I'm tackling my debts in 2010

emmie26

Well I haven't posted anyhting for ages, I have kept coming to the site and having a look at everyone elses posts but I feel a bit out of sorts with money this month because one of the credit cards has had to be moved to my overdraft whilst we do a balance transfer I feel like I don't have any idea how much money we have, just keep thinking we will at least be straight at the end of the month and I may be pleasantly suprised at how much we have saved or else I will be gutted.:cool:

Holiday was great we didn't spend too much just one meal out all month and because we had paid for the accomodation (last year) our family paid for lots of the activities and food. Childrens birthday party was £100 it was £160 last year so I had put aside too much (£180 just in case) hense I put £80 back into my current account.

At the moment I have:
£7 left of shopping budget
£0 of petrol budget
£6 left of personal budget (this will have to go on petrol, I'm almost empty)
So things are going to be tight for the next 10 days:(

In work news I've decided to do very minimal overtime after the holiday, my children are so lovely and so young and I am missing them growing up doing all sorts of hours, even if it means I am not going to be debt free by the end of the year it doesn't matter, I am also being taxed so much that it is not really worth my while, I'm looking forward to lots of lovely weekends at the park or in the garden over the summer :T

I promise to post more often now MSE keeps me on the straight and narrow:A

Radish72

Welcome back :j

I was getting a tiny bit worried that it had all got to much for you, but I should have known you would be slogging away and just not posting as much. Forgive me;)

You should enjoy spending time with your children and cut back on overtime, yes it might mean that the debt takes longer to pay back, but it won't be putting the family on the back burner whilst you slog your guts out. Plus you hopefully will always have the option of OT if some months need a top up

I'm feeling excited this morning just because its sunny as this means BF washing can be line dried. Currently I'm lying in his bed watching him de-clutter all the junk/really important stuff/junk. Each room look like a bomb has gone off, but we did a car full of stuff yesterday to charity/tip

Plus point we have won £10 on the lottery (that will pay for the Chinese/wine we ate last night)

My hall has now been decorated and just need a carpet then house need a mini (not really mini) de-clutter, good spring clean then it's going on the market :eek:

emmie26

radish you are an inspiration, I cannot wait for the house to be finished although at the moment I would be happy with the living room being plastered, the children keep shouting at OH and asking why he is ruining the house, I suppose in their eyes there was absolutely nothing wrong with the completely out of date 1970's fireplace and in one way they wouldn't be wrong , it did what it was meant to , give out heat, but it was bloody awful!

I'm having a massive clarout at the moment I think its that time of year, so maybe if I don't do much overtime I could do some serious selling on ebay, although I really do hate listing things.

Have paid a cheque into the joint account today which when cleared will be transfered to my overdraft so at least I will be overdraft free, OH credit card have offerend him 0% til middle of 2011, so the next card to be cleared is my credit card as we are now interest free on all our debt :T

As always I'm inpatient to do our summary of the months money its going to be a suprise for me cause I've no idea what I've got anywhere.:cool:

emmie26

March Summary

Food Budget £200 / spent £205
Petrol Budget £80 / spent £110

Food budget is staying relatively on track, not bad at all, petrol spend is the lowest it has been since the start of the budget and I have a full tank. As for the debt repayments we have had a funny month done a balance transfer or two and now the money is all on 0% cards which means that for the first time we now only have 2 credit cards on the go. Event thought the debt has only moved to another card I feel really chuffed that one of the balances has reduced to £0 :j.

Overdraft 1 [STRIKE]£800[/STRIKE] £260
Overdraft 2 [STRIKE]£750[/STRIKE] £600
Santander [STRIKE]£3,300[/STRIKE] £2,925
Car loan [STRIKE]£1,300[/STRIKE] £886
Barclaycard [STRIKE]£2,800[/STRIKE] £4,917
Halifax CC [STRIKE]£3,700[/STRIKE] £0 :j

Total debt [STRIKE]£12,650[/STRIKE] £9,588 (first time under £10,000)

Amount debt reduced this month £944.36 :T

Amount in 2010 £3,061 :T:T:T

I am really chuffed with these amounts as always, we have been really suprised and didn't think it would be anywhere near this amount because of the balance transfer fee and the fact I had not been paid because of the naughty tax man. We have even had both childrens birthdays and the holiday so I think we have done well to keep up with the budget :j.
I know I always say it but I really do think that next month will be nowhere near as good, but I'm kind or resigned to the fact because I don't want to do any extra shifts (as the tax man only takes it anyway) but we have all our debt on 0% until next June so as long as we have it cleared by then I don't mind. I'm still holding out for a tax rebate at some point but I'm not sure it will happen.

