Emma's mainly debt-related witterings (with probable tangents!)

Lemon_Tree

NR will only get the minimum this month, as the over payment went towards Cahoot but i'm looking forward to rolling up the cahoot payment into NR from next month. I think i really realised what an idiot i'd been before i joined here when i worked out how much the NR loan originally cost compared to how much i borrowed. What i could do with the interest doesn't bear thinking about.

Auntyem

April Challenge #1 - Total debt payments £414.24!

Fail! Although I didn't do toooo badly. I managed £341.90 payments to debts in April so not too disappointed with that.


April Challenge #2 - No work lunch spending!

Technically a fail! I have not kept proper records but I think I reduced the lunches a bit, but must do better


April Challenge #3 - Report debtbusting efforts on diary!

Epic Fail! I am rubbish! :o

But, onwards........
Debt total is now £13,707.57 which means 17.6% paid off.

I am approaching May with a fresh outlook and plenty of enthusiasm. I will try to update my diary even with the most meagre of efforts at debtbusting. So today I have received £8 of payments into paypal from survey sites, and I have completed all those in my inbox.
I have also eaten my from-home lunch and not spent any money on it that was not already accounted for in the grocery budget :T

In May I am going to have another bash at matching my March debt payments of £414. I don't have a masterplan yet for how this will be acheived but I am hoping to review the matched betting situation which has fallen by the wayside a little recently.

In not so great news, a few months ago I got a hard fought-for pay rise which equated to £42 per month, and I had been paying this amount straight off my NR loan every month. This month however my wages have gone back down again by £30, after ages on hold to the tax office it turns out I owe tax from 08-09 hence the reduction. So I need to work a bit harder to find some extra to throw at NR to cancel this out.

Hope anyone reading is doing well!

Kayleighpea

Hi Aunty-Em, good to see you back and that you're full of enthusiasm! You really must get on here more than once a month though! Must nag you more methinks!

I really need to jump on your bandwagon with the whole overpayments to debts thing. I have been taking things very easy lately and whilst watching a nice little pile of cash roll in from mystery shopping, I have been socialising a ton more and spending all of it! Has been a fun couple of months tho! :rotfl:

Auntyem

Hiya Kayleigh, good to hear you are having a nice time even if there are no overpayments. Sometimes the need to have a life can be more important.

I know I am bad! The thing is I tend to be on reading every day but am just rubbish at posting.

Off to library (free - good ) and to supermarket as I did not make any lunch (bad ).

Lemon_Tree

hi, i've had a bad month as well, which is probably directly linked to my not coming on here so much. Means i can't overpay NR as much as i'd like to but at least i'm still putting an extra £250 against it this month.
Did you have to chase Cahoot to get a letter confirming that you had paid off your loan? I've not had anything yet and the last DD payment went out mid last month.

Auntyem

Hi Lemon Tree, I think we just got a letter that said the account was closed....

Reporting in that I failed to make/bring anything for lunch on Monday or Tuesday of this week :o. However once the political situation was clarified I felt more able to plan effectively for Wednesday and today (so far) :D. So that makes it 2/5 and I am hoping to make tomorrow number 3 (must purchase bread or something later to ensure it happens). Then next week, Its gotta be 5 out of 5... surely I can do it?!

In other debt news, I have sent a £20 Quidco payment and a £5 Virgin bingo payment to my overdraft today. This month I am really struggling as I need to find at least another £23.35 to even meet my minimum snowball commitments, and a whopping £169.09 if I am going to get to my target of matching March's overpayments.

I have also been mulling over (once again:o) the order in which I am paying things off. Although the NR loan is the evil grey cloud, it is also somewhat reassuring that it could just be left to sit there as long as I paid the minimum payments.

The reason for this thinking is I might have a large expense coming up in a few months which I would love to try and save for. But currently all wisdom says not to save because I have debts. If I do not save, I will have to pay for large expense on a credit card which even if it is interest free, will be adding to my debt. I don't think I will be able to save enough to pay for it all, but its worth a go. It would be much preferable to be able to pay it from savings and then move on. However psychologically I don't think its good for me to save while I still have an overdraft and interest accruing credit card debts outstanding. So I think my focus will be shifting to pay off my overdraft and my credit card as soon as humanly possible, while just paying the minimum payments on the loan and 0% CC.

When I did my sums at the start of the month the figures were:
Credit card - £176.31
Overdraft - £645.11
Total - £821.42

So I am off to have a think about ways to make some extra money to get rid of these ASAP....

Lemon_Tree

it's a dilemma isn't it?

i have to admit that for the past 2 years i have been saving for major events whilst also throwing as much as possible at my debts. Most of the savings have been from OH's income and in my head i justify it as the debts are mine so if i overpay them we can still save. (Events were/are wedding, diy jobs and maternity (just in case that is))

Auntyem

Thats a good approach. Actually the upcoming expense is joint too so I will try to sort out a regular amount from our joint budget to save.

Success on my work lunch today so finished the week on 3/5. Next week I am determined to go for 5/5... I have emergency minging soup in my desk and I am willing to use it

Yesterday I got an exciting package through the post, some new foundation which I have won in a competition from the board on here, so thank you very much to the poster :T. I don't think I will use it so I was thinking I will pop it onto ebay. And there are quite a few things in the ebay pile so it might be a good time this weekend to get the camera out and make the effort.

Yesterday I made £4 on a matched betting offer. I have had a good trawl of available offers today and have done the qualifier on another which should get me a free bet tomorrow. I still need to start a new bookie with a brand new offer but I am waiting for some money to get back to my current account so that I can deposit.

I have also done all my surveys and have got to £25 payout on one site, but they have changed their rewards from cash to am amazon voucher . So no handy lump going to debts. But at least once the voucher comes through I can order some nice shiny fresh smelling books, guilt free.

Auntyem

I am really annoyed about my Amazon voucher not arriving yet :mad:. Off on holiday on the weekend (budgeted :T) so I really wanted to place an order today so it could be delivered tomorrow in time for going.

I will have to see what I can scavange from the library instead. But there is nothing like the smell of a lovely fresh brand new book . The survey site says allow 10-14 days and its only been 8. But still why does it take 2 weeks to send an E-Voucher!?!?!

Anyway in better news, have been working through lots of little MB offers this week including a few no-risk casinos. Most of them come to nothing but I won £21 on one so waiting for that to get back to me. Also have done a few qualifiers etc so all in all I think I will have made about £50 this week, will be able to report final number once I have checked all accounts. This will be going straight into the debt pot.

Happy busting everyone.

mooomin

Think yourself lucky - I do surveys on T0luna, and they take up to 12 WEEKS to send an Amazon voucher :rotfl: