I can't beleive how easy it can be

Bonglecat

Whoop Whoop!!! :dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::bdaycake::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance:

Hi Guys, I'm so excited I've got to tell someone and who else but my MSE friends?

You may have wondered in the past why with a healthy savings balance I didn't just repay my personal loan early. Well, given that it was 5 years ago and my memory was a bit vague I thought we had some promotion going for a cash back if you left the loan to run for the full term at the time. I was pretty sure I wasn't part of it, but just incase I decided to leave it to term.

Well today I checked my balances and yes you guessed it I did get cash back £638.54 to be exact!!!!!!!!!! Wow wow wow. Main account has been going a bit overdrawn in the last 2 months just before payday,so I've left most of it there but also paid an extra £199.38 off the M&S card. :T

Kitchenbunny

Congratulations! That's awesome news!

K xx

Bonglecat

Hi guys

Yesterday I finally got round to getting a load of stuff on fleabay.

57 piece wedgewood dinner service
5 dartington crystal wine master wine glasses
A dartington crystal claret jug
A radley passport holder
An Aspinals briefcase (already had 2 bids on that!!)
A brand new M&S wrap (unwanted gift)

It was free listing weekend so I put a reasonable starting price on most things e.g. £20 on briefcase but I have put a reserve on the dinner service as I don't want it to go for peanuts. It is a 8 place setting service, I did think about breaking it down to two 4 place setting or even to indvidual items, but I don't think I can take the stress. I'll just have to see if it goes or not this time.

Anyway getting shot of the crystal and china will be another closure point for me as they were wedding gifts from my 1st marriage, probably a bit weird but I feel like I'm being disloyal to my current husband by having them around plus we never use them. I'd rather have the money to reduce my credit card bill than a sideboard full of china.

Now the only debt I have (personally) is the credit card and I've added the amount of the personal loan repayments to my direct debit so without anything else happening it'll be paid off in 10 months, if I make money on fleabay this could reduce. Also if DH and I get annual bonuses this year then we can talk about whether to use it to repay debt, have a holiday without any debt, keep it as emergency savings or a combo deal. So overall I'm hoping this will be gone a lot sooner.

Then of course the issue is DHs personal loan do we increase the monthly payments and get this gone asap or enjoy additional disposable income????

Bonglecat

So it's pay day again. That means £500 off the credit card, but also another payment off the big joint loan for DHs credit cards :j and I'm secretly tracking the mortgage too, the big picture plan is get rid of CC then put that £500 on to the loan which will half the repayment time, then depending on how we are doing financially putting an extra £500 - £1000 on to the mortgage. The current mortgage payments are £640 so that could make a significant difference and possibly in time for interest rates to start creeping back up.

I also managed to sell some of my stuff on fleabay last night, the wedgewood didn't go as I put a reserve on it and it only got to £100. :mad: This is 57 pieces of pristine Wedgewood people!!! It would cost you nearly £3000 to buy new!!

Anyway my big win was the Aspinal briefcase, I got this from their fleabay seconds shop as it was scratched RRP £475 I paid £50, just sold it for .......(drum roll) £102:beer: doubled my money, nice!! The radley passport holder went and so did the port glasses but the white wine, claret decanter and M&S wrap didn't, I've relisted them so fingers crossed.

With the fees and everything I think I will only net about £100 but that will go on to the CC as soon as I can get to it.

I have to say that I am being very very single minded about this getting out of debt thing as I haven't used any credit cards for ages and if I can't afford it I won't buy it. Part of me is hoping that once this is all over I will have gotten out of the habits of buying for the sake of it or buying for a lifestyle I don't have and can just be. Maybe even go part time or just take a less stressful job with less money and really enjoy life.

Kitchenbunny

That's the aim. Can't believe people are being so tight about a Wedgewood dinner set though. Maybe wait for a free listing weekend and try some individual pieces ... people might only want one or two to make up a set.

Payday being here is a lovely feeling, isn't it? Like you're getting somewhere. No worry about being single-minded - having the strong focus is good!

August has been a bad month for me, spending-wise, so I shall get back on the straight and belt-tightened narrow in September. As much as I can, anyway!

Keep up the good work, BC

K xx

Bonglecat

Amazing News!!!!!!!!!! My husband after 30 odd years of 30 a day smoking gave up on Saturday, yup nearly a week already. :j

After all his health scares etc. he finally made the decision and so far has been total cold turkey. The stop smoking counsellor at Lloyds Chemist got him to buy a bumper pack of Nicorette gum but he hasn't touched it. I have to tell you frankly I'm amazed especially after some very difficult moments on long haul flights, don't even get me started on :mad: Pineapple Gate :mad: But we talked about it today and he said he just changed his mind set and decided to think of himself as a non-smoker, simple as that!!