Radish72

I'm at work but for March

:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j

And for getting under 10K

:beer::beer::beer::beer:

InaPickle

Get you, Emmie! :j

Well done - that's stonking progress! :T :T :T

emmie26

Well, just feeling really good after making the decision that I was not going to do any extra shifts from now on as family too important etc, plus the fact that we are managing to repay quite a lot without any extra money, when something comes along and bursts my bubble. Namely the living room, hubby is coming towards the end of the plastering and is about to put the skirting boards on, the problem is that from now on it is going to take quite chunck of money to get three things which we need to get it livable.

1. the fireplace which will cost approx £700 + £150 fitting
2. the floor - approx £600
3. a new patio door as the current one is wood and is rotting - approx £600

A massive grand total of £1,450 :eek::eek:

up to yet all the decoration has been covered by our budget of £100 a month but this is not enough for the main purchases.

Its not even like I could say that we could just live with it as it is at the moment until after we have paid off the debt, as there is a massive hole in the wall where the fire needs to go, and the carpet does not reach the edges of the room because the brickwrok of the old fireplace came out about 2 foot along one side of the room, and we cannot put floor down til the patio door has been replaced because there is a big sill that we need to get rid of because I want the flooring right from the door.

I'm going to have to get on the phone about some extra shifts just for a couple of months until the living room is paid for, as this is a real stress point for me money wise, doing the house up is the main thing which has got is into debt in the first place, we have spent an absolute fortune doing it up as its sort of our outward sign to everybody else of how well we are doing, pathetic I know. I refuse to let it derail our plans to repay the debt.

In better news we now have enough clubcard vouchers to get three merlin passes, we live quite close to alton towers, so will get loads of use out of them and will give us lots of free family days out, I'm ordering them tonight in hope that they come through by the end of the week and we can take the children swimming at the alton towers water park!:)

Radish72

Sorry to hear that your bubble has been burst, please see it as a little set back

New plan - divide the year into 3

3 months towards debt busting (Jan, Feb, Mar)
1 month towards the house (April) put money towards new patio door/fire

Carpet you can live without for a bit longer (I spent 12 months with a gap where the fire used to be)

Then May, June, July back to maximum debt busting

I love Alton Towers, although not been since BF's 30th (5 years ago next month, oooh how times fly)

Anyway hurry and post some more progress:T

emmie26

Thanks radish, that actually is a good plan, the reason I have not been posting is because I have had nothing to report, we still haven't made any big purchases, we spent a lovely day yesterday painting the whole room white, which we and the children enjoyed. Haven't been to alton towers as the waterpark is not included in the merlin voucher so we are holding out for a good day we can go to the actual theme park. We are thinking that in the summer we might go and stay in surrey for a week camping to get our full use out if the annual pass, we could then go to thorpe park, chessingtin world of adventures and legoland, plus a day out in london to go on the london eye and tussauds and my son really wants to go to the natural history museum, we are currently trying to find somewhere so any suggestions would be gratefully recieved.

As for the living room we have decided we will get the fire asap, however we can, so you may notice a dip in debt repayments, we will then pay for the flooring with my tax rebate plus extra shifts, the patio door is going to have to wait.

It is just very disheartening to have to wait for things, and is something that we are not used to but will have to start getting used to if we are ever to live within our means once the debt is repaid.

Radish72

Defo think you should concentrate on saving for the fire first, as you need to be all warm and snug ready for winter

Love the idea for your holidays, that is my idea of bliss, lots of theme parks, am I bit of a speed junky

All the best things come to those that wait (so someones says:rotfl:)

Keep posting :T