Freebie alert

Free sample of Herbal Essences "new magical range" at http://new.herbalessences.co.uk/.

As an aside, it always makes me chuckle to see shampoo, cosmetics, laundry products, etc, described as "magical" or "miracle" or "revolutionary".

Still, I'll enjoy using my free 10ml sample to "magically" clean my hair by virtue of, erm, washing it. Ciliciadeduco!

Getting ready for a new year of debt reduction

It's my first day back at work after a fantastic and fairly frugal Christmas. I'm glad I've had 6 days off, as I'm straight back onto a double shift today and another tomorrow! I've driven 812 miles since last Tuesday, but managed to time my top-ups perfectly so as to use my Sainsbury vouchers for all four fill-ups, and my tank this morning should last me for a couple of weeks now. I got almost exactly 10 miles to the litre out of this round of travel, which us about 45mpg - a good result for my engine class.

Unfortunately both S and myself were poorly over Christmas, me with a stinking cough and cold and him with an upset tummy. So we didn't exactly do justice to the food and drink that I'd bought in. This has resulted in some food wastage, but I packed some stuff off with littl'un for him to share with his Dad, and I'm planning to send something to my sis and her husband as well.

S was very pleased with his pressies and I got some lovely books and a DVD and some bath stuff too. I'm so glad we did the £10 maximum spend thing for the adults.

I had a disturbing moment when I realised that my "little boy" now has armpit hair and hairy legs!! and by the next time he comes to stay (Easter) he'll probably be taller than me! Time is slipping through my fingers... it makes me more determined to pay this debt down and have him living with me full time!

So: I don't do New Year resolutions, but I have already posted my goals for 2009. I've already made a good start on the selling books front, and have started listing my comics, and have bought some resources to help me get some new products to store (both were on sale, so I took the opportunity.) I feel pretty confident that I can meet and exceed my 2009 goals as long as I remain focussed on the long-term benefit.

My non-financial goal for this year is to start a photo blog detailing a year's walks around Rother Valley Country park. The idea with this being to force me to get out at least once a week for a long walk (long for me. I'm fully aware that more seasoned walkers will think of it as a 2.5 mile stroll!) while having something interesting to show for my time. Plus it's FREE!

To help me stay on track this year, I'll be creating a monthly plan and posting a check at the end of the month on how I did with it.

Merry Christmas

In a few short hours, I'll be setting off to go and pick up S from his Dad's. Can't wait!

I don't think I'm going to have time to go to the bank, so I'll have to leave my extra payment until next week. I wish I could do it online or on the phone, but apparently there's no facility for that, annoyingly.

I've continued with another couple of book sales through Amazon, and getting my comics list online. I've also worked on a couple of reports for my boss, and went to head office yesterday to tick some more items off my development plan, which is all part of my overall drive to achieve that pay increase, my review being due in January. I've got some overtime in, too.

The only thing I've really missed on was making a start on any products for my store. However, with S about to arrive, I would have had to put it all on hold anyway, which really isn't the best as I like to give a project my full attention. So I'll be cracking on with that once I've taken him home next Monday.

Happy holidays and a prosperous new year to everyone on my reading list :)

Been paid

For some reason, we all got paid today instead of on Monday which was when we were told. Oh well. This probably means there'll be humongous amounts of sick calls tomorrow as our young and feckless staff decide to go out on the piss. Grump, grump.

Have paid my overtime wodge into the ISA. Won't have a chance to go to the bank on Monday and pay a wodge off my loan, as my boss has asked me to visit our other site on Monday, so I'll have to see if I can nip up there on Tuesday when I get out of work. It'll probably be heaving, I'll have to remember to take a book to read in the queue...

Good news is that my new colleague has started and he has agreed to work 3 earlies/1 late week, so I can do 3 lates/1 early. I very much favour this as it suits my natural rhythms much more and enables me to get a lot done in the evenings. Rather counter-intuitive I know, but my most productive and creative time tends to be between 9pm and 1am. I'm truly a night owl these days.

OK, off to list some more comics now.

Photo credit: sxc.hu

Christmas budget

Time to lay out my spending for the holidays.

