Jo_R's debt-free diary, slow and steady progress!

bevan840

Hi Jo. Did the viewing go ok?

Jo_R_2

Didn't happen in the end! Thank god for that, the living room is a state still, the rest of the house can be called 'organised chaos' or similar so not bad but somehow the living room never looks properly tidy!

Looking to redo my SOA after we move, was phoning up various peoples telling them of the change of address and turns out this house doesn't have a water meter (we do here) and the payment plan she suggested was crazy, I realised after I got off the phone I don't understand it, it was something like from July to October the DD will be £59ish, then will have nothing to pay (LOL) until April.

Not organised landline or broadband yet and not sure who to go with, currently with Tiscali but that was only because the ex organised it after a complete fiasco with Pipex who left us floundering for ages with no bb and I never got round to checking it out properly.

Phoned up Tesco about my credit card I have with them that not used for ages to close it (have one credit card with a balance and was looking to balance transfer to a 0% card so tying up loose ends before I do that. They offered me two deals: first is 0% for 6 months with a 2.5% transfer charge, or a 5.6% rate for the life of the balance. I don't know what my interest rate is as an APR on my current CC with the balance so I need to work it out but I heartily suspect it is a better deal.

I also have emailed and texted the ex asking for my loan paperwork back. Not holding out any hope of him contributing which perversely has motivated me into wanting to cancel the PPI (I keep saying I'll do it but not done it yet which is EXTREMELY slack:o) but the paperwork I sent him has all the new contact details - the loan company is a devil to get in contact with as they've moved since I took out my loan and every time I call I get passed around from pillar to post because my loan is on their old system or something. It also had all the details of the interest rate, amount outstanding and so on that I want.

bevan840

Good news for the viewing I know what organised chaos looks like hehe It's called the step sons's bedroom!!!! They're in for a shock when they come round on Sunday as EVERYTHING has been tidied and put away!! :rotfl: I'm also putting a note on the door saying this is how the room WILL stay! (doubt if it will work though)

I don't know what the water rates are on about, I pay £30ish a month for 12 months as far as I know, only went up a penny in april.

I'm biased with LL & BB, parents have always had BT, I had BT in my last place and gone back to them but with the addition of BB as well this time, I haven't had any problems with them, BB was half for first 3 months and line rental is something like £10-£11 a month with unlimited evening and weekend calls at no extra cost.

Good luck with the ex situation, after loaning some money to my ex (when I was still with him) I vowed down never to loan a large amount or take out a loan for anyone again! I gave up and my Mum chased him for the money in the end as it was becoming too stressful for me, trying to get over a bad break up and then he has to add to it by refusing to pay me the money back! A**! Ironically we are friends now and get on quite well!! :rotfl: He's grown up a lot since his x gave birth to his daughter, not that he gets to see her, but he's admitted a lot of the stuff he did back then he is very sorry for and apologised to me for what he had put me through Good luck with him and cancelling the PPI
Hope you and everyone are ok
Sal x

Jo_R_2

Cheers!

Waiting for my new Tesco CC, apparently they need some details off the card before they can change the interest rate?

We're going with BT at the new house for landline and broadband, need to phone them up shortly actually to sort out the details.

Sold my ebay things, got a couple of bits to post then the rest tomorrow, I hate having loads of packages at the Post Office as someone behind inevitably moans at anyone who dares to make them wait and i can't contend with that as well as crying baby and toddler wanting to grab everything! So I stagger postings on consecutive days. Not sure if am going to beat last month's ebay total, don't want to list anything else in case the broadband isn't set up asap.

Jo_R_2

Well over yesterday and today I've posted half of the ebay stuff and should do the rest tomorrow. When we've been clearing stuff out I sorted a whole big carrier bag full of 0-3 baby clothes which I was gonna throw but have decided to keep them to ebay towards my July total. Don't think I'm gonna get any more done this month as we'll be waiting a short while for the broadband to be sorted.

I also really need to sort out the tax credits by confirming annual incomes but the bits of paper I need are packed away. Repeat until done: remember to call them, remember to call them...

