I can't beleive how easy it can be

Bonglecat

Latest Update, tomorrow is annual bonus day. It was about 10% of my salary and hubby got around 13%. So at the start of the month when this was announced I have been making plans. We could blow the lot on a fab holiday or a deposit on a new car, but no we are being sensible(ish).

Repay the overdraft on hubbies own account. I am concerned that this has been holding back our credit rating.
Put money aside for the week in Yorkshire in the autumn, so we don't have to worry about that.
Then we are putting nearly a months salary into a savings account for emergencies, as I suddenly realised if the boiler broke down we didn't have a penny available to be able to fix it. Ideally I would like to have 3 months salary for emergencies but that isn't possible at the moment.

So not much change to my position but getting some of hubbies stuff sorted makes me feel better and I think he is slowly coming round to my way of thinking. I have given him a fish allowance and I'm getting the same to spend on a dishwasher.

M&S Visa £Nil, Catalogue £Nil, Virgin One Credit Card £8,045, Personal Loan £3746.72, Overdraft £Nil =
Total Outstanding Debts £11,791.72

Bonglecat

Thanks for your comments. I would recommend reading, borrowing etc. a book my the blogger Miss Minimalist called "The Joy of Less" where she explores this aspirational buying, I really liked it. My copy went with the ebay book load as I now read and pass on immediately.

Bonglecat

Had a bit of a set back. After last post we sorted all the money out but then started to get carried away I had set aside £400 for a dishwasher (always wanted one) but this also meant some plumbing work done, in my mind I was including this in the £400 but hubby convince me that this ought to be in addition. So in the end £110 for plumbing and £420 for really good dishwasher. The because we had money we bought a new garden shed, admitedly the old one had big holes in it and wasn't water tight but that was another £250. I paid the balance of my portugal holiday on the credit card to get my M&S vouchers and Mom gave me her share but I spent the cash and now have the bill to pay, oops. :eek:

On the bright side I'm not in any more debt but the emergency money put aside has now dwindled by £460.

M&S Visa £Nil, Catalogue £Nil, Virgin One Credit Card £8,045, Personal Loan £3746.72, Overdraft £Nil =
Total Outstanding Debts £11,791.72

Bonglecat

Right! as you can see the Virgin Credit card is now gone, I came to the end of the 0% in October last year but I decided not to try tarting again as, to be honest, I have probably gone through every card company in my time and probably wouldn't have been accepted. But then in January my M&S card (the one I keep for expenditure where I have the money, so that I get M&S vouchers) offered me 6 months 0% for balance transfers. I jumped at the chance, which also meant that I could close the Virgin credit card and now I only have one card to my name. :beer: As you can see my Personal loan is vastly reduced and will be repaid in July. :j

But in other news; back in March I happened into Debenhams found a few items (1 dress, 2 tops and a pair of shoes) all in the sale then I was convinced to take out the Store card for an extra 10% off. I declined all marketing and other offers, I paid it off in one go, so no interest and I left it a few months but did just close the account down without ever using it again. Not sure whether that is really in the spirit but hey I did get a discount.

You may also notice that the catalogue has gone back up again. I justify this with the fact that so long as you don't buy now pay later or extend the payment terms beyond 26 or 52 weeks it is interest free and I get cash back. Not sure whether to actually cancel it once this little lot is gone :think: as it seems to encourage me to buy stuff, but if it's something I really need the interest free bit is useful.

More recently I have discovered there is an Aldi and a Lidl quite close to where I live. I've tried them out and for the majority of stuff we are happy with the substitution, I even did a chart and worked out the price difference Aldi basket of good £39.41 compared with Tesco £61.23. Now you can't argue with savings like that? The only issue is the weekly offers, do they encourage you to buy things you otherwise wouldn't? A couple of weeks ago I got a tip from this site on a £5 Aldi voucher in the Mirror, this supplement also had I think 10 30% off vouchers and with the exception of the nappies I could/would use all the items discounted so I went for it. Tip to anyone getting Aldi vouchers you have to present them with the item and not at the end of the transaction as I did Ooops, you live and learn.

So bye for now and I will be back in about 6 months or so when I have made some more progress.

M&S Visa £7645, Catalogue £234, Personal Loan £1405.42, Overdraft £Nil =
Total Outstanding Debts £9284.42

Bonglecat

After my post this morning I went back and checked out the rest of my diary, that's when I realised how far I had come. In June 2010 my debt total was £16,613 now 20 months later it is £9284 so I have managed to pay off around £7400. In other words nearly half of the debt, in June this year (2 years from my campaign start) I will owe 1 personal loan payment, no catalogue debt and hopefully £1200 less on my credit card.

