How I'm taking control of my £164,893 debt

Double_Trouble

Spotted your diary so I thought I would come and see what No.30 was doing before you start MFiT(2) challenge it seems to be going really well for you and you are certainly crunching your non mortgage debt.

Now I see you are off to Lanzarote (which part?) we have a house out there but haven't been able to go the last 12 months but we are going in August. Hope you have a great time.

DT

gingernutbizkit

Double_Trouble wrote: »

Spotted your diary so I thought I would come and see what No.30 was doing before you start MFiT(2) challenge it seems to be going really well for you and you are certainly crunching your non mortgage debt.

Now I see you are off to Lanzarote (which part?) we have a house out there but haven't been able to go the last 12 months but we are going in August. Hope you have a great time.

DT

Thank you! I need to get ahead as I have no chance in paying off the rest of my debt/mortgage by 12/12/12 if I'm not totally motivated.

We're off to Costa Teguise. We've done the other islands but never lanzarote..... REALLY looking forward to it. Any tips on the area and keeping to costs down?

Double_Trouble

gingernutbizkit wrote: »

Thank you! I need to get ahead as I have no chance in paying off the rest of my debt/mortgage by 12/12/12 if I'm not totally motivated.

We're off to Costa Teguise. We've done the other islands but never lanzarote..... REALLY looking forward to it. Any tips on the area and keeping to costs down?

We are down the South in Playa Blanca.Costa Teguise is the one resort I have not been to. Tips avoid the water park it is carp and do go to the volcanoes they are great. Not having been for12 months and the way the euro has gone things are not going to be cheap. Are you catered or self catering (I know where all the best supermarkets are!)

DTxx

gingernutbizkit

self-catering..... plan to alternate between cooking in the apartment and eating out.

Agree that we are not going to get as much for our money this year

gallygirl

gingernutbizkit wrote: »

We're off to Costa Teguise. We've done the other islands but never lanzarote..... REALLY looking forward to it. Any tips on the area and keeping to costs down?

Costa Teguise is really nice. We were out in Jan & found prices had risen a lot - not just the exchange rate difference. However, a lot of the restaurants are offering Menu del Dia's which were good value. There is a lovely restaurant just off the square, next to a Swiss place - the two places are opposite each other and form the gateway into the square. Don't know how to describe it but you'll know it when you get there. Tables outside under a large tree. The restaurant looks classier than the rest and does not look touristy. The Menu Del Dia is fabulous, although dearer than elsewhere, and make sure you are very hungry as massive portions!

If you go through that exit from the square, away from the square, and bear right there is a row of bars & restaurants. Ignore the British places. There is a Spanish tapas bar always full of locals & it is excellent. Further along on the right is an Italian which again does a great Menu del Dia (locals go in & eat it). Paintings on the wall are a bit rude in a Daliesque way _pale_ and the owner (and artist) sings.

Across the road & just down the hill is a place called El Patio. Don't eat there! Expensive, food ok but drink v dear. There is a small British bar we used to go into there with friendly atmosphere & cheap beer. Before you get to those is a v small Indian restaurant, service slow but food lovely & reasonable.

Re supermarkets - shop around as some are cheaper for some things, some for others. To our surprise, our complex (Sands) supermarket was competitive on some things.

Have a great time!

gingernutbizkit

that's really helpful gally girl, thanks..... looking forward to seeing those rude paintings

gallygirl

gingernutbizkit wrote: »

that's really helpful gally girl, thanks..... looking forward to seeing those rude paintings

:eek::eek::eek: The wost bit was that I 'saw' it straight away & then had to explain to OH

gingernutbizkit

Got back from Land-za-grotty a couple of days ago. Lovely hols - nice and sunny - but everything was SO expensive. The resort was really quiet and many businesses seem to be [STRIKE]hit by the recession[/STRIKE] closed for refurbishment :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: It was noticeably more expensive to eat out etc etc

Anyway..... back to lovely blighty..... the pile of bills I came home to and still need to sort through :mad: - plan to spend time on monday getting my paperwork pile in order..... I am not joking when I say that it is over 1.2m tall

Will update when I've had chance to get my head back into it.

Ging x

gingernutbizkit

Right then, the paperwork mountain is now a more manageable hill I plan to spend time later this week organising it into files etc. The bills have been paid aqnd some of our debt transfered to a 0% credit card. We now have approx £3500 in our account for the NR loan.... hoping to add about £1500 to that by the end of the month by shifting some more debt around. That should be a significant amount off the loan :j

On other matters.... I've restarted my weight loss ambition from new year. I'm hoping that 2009 will be the year I reach my target...... approx 7 stone to lose. I'm not joining a group but will be part of the support forums on here. Need to work out some cheap slimming world meals.

My other goal is to get my house in order.... literally :rotfl: . I think part of the reason why our finances are in such a mess is that everything else is. I have spent some time completing a cleaning rota and starting a 'house file' to keep all the essentials of running the house close to hand. For the time being I'm trying to approach my house like I would like to approach my own business.

Ging x

gingernutbizkit

ok, ok, ok it's been a while since I blogged on here..... mostly out of embarassment .

Basically got landed with a £1000 tax bill which I have paid to stop interest charges but intend to contest. So that took a big chunk out of the money I had put aside to go towards our NR loan.

So, feeling down knowing that I won't reach our goal, I went shopping and spent far too much money. I needed to buy the items for the house (we're in the middle of renovating) but I was definately ruled by my heart and not my head and could have spent less.

Also, it's the easter hols and the house is a mess..... none of my plans to organise myself have really taken off..... need to get a big kick up the asre and get back on track.

Weight wise I have had a few days off plan but got back on track today. Desperately need to lose the weight and feel that if I don't now then I probably never will. It's having a bing impact on my health and I'm really aware that I am not setting a very good example for my boys.

Off to find a big stick to continue beating myself with......

Ging x