Debt Free by Thirty!

d3mon4ngel

Hi Miss_Corrupted and thank you.

The ex that I owe the money to is not the one that's messing me about, otherwise that would be exactly what I would do

d3mon4ngel

And I'm back in the room!

My MSE ways have slipped considerably in the time I've been away... Not kept track of any NSD's (if there have even been any!), been buying lunch more often than not, spending on silly little things... it's not been my greatest month I have to admit lol

I will get back on track though! Should be moved back home by the end of next week, and should be back to one car by the end of November, which will save money all round as we'll be travelling a lot less and the drop in expense from two cars to one is obvious.

We will be going back on to cable and I will have reliable internet again!! It has been a total nightmare with Virgin Media with their internet outside of the cable area - I would advise anyone to stay away, though I have nothing but good things to say about their cable service... go figure... We were getting kicked offline at least 6 or 7 times an hour at the worst of it. Might not sound much to some, but it is when you're primarily playing an MMO and getting kicked locks your pc up, and gets your character killed and costs you money for repairs and means you can't play the game that you are paying a subscription for! They were just making me so angry, as everytime I reported it as a problem, they basically told me that there wasn't a problem. GRRRR! :mad: OK... sad geek rant over

I've still not had a cigarette since the 7th May, which now means I've been an ex-smoker for over 4 months. Even with my OH still smoking, I don't get the cravings, which I'm so glad of! We're going to visit his family this weekend, who are all smokers, so I might just have to take my e-cig just in case. Last time I quit, I didn't take it with me and that was my downfall... surprising how much bullet-proof willpower crumbles after a whisky or three... I'll let you know how I get on this time

d3mon4ngel

The weekend with the in-laws went quite well. I didn't feel the need for a ciggie at all, so hopefully this really is the end of that era of my life. I'm sorry if I sound pompous or whatever, but I'm really pleased with myself because the thought of going back to smoking actually makes me feel ill.

I'm back to cable internet, and oh my god, it is so much better! Even though we have the older slower cable at the minute, it is still 100x better than what we did have. We're getting that upgraded next week (I think!) and should be upgrading to a 50mb line when OH has been there for 6 months... bliss

I've taken a look at my house insurance today and decided that £20 for buildings and £10 for contents each month adds up to daylight robbery. I've followed the tips on the main site, and have managed to get buildings & contents, with legal and home emergency for £185. Might sound a lot to some, but its one of the cheapest I could get that covered everything. Plus it's a saving of about £175 compared to the other, so I'm happy with it and that's all that matters

I think I'm going to have a go at making my own bread this weekend. My OH says he doesn't like the smell of cooking bread, but he's working on Saturday so I might be able to get it done and the smell will have faded some by the time he gets home. Will see if it works out any cheaper or not.

My plan is to start a meal planner for October, and to cook meals from scratch where I can. I have my fingers crossed that I can get OH on board with this, and hope that he will help out as much as possible too. I have 3 days to organise it, and if successful, I will do another for the following months.

jwil

Well done on the continued no smoking, it's great that you are not having cravings!

Also, well done on the home insurance reduction, any saving is good! Good luck with the meal planning.

d3mon4ngel

Thank you for your continued support. It really is nice to know that I'm not alone out here.

I felt a bit down after seeing my signature yesterday, as it was exactly 4 months from my LBM, but I've not even managed to pay off £1k, and the majority of what has been paid was in the first month! What's even worse, I've had to use my credit card for spending to keep afloat this month, and the overdraft has once again been hammered, so I'm more in debt than I was this time last month.

Today's lesson: Don't try to pay rent and a mortgage at the same time kids!

I have my fingers crossed that I really am going to be saving some serious cash now I've moved back. I've noticed that I'm not using any where near as much petrol. It was just under 1/4 of a tank last monday, and even after using it to get to work all last week, the petrol light has only just come on today. Going by my observations, I calculate that a full tank will do me a month, which is about £40 and a considerable saving on the £120+ I was spending before.