Gifts still to buy: £10 on my Mum's pressie
Everyone else is sorted

Travel: Petrol should be covered by my Sainsburys vouchers. I am expecting to spend about £80 on petrol for the trips to collect S, plus about £20 on a tank fillup afterwards.

Food: All the shopping is done/ordered for the actual meals at home. I'm budgeting £30 for the meals we'll need to eat on the road, including drinks. I could try to economise here and bring sandwiches or whatever, but that's offset by the need to keep energy levels and body temp high on what is a very tiring drive. (The drive down on the evening of the 23rd will be the worst in this regard: I won't be able to keep drinking coffee, because as soon as I get there I'll have to go to bed so as to be up at 5am the next morning. So I'll have to keep myself awake with nuts and chocolate.)

Accommodation: Travelodge cost £19.

Entertainment: This largely depends on the weather. If the weather is fine, then we will likely go for several walks, which obviously costs nothing. If rainy, we may go to the cinema on the Saturday. I'm going to budget £30 for entertainment costs. We will probably spend most of the days watching DVDs, walking, or playing games at home, anyway.

So that's a total budget of £89 for the whole week - well, actually for the rest of the year. I shan't be doing anything for new year, so I don't need to budget for that.

I do have another minor spend due, which is to pick up a few more Xmas decorations, since the existing ones are rather tired. Gonna nip to B&Q on my way home for that, as they have some really nice ones at fair prices. I promised S that I would wait to put up the tree until he comes on Xmas Eve, but I do want to put a few things up... otherwise it doesn't seem very festive :)

*

A good start with the Amazon sales this month: I'm 8 books/DVDs down and £26 up. I've also found a solution for my comics sales: I've installed ZenCart, which is a free shopping cart software, to my web server, and registered a domain name. I've started putting my catalogue online, and then the plan is to drive traffic there through a variety of advertising strategies, primarily free. Later today I'll be making an investment in some software resources which will enable me to push my creating pay up a notch. This latter is especially timely as I have a new colleague starting tomorrow, enabling me to actually go home on time every day, hurray!

I am currently debating how much to pay off my loan this next month. We get paid next Monday (22nd Dec) but then it's a long stretch until January's pay - 5.5 weeks. The thing is, I want to make the payment on the 22nd Jan (payday) - I won't be able to get to the bank until the 29th, otherwise. I've got the bit between my teeth now and I want to start making payments asap!

Image credit: sxc.hu

Finding my why

For me, this debt reduction is always about having my step-son back to live with me again.

When I first split from his Dad, littl'un spent every weekend with me, and as he got older I was looking forward to a time when he'd be able to catch the bus from school, and come and spend the evening with me a couple of days a week as well.

However, his Dad moved to Wales to be with his new partner. And because of the huge distance, and the price of travel, this means I can only see littl'un a few times a year. It's hard, to say the least. We speak on the phone every day, send emails and photos, and so on. It's not the same as being there, though.

When he visited in August, he'd grown taller than my Mum. I hope he hasn't overtaken me yet!

So for the last year or so, the agreed-on plan with my Ex has been that when littl'un turns 15 (which is in July 2010) he will come to live with me, for his last year of secondary school. By this point he will be mature enough (hopefully) to be able to get himself to and from school on time and cope with being on his own for the odd Saturday. I'll be able to use my holiday to cover about half the school year, and he can go to his Dad's for the rest.

Childminders simply aren't an option at his age. When we were first splitting up, I tried everything to keep him with me, but I simply couldn't find any facility for kids of his age. There is a massive gap in the market there, if you ask me: affordable, reliable childcare for kids between 11 and 16.

Anyway, that's the plan. The catch is, I really really want to move to a good area, within the catchment area of a good school, ready for when he comes. Because he has mild learning difficulties, and because his Dad finds it hard to support him educationally, he is already up against the odds. I need him to be in a school that will support him, where he can concentrate on studying hard and getting himself up to speed for his GCSEs. For preference, I also want to hire a private tutor for English and Maths, to give him the best chance of passing those two crucial subjects.