The best thing is that I've really noticed the bank balance not reducing, he has had a couple of £20 withdrawals for Lottery tickets ans sweets but just think 30 a day around £7.50 a packet and probably a bit more on weekends, we were talking £350 to £400 a month up in smoke, literally! I've told me that at the moment that money is his treat fund as a motivating tool, but I'm not sure I need it.

In other news I've had my birthday and there you are I'm offically 40 :eek:. But I've done all the things I planned to I ran my 5k last Sunday :T 38 minutes, personal best but still slower than the guy in the giant bird suit :rotfl:we went to Chatsworth House on my actual B'day and then out for a meal at the local Thai, very nice and didn't involve debt. Then the next day I went to the Health Spa for the day lots of pampering and I paid for it all with birthday gift money :j, Saturday I got my hair done which I hadn't for ages trying to scrimp I guess. So all in all nice things.

I also had my annual health assessment from the private medical plan at work, cholestrol is at the top of normal and they think I only need to lose 14lbs to be in a health weight. Also had my first mammogram as I am now over 40 (have I mentioned that yet? ) Don't get the results till next week but no history in my family so I'm not too worried.

And of course my big birthday holiday is now only 2 weeks away, can't wait I really need a relaxing break.

On the debt repayment front I'm still waiting for the briefcase and passport holder to leave feedback so that I know they've got them and then I can pay £100 off on the M&S card. Noticed that last month was the end of the 0% period but as I'm repaying £500 a month it'll still be reducing at a far rate. With the smoking thing dealt with I might even try to add an extra £100 on an ad-hoc basis, but we'll see.

Kitchenbunny

Happy Belated Birthday, Bonglecat! And well done to your DH for quitting smoking As I've never smoked I can't say how easy or hard it is to give up (if it's anything like caffeine - good luck to him). All the best and glad you had a good time on your birthday

K xx

Bonglecat

Hi there, So after a bit of faltering around Christmas etc I'm back in the saddle. I got paid on the 20th and I've now paid off £166.41 against my New Year 2013 debt of £4604.82. I actually made a payment of £500 but I also spent some and then I always deduct the interest.

Been a bit naughty but I've got so sick of feeling the house is a mess and most of the rooms still undecorated despite moving here 6 years ago I had a splurge at Dunelm Mill Got some new bits for the bathroom, which really needs ripping out but I have a Share Option earmarked for that next August. I also got a steam mop with a free handheld cleaner, best thing I've ever bought! All the mold in my bathroom grouting GONE!! grease splatter on kitchen doors GONE!! But I'm actually getting a bit obsessed and OCD with cleaning now, I'm going for a thorough deep clean of the whole house :eek:.

In other news I was really hoping to make a massive dent in my cc debt next pay day when we get our payrise and bonus. But sadly the payrise is £20 per month before tax, so a lot less than inflation, which means technically it's a pay cut :mad: and due to certain events in one of our Global divisions the bonuses have all been drastically cut so I will be getting 40% less than I did last year. Now I know I should be grateful to have a job and be getting any payrise or bonus these days but when you haven't been warned and are expecting normal figures it was a bit of a shock. :(:(

Anyway hopefully I will get the card cut down to about half, which will be nice. And at least we haven't booked an expensive holiday this year, we're just renting a cottage in Northumberia for a couple of weeks.

On the plus side now that DH has got rid of his cc and we put them on to a loan we have actually paid off over £5,000, so it's motivational to see that reduce. I also keep a Balance Sheet of Assets and Liabilities which has always been in deficit. Well I checked it the other day and if I pay £2,000 on the cc and get the rest done in 5 more months another 6 months will have gone off the loan and we will stand at -£1260. The day I breakeven will be a big party :bdaycake:and them we will gradually get into the black.

If anyone is wondering the Assets are The value of the house (which we bought 6 1/2 years ago so it's now worth a fair bit less than we paid for it) the savings account and my 2 share options at work. I suppose I could add the value of the car on to that but it's only an 8 year old Fiesta so it's not much re-sale. And the Liabilities are now down to the cc, the loan and the mortgage.

