New Diary - Hope to be DF eventually....

Catzpaws

Hey Emma

It might be best to work out the quote via different channels so that you can see what the best deal is. Brokers often have access to different deals on mortgages, insurance, etc. I always do a price comparison, then hop over to Quidco to see if the best quote is there. If the merchant isn't on there, you then need to do your sums to see what's the best deal.

I have £173.37 Quidco cashback winging my way to me this month. So pleased :T. For stuff I was going to buy anyway - don't understand why more people don't do it TBH!

CP x

Emma285

Another bit of income heading my way will be from a few things i've got listed on ebay due to finish tomorrow. Most things have bids but will have to work out how much i make after postage and fees. Still, most of this is going to the xmas pot! :j

Am starting to plan for prezzies etc - might sound stingy but the new baby won't need anything really, DS is only 15months and seems to enjoy the boxes and wrapping far more than anythings else so will buy a few small cheap things and use lots of leftover wrapping, paper shredding and boxes to make it seem more. (He's currently playing with a packet of seeds (unopened) - it keeps him amused in between attempts to type - lol!:rotfl:)

Halifax online banking is down AGAIN - so can't check to see whether the loan's gone in yet, or get on with clearing and closing the CC's. Never known it to be offline so often - just now when we really want to use it! :mad: Will have to try again later. :rolleyes:

BEAT_THE_DEBT

Hi am reading and just hi reallyx

Emma285

Latest updates:

Well I've managed to reduce our home buildings and contents insurance from nearly £600 to £260 and got £80 cashback tracking with quidco :j, definately worthwhile. Only downside was that to pay in installments put up the total to £280, but still a huge saving. I'm also looking at doing xmas shopping on there to try and earn some more cashback.

I've opened a joint a/c with A&L, so should be able to close Halifax one in a few weeks. Went £33 overdrawn last month for 1 day - would have cost us £1 if new charges were in place!

The loan is still pending, but they only asked us for our individual bank statements and they needed to see proof of Child benefit and tax credits - so the whole process has been delayed whilst we send in a joint bank statement. I'm starting to think maybe one single account for us both is worthwhile - as suggested by Catzpaws!;) Never mind, it'll get there eventually.

Other news is my only credit card with very little balance on (£20 that was due to be cleared completely this month) has two unknown transactions on. Have reported as fraud, but because they are linked to a transaction i did authorise, they can't be dealt with this way. So i'm having to dispute the transactions?? There are two debits a week apart for £56 and £55 from two seperate companies - i have no idea what for but because i did buy something from a connected company they seem to be able to share my details? Anyway - card cancelled so they can't do it anymore and i'm filling in the dispute forms today (They took a week to arrive due to postal strikes!). Fingers crossed i can claim the money back.

Thought we were going to be spot on with our grocery budget for Oct until OH went and spent £15 in Tesco on various bits and bobs - some things we needed, others not! He knows what i'm doing now (did before too but needed it spelling out!) so hopefully this will stop!

Thats about it for now...

Emma285

Loan money arrived in joint account today :j, just a shame it's a loan and not our normal balance figures!

Was summoned for a meeting with Halifax today about their changes - so was hoping they might be able to do something about the forthcoming overdraft charges.... She took one look at the joint account and said why don't you clear your overdraft with some of the money in the joint? Cue long explanation that it was just a loan to clear some expensive CC's! Anyway, the long and short of the meeting was huge sales pitch about how fantastic the two new accounts were and that we really should think about switching to the ultimate reward account - and pay them £12.50 for the privalege. :rolleyes: Used the age old saying - I'll need to go away and discuss with my DH first, as the pressure was on to do it then and there. On the plus side - she thought i may be able to save some money on our mortgage ppi policy - just she couldn't do that so i'll have to go back in for that another day.

Will continue with the switching process to swap to A&L, but despite my account being really quick and smooth to do, the OH and joint accounts seem to be taking forever. At this rate we'll just about be sorted before xmas! The baby's due in 2 1/2 wks and it would've been nice to be settled before that, but it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things!

Target for the next couple of weeks is to work out a way of clearing my Halifax OD which has crept up to £1600. If anyone has any suggestions on what could be worth doing it would be great, as i can't quite see myself finding that amount of money in a month. A&L have only given me £300 OD and i'm reluctant to up it in case they turn me down.
(Barclaycard will only let me transfer £500 at the LOB rate despite having £1000 left before the limit and i'll have to bounce it through another card as they won't pay to a bank account! My other card is Egg and the rate is so high i was going to close it as it'll be empty soon ~ 20%)

Emma285

The mortgage lady in Halifax was able to save us a whopping 81p if we swap to a policy where the payout covers the remainder of the mortgage, rather than our initial amount! Decided to leave it as it is - wasn't worth it for 81p.

Paid off the two cc's with the loan last night, so hopefully should be able to get final interest amounts and close within a week or so :T

Catzpaws

Hi Emma!

Just popping by to say hi - hope all's going good with the MSE journey.

cP x

Emma285

Hi CP, thanks for popping in.

Things going well i think - just everything seems to have slowed right down! It probably seems worse since i finished work, but there's only so much you can do each day/month towards debtbusting! :money:

Emma285

Well, I've decided it's about time i got back round to keeping my diary. My gorgeous daughter was born at the end of last year - so that's my main reason for not writing recently, although xmas also played it's part. I salute any mother that can manage two children under 2 without breaking a sweat! Don't get much time to myself and life is way more hectic than before! It doesn't seem like 2 minutes since xmas day etc...

Anyway, we've had a good xmas and spent a little (ish..) in the Jan sales so now its time to get back on the wagon! Managed to not to spend too much on our daily cafe stops to feed two darlings, but it still adds up! I've spent a little time listing a few bits on ebay and some books on green metropolis, but have loads more to get on and do. Just need to find the time.

I started to read some diaries again the other day while feeding DD and that's inspired me to try clear things a little faster. I managed to do some free quidco things and started to update my signature. I find it quite difficult to add things up exactly as i don't see the debt DH has, and if i ask he always gives me his estimate without checking! Never mind, the debts he has are all lower / 0% so we're snowballing mine at the mo! (We still have actual snow in our garden!:D)

Emma285

Some of my ebay items sold over the weekend and some others are ending today - most of which have bids on - Yay!! :D

Most items have sold for 99p plus postage so no major income but it all adds up and my house will be a little less cluttered! Just need to get around to putting more things on as i have plenty of bits to that need a better home.

I received a cheque in the post for £250 yesterday!! Unfortunately it's not really accesible yet as its a child trust fund voucher for my DD. Am looking into where best to place it. DS's is in a savings account as the market was dropping at the time. Ironically, if i'd invested it in a shares or stakeholder account then it would be worth a lot more than ot is - but i didn't know the stock market was at it's lowest. :mad: Anyway, if anyone has any ideas about where best to put it let me know. I'm happy to take risks with it as i've other savings set up for both kids and view it as free money. I'm also considering moving DS's too. I think Engage do £50 cashback with quidco so may look at them.

I've started doing some daily clicks and no spend offers with various cashback sites - just need to remember the cookie thing!!