I've set myself a monthly goal to not spend anything out of my overdraft account other than the bills that have to go out, and possibly an overpayment to clear the Wescot debt (which is now down to £104 following this months payment). I also hope to spend less than £150 for the month on food for the both of us. I have my spending money of £100 to last me until next payday. I'm going to try using this to get my months petrol too, which will mean less going from the OD account. :cool:

Good things I have done this morning even though I got up late:
- Got most of the washing up done, though ran out of space on the draining board because the drainer is still at the other house!
- Put on a wash of laundry
- Made lunch for both me and OH, and delivered OH's to him at work
- Co-op near me were marking down items due to a freezer breaking down out the back. Bought a few packs of reduced muffins which will do for lunches for the rest of the week. Shame I didn't have more time to see what else they were reducing!

Trying to decide what to make for tea this evening now. Think it will probably end up as something simple like egg and chips as I know we've got that in.

We've still got bits and pieces at the house we've just left, but it's so hard to get the motivation to go finish sorting it all out. I just want to be able to relax in my new old house.

Edit: Remember I mentioned in an earlier post about changing sofas? Well, I sold the leather suite for £100 on Gumtree and the guy came and picked it up himself. We've managed to replace it with a really comfy and well looked after 2 seater sofa and recliner armchair set from a charity warehouse near us. The damage for this? A whopping £30 including delivery!

d3mon4ngel

Exactly 4 months since my LBM and here's how I currently stand

End of Sept Financial Update

[STRIKE]Littlewoods..........£0[/STRIKE] ---- Cleared: 28-Jun-10
[STRIKE]Rossendales..........£0[/STRIKE] ---- Cleared: 02-Jun-10
Wescot...............£104.01
Credit Card..........£544.07
Car Finance..........£1,636 (according to credit reports)
Family...............£700
Ex...................£1,000
Overdraft............£825.32 / £1,000 (Highest O/D this month: 23/09) - OD Fees: £19 :(

Current debt balance: £4809.40
Current savings (Virtual pot): £0 - used to pay towards CC instead
Next target on the list: Wescot

Debt at LBM (27 May 2010): £5639.85
Total paid off since LBM: £830.45



Goals this month:

1. Clear Wescot debt
2. Spend less than £150 on food shopping
3. No other spends apart from bills from OD account
4. Out of fee-paying overdraft - not likely, but it could happen

d3mon4ngel

There was no egg for tea last night... the frying pan is still at the other house! Chicken pops and sticks from Tesco with chips instead. Bought two packs the other day on offer - £5 each, or two for £5! Probably didn't need to get them, but they have come in handy for this time of "in-between-ness" that we seem to be experiencing.

Spent around £11 on food shopping on my way home last night. Bought a loaf of bread for packed lunches, but also got enough meat and veg to make two different meals in my slow cooker. They should make enough for two meals each, so in theory I got 8 evening meals, plus lunches for £11. Which isn't too bad really. I've got a lovely beef stew on at the minute, which should be done by the time I get home this evening. Hopefully I've put in enough water and won't come home to a burned down house!

I've put £40 petrol in my car last night too and reset the mile counter. Will see how much travelling I do and how long this will last. If it lasts til next payday I will be very happy

I went through my bank account statements yesterday, and have discovered part of the reason that last month seemed to be cutting it so close... I paid for 12 month's car tax which was £155, but means that I don't have to worry about it again now, and can get myself budgetting to have the full amount there ready next year. It also means that it now falls 6 months after the MOT is due, so I don't have both expenses at the same time in Feb. I also changed the standing order for the Wescot payment, so that the next one pays off the full balance. This will go out after my next payday, so for this month I don't have to worry about it, but this time next month I will be one debt closer to freeness

This month may also be close, as the payment for the house insurance went out yesterday. I've treated myself this month too, though I know I shouldn't have, and bought me and OH a giant beanbag each for the living room and just general lounging around. It cost me £95 for both from ebay, but I've justified it to myself because we did need extra seating in the living room for when guests come round, I got them cheaper than most other places I've seen, and they can be put out of the way if they're not being used, unlike permanent chairs. Plus, I really really *really* wanted one

d3mon4ngel

Argh! SOA posted for all to see!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/37050134#Comment_37050134

Am I mad? Discuss...

d3mon4ngel

Following on from Tixy's reply to my SOA post, I have decided to re-evaluate the value that the Ultimate Reward account offers for me.

