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

Pinky15

I really love the 2 council tax free months yey!! Its a shame you have to pay the other months tho lol!
I too need a new hoover - I want one with a long attachment tho that I can get under my beds and into all the dusty corners - I will wait and see what I need to pay out next month first though.
Glad you got the SOA sorted - better late than never - well done:)

Jo_R_2

We ended up buying the 'Henry', we use ours everyday so wanted something sturdy yet practical to get round everywhere and not too heavy and it's great, would recommend one!

After some preliminary sums, it appears I still have a healthy surplus in my current account and my spare tax credits payment intact. The surplus however does need to account for phone+internet DD, transfer of holiday (paying back cost into my savings, budgeted £20 each month for this), mobile phone top up at £10 plus budgeted 'personal' spends (tights, moisturiser, that sort of thing.)

Even after that there's still a good £100 left, I knew there was a 'buffer' in that account but didn't realise it was that much!

Got to rush off to pick up DD2 from nursery - oops didn't realise the time:eek:

Jo_R_2

Still holding off sorting out current account until all debit card payments have gone through but looks like should all be okay by now. All I need to do now is sort out accessing my savings account!:eek: Going to have another go in a min and if can't do it will make a phone call to see what's going on.

I have 'spare' council tax and water rates payments budgeted for this month (have explained both in previous posts) so thinking will use those towards cc and chuck tax credits spare payment into savings for now. Reasoning is OH is now looking in earnest for a bigger car, we plan to sell this one which he reckons we can get at least 1k for and probably more, then look for something else and make up the difference by using my savings.

I'm hoping we don't have to eat too much into the savings but conversely do want something fairly reliable and economical. Will see what we can see:)

Shopping due to be delivered over lunchtime, so plan to pick up DD2 shortly, pop to shop for Lucozade (need caffeine boost) and small treat for DD2 (lollipop prob cheapest can get away with;)) and then use up last of pennies in purse to get DD1 new school bag, on the proviso that this one stays clean and UNWRITTEN ON EXCEPT HER NAME - little terror thought it would be a good idea to graffiti (in a very harmless but messy way) her bag as one of her friends "did it too Mummy" - hmm:p

DD1's friend coming round straight from school for tea - have been doubting my stamina but felt it was only fair as we don't often have her friends round. Luckily the mums are quite understanding of how knackered I am but I know DDs love it so thought would give it a go for a couple of hours. Boy in question is a lovely lad and only lives across the road so should all be fine.

Jo_R_2

Playtime after school was fine yesterday, very busy but all very happy and they all had a great time:) The 'friends come round for tea' staple of pizza and chips does mean I need to cook something "proper" for tea today, thinking a veg shepherd's pie as have lots of fresh stuff come with the shopping yesterday.

Managed to access my online savings, turned out after digging out my bits of paperwork that I had the password correct - just had the letters and numbers the wrong way round:o

Need to do a little list of what needs sorting out re: savings and transferring money about just so I can methodically go through and sort it all one by one which will get done this evening.

Hoping to get another couple of bits done from my things that never seem to get done list:D Already cleaned the front door and the bottom of the frame which is one, hoping to get the back door cleaned and make a start on sorting out and bagging all the too-small clothes in baby's room.

Going to pop off for quick shower before have to pick up DD2 in a bit.

Jo_R_2

House looking gradually better, getting things ticked off my list that need doing, a couple for the weekend are to pick up blackout lining for DDs' bedroom curtains and put up the washing line. Back door glass and frame cleaned with help of DD2 yesterday:)

Do need to clear out under the stairs, not decided whether to use it as a pantry-type space or for stuff like storing the pushchair, vacuum cleaner and whatnot. Do know I feel a whole lot better when the house starts to look less cluttered so going to keep up the momentum.

Letting agency called yesterday about arranging an inspection so need to work out a good time next week then sort it out. There's nothing too pressing that needs doing - ie we haven't trashed the house or anything like that! - and I know they don't come round to see how tidy it is, but I feel it always reflects well if it is fairly tidy so will bear that in mind!

Still need to borrow the Vax (owned by my parents, but my sister has it, it seems to do the rounds LOL) to clean the rug in the living room so need to chase that up as I keep forgetting:o

Clothes bagged/boxed up in baby's room yesterday afternoon. Will probably sort through them at some point and rebag them by age (currently bagged as 'too small' and 'too big yet':D) In the meantime they can be stashed in our wardrobe, but really need some kind of drawers in his room for his current clothes.

