Time for an Update

scottishspendaholic

Ali-OK wrote:

Thanks Scottish!

:rotfl: Oh dear about the last bit..I forgot this was a public forum and not a 1-2-1 conversation!!

And now I've just made it worse by reminding everyone! Oh well :rotfl: !

scottishspendaholic x

cantcope

Well done Ali
nice to read such a motivating post x

In_Search_Of_Me

Just wanted to say well done & keep it up! We'll all wane at times & totally agreed that its hard to develop any kind of enthusiasm for clearing cupboards etc!!! Still havent done the kitchen...

CosmoCat

you're doing so well!! congrats.

i suppose it's easy to fall off the wagon, but so much harder and inspiring to stay on there, and to pull ourselves up if we're slipping off.

thanks for letting me know about envirophone as well. i've traded two mobiles on there!!

moozie_2

scottishspendaholic wrote:

And now I've just made it worse by reminding everyone! Oh well :rotfl: !

scottishspendaholic x

OK, one of you will have to spill as I missed all this and feel totally left out :rolleyes2

Ali-OK you are doing SO well! I hope this record of your achievements give you the little boost we all need every now and then. I know my thread has helped me stay focused many time.

Best of luck and keep us posted

Ali-OK

moozie wrote:

OK, one of you will have to spill as I missed all this and feel totally left out :rolleyes2

Ali-OK you are doing SO well! I hope this record of your achievements give you the little boost we all need every now and then. I know my thread has helped me stay focused many time.

Best of luck and keep us posted

Hiya Moozie! How you keeping?

It started with my addition to the DFW Stylee Day yesterday...SS picked up on the "late night, but free".

In a nutshell, I'm all lurrved up!

If you get a chance, have a read of the "Ode to the DFWs"...I think you'll like it..plus there's a continuation of my Sat night comment in there!

xx

Ali-OK

Hi everyone :wave:

Can't believe how long ago it is since I posted my first update...now another 5 months have passed and I'm bobbing along in an OK kind of way!

So, the car boot sale got me £112 and I should really do some more.

House & Contents insurance renewal went through Quidco for £90 cashback and saved £1.20 (or £91.20!)

Salary review came and went (albeit 2 months late), bringing in an extra £128 per month and some nice backpay (thrown straight at the cc's), but slightly offset by my mortgage increase of £75 p/m, (deal ended, got 12 month tie in to get through now).

I did speak to a broker who wanted me to consolidate all the debt into a new mortgage with overpayment facility, whack on the redemption fees and their fees and new mortgage fees :eek: Erm..I couldn't see how adding £8K to the mortgage just to move it (without adding my debts) would be "money efficient" ? Especially as the new rate was higher than some of my LOB cards! I'm afraid I tore a strip off him about secured debt vs. unsecured debt and interest costs. He hasn't contacted me since, wonder why. :rolleyes:

Childcare costs went up by approx £20 a month, it didn't change my tax credit entitlement though. So had to take that one on the chin.

We did go on holiday in August, but my spending diary continued, brought home half the spending money and whacked it off my debt! Next year we are planning to use a friend's static caravan for a week.

Went through the £20K barrier on time and the next target is £15K..I think I said May 2007 for that and it's looking like it will be end of March/early April.

Xmas shopping is complete and hardly anything was purchased at full-price. Which means after the Xmas food (I will have approx 14 for lunch & buffet tea as every year but do have 11,000 Nectar points towards it = £55), I will put the saved Xmas money towards a cc.

PAYG for my mobile has been a sure-fire winner - have only put £20 on it since I changed it over in April/May! If I get a non-urgent text, I wait until I get home and ring from my landline to theirs...free calls are included in my broadband package at £19.99 per month. It maxed out at £23.68 one month (0845 and mobi calls aren't free)...so I pulled it back in again!

Quidco has netted me £185 so far and current account interest at @ £4 per month means £48 p/a free money that I also pay off the debt each month.

Weekly food shop is down to an average £15 p/week for me and DS - I'm staggered at this and I do throw the odd treat in too.

Applied and was accepted for the M&S &MORE 3.9% LOB card, so transferred some there. Egg 0% came to an end last month, but they kindly chrystallised balance onto 5.9% LOB (just buttered them up in a if I don't ask, I won't get kinda way ). So interest per month has risen by approx £30 a month for the time being.

Thinking of doing some more eBaying - that netted me £128 clear profit last time.

My bar charts in Excel look mighty fine (paid off over £900 per month for the last 2 months!) and I've set up my 2007 12 month run already, as well as my budget sheets!

I'm waiting to hear about a job that came up back in early August..have had 3 interviews and will know the outcome today (Monday)...will update later. If I'm successful, it will change alot of things, but I'll share that when I know more.

Moral of my debt-free wannabe story so far...check your online banking everyday, mark off against your budget, change budget accordingly if you have to spend (ie. tighten belt or pay more off cc if its good news) and do some pretty patterns with graphs to keep you motivated! 2 years, 2 months to go and I'll be debt-free. Sometimes its useful being stubborn! And never stop your spending diary.

I've started to write another DFW poem, as I'm not earning my DFW Nerd status otherwise and I wouldn't want SS to throw me out!

Phew! That was a long 'un, better get some sleep now...and it's free! Yay!

all_hours

That's brilliant - a very inspiring post.

I'm going to switch to PAYG as soon as my current contract ends. I'm on a low tariff now but with the amount I use it I would be better off.

£15 a week on food for the two of you - excellent. :T

Phoenix79_2

Thats some going Ali :beer: Very inspiring. Its amazing what we can all acheive when we put our minds to it and cut back on things we don't need. Well done

gallygirl

You really are doing incredibly well, and food bill is stunning!!!!!