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

Jo_R_2

Not been on for a few days - just jumping on whilst baby asleep...

What been up to... Banked PPI cheque which has now cleared. Have paid off my overdraft and my Virgin cc (need to update sig) and deliberating over how to best use rest of money. Have allocated £600 max for various things mainly for the house (although I am currently making a list and going to 'cost' everything up to get an accurate figure) which I hope to use to get some bargains in the sales.

Have been doing a bit of batch cooking and being less wasteful, and buying up on offers to try and build up a bit of a stock of cupboard essentials. Been super-organised and booked grocery deliveries ahead of time so have one coming Monday morning which I need to update.

Going to dash off and get some housework done before baby wakes. Can anyone suggest places for me to look at seeling furniture? Argos has been the obvious, browsed Ikea, looking mainly for TV cabinet, bookcase and sideboard. Have seen a lovely 6 seater dining table but stop me - can see DD2 doodling all over it in pink pen if we get something really nice and need to not go crazy!

Jo_R_2

Treated myself to a night out last night in town. Long gone are the Saturdays of feeling hungover and being very skint from my teens and the first half of my twenties LOL and had a great time catching up with my very good friend. Tbh I spent most money on taxis there and back as our car is in the garage at the mo and OH won't let me go out and get the bus - but I have to pay for the taxi:rolleyes::D

Okay. Christmas is pretty much 'wrapped up' (groan:rolleyes:) I do have a couple more presents to buy for DDs - mum wants me to get one more from her and dad, and I had planned another. Going to check out a couple of ideas in a min. Also need to sort out some sort of box to put OH's present in and make it look swish - have done him a mini pamper kit basically with a variety of toiletries he wouldn't usually get to buy - branded stuff we'd usually scrimp on but I got on offer, and a couple of bits I know he steals off me when he has a shower (facial scrub anyone?:D)

BIG news is that we've finally booked the wedding!:j Well I booked the date at the register office, Friday 3rd December next year. I think it'll be a budget affair, we need to sit down and decide what we want and I need to get the ball rolling with arranging to see reception venues.

Was speaking to my friend last night who got married last year and he was chatting about his wedding, how much they spent and how they paid for it. Made me all the more certain I don't want to get into debt for this wedding, they have a loan and two credit cards they used and are paying off. Budgeting aplenty for this methinks!

beanielou

Great news on wedding date.
I actually got married on Fri 3rd Dec:rotfl:

EssexHebridean

Brilliant news on both the wedding date and the PPI cheque Jo! Can't help with any more furniture suggestions I'm afraid - ours is all Ikea and I have to admit I do like their stuff. It's mostly pretty solid too.

Jo_R_2

I am currently deliberating over whether to buy one final present. Long and short of it... Mum gave me some cash to get DDs another prezzie each, and I was going to get another myself, but having gotten DDs said present each, I'm wondering if I'm just being silly at worrying if they 'need' something else. It would be an extra £20 for a 'shared' present, and I'm trying to compartmentalise my monthly money from my PPI money. Going to see if it's still in stock at Argos (it's a wendy house type affair) and then decide.

Jo_R_2

So Christmas was all lovely - no need to worry about if I bought enough/the 'right' presents as DDs both were happy, and it certainly was nice to be able to give gifts to OH and family, even if they were mostly small (but thoughtful I hope.)

I keep thinking this time next year I'll be a married laydee:D Wedding planning is on my mind, have been browsing venues online, next move is to book a reception venue so in process of arranging viewings in January to get that ticked off the list.

Have also actually bought something - DDs' bridesmaid dresses in the Debenhams sale, I did think of waiting in case I changed my mind on colours but realised I wouldn't get such a good deal on decent dresses, both came to just over £50 inc. P & P

Now just have to persuade OH that wearing a red shirt for the wedding is the way forward - this bad boy is what I want him to wear but he says red doesn't suit him He wants to wear a black shirt which he does look rather lovely in but black doesn't figure in my winter wedding colours so not sure what going to do about that!

