizzas - will open a jar of pasattta, use up leftover yeast that's in fridge and will dig some frozen ham out.

Friday -

Lunch - Wrap for DH (pulled pork or chicken). I am at home with DS so we will have some tomato soup or baked beans on toast. We will also make banana flapjack, might have to buy bananas.

Dinner - Macaroni cheese - we have pasta, cheese, parmesan, peas, defrosted ham from Thursday. Might need more milk.

DS has supper every evening but I'll just make sure I've made enough banana cake.

Saturday
Lunch - Depends on what we're doing. Think its going to be warm and DH has decided he will tackle the jungle of a garden. I might make waffles as I've just bought eggs and have all the other ingredients.

Dinner - need to find a way to use up 2/3 of a jar of passata!

Sunday I'm not sure whether my dad is coming to stay but if I can stick to the above then that is a step in the right direction

jbkmum · 21 August 2018 at 1:46PM

Debt £52,418.66
Transferred £800 from a card that has a 18 month offer to my BarclayCard. That means I have £169.58 to clear which I will do on Thursday when my work expenses come through. I will then have £1450 available on that card and just need to wait patiently for a balance transfer offer to come through. Could be a month or two.

DH received a letter from his old employer stating he owes £135 in overpaid annual leave, so that's going to need to be paid on Friday - my work bonus is being steadily reduced!

I am planning on ringing the loan provider and asking for it to be refinanced/recalculated. I took out a loan for my husbands car and got a car for £1000 less than budgeted for so I paid it straight back to the loan. So whilst it states we have £3.5k left to pay, in reality if I settled today it would be 2k. I obviously don't have 2k but I need the payments to be smaller in order to reduce my deficit.

Selling
Still haven't posted the collectable MUST DO IT TONIGHT! The £250 will pay off a good chunk of a credit card.

Buying
I have just bought a MoonCup and reusable liners (lady time) as I'd like to save on sanitary products. Been meaning to do it for ages. Informed my husband I've done so and now I've taken my cards of amazon and ebay.

We bought a lockable cashbox last night, all my cards are in it bar 1 which is my debit card for the joint account - the idea being, he'd be able to see if I've spent as opposed to using my personal account. I don't actually know the pin for it which is good.

Also bought a index card holder box and some envelopes so we can organise money for September. I think we need envelopes for House and Car Maintenance, Gifts, Christmas, Clothes, Food, Fuel, Fun Money, School , Hair Cuts, Dentist, Emergencies, Receipts (to keep track).

Food
Today's shopping list:
Milk
Bread
Onion
Lettuce
Bananas

DS is going back to school in two weeks and I need to plan his packed lunch as he won't receive free school dinners anymore. Super stressful, I don't know where to start and obviously don't want to spend more than the £2.50 that a dinner costs. I noticed last night in ASDA they were selling Sistema lunchboxes for cheap so we're going to pop there after tea and look at what DS needs for school.

I've set myself the challenge of saving a £1000 emergency fund. Thinking I might ask DH to open an online saver with our bank and I can transfer it in to there but as it will be his account I won't be able to withdraw it.

jbkmum · 22 August 2018 at 2:21PM

Label has been printed for collectable, one step closer to it being sent! It will be collected tomorrow from my work so have to parcel it tonight.

Sold two books on amazon - £15.47 minus postage
Kindle Fire Kids on ebay hoping for £40

So that should be £250 + £15.47 guaranteed. £100 of that is going to pay for the shutl postage invoice, in future I'm going put aside each eBay items postage into an esaver when it sells so I will have it for when the invoice is paid sometimes 60 days after I bought the postage. I hate the way it does it, I want it to be taken immediately!

£165.47 is going into the joint account as we will be -£352.10 in the middle of September as I am living paycheck to paycheck at the moment. Plan is to slowly get back to having the money the month before.

I have a Philips laser face thingy (BRI950/00) which I'm considering listing. I'd get a hefty chunk for it BUT it has helped reduce the hair on my face. I've not used it for a couple of months as I keep forgetting. So I either deal with the face hair or sell it. Not sure what to do.

jbkmum · 22 August 2018 at 11:13PM

Started the kitchen inventory today, have done the top double cupboard. I'm going to eat everything in there before doing the freezer.

We have

3 tins of chickpeans
4 jars of red pesto
2 small aldi jars of bolognese sauce
2 large lloyd grossman bolognese sauxe
1 small tin of tomato puree
1 jar or apple sauce
2.55kg tin of tomtoes from bookers
500g red letils
paella rice
macaroni pasta
minion pasta shapes
2 packs of lasagne sheets
1 pack of super noodles
popping corn
pudding rice
brown rice
spaghetti hoops
3 x agave nectar
8 tins of baked beans
1 tin of refried beans
9 tins of tuna
5 tins of tomato soup
1 tin of big soup
4 tins of tomatoes
3 john west tuna salad tray
pizza flour
spelt flour
2 packs of microwaveable rice
1 unopened custard powder
2 mugshots
1 tin of steak
1 big aldi passata and herbs
1 bag of spinach pasta
1 pack of egg noodles
arborio rice
dark brown sugar
light brown sugar

demerera

ready made custard
basmatic rice
icing sugar

cocoa powder
100s and 1000s
spaghetti

Just need to meal plan now!

£50k to £0

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