I finally did it...

CosmoCat

brranger wrote:

This is a link to the snowball calculater a great tool.
http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx
Put in all cards and it will give you an idea where best to start and how much you can save .

hi

i've done the snowball calculations, but did it with my cap one card included. must do it again with the new calculations.

my mint card is a 0% with only a limit of £400. maybe i could get some off the barclaycard onto there.

my cap one card has a limit of £1000. i haven't called them yet. i might just cancel and then reapply for their platinum one, which is 0% bt until september 2007. but i'll talk to them first.:j

thanks

CosmoCat

lynzpower wrote:

Hi love

Great to hear you are still at it! Definatley stick tight with your OH, your in the right after all. Besides if he realises how much its all costing, maybe he will be a bit more on baord with cutting back a bit.

I love cooking too, and gourmet ingredients, still possible on a budget, still entirely possible. I did a dinner for 4 the other day with Free range chicken & organic mustard wrapped in organic bacon, with potato douphinoise and roasted vegetables, and profiteroles. ( which went a bit wrong for some reason!) The trick is a) using up what youve got in b) shopping around for the cheapest shops. Fair enough, Im not buying porcini mushrooms as much as I used to, but Im not ruling them out! And all on 100 a month!!

£100 a month!! wow!! how do you do it?? and for how many people?

a question, i get an organic box delivered, with 6 eggs and pint of milk, which comes up to £17 a week. the box has 7 veg and 3 fruit included in it. is this a good buy or is it a luxury that i should get rid of? (monthly that's already £68)

thanks

lynzpower

melabarrie wrote:

£100 a month!! wow!! how do you do it?? and for how many people?

a question, i get an organic box delivered, with 6 eggs and pint of milk, which comes up to £17 a week. the box has 7 veg and 3 fruit included in it. is this a good buy or is it a luxury that i should get rid of? (monthly that's already £68)

thanks

Here we go. Budgeting. Strictness. Not buying ANYTHING we dont need for the week. Your organic box may well be good value, if you use everything, and I mean everything thats in it. If you chuck out some of it, or even any of it, I wouldnt bother. We are looking into getting organic boxes too, so i think they can be good value, but only if you are discimplined enough to use all of the contents. My mates have ended up binning the beetroot or the kolhrabi, s they dont have the time to work out what to do with it, and actually it can end up costing you more if you have tl buy other stuff to make a meal out of whats come in the box.

I think it helps to ( and I was bad for this) to have a proper turn out of all the cupbards & drawers & see how long you can stretch things out for. Eg Ive only had to buy us one shower gel in 3 months, as we had so much in ( ends of bottles, wasnt over-keen on the smell of that one etc) Got almost a years worth of body lotion!! Cleaning products another one, weve just been using up what we have in, and buying replacements that are better value.

We started on 20 a week, but it was tricky, we put it up to 25 a week, and im managing it fine. Slightly overspent this week, but we will make it up from cutting back later in the month.

EDIT- thats for 2. Me & v hungry OH. Who has cholestrol probs so only the best leanest meat will do

brranger

melabarrie wrote:

hi

my mint card is a 0% with only a limit of £400. maybe i could get some off the barclaycard onto there.


thanks

Not sure it will be worth it if there is a transfer fee? and when it finishes what is the new rate for the balance?

Just a thought.

CosmoCat

brranger wrote:

Not sure it will be worth it if there is a transfer fee? and when it finishes what is the new rate for the balance?

Just a thought.

you're so right, i used one of the mint ccard cheques to transfer the initial £400 and all of a sudden my ccard bill was £438 - £38 over my limit. I covered it immediately and luckily was not charged for it. but that's almost 10% of the total debt on that card that i didn't not even use!!

go figure

brranger

Melabarrie
Those cheque can be trickey with the rates and charges..
How did you go with Cap one?

CosmoCat

brranger wrote:

Melabarrie
Those cheque can be trickey with the rates and charges..
How did you go with Cap one?

just waiting for my payment to clear with them, should take a few days, then will call them to cancel card. i'm not too fussed to have a card with them anymore, as i can't believe i was paying 24% interest on anything anyway. i'm pretty sure they'll want to offer me something when i call, so i'll see what they say.

i also got a little cheque for £375 for a job i did sometime ago, so i bunged that on my barclaycard!! so i'm glad i did something today. i wanted to get myself a mortgage pig from ebay today, but decided that a no spend day was even more important, if only for my sense of discipline. so i didn't get it and am glad.

and even more important... hubby was trying to get me to commit to buying a car! and i said no!!!:j i told him that i really want to pay off my debts and get the most of it cleared by october, when my future becomes a bit uncertain. he completely understood (still think he's going to buy one though, but that will be his concern, not mine). i was very proud of myself :A because i was the type of person who, just a week ago, would have jumped at the chance to buy a car and would have gotten myself a nice new shiny one from the store and be in further debt. i would really love a car, but i would also love some peace of mind.

even went digging up for my papers, so that if i get the new a&l account i can transfer payment of the insurances off my ccards into that account. i was also looking into overpayments on my mortgage - i know it's early days yet, but i can always ask.

this is a decidedly long answer to a very short question. thank you sooooooo much for your support!!! :T

brranger

melabarrie wrote:

. i wanted to get myself a mortgage pig from ebay today, but decided that a no spend day was even more important, if only for my sense of discipline. so i didn't get it and am glad.

and even more important... hubby was trying to get me to commit to buying a car! and i said no!!!:j i told him that i really want to pay off my debts and get the most of it cleared by october, when my future becomes a bit uncertain. he completely understood (still think he's going to buy one though, but that will be his concern, not mine). i was very proud of myself :A because i was the type of person who, just a week ago, would have jumped at the chance to buy a car and would have gotten myself a nice new shiny one from the store and be in further debt. i would really love a car, but i would also love some peace of mind.

:T

Try a coffee jar instead of a pig as to speand money is a waste or even better join https://www.pigsback.com click on the links to earn credits and you can get a piggy bank for free, search the forums for more detail.

Well done on the will power concerning the Car, shiney is equal to losing £2000 as you drive of the fore court plus interest.

As for support, no problem

CosmoCat

morning guys!!

i'm looking forward to another no spend day today!! havent' heard from a&l yet, but they say it takes 48hrs, and i applied on sunday, so i just have to wait.

a question: i know that you all have advised me giving up my £18/month spend on charity. i'm having difficulty with this. i sponsor a child and have grown quite attached to him and the letters i receive from him. i know i could use the money to pay off my debt...but...do you think there is anyway i can keep this spend?

all honest replies very very welcome!!

hope you all are having a great day!

jellycat40

I think that in the scheme of things the money you give to sponser a child is something you could continue with. I have just been made bankrupt and the OR has agreed that I can carry on with my modest charity giving. Take the view that it is not the fault of the child you sponser that you are in the financial mess. How much difference to your debt free date will it make? Go without a couple of bottles of wine or something similar to pay your creditors with.

Well for what it is worth that is my opinion. Well done for joining the site and being a DFW.

Louise