The Final Push - Getting Rid of the Last Loan and CC

WelshWoofer

Right, I've decided after being on the forum for a good few years to attempt to create and maintain a diary to help keep me on the straight and narrow.

I have cleared quite a lot of debt over the past few years and now only have a loan of about £2000 (must check exactly how much) and a credit card with a balance of £5000 left to go.

However, in the past year I have resigned, gone back to uni, retrained as a science teacher and secured a new job starting in September. Oh yes, and I got married in October!

So, the last year has had plenty of expense, lots of distraction and hard work and not a lot of effort on the DFW front.
I've managed not to take out any further debt (apart from a small student loan) and have cleared a loan and a CC since starting uni but I am now officially skint and my savings are dwindling fast.

I will get paid this week for a month's worth of supply teaching I did at the end of term and will start work on Sept 1st.

So, I am now determined to cut back even further for the rest of the month and then when the money starts rolling in again make a real effort to get rid of what I have left to pay off (and not add to it!:p)

So here goes.......wish me luck!

WelshWoofer

My first effort at cutting back involves not buying a new outfit for a wedding we are going to early in September.
It's an old uni friend of my OH's who we see maybe once or twice a year and the bride and groom came to our wedding last year so we have to go but I won't know anyone apart from one other couple.
Its down south somewhere in the Home Counties and a church do with a posh reception afterwards.

I've gone through my wardrobe and found a dress that I've only ever worn once before (forgot I had it and its not a popping to the pub sort of frock!). I tried it on today and with a pair of "torture knickers" should be ok. I've even found a pair of grey heels with suede bows on theem that I bought for the races a few years ago to go with it - again only worn once!:o

Just need to find something to put round my shoulders (pashmina or something like that) and I'll be sorted:T
Will show OH later to make sure that he's not horrified by it.

So hopefully, that'll be the best part of £100 saved :j:j(no new frock or shoes) - I really didn't want to squander money on a new outfit that I won't wear again.


On another note, I checked my CC statement on line today and found that the naughty old car insurance people had taken £355 for renewal when I'd already told them I didn't want it!
Needless to say one stroppy phone call later and they're refunding it - the cheek of it!

WelshWoofer

Just getting things straight in my mind - I won't be posting as often when I'm organised!:o

For August I have budgeted and spent so far -

£145 for food shopping (£88.10 spent, 2 weeks)
£50 petrol (£15 spent, 2 weeks)
£120 for 3 x weekly spends (£40 a week) - (£75 spent, 2 weeks)

That's just for the first 3 weeks of August as we'll be away for the 4th week and that will be funded from a different budget.

I'm going to try to go through the fridge, freezer and cupboards and write a meal plan for next week to see what we really need and write a shopping list. Rather than £45ish I budget per week I'm going to try to get it down to £30 just for the week before we go away.

Roll on payday!

josiebabie

Hi Rachel, welcome to diary land! Good luck, *runs off to subscribe*

WelshWoofer

Thanks Josie!
Hope I don't get too obsessive about it!

Have been through the food situation and think I will get away with a £30 or less budget just for next week.
Have also run the meal plan past OH and, as usual, got a "yeah, whatever is fine"!

He approves of the frock too - again, "that's nice" without really looking.
Why is it that men can get away with wearing the same suit to every formal function and women have to be fabulous and have a never ending stream of gorgeous outfits? Not fair is it?!:mad:

Oh well, onwards and upwards.

OrangeFairy

Love the diary Rachel!! Subscribed!!!!! x

WelshWoofer

Had a little peruse of ebay last night and found a pale pink pashmina and a lovely pink bag to go with the wedding outfit - pashmina was £1 and the bag £5 at the moment so I'm watching them (I think they end in 2 days) - if I can get them both for about a tenner I'll go for it. Will make ne feel like I have something new but spending MUCH less than a new frock, shoes, bag etc....:j

Other things to do today include -

Walk to Cartridge World (about an hour round trip) and get more ink so I can carry on working on school stuff
Have a NSD apart from ink
Do at least 2 hours school work
Look into swapping CC balance onto a new card or a loan to be more organised about paying it off
Phone loan company to see what the balance is
Do at least 30 mins of getting out of puff exercise

Once I find out how much of the loan is left I can start to chip away at it more proactively.