If I am still in debt when he comes to live with me, we're going to end up either staying where we are, or moving to a worse area where he'll end up in a crappy school. The local school is not very good (going by exam results.) I will not be able to afford any extra tutoring. Likely result: he leaves school with no or very few qualifications, and enters a depressed job market where he will find it very difficult to get anything except menial work.

If, however, I've managed to get myself debt-free (or very nearly) then I will be able to afford considerably more rent, and some tuition. Hoped-for result: we live in a nice area, where he makes some good friends, is happy at school and able to concentrate on working hard and improving his levels, and leaves school with enough qualifications to get a better-paid job or onto a NVQ course or apprenticeship.

So that is WHY I am so focused on paying down my debt in a short amount of time.

Xmas Xcess

I decided that last night was to be Xmas Shopping Night. Not that I needed actual presents: I've bought all those online. No, this was for Provisions.

A few years ago, when I was living the lifestyle that got me into debt, my Xmas shopping list looked somewhat like this:
Nuts, crisps, vodka, crisps, beer, crisps, party snacks, whisky, nuts, mince pies, wine, cream, champage, nuts, popcorn, high-grade vodka, 12 bottles cola, 12 bottles lemonade, crisps, wine, nuts, beer, Alka Seltzer.

Last year it looked more like this:
Nuts, wine, vodka, turkey crown, basic veg, gravy, basic crackers.

Last night was just surreal. It was like worshipping at the altar of Mammon. (Going shopping with my Mum is always like this.)

My Mum maintains that she hates Xmas and would just as soon not have it. That's not an option this year since I have littl'un coming.

So this leaves me feeling like I should let her buy anything if it helps her get into the spirit. Especially since she is cooking Xmas dinner, hehe. However, given my Mum's expensive tastes, this makes it, well, expensive.

For example... "Littl'un will need a new duvet cover." Why? We've got duvet covers spilling out of the cupboard! "Yes, but they're all a bit feminine." He won't even notice! It's not like they're pink with flowers! "Oh, we could do with a unisex one anyway..."

She also bought loads of chocolate. I don't begrudge this, because she always shows me diet solidarity and doesn't eat snacky things usually, but bloody hell it's expensive!

I mean, I don't really begrudge her any of it. It's just that I know if it was just me and littl'un for the holidays, I'd have spent less than half of what we did. And if I was really pulling my belt in, I'd probably have spent less than a third.

Still, having those Sainsburys vouchers from work meant that it didn't cost me anything in cash, and still leaves me plenty of vouchers to use on petrol and further shopping.

Speaking of petrol, I've got my plan for the trip to Wales and back when I fetch littl'un (and take him back.) I can't quite get to Wales and back on one tank of petrol, and what with having petrol vouchers, I wanted to only fill up at Sainsburys so I can use those, get Nectar points, and not have to pay the extortionate prices that you tend to get on the motorway service stations.

So I thought, OK, I'll fill up here before I leave, and then fill up again when I get to Cardiff. Only problem is, the Cardiff Sainsburys all shut at 10pm, don't open until 7am. And while I think and hope I will be tucked up in bed in my Travelodge by 9.30pm, considering it's 2 days before Xmas, I can't count on the traffic being in my favour. And the following morning I'll be picking littl'un up around 6am.

So with the aid of the Sainsburys store locator and Google maps, I've decided to break my journey at Worcester to fill up. While this will add 10-15 mins to the journey time, I'll be glad of a break from the motorway by then anyway.

*

Just when I think I've got all my ducks in a row, I do something stupid like leaving my lunch at home - negating the whole bring-my-lunch-in-to-avoid-spending thing. Chalk that one up to insufficient caffeine before leaving home...

Image credit: stockvault.net

Amazon = WIN

Came home from work tonight - thought I may as well make a start and listed 4 DVDs and 2 books on Amazon Marketplace.

Went to eat my tea, came back to the PC and two had sold! £13 on the turntable fund, ka-ching!

Strategy for 2009

So, I've decided on my strategy for achieving next year's goals. Essentially this is pretty much the same as this year's, except with different goals.

