DFSD's motivational ramblings...

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Glad you're feeling more positive!

I'll definitely sign up to the Wagamama site now - what a bargain night out!

Jenny2008

debtfreesomeday wrote: »

The minimum payment for the credit card is £25 a month, and is 0% until next August. We're paying £300 - £350 a month on it at the moment. The loan is at 8.9% and is £168.50 a month.

I think that would depend on what the interest rate is on your credit card once the 0% period is finished. If it's much higher than the 8.9% you're paying on the loan, then it's probably wise to clear the credit card as much as possible before the high interest rate kicks in. (Which is what happened to me - one of my cards shot up to 18.9% after the 0% period ended - that's a lot of interest on a big balance ... tough lesson learnt!)

Alternatively, you could put the money you're currently paying to the credit card into a high interest savings account; then pay it all to your credit card just before the 0% period ends - although that takes some discipline: I've never done it because I'm not sure I wouldn't spend it!

Once the credit card is paid off, you can then throw the £300-£350 at the loan on top of the £168.50 each month - you'll soon clear it at that rate.

debtfreesomeday

Thanks Jenny2008 - yes, we've decided to carry on with the big payments to the credit card at the moment until paid off. I'm not sure what the APR is once the 0% is finished but as it's Virgin I'm sure it'll rocket up to around 17.9 - 18.9%, if not more! We'll look at switching it to a lower rate card if that happens. We'll take full advantage of the 0% now until August next year, so that every penny paid goes towards reducing the balance; seems silly not to I guess. It's just frustrating knowing the loan's sat there...

debtfreesomeday

Yay! The second Amazon sale of the day. :j
That's £23.17 made from the books today, which is probably about £20 profit by the time I've posted them. I'm really glad I started selling on Amazon; I was in two minds as to whether anything would actually sell, but I am pleased with how many books have gone already, and it's only been about a month I think.
I had to (reluctantly) put an emergency £45 on my previously cleared egg card at the weekend, so that will go towards completely clearing that again this month.
It's the only credit card we have left that isn't cut up, but I don't keep it in my purse - it's filed away! That's the first time it's been used in 6 months or so and it'll be paid off before interest accrues. I would like to cut it up too, but it really worries me, as we have no substantial savings, as to what we'd do in an emergency if we needed to pay for something...

I'm aiming for a NSD today and on track so far!

debtfreesomeday

Today's Sunday and this weekend has been a fairly DFW one, considering.
We had a friend staying with us and in times of old, this would've been an occasion where we may have spent a bit too much money (takeaway, get extra food/lots of alcohol in etc), but we've been fairly good! The only things we bought in extra, was a pack of beer from LIDL for hubby and his mate to share, and some eggs and bread for breakfast as we'd run out. Total was just over £7, which I was pleased about.

We picked up a few bits of shopping needed for the rest of the month today, instead of an internet shop again as we don't really need much. I only ever shop online when I spend over £50 and get free delivery! We spent £18 today stocking up on some basics and stuff for lunches. This leaves us with about £50 for the next two weeks (so we don't go overdrawn) for food and petrol, which should be fine as we have enough food to last us the month now and we have half a tank of petrol left until we need to fill up.

I have also made 2 more sales on Amazon since Friday, totalling nearly £9 in profit, which all helps. I'm leaving it in the bank account for now, and if there's any over at the end of the month I'll pay it off on the credit card. I've already paid nearly £360 on the credit card this month so am quite happy about that. I've also listed a couple of things on ebay over the weekend, including my lovely wedding dress, but it's been hanging up for months now and is just taking up space!

Some exciting news - we may be moving house soon too (offer been accepted, paperwork being done, hopefully no-one else will put in a higher offer before we can complete).
It's not far from us, and is a real bargain - a bigger house, but a lower price than ours. Needs very little work doing either as is practically new). We're hoping the move will go ahead but we have to cross our fingers and hope everything goes through in time. This will mean we won't be able to make such large overpayments on the credit card though for the next 2 or 3 months as there are things we'll need to pay for. This really worries me, but I guess it's unavoidable. We don't want to get ourselves into any more debt by moving and in a couple of months time we'll be overpaying massively again. Instead of paying £300 - £350 a month, I imagine we will be paying about £100 a month towards the credit card; the minimum payment is £25 a month.
I shall try to make a little extra money on Amazon and ebay etc which could also help out.

