Flying gleefully into 2009 - One Fresians adventures in debt-busting

Hopeful1

Morning f_f! No ironing this morning. I didn't sleep well last night and struggled to get out of bed. Unfortunately the little one doesn't have such problems and is out of bed at 7am on the dot every day!

Safe (round the reeking) journey back! Hope the Barclaycard balance is looking good

mooomin

cocalls wrote: »

im staying on the isle of arran in aug never been anywhere in scotland apart from edinburgh which i love-was up there for hogmanay-bet you hate us outsiders coming up and ruining it ha ha!

Ooh let me know how it is - I've never been to Arran

Glad you enjoyed my home city at Hogmanay - I avoid it at that time of year :rotfl:Too many drunker b*ggers cluttering up the streets!

As for outsiders, not at all! Unless you're like the woman at my dad's dentist yesterday who was from Doon Sooth (Well, Glasgow) and moaned for the whole time she was in the waiting room about the pace of life in the Highlands and how nobody wanted to get things done quickly. In the nicest possible way, if you don't like it p*ss off back! She soon stopped moaning when my dad started talking Gaelic to his pal and she realised she was among Local People

Also, t'other half is of Geordie people, so I'm not allowed to be mean about the English :rotfl:

mooomin

flying_fresian wrote: »

Budget = £250

Spent:

M&S (Food for journey and pizza for first night) £11.86
Petrol £26
Tesco (Essentials for first couple of days) £11.73
Petrol & muesli £31.55
Cakes! (Scones for me, brioche for him!) £2.68
Fags for t'other half £5.78 :eek: No wonder I quit...

Total spent = £89.60...

...so I should have £160.40 approximately left and I have:

£159 left in my purse. :j :j

Whoop Whoop, my budget balances!!

Right, final total methinks:

Shopping at Co-op £19.25 including stamps and more cheese than we needed (Him Indoors can't resist a BOGOF)
Lunch out yesterday £9.09

Total including what I spent before: £117.94

So I should have £132.06 in my purse and I have....£129! :j

I don't include anything under £1 as that all goes in my Sealed Pot, and there is definitely £3+ in change, so I am balanced again! We will buy diesel on the way down, but I should have at least £60 left from our budget, which I will split between my Barclaycard and t'other halfs Visa debt. Not telling him that though - he gets all manly and proud about not taking my money. Silly b*gger

I really should be tidying up the house and packing.

tomtombeanie

what could be better - a lovely relaxing hols amongst family & friends AND being under budget! glad you have had a great break. xx

mooomin

flying_fresian wrote: »

Good things:

1. £100 incentive from A&L was paid into my account today :j so I have paid £50 to my Emergency Fund and another £50 to Barclaycard
2. The payment received above means I have hit my targets for this month already :rotfl: Barclaycard is at £500 now, I have paid the extra £100 I was aiming for into my Emergency Fund and my total payments to debt since November will definitely be over £2k now

The above quote is from the 25th of March. My Barclaycard is now at £385 :j :j All spare pennies will now be going towards this and I would dearly love to have it paid off by the end of May *crosses fingers* If worst comes to worst I can always use my savings - I now have savings :rotfl: I wouldn't have thought this possible a few months ago! I now have about £400 in savings, just sitting, gathering interest. I would normally have spent them by now!

Anyway....

We're back in Edinburgh now and are all settled in with pizza (Thanks for the £20 mum, I used it wisely ) and our happy cats, who are thrilled to see us.

I don't have to be back at work until Tuesday, so my plans consist of tidying out the house (and taking things to the tip while we still have use of a car) and making use of some Boots Grabbit knowledge as I have a couple of vouchers to use

Hopeful1

Glad you arrived home safely

I know you always bat away compliments, but you really are an inspiration. You organise your money so well, but most importantly you stick to your guns/budget. I have just started saving again and your tally of £400 is making me determined not to give in a spend what i save!

Have a nice evening hun

mooomin

Hopeful1 wrote: »

Glad you arrived home safely

I know you always bat away compliments, but you really are an inspiration. You organise your money so well, but most importantly you stick to your guns/budget. I have just started saving again and your tally of £400 is making me determined not to give in a spend what i save!

Have a nice evening hun

Well shucks

Best advice from me - I currently have £350 of my savings in a really good account (5%) but if I make any withdrawals from it I lose the rate. So, the other £50 (Soon to be much more, you mark my words!) is in a reasonably good (3%) account with instant access, and once I have more than £150 in there I will start topping up the No Withdrawals account. Also, keep your savings with a bank you don't have your normal online banking with - I check my savings balance rarely, which helps. That way it's always a nice surprise when I have more than I think!

The No Withdrawals account will eventually pay off my loan. Six and a half flipping grand. What do I have to show for it??? B*gger all, that's what :mad:

I have a new target for myself now - and it's going to be tough....


I would like to be debt-free by the time I'm 30*

So, I have about 88 weeks to pay off around £7k including my Barclaycard. :eek: That would be £80ish per week which is very high on my wage, but I would think it is do-able with some high-octane budgeteering. If I can keep my grocery spending down and socialise less I should be ok...

LET THE CHALLENGE BEGIN!!!


*disclaimer* This doesn't include my mortgage

Silaqui

Sounds like a good goal to aim for! If you think about the tenner a day challenge it's not much more than that per day. I guess eventually you run out of things to ebay though lol.

I know how you feel about the loan. When I finished uni I took out a 7k loan which paid for a car (3 grand, which I still have and it's going strong) and paid off my credit cards etc from uni. Now I have the 7 grand loan (thankfully only a year and a half left on it) PLUS I ran up the credit cards again! I have an amazing shoe collection but thats about it :mad:

You are inspirational though I completely agree.

xx

Hopeful1

flying_fresian wrote: »

Well shucks

Best advice from me - I currently have £350 of my savings in a really good account (5%) but if I make any withdrawals from it I lose the rate. So, the other £50 (Soon to be much more, you mark my words!) is in a reasonably good (3%) account with instant access, and once I have more than £150 in there I will start topping up the No Withdrawals account. Also, keep your savings with a bank you don't have your normal online banking with - I check my savings balance rarely, which helps. That way it's always a nice surprise when I have more than I think!

You're a star. I've got it now! I have a PO account that works better if no withdrawal is made but the deposit min is £20 which i can rarely do in 1 go. HOWEVER, i have a Sainsbury's account i frequently add bits to as there's no minimum, so that could be used to top up the PO account.

Sorry to ramble but i feel better now i've written that down!

That's an ambitious target you've set yourself but i would bet anything that you will do it. Onwards march with the PaD-ding hey?!

The_Golden_Goose

Popping in to say "Hellllllooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo"

Shall try and have a read of your diary over the weekend when Mr GG is not about. He already thinks I spend to much time on that and I quote "damn computer"..... LOL He doesn't mind really, means he can channel hop on the tv to his hearts content without minor outbursts from me of "I was watching that!"........


Tee Hee.