Chunky joins in with the diary writers

chunkytfg

boredofbeingathome wrote: »

just had another thought...have been known to occasionally!

If you travel to London regularly have you investigated the train fare reducing option talked about by Martin on last week's show. unless of course you move around regularly then not an option..also maybe look at car sharing or even advertise on your car.

I work for london underground so i get free rail and buss travel within london underground and the red busses.

The issue with not being able to use the trains is that i work shifts and apart from the fact the earliest train into london doesnt get into work early enough i would have to travle 50 miles a day cross country in the wrong direction to get the the station.

while i'm working i stay with my parents who very kindly let me stay free gratis so that helps but only just as they are 45 miles from work instead of 105 and with the BR rail fares being so high it is actually cheaper to drive it than train it.

Whats the score re advertising on your car? any links?

chunkytfg

boredofbeingathome wrote: »

Hi chunky sorry i meant to say switch to interest only with your current provider on the mortgage.
I see what you mean re the car insurance.

Difficult one with the life insurance as it depends whether your existing one will also pay off debts if the worst happens..you should discuss this and see if there any other policies out there which would cover all of that.

May also be worth looking at Martin's guide on give yourself a 25% payrise
together as well.

Also head over to the raise your income board...as the old saying goes every little helps.

my current life insurance policy is a remnant from my old flat i bought when i first qualified which is for 95k. my death in service benifit i get from my work pension will pay out just over 200k should i suffer a severe lack of breath! If i could afford it i would be happier to leave the life insurance policy going as my OH is aware that with me and her not having children together i would want some of my personal estate to go to my sister and my nephew(second nephew due ina couple of months). keeping it going allows me to cater for both of them iyswim?

Again re the mortgage I would rather keep paying some off each month no matter how little. in the current climate i want to keep the loan to value ration as high as possible.

Now looking at all i've written I get the impression of myself i am making excuses for eeverything that has been suggested and i'd like to assure you all i'm not. I just feel that we are not in a massively bad way financially and i need this forum/diary as a means of keeping track and boosting my ability maintain a reasonable spending habit without getting out of control again.

SazM030306

Hi Chunky, I had this in my faves list

http://www.adsoncars.com/do.asp

Saz xxx

chunkytfg

On a positive note though i have just applied for the Virgin CC on there 0% deal so that should save me £100 a month over the cap one card should i be accepted

boredofbeingathome

Excellent news on the card, i would also suggest putting your overdraft on 0 % and transfer to one of the best for overdraft banks. If you have been accepted by Virgin, then Abbey is owned by the same company and is doing a really good 0% deal on overdrafts.

Have you thought of a will to clarify stuff as well? May as well get it all sorted.Have a look on the board which deals with it too.Lots of free will writing services.

penguin83

Hi Chunky - just wanted to say welcome and well done for posting and starting your diary.

I too have a horse that has a bigger budget that we do! In fact one of my main motivations for getting debt free is that I will then be able to buy another horse.

Keep posting x x

chunkytfg

well dont just keep the horse to yourself. post a picture up!

question penquin. Did you not consider selling the horse to help with what to me looks like a huge debt? well done on clearing 15k of it though!

penguin83

I will get OH to upload some - I havent figured out how to get them from camera to here!

Selling her was never an option for me because she is now 37 and is basically unsaleable (i think I just invented a word!). We were also in the fortunate position that we were never in a debt crisis (although we have a big debt we have always had sufficient income to make the payments) but we have made cutbacks to pay off the debt quicker.

Hope that makes sense! x

Piquant_2

I'm sort of the same Penguin. My horse although only 24 going on 2 has been with me all his life, so was his mum! I've been fortunate enough to make my minimum payments and a little extra so hope I don't have to give him away (too old to sell anyway).

Sorry a bit waffly, it's a glass of wine time...
Piq

chunkytfg

Fair enough to both of you. I'm not even the rider and would never sell either of our two. Even though bud(the skewbald) has only been with us a short time he is allready a very definate member of the family and we are looking forward to many many years of riding him yet(me alongside on my pushbike!!)