the maccas Debt Free Diary - 20K to pay in 18 months

themaccas

Hi Dinky lou, I have thought about a mobile hairdresser and before we moved here (18 months ago) I used one who was fab and I would use her still if we didn't live 200 miles from her! I found my current hairdressers preLBM and I am very happy with them so it is one thing I have 'allowed' myself to keep so long as it does not cause us to decrease our payments to our debt. It is an extravagence though and the more I go the more it makes me think, I mean £85 is a LOT of money.......and it's not even as if I have long hair - it's quite short, not even touching my shoulders:o

tumbleweed261

themaccas wrote:

DD wants to go the American Girl shop and get a doll there, she has been busy saving her pocket money for weeks and will continue to do so until we go!

Oh bless her! A fantastic freebie thing to do with kids in NYC is a visit to the FAO Schwartz toystore (although there may be a fair bit of "but I really want those 73 Barbies now!" and therefore you risk it not ending up being free/cheap) - you can see/play on the floor piano that Tom Hanks played in "Big" - I was 15 when I first went to FAO Schwartz and I still loved it! :rotfl:

themaccas

HI Tumbleweed, the FAO Schwartz is certainly on our list, it looks too good to miss and I want to try the floor piano! I/we are getting so excited I've worked an extra 15 hours so far this week to continue with our fundraising and I am knackered!

Molanole

Hee hee, I was in NYC at the beginning of November. We went to FAO Schwarz and my two sisters and I played chopsticks on the big floor piano! Not one of us under the age of 22 mind. I think the kiddies got a bit p*'d off with us!!

Now, even though Canal Street is full of fakes, it was hilarious (although my sisters and I have a pretty weird sense of humour). I did end up getting two really nice bags (and yes they were fakes).

My favourite thing though was going on the ferry to Liberty Island and seeing Manhattan from the water (the view that you always see on the movies). Pretty awe inspiring. See the Statue of Liberty was pretty amazing too as you could just imagine immigrants coming in by sea and the first land they saw for weeks was the tip of the statues flame. Amazing stuff.

Have a fabulous time themaccas. It's such an experience.

themaccas

Thanks Molanole
We are getting very excited at the thought of going - 14 weeks to go! Can't wait, I have yet to hear a bad thing about New York, everyone who has told me their experiences has been so positive and we are really glad we decided to go for the 10 days now. Need to get on with our spending pot though, we'd like to take £2500 but I think it will be a bit unrealistic, however we'll save as much as we can until then.

climbgirl

themaccas wrote:

Need to get on with our spending pot though, we'd like to take £2500 but I think it will be a bit unrealistic, however we'll save as much as we can until then.

Move to a cheaper hairdresser and that will help

Seriously though, £85 is an awful lot of money to spend on a haircut. I get mine done at a place in Covent Garden for £40 and I think that's excessive...

mizmir

New York is fantastic! I was there over the July 4th holiday one year staying with relatives on Long Island. Remember a fabulous evening sitting on the beach watching the fireworks across Manhattan; taking a boat along the river; a fantastic meal in Chinatown; seeing Leonard Cohen live at Carnegie Hall and, rather poignantly now, going up the Twin Towers . Everyone I met was very friendly. You'll have a ball.

themaccas

climbgirl wrote:

Move to a cheaper hairdresser and that will help

Seriously though, £85 is an awful lot of money to spend on a haircut. I get mine done at a place in Covent Garden for £40 and I think that's excessive...

I know!:o However this week it only cost me £63 because I didn't need highlights - just my roots. Still a lot though I agree............... Won't be getting it done again until late March;)

medman

Seasons Greetings The maccas

Was so impressed with your progress I was inspired to register just to say well done. Your clarity of thought is very impressive keep it up.

I've been through the process twice once as a Cpl - sold the car and stayed in the block for a year. Then as a SSgt married, two kids, it took a couple of years in Germany to straighten us out.

We weren't as focused as you seem to be.

We've just returned from Germany and moved into a Quarter and the first question I asked was about gas/electric suppliers. As it is now run by DHS you can change your supplier to anyone you like...we switched both to Npower from BG and made a big saving and they fixed the price for two years which fits the old posting plot.

Anyway, well done again, keep up the work and good luck in civvie street.


"New York New York so good they named it twice"

themaccas

Many thanks, Medman for the info, I will get OH to definately look again into changing our suppliers, in fact no I'll do it. When he asked last month they said no but I wasn't sure even then it was the right info they gave us back.

I was interested to hear your experience, how did you clear your debts in Germany? I would have dreaded to get posted abroad whilst we are clearing these debts as I am pretty sure I would struggle to get another job with my current pay.

I still feel I am driving this debt clearing although DH is pretty good with my cadjoling him!