The move is tomorrow so depending on when we get connected, won't be online for a little while. DD1's last day at her school today, she's sad but happy about the new school in equal measure:A

beanielou

Hope the move goes well for you x

bevan840

Good luck with the move Jo, hope it goes as smoothly as possible xx

Keeping_Positive

Ditto hope the move going well xx

Jo_R_2

WOOHOO I'M BACK!!!:j:j:j:j:j:j

Ahem...:o Properly online at our new house after some initial teething problems with the new broadband which are now sorted.

The new house is great, lovely and big with a garden for the girls to play in, still can't believe it's only £10 more rent per month that the old place which was tiny in comparison. The only downfall (and I say that hesitantly because it's really only a relatively small thing) is that the decor, is, well, a bit dated:eek: I can live with it, but let's say there's a lot of flowery borders and nearly everything is green, I think the landlord must like green. A LOT.

Spending has been a bit, well, frivolous over the last couple of weeks:o:o The plan was to walk DD1 to school but with it totalling 6 miles a day and having to take DD2 and baby, it's been a bit of a nightmare with firstly the red hot sunny weather and then the torrential rain. So we've been taking the bus so that's added to our spends somewhat.

However... We're getting a car. We figured this would swallow up the bus fares and we'd use it anyway for shopping (been paying for delivery with online shopping) and will come in handy as DDs go to my parents every other weekend. Been searching for cheapest deal on insurance last night, pick up the car from my parents tomorrow. My dad actually bought it then told us, was a surprise so we're going to give him what we had put aside then work out something for the rest.

I'm going to start a spending diary again to keep track of the pennies, and also meal planning as our shopping has gone up and OH not happy. This week's was done online when the broadband was playing up and somehow a load of stuff I ordered disappeared and I didn't get chance to go through it again which I do after getting everything in the basket, and then replace things with cheaper stuff, offers, or get rid of anything I don't really need. We're STILL running out by the weekend (usually get shopping on a Monday) so really need to work on that as we end up buying takeaway or "popping to the shop" *cringes*

Going to work on a new SOA as expenditure changed slightly re: bills as well as all mentioned above!

Jo_R_2

It's DD2's birthday today. We had a party at home for her yesterday evening and I think it's safe to say I ended up spending far more than I had intended. Partly due to a barbeque that didn't materialise because of the weather, and people not coming who said they would (grr!) coupled with me not planning as well as I could have done plus spending a bit more on a present than I had planned. She had a great time though and this morning both DDs went off happily with daddy so round two for them of the birthday celebrations!

I have realised that doing anything involving planning with DDs and/or baby in tow is a recipe for disaster. Even going to the supermarket with a list proves an experience, all powers of thought go out of the window and I'm generally a shopper who likes to take my time and work out what's the best bargain - of course no baby or toddler is going to let me do that are they LOL?! So even though we have a car I think we're going to stick with online shopping - I also find it a lot easier to browse the offers online than when I'm walking around, even if I'm on my own.

Having a car is great! It's so much more economical than the one we had last which drank petrol like I drink Dr. Pepper (if you knew me you'd know what that meant!) Got a decent deal with the insurance so now I need to remember to budget monthly for the car tax and put a little aside for repairs if they're needed.

I am finding keeping track of money a LOT easier now we have responsibility for separate finances:j. With OH paying the rent, it's saved all that faffing around transferring money and I can see more clearly what I have after bills. I mentioned this last time but I do need to do a new SOA - however I am going to wait until August to do this so I can use July as a model and budget for things like diesel and car tax. I also want to start putting money aside for Christmas (every little bit will help) and savings for some things.

I definitely need to be specific about 'savings' - I think as it stands a generic savings pot is all very well but I think being specific is really going to be helpful. I don't want to throw everything at saving but having something behind me as a comfort cushion is really going to make me feel better.

I have also been continuing to ebay and use the fundage for my credit card. I haven't been as on it this month I have to admit:o Due to moving and the internet being dodgy as well as a little baby who has had some very late nights:eek: I have only listed a couple of baby things but I hereby resolve to list at least three things tonight :D:D:D

Hope everyone is well! :wave: