I can't beleive how easy it can be

choclover

Hi Bonglecat,

I've followed you over from the debt free by xmas thread, I hope you don't mind! I've just read through your diary and would like to say a huge congratulations! You've done so well already, you've definitely inspired me to start shopping at shopping at lidl/aldi again, but am also thinking that I should start putting money away for emergencies and yearly expenses. My husband was quite ill last year, he had an op and was off work for 6 weeks which really hit us hard, luckily I still had some money left over from an inheritance, but it's definitely time to start building it back up, even if it pushes my debt free date back.

Bonglecat

Hi Choclover

I don't mind at all, thanks for coming.

Yes it is a conundrum push all your cash into getting debt free and then in an emergency you have to take more debt to deal so it takes longer to pay off or put money away for an emergency as well as repaying debts but it's going to take longer to repay anyway.

My opinion is, to go with the second option as the emergency might not happen and in that case you've built up a fund which, if it gets large enough, could repay the last of your debts early. Then you can put your monthly savings and your monthly debt repayments back into savings to build up your emergency fund asap.

Does that make sense or am I rambling?

Betty_Crumble

Hi Bonglecat, well done on your journey, I admire your determination and it really does show in all your posts. I do have a question though as it seems I may have misread or just plain missed something, in your post in which you said "I used the time to call the bank and see if I can arrange a personal loan to repay my husbands credit cards. £13296.34 on one and £11955.15 so in total £25251.49 for which we were making minimum repayments of £265 and £483 respectively (why the higher one had lower repayments is another conversation about credit card companies trying to screw money out of you, I mean what would they do if we actually paid it off!!!! :mad:) Anyway due to the consumer credit act we can obviously only borrow £25k max but I now have enough savings to cover the small short fall." I was under the impression that you were getting a loan of only 25k yet your signature states New Joint Loan = £29023.63. I am being everso slightly nosey but I am also confused, like I said I may have missed something but everything else is clear to me except this.

Apologies if i've worded this wrong and it comes across wrong

Bonglecat

Hi Betty Crumble (love the name)

Yes I can see how that would confuse people. But the way personal loans work (at least with my bank) is that the full amount of the interest is added on to the loan at the start, unlike a mortgage where you make your repayment and then your months worth of interest is added back on. So in my case it was £25,000 capital and the other £4023.63 is the interest I will be paying. Which is funnily about the same we were paying on one credit card for one year :eek:, so big big relief!! Since that's how much I need to pay back and my repayment amounts wouldn't make sense I thought it best to report the whole amount on my signature.

Hope this makes sense and thanks for stopping by.

Bonglecat

:dance:I've just telephoned the catalogue and cancelled the credit account. :j:j Goodbye temptation!!! Now I just have to stay away from the shops, which I've pretty much managed for the last 8 months :D:D

DH is currently on the telephone cancelling his credit cards completely, so that it a huge weight off my mind. And he has been asking me if we can afford a couple of things he wants on ebay before buying them :shocked:

Also trying to use up as much as I can from the kitchen cupboards before I go shopping again, so that could be some interesting meals this week. Plus I've just baked some flapjacks from the porridge oats I've had hanging around for a couple of months.:drool::drool::drool:

mummybearx

Hi Bonglecat, just catching up on your thread, finally remembered to subscribe as I keep losing it!!

Well done on cancelling the catalogue!! :T:j:T

And well done to your DH for cancelling his cards, huge massive step in the right direction!!

It's been lovely to pop in and out and read how well you are doing, you should be really very proud of yourself

xxx

Betty_Crumble

Hiya, thanks bonglecat (we're both bc's haha) gosh am I a doughnut, as if I couldn't work that out doh! Makes perfect sense now.

Congrats on cancelling the catalogue, I myself have also done this last week along with reducing cc limit by £250, I was going to say thats not much I know but it is really, £250 IS a lot of money, especially when you owe it. I am a member of The 'extra payment every week' challenge, it seems you do this anyway, we would love to see you join in, there's no pressure and really ANY amount counts. I have subscribed and wish you luck on your journey bc.

Bonglecat

Hi Betty C,

Yup £250 is a load of money when you actually think about it. Well done you. :T

I've just joined the get debt free by Christmas 2012 group, which is giving me a real focus. But when I thought about it, just going along with my existing plan I would have cleared £3400 of the £6331 by then anyway. Which sort of makes it a bit more do-able And I intend to reduce the cc limit along as I go. (I'm forgetting about £25k until this is gone, as technically that's not mine)

The only thing that gets to me is why didn't I have my LBM 5 years ago and I would be totally debt free by now. :cool:

Betty_Crumble

re. lightbulb moment not being 5 yrs ago, just think how much energy we all wasted before low energy lightbulbs were invented, its the same for people with their lightbulb moment, as soon as you know there's savings to be made you change accordingly and shouldn't feel bad, you changed when you had it and thats the main thing. Wow does that sound rubbish, I know what i mean though hahahaha

Bonglecat

Betty_Crumble wrote: »

re. lightbulb moment not being 5 yrs ago, just think how much energy we all wasted before low energy lightbulbs were invented, its the same for people with their lightbulb moment, as soon as you know there's savings to be made you change accordingly and shouldn't feel bad, you changed when you had it and thats the main thing. Wow does that sound rubbish, I know what i mean though hahahaha

I love it!!! :rotfl:A lightbulb metaphor for a lightbulb moment and so true. It's knowing what you're doing wrong and still not vhanging that is the crime not the being ignorant of the possibilities.