Anyway I'll try and check in more often, I didn't realise it had been so long. Happy debt busting guys :wave:

Just Checked my last report so I do need to update with one thing - DH started smoking again while we were on holiday in madeira (lovely trip recommend!) said he need to to relax. There are vague promises to quit again at some un specified point in the future but who knows

Bonglecat

I checked my last post where I promised to update more regularly and see it has been a year :eek: Never mind it's actually been 5 years since I started this project and I've just been back to check how things have progressed. Here are my 5 state problems:

Problem 1 - perpetual overdraft running at around £1000. Result - GONE.
Problem 2 - "unexpected" bills knocking me back down. Result - SORTED.
Problem 3 - Unsecured debt. Result - STILL THERE BUT PLANS IN PLACE
Problem 4 - Holidays even when we can't afford it. Result - WE CAN AFFORD IT.
Problem 5 - My husband. Result - Outstanding issue.
M&S Visa £Nil,Capital One CC £6557.95,Barclaycard £3966.96,Catalogue £Nil, Personal Loan £6088.42, Overdraft £Nil =
Total Outstanding Debts £16,613.33

And progress now:
Problem 1 - perpetual overdraft running at around £1000. Result - We occasionally sneak into O/D position just before pay day, not a big problem and the limit got reduced to £500 ages ago,we don't get charged for being overdrawn and the debit interest rate is quite low.
Problem 2 - "unexpected" bills knocking me back down. Result - Well over Christmas this was again an issue, all our fences blew down :mad: but we borrowed £2k off the in-laws and repaid them in March, but I am till annoyed we didn't have the money available.
Problem 3 - Unsecured debt. Result - STILL THERE BUT PLANS IN PLACE
Problem 4 - Holidays even when we can't afford it. Result - WE CAN AFFORD IT.
Problem 5 - My husband. Result - Much Much better.


So exactly what has been happening? The credit card crept back up but I tried to combat this with reducing the credit limit as I go. It was hovering around the £4500 mark for a while and I had to reduce the monthly payments from £500 to £200 per month. But I just got an annual bonus, this was supposed to clear the whole thing but due to the fence problem it only clear £2200 but that's better than nothing.

I again applied for a new job at work I had been in he last one for 2 years and would normally have stayed for longer but I sort of got head-hunted by our European division. That resulted in another 10% pay rise, changing jobs seems to be the only way to keep your pay rise up with inflation these days. It also meant I got a much more generous bonus in March, last year it had been around 3.5% and this year around 12%. I did have to do a bit of travelling when I first arrived trips to Pars and Amsterdam, which was fun but thankfully I'm more of a desk-jockey.

In August we were coming up to the MOT and service on the car, due to low mileage it was mechanically sound but bits were starting to fall off. Also with DHs parents being older we could do with a 5 door instead of a 3 door. So one Saturday I went out and bought a new Vauxhall Astra, I probably could have got a better deal by shopping around but it's done now. Strangely they gave me finance for it without any kind of affordability check, very irresponsible!!! I had previously done an experian credit check and came up with 999 which I think is the highest rating, I thought I would be accepted. Anyway given the payments for the car I had to reduce the credit card from £500 to £200. Naughty,naughty!!!!

I'm still trying to keep the shopping down but prices have gone up. I did start to get lazy and when they opened a new big Asda close to my house I started just going there. Probably not a bad thing though as whilst Aldi and Lidl were cheaper they would have unusual things I would not normally buy so I probably ended up spending as much. I'm now making homemade meals and freezing them, I have managed to make 1 large packet of Turkey mince last into 10 meals (it i supplemented with lentils) . 1 meatloaf which will do 2 meals, 1 large hotpot bake 3 meals, spaghetti bolognese 5 meals (2 lots of 2 and 1 portion of leftovers). I am now trying to source recipes to use up all the odds and ends in the cupboard, glass noodles and polenta anyone????

Fingers crossed I will get the credit card paid off by the summer, not sure whether we will be able to up the loan repayments but hey it's down just over £11,000 and DHs credit cards are long gone.

Bonglecat

If you compare my original post with where I am now you might not think there has been any progress £18k versus about £20k now. However, the original post only dealt with my own personal debt and not DHs debt or household.

So originally I was an an individual in debt to the tune of £18213.33, I am now personally in debt by £2461.75, that's nearly £16,000 paid off. Wow, just think if I hadn't racked up that debt what could I have done with that debt and then there is the interest :eek::eek:

Light Bulb moment June 2010

Credit Cards £10524.91
Personal Loan £6088.42
Overdraft £1000 1st a/c and £600 2nd a/c

TOTAL £18213.33

January 2012

Credit Card £7645
Catalogue £234
Personal Loan £1405.42
Overdraft NIL

TOTAL £9284.42

March 2014

Credit Card £2461.75
Catalogue Closed and gone
Personal Loan £17897.64
Overdraft NIL

TOTAL £20359.39

The new personal loan is actually my husbands credit cards which racked up £25k and the minimum repayments were not even covering the the interest. So really our overall position was over £43k of unsecured debt :eek: We have now crystallised the interest and have paid over £11k off his credit card debt, it is structured too so I know it will paid off in just over 2 years :j if I don't make any over payments.