Will also have a look at swapping the CC to a lower interest one - am a bit scared of doing this in case I get rejected (never have been but I haven't applied for anything in years and the credit crunch has since taken hold).

I think my first priority will be the loan because its a secured one :eek: that I've had virtually since I bought the house 9 years ago and I think its due to finish sometime next year. The £150 ish a month I pay on that can then go directly to overpay the CC in addition to the minimum payments I've been making for ages.

Sounds like a plan - now I have to do something about it..........;)

WelshWoofer

Have found out the loan balance - £2464. About what I thought it would be.
A payment is due on the 15th which (after interest is added) would take it to £2348.
Hmmm.....

That means that my debt at the moment is £7348. Much better than it used to be but still about £7000 too much!

My goal is now to pay off the loan early in 12 months time, meaning that I should overpay by about £50 a month I think. Doesn't sound too bad I suppose.

Next to work out - how to generate an extra £50 a month without impacting on my salary as it stands now.

WelshWoofer

How spooky!
The bank phoned today (do they have my house bugged?) offering one of their usual account reviews.

Now, I don't normally go because I think all they want to do is sell you their products but as I have time and had thought about changing the CC/converting it into a loan I think I'll go and see what they say.

Everything else like car/house/dog insurance (renewed in the past month), gas/elec (recently changed suppliers) and savings accounts are all the best they can be for now so its just the CC and loan to look at.

I changed mobile contract last week saving £10 a month and getting a new phone in the process:T.

So its getting the most out of the money I have left over after the bills are paid and possibly cutting back on things I haven't thought of so far that will be the key (or robbing a bank!):p

WelshWoofer

Well I've been to the bank and it wasn't half as bad as I thought it would be.

The lady first did a check through my account and DDs and didn't try to sell me insurance, account upgrades etc - a welcome change.
I spoke to her about the loan and CC and she looked up the rates and found that they were almost 10% for the loan and 21% for the CC. I also asked her to look at some HP I had on a conservatory which turned out to be 15%.
So taking it all into account and the repayments of the loan, HP and minimum payment on the CC we found that I was paying £450 a month (give or take a pound or two).
I've sorted a new loan paying off all three and, with a shorter term on the HP and paying off the card and other loan, has saved me £104 a month.:j
I know its a form of consolidation in a way but I have NOT increased the terms and have reduced the interest rate. The CC has been in the drawer for at least a year and has not been used, just paid the minimum payments so the balance didn't budge. Its going to stay there too - as soon as the account reflects that its been paid I'm reducing the credit limit from a ridiculous (and unasked for) £12,900 to about £5000 for emergencies.

Another good thing is that the nonbank related finance has been paid off as of today:T and the bank won't take their first payment until Sept 17th so I get a month without having to pay - good as I'm on a much reduced salary this month.

I can also make overpayments easily and plan to do so.


Happy with my efforts!

Another lady looke at my mortgage too (not changing until next spring) and worked out that an average repayment mortgage will now cost me almost the same as my interest only with ISA repayment vehicle does. Feel a lot more comfotable with that.:p

WelshWoofer

Just done a new budget starting from Saturday 14th until Sept 15th when I get paid again using the incorrect figure I'm getting paid tomorrow (phoned payroll and it'll have to get sorted out when someone calls me back but I'll take what they're giving me in the meantime and get the rest ASAP).

To celebrate I've booked my haircut and colour for next Friday - about flipping time - I have long dark hair and a lovely display of white roots.:eek:

I've tried to stretch out the time between hair dos but its getting ridiculous now - and please don't say dye it yourself - I've had to have 2 new bathroom carpets trying myself!