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

lucielle

We all have bad days and I think mine are approaching! Like with your weight loss, just put it behind you and get back on track. If you feel that you really have gone daft on the housey stuff, can you take some of it back?
L

gingernutbizkit

thanks Lucielle.

Can't really return the items bought so going to just have to chalk it up to experience and move forward with it.


Still annoyed with myself.

gingernutbizkit

Right, I have managed to get off my backside and do at least one MSE thing today....

We have now got approx £5800 in our A&L ISA to go towards our mortgage. I've just applied for a first direct cash isa fixed at 3.1%. I have also asked A&L to confirm our current rate to see if it has dropped. If it hasn't and is still over 5% then we will leave our savings in there and start a new one with first direct. Otherwise we will transfer all our money over. Thinking about setting up a standing order to pay £300pcm in there to meet our full ISA allowance. Once funds are more settled (and I don't have any more stupid shopping trips) I will look to open another ISA in my wife's name.

Our NR repayment money has been seriously dented. I think at the moment that we will have about £3000 at the end of the month towards it but hopefully the £1000 tax money will be returned and I can make that payment too.

Ging x

Little_Chicken

Hi Ging
Really enjoyed your blog. keep going, and good luck with the weight loss too. LCx

gingernutbizkit

thanks Little Chicken..... it's good to know people are reading this thing!!! Mostly I'm blogging to keep myself on track.... more likely to be accountable knowing know one knows who I am

Ging x

gingernutbizkit

Hi all,

Just been updating my snowball. In 6 months we have now paid off over £12800 :T:T:T

Our debt free date in now August 2017 :j:j:j

Four of our debts are gone :D:D

As already mentionned I hope to pay a chunk off my NR loan at the end of this month (approx £3000/£8500) and by August my car loan will be gone (approx £1500) :beer:

With over £160,000 still to pay and 100 months to go it's good every now and then to consider what we have achieved :rotfl:

Ging x

gingernutbizkit

Received a cheque in the post today which was really out of the blue - a young person I worked with assaulted me two years ago and got a £50 fine (not exactly my idea of rehabilative justice but there you go!). He's made a £13.85 payment which I was really not expecting - sadly most people get away with not paying court fines.

So that's a little more in my 'money from nothing' pot

Joined the flylady thread and planing to get my house in order as I think we waste a lot of money by not paying things on time (lost paperwork) and buying thing we don't realise we already have.

Also decided to have a go at a local shop instead of tesco's. A five minute drive to a village with a morrisons, Aldi, butchers and greengrocers. Going to see if that's any cheaper. I usually spend about £70 on food and household items so any saved each month will go on our debts. We'll see how it goes.

Ging x

gingernutbizkit

Hey all,

thought i would update about my NR loan repayment. If you remember the goal is to pay it off (around £8500) by May 1st and here is how I'm doing so far.

£4000 from transferring from 0% CC (2.98% fee)
£2500 from monthly savings
£1300 due to be paid on 28th
£416 if I don't have to pay the direct debit

Approx £300 short which can be made up by my 0% overdraft facility.

So that's half transferred to a better % rate and the rest paid off.

:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j

gallygirl

Superb, well done

gingernutbizkit

Hey pepps

Just got back from my shopping trip and thought I would compare prices and pros/cons with Mr T's.

Items from Aldi's.
3x cola £1.14 saving 21p
squash 89p saving 0p
Milk £2.94 saving 80p
2x salad potatoes 98p saving £1.02
Potatoes £1.79 saving 65p
Hot Choc 99p saving 0p
2x sweetcorn 78p saving 10p
Cereal: £1.29 saving 70p
Jam: 85p saving 0p
26 packets crisp £2.39 saving 57p
Bread 59p saving 20p
Deodorant 69p saving 6p
seafood sticks 89p saving 10p
yoghurts 75p saving -30p
apples 49p saving 50p
eggs 99p saving 30p
face cream £1.99 saving 51p
Toilet refresher 99p saving 0p
Total saving: £6.72

Items from Grocer
Cucumber 80p saving 10p
Onion pack 59p saving 40p
6 oranges £1 saving 50p
Red onion 13p saving 8p
Red pepper 72p saving 23p
Iceburg lettuce 89p saving 6p
beansprouts 49p saving 20p
mushrooms 49p saving 40p
tomatoes 99p saving £1
total grocers saving: £2.97

Pro's of Avoiding Mr T's
Cheaper - £10 saved on this smaller shop alone
Support smaller businesses
More pleasant shopping experience

Cons of Avoiding Mr T's
Less choice at alternative shops
Not as convenient
Couldn't buy all the heavy items needed

All in all, I think I would be best to do a tesco delivery shop online once a month to buy the bulky heavy items. I would also do an online meat order. Everything else would be bought locally as needed - which would stop me buying lots in one go and then throwing loads out.

Ging x