Mrs A's Debt Diary

Mrs_A.

CAFCGirl wrote:

I see mortgage/rent and council tax is on there as 0, is that right or am I being stupid? nope we dont pay any live in a tied house

Have you been over to the OS board to see where you can cut your food bill? I know you've got plenty of mouths to feed but Im sure that could be a bit lower. yep we are currently working on this have already reduced it.

Is there any way you can control what you're spending out on petrol too, seems like a lot for a month? yeah i have reduced it somewhat but as i commute 48 miles daily i am trying to make every journey count and not just jump in the car for unnecessary journeys.

I'd also say giving up the smoking, as well as the health benefits you're gonna be saving £80 a month! yeah i know about this one but its my only vice and i already down graded to rolling my own so a significant saving has already been made there.

How much do you have so far in your ing savings? Someone once said to me on here, savings are almost redundant when you're in debt. I was just thinking if you've got a fair old amount in there, would it be wiser maybe to use to that pay off the suite before it goes up in APR then you can save again after thats paid, like you say only two months, and then you can put all your extra into paying off your car loan? have a grand total of £50 in my savings which i know isnt a huge amount but would like to keep there as an emergency if car breaks down i really need it for work as im rural and there is no public transport and cant car share with anyone.

With your car loan is it possible to make over-payments regulalry or do you just have an option to repay the whole amount as early settlement and would you be charged a fee for doing this?

nope i cant overpay so im chucking all my extra cash into savings as from august and gonna pay the suite before the interest starts then after xmas will throw extra money into savings to save and settle the car finance should only take a couple of months.

thanks for your input every little helps

Mrs_A.

hi all
not a very exciting day here in Mrs A's world,
darling son number 2 went off to turkey today the lucky little blighter and the rest of us are stuck here depressed and in the rain.
Not done much in the way of DF today was gonna cound up the change jar but never got aaround to it cos i had quite a lazy day if im honest.
made HM pizza stuffed crust for tea and was delish
made 4 dozen bisciuts to keep them all munching this week
oh and had a no spend day yyyyeeeehhhhhaaaa oh how i love having them.
just reviewed the budget again and i seem to have included everything, at that rate they will be all paid off pretty darn quick.
Mr A is in a bit of a huff cos were so skint and cant really go anywhere so he has been mumping about moaning and groaning. me thinks i will need to take him out tomorrow just to keep the peace.
well happy saving and no spending
catch up later
regards
Mrs A

Mrs_A.

hiya not posted much the last few days been really busy decorating my dear old dads bedroom for him and spending all his cash on new bedroom furniture and decorating materials. its really fun spending someone elses cash especially when you know that they can afford it.
on the up side i have realised that dad a widower really needs some housekeeping/cleaning help. i have offered my services, but as i work full time i told him it would cost him now what i need to know (if there are any readers of my boring thread) is how much should i be charging him i reckon to keep him hygenic and habitable should take 3 hours per week including ironing.
i know he is my dad and the only parent i have got but he is retired and has plenty of time i have attempted several times to teach/show him how to keep on top of it but he is a stubborn spoiled man and i am the one with debts to pay. i need to know how much if any i should be charging him.

on my personal debt crusade i havent done much but then i havent really spent much either and im mananging to stick to the menu planning and the spending diary which i am very proud of.
regards and happy cheap living
Mrs A

Mrs_A.

hello and goodbye from my diary although my diary has had over 1000 views its not had that many posts so i think its time it came to an end.
thanks to everyone who has taken the time and trouble to post and offer such good advice and ideas but fear my little blog is just a tad too boring.
regards
Mrs A

ZTD

Mrs_A. wrote:

hello and goodbye from my diary although my diary has had over 1000 views its not had that many posts so i think its time it came to an end.
thanks to everyone who has taken the time and trouble to post and offer such good advice and ideas but fear my little blog is just a tad too boring.
regards
Mrs A

Aww, that's a real shame. I've been keeping up with it for a little while now. Your diary could hardly be classed as boring if it has had 1000 views now can it?

jessicamb

Mrs A

Its definitely not boring. I keep mine purely as a motivational tool for myself though and a record of how far I've come. TBH if I have any new questions I normally start a new thread cos noboby posts in mine either very often (and that is boring).

If its helping you I would definitely keep it up. I like to read as many of them as I can even if I dont post - I like to see how people are going on but dont necessarily have anything to add so I dont post anything.

corrig24

Mrs A

I agree with jessicamb, definitely not borning, I find it inspiring, found it over the weekend and have been checking it over the last few days, and reading it. I think you should keep it going. I just had my light bulb moment, at the weekend and when I came across your thread and started to read it I realised that I'm not the only person with debt problems.

Sometimes people will just view it, but thats dosent mean they don't care, and if it helps you should keep it up, especially when your having a bad day its nice to get posts from people in the same boat, to boost you.

Mrs_A.

hi amd thanks to ZTD, jessicamb, corrig24 and anyone else who can be bothered to read.
thanks for posting people and due to your posts i decided to keep going for a week or so and see what happens.
Anyway on my personal debt front i have been having so much fun spending my dads cash decorating his wee house. he has a local authority 2 bedroom cottage and now thats its mostly decorated it looks very appealing to me and Mr A as a possible place to retire too in 15 years when we need to find somewhere else to live (we currently reside in a tied house that will go when Mr A retires from his work). Dad has been nagging us for the last 3 or 4 years to buy his house to give us a wee nest egg and somewhere to live in the future, only problem is our debts. upon chatting to dad today we have decided to now seriously consider taking the plunge and buy his house. so our new aim is to get debt free as soon as we can to take the mortgage plunge, dad says he could afford a down payment as his share and would like to live rent free once we buy. it sounds like a plan to me.
what do you guys think?
regards
Mrs A

jessicamb

yay - glad to see you carried on. Might not post all the time but its good to see how people are going on.

The house sounds like a lovely idea and something to work towards - a debt free incentive if you like. I would caution you to look at things like inheritance tax rules to make sure that you arent setting a trap for yourselves on your fathers death when it happens. (but its generally considered an easy tax to avoid with the correct planning).

Also - are you planning to share the house with him? Otherwise it might seem hard to be paying for something that you couldnt live in. If you do bite the bullet and live together could you cope with that and not want to strangle each other after five minutes?

If you can work those issues out it sounds like a great idea.

Mrs_A.

well the way its gonna work is dad gives us a deposit say £20k we get a mortgage for the rest of the cost, we pay the mortgage, so in effect dad really has nothing to do with it as it will be in our name only, he lives rent free and we move in after he dies or Mr A retires in 15 years when hopefully all the kids have left home. thats the plan anyway. I dont know anything about inheritance tax, anyone else have a clue if this plan would work out or not.

regards
Mrs A