I don't want you to think I'm an :A because I also noted that I have been planning to sell so other items on ebay most noticably my Wedgewood Dinner Service and still haven't done it and last year I had a spell of using an ironing service and getting Tescos to deliver, not at all frugal. This only lasted a few months but could have been avoided.

My diary name "I can't believe how easy it can be" is slightly ironic but like weight loss it is easy if you stick to it. Those 2 years haven't all been plain sailing and I have on a couple of occasions had the financial equivalent of a whole chocolate cake. But at least I've got back on track and like dieting once you get into the habit of not snacking/impluse shopping you quickly lose the desire.

:T:T:T:T:T:T:beer::T:T:T:T:T:T

Bonglecat

So I have 3 projects on at the moment reducing the debt obviously, reducing my waistline and saving for my big holiday in September which is for my birthday and it's one that ends in 0 :eek:.

Maintaining my shopping at Aldi and Lidl has had a real impact managed to end last month without dipping into the overdraft at all, and that did include some expenses. I've been saving for the cats vaccinations but one of them needed a blood test too which was an extra £80.

I spent most of the last month living on slimfast during the day, which isn't cheap initially but without buying stuff for sandwiches or worse buy sandwiches I think I broke even. Unfortunately I also didn't lose any weight!!!! I finally figured this one out when I visited another office that had the same vending machines as us but they had the calories displayed, I had been drinking Lattes which we 36 calories. If you bear in mind we usually put 2 vends in a mug and can have up to 6 a day that's an extra 400 calories I wasn't taking into account!!! I'm on black coffee now. (BTW our drinks machines are free). So to date I've lost 7lbs. I'm off the slimfast but I'm being careful with what I eat, last week I was away on business so had to get lunches out, if you only have the sandwich and not the crisps, chocolate, yoghurt etc etc it really reduces your expenditure. I've also been a lot more careful in making sure I claim for absolutely everthing I'm entitled to on expenses. My company won't pay for any alcohol with your dinner, so I've been having mineral water which I can claim and it fits in with the healthy eating nicely.

I got a letter from the tax office this week advising me (I think) that I'm due a refund of £450. Yippee!!! Unless I read it wrong in which case I owe them £450, no so good :-( After initial thoughts of Botox, Laser Hair removal, designer handbags I got real and decided that the best thing to do if and when I get the cheque is to pay off more of the credit card and get that down as low as possible during the 0% period.

As for the holiday spending money savings I'm taking a leaf out of one of the other forums and saving any £2 coins I come across. I haven't actually joined as I'm notorious for not posting very often. But so far I've got £10.

Today is also the day we should have been notified of any annual pay rise and/or bonus. The company has done well so fingers crossed but the boss has been busy and hasn't had time to dish the letters out, hopefully tomorrow. Unfortunately my husband was off sick for a large portion of last year so his company policy means no payrise this year and a very meagre bonus, also don't know what this will be yet. The balance on my big holiday is £1470, so I figure I need a bonus of at least £2200 or I'm in trouble. And on the up side if it's more than that that means more off the credit card.

M&S Visa £7455, Catalogue £169.97, Personal Loan £1170.85, Overdraft £Nil =
Total Outstanding Debts £8795.82

LBS lost 7 to loss 28

Bonglecat

Finally I've seen my manager and got my letter. My bonus is 8.7% and enough to pay for the holiday with (after tax) probably £750 left over. I also got a pay rise which amounted to around 1.5%, so not much but I keep reminding myself I'm lucky to a) have a job and b) be getting any pay rise at all.

So I think that when I get the tax rebate and the bonus I will be able to pay £1000 off the credit card and keep the rest back in savings for emergencies. My initial reaction was to put it all on the credit card but I think getting some savings is just as important as getting the debts down otherwise if the boiler blows up I will have to use credit cards to get it fixed and that's no good at all.

So in 6 months when the 0% finishes on the credit card I will have hopefully paid off around £2500, the catalogue will be gone and the personal loan too. And if I keep it up I could also have got to my target weight just in time for my holiday.

Then that leaves me with the real hard work which is getting ride of my husbands £25k in credit card debts. Yup that's right!!!! I've been focusing on me at the moment because he is working on the basis either his parents will die and leave him loads of money or he'll die then he won't care about outstanding debts. But I do care and once I've got myself sorted I can start the long old slog of getting rid of this debt mountain.