1. All my overtime will go into my ISA fund. (This ISA is my Emergency Parachute fund. Otherwise I wouldn't be going against Martin's advice and saving while in debt. I need this buffer zone just in case something expensive and unexpected happens, but also I need it for my own peace of mind.)

2. The entirety of my admin pay and product testing pay every month will go into paying off the Cashback loan.

3. All "creation" pay, plus any income from eBay, Amazon, comics, saving change, etc, will go into the turntable/camera fund.

And... although it's only 8th December today and there are still three weeks until the new year, I'm officially starting on my goals now :)

Image: sxc.hu

Camera and USB turntable

Here are the two big purchases I intend on making next year.



Panasonic - Lumix DMC-TZ5

This camera got 5/5 at PhotographyBlog.com and appears to be the best option for someone like me, i.e. I have a good idea of what I'm doing and how to compose my shots, but not the knowledge (nor the time to acquire it) on exactly what settings to use in each situation.




Similarly, this seems to be the best solution for the non-DJ. Not terribly expensive, not particularly sophisticated, but does what it says on the tin.

So that's the particulars sorted - now I just need to set my strategy of how I'll be saving for these.

Onwards and upwards...

2009 goals and plans

I was inspired by a post over at paidtwice.com to make a list of 12 financial goals for next year. Here they are:
1. Achieve a payrise of at least 5%. I would like to aim for about 10%, but given the current economic climate, I need to be realistic. Achieving this goal will mean making sure I complete not only my assigned duties, but also add value to the team by volunteering for tasks, improving our processes, and taking every opportunity to increase my profile.
2. Reduce my Cashback loan by £5k. I will be aiming to over-achieve on this, strategy to be decided.
3. No unexpected late charges throughout the year. This year I missed a payment on my catalogue due to stupidly forgetting to advise them that I'd moved.
4. Fill up my ISA to the maximum annual limit (£3,600).
5. Find a different way of selling my comics (like, one that doesn't actually cost me money - thankyou eBay for raising your prices, you asses.)
6. Sort through my music collection and then sell the CDs through Amazon. Those that don't sell will be charity-shopped.
7. Sort through my books and list at least 50 on Amazon. If they don't sell, it's the charity shop for them too!
8. Add 5 new products to my online store.
9. Buy a USB turntable.
10. Buy a new digital camera (before holiday in Sept 09.)
11. Start putting my loose change in a tin, to be periodically totalled up and snowflaked off my debt.
12. ...Here is where I ran out of inspiration. Any ideas?

Image: sxc.hu

Major goal achieved!

Thanks to another unexpected windfall, I've just COMPLETELY paid off my Barclaycard!!

I had completely forgotten that I get a Xmas bonus from my online work, which I have just received. $800, thank you very much, which is £542 thanks to the strong dollar. So with my previous windfall PLUS my usual payoff, plus this, I have just cleared the card completely... and I cannot tell you how good it feels! Yeah!

This means I will be able to start paying chunks off my loan pretty much from this month (once the money has transferred from Paypal) which is well ahead of the new year goal I had set myself!

I'm even more pleased that my first impulse has been to snowball it onto the payment, and not to run out and buy something expensive... which is what I would have done this time last year!

Goal achieved!

Thanks to an unexpected windfall of £120 (cashback from when I renegotiated my bank loan last year - I'd forgotten all about it!) I've just topped out my MP3 fund, and ordered my new player. WOO-HOO! and it should be here tomorrow since next-day delivery was free. EVEN MORE WOO-HOO!

I can't wait to get synching! LOL

Since the windfall more than covered the remaining money required for the Mp3 player, I'll be snowflaking the remainder to my credit card. So that's 605.89 to go, plus my tester pay and £250 of my admin pay for this month.

One slight drawback... after the problem with my main bank account last month, it was payroll deadline the day AFTER I discovered the problem, so I advised Payroll to pay my wages into my other account at a different bank. Then as soon as I'd been paid, I did a funds transfer from that account to my new account, but it hasn't shown up on my balance yet, so I'll have to wait until that's complete to pay my credit card. I got a good whack of overtime this month, so I've£605.89 to pay off, great stuff!