Debt Free by 40 Debt Diary

oakdale_minx

ZTD wrote:

Probably squeeze the handles these days just to get a loud farty noise... :eek:

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Trying to bite my lip at my desk to stop me giggling and others wondering why I am laughing at my laptop!

Keep looking at my payslip in awe.....my salary has gone up from £24,352 to £28,524..........wow....to within £500 that is what I was earning when I was made redundant in 1999, I spent the last 7 years clawing my way back up again!

beanielou

Great news on the payrise-you deverve it.
I order you to treat yourself!

robnye

oakdale_minx wrote:

Keep looking at my payslip in awe.....my salary has gone up from £24,352 to £28,524..........wow....to within £500 that is what I was earning when I was made redundant in 1999, I spent the last 7 years clawing my way back up again!

congratulations and well done, go on treat yourself , you know you want to..... you know you can........

oakdale_minx

Well, I decided to treat myself by whatever I earned yesterday on AQA I would use as my 'treat'. I did £32 yesterday so I have ordered two work skirts (a necessity as I only have 2 anyway!) and some underwear (a definite necessity:eek: !!!) from the catalogue. By the time they arrive next week I will have been paid my AQA money so I will pay it straight off the account.

God, I know how to party these days.......:rolleyes:

So, I will have £400 left this month on AQA. I will keep £50 back as I have 3 family presents left to buy and I have a budget of £10 per person. I want to do a hamper for my OH and have budgeted £15 - £20 for this. So I will have £350 to chuck at the CC's.

I was thinking last night (could you hear the cogs turning???) My salary has gone up by £210 a month. If my calculations are right, I need around £150 a month to be able to decrease my loan term down to 5 years. So, I can do that from next month, I guess?! I will still then have my AQA money every month to carry on paying off the unsecured debts until I get my bank charges back and then save after that. I also have my back pay to come early next year.

I think I will make a phone call to the loan company later to have a chat. When I first got the loan it was a 20 year term and I reduced it to 10 years last January. Time to put the next part of the plan into action I think!

Ruby_Pudding

oakdale_minx wrote:

So, I will have £400 left this month on AQA.

Hiya OM

When you say you have £400 is that the total amount before or after tax? How much would you normally put aside a month for tax if it is before?

Cheers
RP

oakdale_minx

hi - this is before tax.

Ruby_Pudding

Cheers OM. One more teeny question..............what is the most you've made in a month from AQA or do you find £400 is about the average?

oakdale_minx

I did £900 in August but nearly killed myself doing it! I did all hours I could. I think I will be happy to average £400-£500 a month. I do late afternoons/early evenings and then Saturday and Sunday afternoon and early evenings until about 7.

I've just called the loan company and they have said I can reduce the term down to 5 years, no problem. It will make the payments £381.24 :eek: an extra £142 a month. Taking it to 4 years would have been £459 a month, which I could have just about done but I don't want to over stretch myself.

So, my 20 year loan 14 months ago, to a 10 year one a year ago has now become a 5 year one. After the unsecured stuff is paid off I will have a bit more available income each month so I'm going to re-visit the situation next June as he said they could look at reducing the term again whenever I wanted to.

Reducing the term from 10 years down to 5 will save me £3,000 in interest.

It is a bit scary to increase the payment by this much but as long as I keep my job, and keep plugging away with life generally I should be ok. I didn't have the extra money until this month anyway, and I still end up £70 a month better off even after increasing the loan payment.

Means my DFD date is Feb 2012, when I will be 41 1/2 , so I just need to work on bringing it forward a few more months to be DF by 40!

oakdale_minx

Just had a call from Asda. Some of my eggs were broken on delivery (not surprising as there was a carrier bag of 24 cans of diet coke on top of them when the guy unloaded them) yesterday and all the tins of tomatoes had big dents in them. I sent them an email after i'd unpacked. She is refunding me £5!

ZTD

oakdale_minx wrote:

So, my 20 year loan 14 months ago, to a 10 year one a year ago has now become a 5 year one. After the unsecured stuff is paid off I will have a bit more available income each month so I'm going to re-visit the situation next June as he said they could look at reducing the term again whenever I wanted to.

Reducing the term from 10 years down to 5 will save me £3,000 in interest.

It is a bit scary to increase the payment by this much but as long as I keep my job, and keep plugging away with life generally I should be ok. I didn't have the extra money until this month anyway, and I still end up £70 a month better off even after increasing the loan payment.

Since you've managed to get them to agree to shorten the loan - would they agree to lengthen it - should the worst come to the worst?