Well back to work tomorrow. Another boring week at work, but it pays the bills. Have preapred lunch already for tomorrow, and am planning on a NSD.


I'm also desperately trying to get on with the Christmas shopping. Have got quite a bit done, but still have a lot to buy. I've pretty much ran out of money to do so this month though so it will all have to come out of next month's wages. We're getting paid a bit extra next month though in back pay so that should help! I want to get it all done so we can concentrate on this move, if and when it happens. I trawled the internet last night, looking for inspiration (through Quidco of course!) but was highly unsuccessful. Oh well, it'll get done eventually!

debtfreesomeday

I forgot about one of my Amazon payments which showed up on my statement, so have used it to pay off another £15 on the credit card. :j It's going down slowly! I'm trying to pay off as much as possible this month in case I can't make such large payments in the next few months IF we move house.

I think I've paid off nearly £400 of it this month so I'm really pleased with that.
I put a few more things on ebay and one more book on Amazon last night so hopefully we'll have some more sales!

Oops, just remembered I have an egg payment of £20 coming out 2 days before payday to half-cover the £40 I had to put on it last week.:o This will leave us with only £30 left for food & petrol until payday (which is 2 weeks away!). I think this will all have to go on petrol as we have plenty of food in. We're REALLY trying not to go into our overdraft this month, not even by a penny! Wish us luck!

MrsAudus2b

Hi debtfreesomeday:hello:

Just been catching up on your thread...you're doing so well! Especially at the weekend! I was a bad girl on Friday and spent a lot on a night out with my friend:o But then on saturday I had a big get together (with lots of wine...two nights in a row, tut tut!) round my mum's to make some plans for my wedding...and it was a NSD! So all in all the weekend too wasn't bad...and I had a fantasic time!

£400 off the c/c is excellent too...only slightly jealous!:p

Good luck with the rest of the month...I know you will be fine! And keep us updated with the house situation

xxx

debtfreesomeday

Hi MrsAudus2B :wave:(Not sure why it's a one-armed wave on this little thing!!!)

Your weekend sounds a lot more exciting than mine! Sounds like you had a well-deserved fun weekend!

I loved wedding planning, I was so on-the-go and did so much for months before, like making the stationery, favours, table plans etc, that I didn't know what to do with myself after the wedding! There was about a two month period afterwards where we were both just so miserable, lots of our married friends said they were the same. May I suggest planning a couple of fun weekends or something for after the wedding so you have something else to look forward to / occupy you afterwards - we wish we had as we were skint after the wedding so couldn't do much on the spur of the moment either!

Good luck with the rest of the planning xx

debtfreesomeday

Another Amazon sale this morning! :j A total of £6.33, of which, I've paid £6 off the credit card straight away. It's becoming addictive - this keep paying little bits of it off here and there - must remember to stop when I don't have the money to do so!
Also made enough for another £5 from surveys so I'll pay that over into my Paypal account today. Still have some things selling on ebay, but not many bids yet. I'm going to try and search through the cupboards tonight too and see if we have anything else we can put on ebay.
I've just noticed from my signature below, that if I can pay another £2 off the credit card this month, that will mean I've cleared £1000 of it in 3 months! I NEED another sale of at least £2!!!

After the disastrous last slow cooker attempt, I'm also planning on trying another tonight, for tomorrow. I find it's a real hit and miss with that thing - sometimes casseroles and stews are so tasteless in it. We did cook a joint of lamb in it a little while ago though and that was stunning! Shame they don't all go so well as that...

debtfreesomeday

Well I've now transferred the £5 from my survey account to my paypal account, so as soon as that is in there (hopefully along with some ebay profits!), I shall pay a bit more off of the credit card - at least that pesky £2!

Oh, also won a Cadburys gift pack online this morning, so that has spurred me on to enter a few more competitions today... although I'm still waiting for my *big win*!

No further developments on the house purchase yet. Solicitors and estate agents are dealing with the paperwork at the moment and it SHOULD all be completed within 10 or 12 days, providing no-one else makes a higher offer. I'm so anxious about it all, I want to start getting excited and making plans (and cleaning the new house :rolleyes:!!!) but I don't want to count my chickens, so to speak... guess we'll just have to wait and see and hope the next two weeks or so fly ('cos then it will also be pay day too!).
Hmm, pay day... forgotten what that feels like...