Jo_R_2

Bad news on the bridesmaid dresses: turns out they only have the right size for DD2 so am going to have to get them to do some searching round different stores, only need to get on the case as with them being in the sale, got to get hold of one before they all get sold!:D

I have just about planned what to do with my PPI money. Yes how bad am I - it is burning a hole in my pocket - well bank account really:rolleyes:

So far I have paid off
a) my overdraft @ £800
b) Virgin cc @ £235

and bought OH an Xbox - don't ask me how I got roped into that one:o Also ended up having to buy two lots of shopping (OH usually buys it) so that makes around £110 as well, not what I'd planned but not the end of the world.

So to that end, and to avoid any other unplanned spends, I am going to jot down here my plan...

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JO'S PLAN FOR REST OF PPI MONEY

3802.62 starting balance
3002.62 after paying off overdraft @ 800
2767.62 after paying off Virgin cc @ 235
2547.63 after paying for Xbox

Okay so this is where I come unstuck...:o

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I had made a provisional amount of a maximum of £600 to spend on things we need for the house: furniture we haven't got or need to replace, along with other soft furnishings and small household items we need to buy or replace including a new microwave and DVD player. I included in this buying OH an Xbox originally, so with that plan I am left with 380.01 which is more than adequate (I have made lists room-by-room and been researching costs especially with the sales being on. Most are small items I can get away with not spending many pennies on, but have needed for ages and not gotten around to buying.)

However... our car is currently being mended (we haven't had it for a month - very long story but basically involves friend-of-a-friend doing a favour outside of work and the work mounting up...:eek::mad:) and the costs have gone from originally being estimated at £80 to £400...

So then we're looking at

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2167.62 after rest of 'things for household' budget
1767.62 after car repair costs
1657.62 after costs for two lots of shopping

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So then the rest is free to do what I wish with.

My plan for the remaining balance is to chuck a massive wad at my Tesco cc and save a sum for 'just in case'.

I realise that this isn't the 'logical' MSE way to do it but I have a few reasons behind this path which I won't go into right now (though probably will at some other point.) The 'just in case' is mainly car-related, and also in case of having to replace anything such as the washing machine (major panic!!!) and although I realise I could cover eventualities by having a cc as a back-up, I much prefer having the cash there.

Of course, any extra left over from the pot for the house and also any leftover from the car repairs will go towards the Tesco cc.

EssexHebridean

Sounds like a sensible plan Jo - it's all well and good saying pay off debts before saving, but it is sensible to have some money behind you "just in case" isn't it.

Re the wedding colour scheme - can you not get away with him wearing a red tie with his black shirt, along with red buttonhole?

bevan840

I agree with EH, it is nicer to have atleast something put by 'making' (although not much at the moment) money instead of gaining interest, you can look at it whenever feeling a lil bummed out Or even, use the interest you get from the money put by to help pay off the CC?

I know the feeling of being talked into buying something, after we got married we went to the shop where BIL works to buy some bits that we would need for our new house (washing machine, microwave, etc) and with both DH and BIL ganging up on me ended up buying a 42" plasma TV!!! :rotfl: I must admit though, it's so much better than watching my little 14" TV! lol

Glad you all had a good Christmas and DD's enjoyed all their gifts, I always do a little stocking for the 2 SS's and littlest emptied it, wowed at it, then said where's the rest??? I had to go into the kitchen I was laughing so hard!

Jo_R_2

Ah well plans for the wedding may be on hold... Had a chat last night with OH and we're thinking to have a wedding anything similar to what we want, we're gonna have to save up.

I'm in a bit of a dilemma as it seems crazy to spend however many grand on a wedding when I still have debts to clear. Oh what to do... I could wait until the loan or the cc is paid off, but of course we want to save up eventually for a deposit...

The other idea was to just go and do it, but as I keep saying to OH, we're only going to do this once so we should do it as we want it to be, however that is There's a lovely, lovely venue nearby and the very cheapest package is 4k (says prices will probably go up 10% next year) so keeping that in mind, we can always work out a financial plan - in fact I think this will be the bery best thing we can do, for the next 3 or so years (3 years being when my loan is due to be paid off) and see what we can do.