Total for one year: £150

• Multi-trip travel insurance for me and OH
  • Not used it since I've had the account
  • Only likely to be going abroad once next year
  • Alt: Approx £25
• AA Breakdown Cover
  • Not been used, but could come in handy
  • Alt: £50
• AA Accident Management
  • Do I really need this?
  • Would this not come under my car insurance?
• Home Emergency Cover
  • Currently have this included with my home insurance
• Card Protection
  • Could come in handy
  • Alt: Approx £12
• Travel Accident Cover
  • Don't really travel much
• Identity Theft Assistance
• Purchase Protection
• Price Promise
• 15% off Halifax Car Insurance / Home & Contents Insurance
  • Still extortionate prices for me even with the discount
  • Was paying £30 a month for home and contents insurance with them until I switched!
• £150 bonus for First Time Buyer or Home Mover mortgage
  • No longer a first time buyer and not likely to be moving for a long long time
• Discount card
  • For a bunch of places that I don't go
  • Or that aren't around here
  • Or that are so expensive that even with the discount I would avoid like the plague
• £300 fee free overdraft
  • When my finances were looking slightly healthier than what they are now, the occasional dip into the overdraft towards the end of the month meant that I didn't get the daily fee
  • As pointed out in the other post, I spent about £5 more on fees this month through having the UR than if I just had the Reward.

So, in conclusion, I currently spend £150 a year on current account fees, but I am only using an estimate of £60-£70 of this, possibly £100 if I actually get to go away next year. If I drop into my overdraft slightly every day for the whole year, I could save £365 in fees, but how likely is that to happen? Once I get myself sorted out, I hope to never have to use my overdraft again.

There's some nice benefits, like the price protection, but I've never used it, mainly because until I looked at this I didn't realise it was there! I just swallowed the spoon-fed message from Halifax that I needed all this extra stuff and that I'm getting value for money for all of this!

I'm still undecided. Even though my logical side is telling me to cancel it to save money, my not so logical side is saying it's only £150 for a year, and you might need some of this stuff, and it's so much easier than the hassle of sorting it out yourself...

Stuff I currently use / could actually be of worth to me
Stuff I'm not sure about either way
Stuff I don't use

Colours make it easier to see what is being used, but I'm still not sure. I think I will keep it until I'm out of the overdraft. Once I get the OD down to under £300, it gives me a bit of breathing room until I can get out of it completely.

d3mon4ngel

I've made a few decisions that I will be sticking to for October, and hopefully for as long as required!

• I have set up a standing order for £100 a month to my savings account, so this will pay for future insurance and road tax as well as being my emergency fund.
• I will look into opening another account so that I can keep the emergency fund completely seperate from the rest.
• I will stop taking my UR debit card and my credit card out with me, so that if I need to spend I will only be able to use my spending account.
• I will spend no more than £150 on the shopping.
• Takeaways will class as spends and will be paid for from my spending account. I will keep these to a maximum of 1 a week.

Wescot will be completely paid off at the end of this month as I have set up the standing order to pay the remaining balance. I look forward to only having "normal" debts

I'm going to take the opportunity while we are putting things away after the move, to decide what can be sold or freecycled. We have five suitcases full of clothes, and there is no way that we use them all. At least 2 of the cases were never opened in the 5 months of us living in Crewe, and so will probably never be used here either. We also have a back room full of boxes of stuff. Literally so full of boxes that we can open the door and not much else. I will attempt to improve that situation by the end of the month. The problem is that I'm a hoarder, and a believer in "it might come in useful someday", but I'm going to be absolutely ruthless - it can come in useful now and make me some cash! :rotfl:

I'm going to look into reducing to just a Reward account, though my main fear is that they will remove the overdraft as I have no way of paying it off just yet. It will reduce over the coming months, and with any luck the money I make from the "stuff" will go towards it too. Once I am out of the overdraft, I will definitely be downgrading, I'm just slightly edgy about doing it just yet.