Spend Nowt, Buy Nowt, Owe Nowt

XSpender · 17 January 2018 at 10:18AM

1) Put away clean laundry and ironing
2) Buy dog food - DONE
3) Submit meter readings - DONE
4) Make 4 appointments for work - 2 DONE
5) Prepare appraisal paperwork (always a thrilling task, not) DONE
6) Start project research DONE
7) Dishwasher DONE
8) Strip beds
9) Spend 30 minutes sorting all the carp dumped in the guest room

Not much achieved yesterday apart from work tasks. I am getting my hair cut this evening and then joining DH PT session at 8pm.

I will aim to spend an hour today catching up with yesterday's jobs before adding anymore.

I also need to pick up DH prescription, buy hair dye for me and a hair product for DH. The hair stuff will make a hole in my grocery budget for this week. DH has decided not to go to my hairdresser anymore, it was too much money and hassle for a mans haircut. I am also considering trying a local hairdresser which I do periodically and end up going back to the city centre one as I am unhappy with the results. Maybe I should stick with what I know works for me for the sake of £10/month.

XSpender · 21 January 2018 at 9:18AM

I have ordered the bed and mattress for the guest room but decided to pay for it from our savings rather than put it on credit.

I started stripping the wallpaper in the room yesterday and the plaster has been filled in badly at some point as it has blown over a large area and is not paintable. It is still dropping off the wall. :eek: DH has phoned his friend who is going to come over next week to give us a price for skimming the wall. It's always something with this house.

I have found some wire side tables to use as bedside tables, some reasonably priced next bedding and will order a roman blind. I picked up pillows and a duvet in asda. If we can't get the room done by the time my Dad comes they will have to sleep in our room which isn't ideal.

I went to the gym for the first time this year yesterday morning and everything is stiff this morning. I have booked another class with a friend on Wednesday.

DS training has been moved indoors as we still have snow on the ground and more is forecast this afternoon.

Stuff to do today:

1) Make casserole in the slow cooker
2) Take DS old bed to DMIL
3) Take ironing to DMIL :A
4) Put away all laundry
5) Loads of stuff to go in loft
6) Sort my clothes for next week's work trip
7) Walk with the dog before the snow starts to ease muscle stiffness
8) Strip more wallpaper off guest room walls
9) Touch up paint work in kitchen
10) Prepare food for work trip so I can try to stay on SW plan
11) Post my annual and monthly goals

redofromstart · 21 January 2018 at 10:37AM

I'd stick with the hairdresser that you know is good rather than go to one that you know is indifferent. Just not worth hating what you see in the mirror

Treadingonplaymobil · 21 January 2018 at 10:57AM

I would stick with the hairdresser you know, even if it means eking it out an extra week or so between appointments. Nobody needs depressing hair.

What a pain about the plaster. I am so jealous of you working on your house - wish we could afford to get on and do the work we need to in our house, but it needs to wait until the debt is lower.

HairyHandofDartmoor · 21 January 2018 at 12:45PM

It will be lovely to get the spare room finished so your dad can come. Old houses always need a lot of work, ours could do with some plastering.

It's probably best to stick to a hairdresser you're happy with, especially if it's budgeted for. Feeling good is very important as it empowers you to make positive changes in your life. This is how I justify buying clothes

Suffolk_lass · 21 January 2018 at 6:14PM

I used to be loyal to one hairdresser, for years. About 6 years ago I asked a local barber if he would cut my hair and he agreed - I should add that he used to run a hairdresser's salon in Chigwell. He said he had missed cutting womens' hair and he now cuts mine, and a number of other local women's hair - he charges me £14.50. I go to the Barber's and queue up with the men, and if it is busy, I go back later because he cuts it well, and my hair takes a bit longer than the chaps, so I go when I think it will be quieter. Honestly, I have never had such good cuts.

XSpender · 22 January 2018 at 8:30AM

Thanks to you all for the comments on the hairdresser. I have decided to keep going there but have increased the frequency to 6 weeks instead of 8 as it was getting so I couldn't see under my fringe and getting straggly. I can go back for a free fringe trim and will time this to when DH has his cut. DH has decided to still go to the same hairdresser but will go once a month and if he needs is sides and back cutting he will go the local barbers.

What a great barber you have Suffolk Lass. We have a good one in the village who does DS hair but I wouldn't trust him with mine.:o

We have bitten the bullet today and ordered some bedroom furniture in the sale for our room. I have been looking at this for some time and it has 30% off at the moment. While in the shop we looked again at the dining suite we liked and the assistant showed us the same table and chairs that were ex display, massively reduced. We bought the lot

All in all we saved over £1500, 40% off the retail price across both sets of furniture.

