Paid off £30K, about £6k more to go!

muffin74

Feeling a lot better today. My boiler was put in yesterday so I have heating and hot water again. My school is closed today due to snow so I have a day off. I suddenly feel a lot less stressed! Making the most of the day off to tidy up my house. It's amazing that a house as small as mine can fit so much stuff in it! Throwing out old junk makes me feel good. I am getting my life sorted out and enjoying having a bit of extra time to myself. Have had to postpone my private tuition due to the weather but I will start again as soon as the snow melts!

Choc-addict

muffin74 wrote: »

Feeling a lot better today. My boiler was put in yesterday so I have heating and hot water again. My school is closed today due to snow so I have a day off. I suddenly feel a lot less stressed! Making the most of the day off to tidy up my house. It's amazing that a house as small as mine can fit so much stuff in it! Throwing out old junk makes me feel good. I am getting my life sorted out and enjoying having a bit of extra time to myself. Have had to postpone my private tuition due to the weather but I will start again as soon as the snow melts!

Have a lovely day off Muffin - it's great getting de-cluttered!!

muffin74

Christmas presents all bought and wrapped - job done. I bought some last month and some this month to make it a bit more affordable. Presents were modest and for my partner, his close family and my parents. I also got little stocking fillers for my closest colleagues. Of course, the days of putting things on a credit card are long gone, I paid for them out of my salary using cash or debit card. Glad that is done and out of the way.

I have one more week of work to go so just have 5 more early rises in 2010!

A few days ago I felt really sad with no heating or hot water, snow outside and the days until the end of term dragging ahead. Now I feel a lot better. Christmas/ winter is not my favourite time of year but I am getting on with it and looking forward to New Year's Day which I love because it is all about making a fresh start and setting goals for the future.

muffin74

Had some good news today. I made a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman about PPI I had taken out with a Nat West loan several years ago. I spoke to the lady who is dealing with it and she said that she had upheld my complaint!! However, she is waiting for Nat West to respond before it can be officially settled. Hopefully, my PPI money will be refunded at some point in the future. It should be a few hundred pounds at least. It will go towards paying off my final loan.

I would recommend anyone who took out PPI to look into making a complaint. I used the letter templates from this website and it was very straightforward. Just a lot of waiting but it is worth the wait to get money back.

Choc-addict

muffin74 wrote: »

Had some good news today. I made a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman about PPI I had taken out with a Nat West loan several years ago. I spoke to the lady who is dealing with it and she said that she had upheld my complaint!! However, she is waiting for Nat West to respond before it can be officially settled. Hopefully, my PPI money will be refunded at some point in the future. It should be a few hundred pounds at least. It will go towards paying off my final loan.

I would recommend anyone who took out PPI to look into making a complaint. I used the letter templates from this website and it was very straightforward. Just a lot of waiting but it is worth the wait to get money back.

That's fab news, hope it comes through soon for you

muffin74

I got a letter back from Nat West saying that over the years they had charged me £160 in credit card charges. I am going to use the advice on the MSE website to try to reclaim them. I also have a case with the ombudsman re PPI charges. I hope that these lead to some refunds as I could really be doing with the money and it would make a great ending to 2010/ great start to 2011!

muffin74

Out a lot recently but haven't been spending too much due to a few freebies (e.g. Christmas lunch paid for by employer, dinner from fiance, invite to a free film and party). Didn't cost me anything but tired me out.

Yesterday met up with a friend, spent £15 on lunch and then bought £10 worth of groceries to make dinner for us. We also went to a museum and I spent £7 there. Not the cheapest day ever but it could have been worse.

I am off work now and there are lots of things I would like to do but I am trying not to spend too much. I don't get paid until the 23rd and I am also travelling to my parents on the 22nd for Christmas. I want to make the most of my time off work but I don't have much money to spend.

I'm sure I willl work something out.

muffin74

Another thing I forgot to mention, I watched a film called "The Joneses" the other night on DVD. It is all about a fake family who are sent into a wealthy suburb by a marketing company to encourage people to buy expensive products. I really enjoyed it as it showed how clever companies can be at tempting us to spend our money on goodies we can't afford and don't need. It also showed the consequences of overspending as one of the characters sadly gets into trouble after living beyond his means. It also had the rather yummy David Duchovny in it. I enjoyed it a lot and as an ex spender I could relate to it quite a bit!

Off to private tuition later so that is a little bit of extra income for me, much needed at this time of year!

muffin74

I feel like my life is on hold due to the bad weather and also due to the fact that I am still waiting for my money issues to be sorted out. My personal loan is due to be paid off at the end of March (I think) and a month or two after that is over I should be able to stop going into my overdraft. Hopefully I will be 100% debt free by May or June.

I am still waiting for my complaint to the ombudsman to be resolved. I was told by the adjudicator (verbally over the phone) that she had upheld my complaint but she is waiting to hear from Nat West. I don't know when that will be resolved and when/ if I will get any money.

I feel like I am not getting anywhere but I must remind myself that I owe approx £10K less than I did a year ago and my debts have gone from the equivalent to about a year's gross salary to about a month's net salary in the past 5 or 6 years. I may still be in debt but at least it is not scary debt, just annoying debt.

After I have reached my DFD, I want to start setting myself savings goals and also start saving for a nice holiday for my 40th birthday (which is in just under 4 years time).

muffin74

I was feeling a bit worried today about making my money last until I get paid on Thursday when I remembered that I had been putting £20 a month away by direct debit into an account I had opened in the summer at my local credit union. When I checked, I had £100 in there, £50 of which was in a "Christmas Saver" account. I took £50 out, used £20 to top up electricity and £20 for groceries (including some mince pies!). I was really glad that I had put that little amount away, it just made this week a bit easier.