M&S Visa £7455, Catalogue £169.97, Personal Loan £1170.85, Overdraft £Nil =
Total Outstanding Debts £8795.82

LBS lost 7 to loss 28

Bonglecat

Got the first of my 2 cheques from HMRC on Friday and banked it yesterday, in order to prevent temptation I have also set up a bill payment straight to the M&S card as soon as it clears. Hopefully my husband won't suddenly get a bill from them for £1000 of underpaid tax or something. :eek:

Forgot to mention last time I checked in that I have also joined a gym, now I know you're thinking not very money saving but this is one of those budget gyms £17.99 per month (including most of the classes) I got a code to cancel the £25 joining fee because of where I work. And I have been going 3 to 5 times a week. They also do mini classes at lunchtime which is great, when I have to work away I make a special effort to go there at the weekends to make sure I'm getting my monies worth. And I'm losing weight. :j

On the downside hubby has received his annual financials and it is confirmed no pay rise at all and this time no bonus either, I wasn't expecting much but thought perhaps a couple of hundred quid. Still never mind the holiday will be paid for in any case and maybe this will be the wakeup call for him to start taking financial matters more seriously.

I've got £14.99 in cash back on the catalogue and £3 in M&S vouchers which are curently all I can spend on my holiday wardrobe, which if I continue to lose weight I will really need come September. I'll need to think about this some more, how to get holiday clothes without debts????

I'm going to try and do monthly updates from now on, mostly for my sake so that I can count down until July when the loan finishes. :beer:

M&S Visa £7298.30, Catalogue £169.97, Personal Loan £1170.85, Overdraft £Nil =
Total Outstanding Debts £8639.12

weight lost 9lbs to loss 26lbs

Bonglecat

Still no sign of the 2nd tax rebate cheque and now I've just had some bad news. My husband who is exam phobic has decided to take a downgrade at work rather than try and take the exams which are now required for his role. They have said that will mean a 20% pay cut and might only be temporary i.e. he needs to find a new job or he gets the sack.

M&S Visa £7298.30, Catalogue £169.97, Personal Loan £1170.85, Overdraft £Nil =
Total Outstanding Debts £8639.12

weight lost 9lbs to loss 26lbs

Bonglecat

More bad news today, well not so much bad as disappointing. After spending 25 minutes on hold to the tax office to find out where the 2nd cheque was I found out there isn't a 2nd cheque. Apparently when the mistake is in consecutive tax years the error from the first year is added onto the 2nd year, once it was explain I was like "oh yeah I see it now" so instead of getting £180 and £270, the £180 is in the £270 i.e. 2nd error was only £90. The nice girl at the tax office said it happens all the time and regularly confuses people. I was a bit too embarassed to point out if it happens all the time why don't they highlight it on the calculation or something. But hey ho, that means I won't be paying £450 off the credit card, but on the plus side I have now paid off £270 which a few weeks ago I wasn't expecting to. So in the end a bonus.

I've just started reading on my Kindle "Love is Not Enough: A Smart Women's guide to Money" by Merryn Somerset Webb, it must have been on offer or something because since I got the Kindle for Christmas have only been downloading free or 99p books. I've only read one chapter but it seems quite good, helpful hints and tips and mention of some website for getting discounts etc. I'll review it properly once I've finished. But one thing that really struck me was that once you opt out of consumerism it gets easier and easier not to spend money. I've really noticed that in the last year I moved jobs so my office now in a business district with only a Tescos nearby so no lunchtime shopping, I've also stopped buying magazines that tell me I have to want X in order to be in with the in crowd!!! So now at the weekend I don't even feel the desire to pop into town to have a mooch around the shops, maybe I'm cured!!!

I think DH is getting a bit better at focusing on how we spend money, he is in charge of our anniversary celebrations and the history of them goes like this; 1st anniversary trip a week in Edinburgh, 2nd anniversary trip dinner and overnight at Tom Kerridges restaurant in Marlow The Hand & Flower, 3rd anniversary (on Wednesday) dinner at nice, local Indian Restaurant, I drove (because I don't drink) therefore total cost with tip £40!!

Anyway, I'm off now to start photographing more things to put on ebay. Yippee!!

M&S Visa £7298.30, Catalogue £169.97, Personal Loan £1170.85, Overdraft £Nil =
Total Outstanding Debts £8639.12

weight lost 9lbs to loss 26lbs