£2000 has gone on a 0% loan over 24 months and £500 on a CC which will be cleared by the end of March. We paid so much off this month that the net effect isn't too bad although it will have increased our debt total.

Our bed frame and mattress will go in the 4th bedroom, our bedside tables will go in the guest room and we only need a pair of curtains, and a new mattress at some point, to finish our bedroom. The guest room will require a roman blind, plastering, a tin of wall paint, 2 table lights and a ceiling light. I will also buy a chest of drawers and a mirror for in here but that will be next year probably. The 4th bedroom is not urgent and will be left until at least next year if not later. The dining room needs a wall putting up (:eek:) and a lick of paint. The new wall will mean we need new flooring at some point.

DH is going to put the existing dining suite (sold to us cheaply by the previous owners) on a local selling page.

I'm away for a couple of days with work this week and then DH gets paid again on Friday

XSpender · 22 January 2018 at 6:38PM

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

I would stick with the hairdresser you know, even if it means eking it out an extra week or so between appointments. Nobody needs depressing hair.

What a pain about the plaster. I am so jealous of you working on your house - wish we could afford to get on and do the work we need to in our house, but it needs to wait until the debt is lower.

Sorry TOPM, I missed your comment about the house. When we bought this house 18 months ago we had a tiny balance on a 0% credit card and probably 70% of the debt we have run up since is on the house. We found our dream house and used every penny we had to buy it. Most of it has been cosmetic, repairs, updating broken or dated fixtures and fixing bodged jobs. We would love an extension/re-model of the kitchen/utility/breakfast room and sun room but this will need to wait at least another 3 years.

XSpender · 24 January 2018 at 7:30PM

Lloyds Loan #1……………….£10,203.82….£275.11…..3.9% APR…….40 payments left
Lloyds Loan #2……………….£14,261.45….£265.98…..3.9% APR…….59 payments left
Lloyds CC (Me) Part 1..........£664.14........£48.........17%
Lloyds CC (Me) Part 2………….£3072.30….….£0......…….0.0% APR…….until March 2019
Virgin (Me) Part 1…………..£677.42……..£22.15………0.0% APR…….until March 2018
Virgin (Me) Part 2…………..£1038.00……..£0.00….…….0.0% APR…….until Sept 2018
[STRIKE]Virgin (DH) Part 1……………£0……….£108.76…..0.0% APR…….until March 2018[/STRIKE]
Virgin (DH) Part 2……………£5959.20……..£103………0.0% APR…….until July 2018
Virgin (DH) Part 3……………£4372.97……..£0.00………0.0% APR…….until Sept 2018
MBNA…………………………….£8286.75……..£83.71…….0.0% APR….…until Sept 2019
Person 1…………………………£1275.79……..£0.00……….0.0% APR……………………………
Person 2…………………………£1362.18..…..£0.00……….0.0% APR……………………………
Hitachi…………………………...£1439.31……..£47.97……...0.0% APR…….BNPL payments start May 2018
Creation........................£2010.10.......£83.75......0.0% 24 payments left

TOTAL £53,315.15 @ 16.12 TOTAL NOW £54,336.75

£1,021.60 - increase in debt

DH gets paid on Friday so I am doing my EOM update today which doesn't make for brilliant reading

Our debt has gone up and we have used our meagre savings on a bed, mattress, new door locks and smoke alarms.

There is still some money in some of the savings pots which is an improvement on most months and we have drastically reduced our food bill. I have also not used my personal spends to subsidise the current account spending. We did overpay our debt before we bought the new furniture.

Treadingonplaymobil · 25 January 2018 at 6:07AM

Shall I take the opportunity to be the old curmudgeon who says you shouldn’t have bought the dining suite? I know full well that I would have struggled HUGELY to resist it too, so I’m not going to get remotely high and mighty with you, but I wonder if the spending on non-essentials is a bit too easy at the moment because you are spending so much on things that need to be done - the non essentials probably seem like a drop in the ocean!

I know that when we started out (and indeed, now) my motivation wasn’t really to reduce debt, but to reduce our outgoings/monthly minimum payment commitments, so we could have more cash to spend on the things we want. I know it’s a different way of looking at exactly the same debt, but it’s helped me focus on reducing it so there is more money available on a monthly basis, rather than just for the sake of Not Being In Debt.

Spend Nowt, Buy Nowt, Owe Nowt

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