Trouble is, although there's only really his cot in there at the mo, we don't yet know what we're "doing" with new baby, ie who will he/she be sharing with, so seems silly to buy drawers that won't end up fitting in there as is a small room anyway. But not sure what to do in meantime *shrugs*

Jo_R_2

Just paid my spare council tax and water rates payments onto my cc, a combined amount of 162.69, changing the current total from 1195.93 to 1033.24. With the minimum payment figuring aroundabout 23 for June, if I overpay by at least 10.25 I can break the 1k mark, a massive achievement:D

My main motivator at the mo is thinking that every penny paid off my debts is a small step closer to being able to save for a house deposit. When I think of how much I have thrown at my cc, as just one out of many, I do feel angry with my past self for not being more careful.

However, fortunately, putting a positive spin on it, hindsight is a great thing and I can mend my past mistakes and make positive steps for our future. I now have my cc, plus two Tax Credits overpayments, my debts according to my May SOA totalled just over 3k. I may resnowball for a new debt-free date in a bit, it was December 2012 but that was based on a snowball with my loan, which is now paid off.

SAHMto2boys

Hi Jo

Just thought I'd come over and read through your thread. I know is so easy to just sit and blame yourself about money and situations now. I've been doing that a lot at the minute but you are doing really, really well.

£1k is a huge achievement!!

Love your idea about making a huge list of everything that needs doing, think I'll do that too as it get me down sometimes when I just think of the jobs but hopefully making a list will encourage me to get on. Plus I like making lists

xx

Jo_R_2

Oh yes I LOVE lists!:D Doing the list has really helped actually get some of those things done as they're so easy to overlook. Currently I have two sets of curtain 'stoppers' (not sure what they're properly called!) sat in the kitchen as one of the things on my list is to put them up upstairs as the curtains keep flying off the end of the rails LOL!

Admittedly me and DD2 (aged 3:)) cleaning the back door was good until I was sat in the conservatory yesterday with the sun shining in and realised the door wasn't so much clean as smeared all over:o:rotfl: At least she enjoyed helping though!

I think it's always nice to hear other people's thoughts - I think it is easy to get so caught up in almost, well, obsessing about the money situation that you forget to be objective. Having an objective pair of eyes to make commments, offer advice or point things out can be really useful, we're all in the same boat in terms of wanting to sort out our debts after all:)

Anyway, I'm having a bit of 'me' time, DDs are at their dads, baby is at OH's mums for the day and OH still in bed:D so been lounging about for a bit (real luxury that!) in my dressing gown drinking lots of tea and on here whilst watching Hollyoaks:D:D:D

Gonna go and wash up and stick some washing in (Saturdays tend to be a bit of a lazy day where things get left so catch up on Sundays) then make the most of the afternoon.

Jo_R_2

Have been doing a more taking-it-easy approach this last couple of days. Running around like a headless chicken all day was doing me no favours, plus the half-finished jobs all over the house are a bit of a standing joke now with OH:)

Just been making a mental list of a handful of jobs I know I can realistically get done and when in the day to fit them in. Has meant I've been able to have sit downs (gasp!) which has been nice:D

Moneywise, I'm planning this week to get June's SOA done, get ahead of the game so to speak. Also want to finish putting all money-related paperwork in new folders and throw away anything we don't need or is too old to keep now.

Nothing too pressing for today - I do want to see how much it costs to get DD1's bridesmaid dress from my sister's wedding last September dry-cleaned, not sure if there's a dry cleaners up at the shops near DD2's nursery so will have a look in a bit, also need to pop into Wilko's to see if they have a roller blind to fit our bathroom.

Jo_R_2

Short sharp shock to the system... Way to rein in any unplanned spends is to transfer large amounts of spare cash into savings, leaving yourself with exactly what you have to budget with. No naughty little card purchases going on now LOL!:o:D

I currently have one payment of child benefit which is budgeted for June, plus about £15 on top, sat in my current account. Nothing pressing needs to be paid for up to the end of the month, except OH's birthday presents, for which money is in another account and can be transferred over. Have an idea of what to get him, not sure whether to surprise him or take him along and let him pick out what he wants (he's not big on surprises I don't think.)

Want to open an ISA for OH so been browsing on here for good rates. Seems that either Santander/Abbey or Barclays are the best bet and have online access so will run it by OH although seems there's the added hassle of needing to open a current account alongside.

Doing some browsing on ebay for baby's room, have some things watched so hoping to pick up some bargains a have a small amount in my Paypal but need to remember the finish times:D