Debt free in ten years-my new, more realistic challenge.

HappyNow

poohbear59 wrote: »

I think that at the end of this month we should be able to pay an extra £500 off debts on top of the usual standing orders and direct debits.

Brilliant, your efforts are really paying off :).

poohbear59 wrote: »

DH had a brilliant idea to save money yesterday. He bought 2 x 25cl little bottles of wine. It made sure we drank less and cost less than 2 normal sized bottles. I know they cost more per litre. We have tried buying a box of wine but it just means we drink more than if we had a bottle.

I think I might try buying the small bottles too. Not just for the money, but also for health reasons. I tend to have a glass of wine most nights and, as you say, boxes are cheaper but they do encourage us to drink more. I don't know where you shop, but in Tesco the little bottles are on offer at 3 for £5, and Tesco give an extra 5% discount if you buy at least six bottles. So £9.50 for six bottles - £1.59 each.

poohbear59

HappyNow wrote: »

Brilliant, your efforts are really paying off :).
I think I might try buying the small bottles too. Not just for the money, but also for health reasons. I tend to have a glass of wine most nights and, as you say, boxes are cheaper but they do encourage us to drink more. I don't know where you shop, but in Tesco the little bottles are on offer at 3 for £5, and Tesco give an extra 5% discount if you buy at least six bottles. So £9.50 for six bottles - £1.59 each.

One of our reasons for drinking the smaller bottles is for health reasons too. I will be able to get to Tesco on Friday so I hope the offer is still running.
We have already had a result on my list of jobs for today. I have been told that we definitely qualify for our PPI to be returned from LloydsTSB. We don't know how much yet.

The National Insurance office says that DH can have up to 5 years of his NI payments returned if he writes to them. He also possible qualifies for return of PPI payments to Britannia loans. And I have an address to write to requesting information about my Debenham's card PPI. Fingers crossed.

DH isn't working today and is laughing at my inability to stop smiling.

poohbear59

I have just worked out my debt free day and it is 7 years exactly. Now my aim was to be debt free by Jan 2019 so if I stick to the plan I will only be one month over. I will just have to pay a little more off occassionally to be DF by the time I am 60

HappyNow

poohbear59 wrote: »

I have been told that we definitely qualify for our PPI to be returned from LloydsTSB. We don't know how much yet.

The National Insurance office says that DH can have up to 5 years of his NI payments returned if he writes to them. He also possible qualifies for return of PPI payments to Britannia loans. And I have an address to write to requesting information about my Debenham's card PPI. Fingers crossed.

DH isn't working today and is laughing at my inability to stop smiling.

:T That's brilliant!! No wonder you're smiling .

poohbear59 wrote: »

I have just worked out my debt free day and it is 7 years exactly. Now my aim was to be debt free by Jan 2019 so if I stick to the plan I will only be one month over. I will just have to pay a little more off occassionally to be DF by the time I am 60

We both have the same debt-free date. I hope we both manage it, but I will be MORE than happy if I can be just one month over - or actually if I can be just one YEAR over. Progress is still far too slow here for me to achieve mine, but it's good to have a target to aim for and I think mine will speed up as I get better at my budgeting.

poohbear59

Happy, I agree with you. If I am a month or two over I will still be very happy. Hopefully we can encourage each other along the road to our DFD.

Mr pooh asked me if we can afford a pickup for him to use for work. ATM we can't but I may have to redo my snowball calculation to find a way of paying for a 4wd pickup. I am hoping it won't change my DFD. His vehicle is expected to fail its MOT and it is not worth spending more on it.

poohbear59

We are back to £0 in the bank today. I bought 36 loo rolls online, 10 vacuum cleaner bags, and 500kg of heat logs for the stove yesterday.

I am hoping that going back to buying in bulk as I always did in the past will save us cash in the long run. We used to buy pasta, rice and potatoes in bulk too so will have a look at costs. It hurts your purse when you first buy but then means savings in other months.

Yesterday DS2 rang needing £30 for his water bill for which we hadn't budgeted. As soon as he is in work we will get some money back from him.

We have paid off 10% which feels good and something to celebrate.

HappyNow

poohbear59 wrote: »

We have paid off 10% which feels good and something to celebrate.

That's a real milestone, well done :T. My payday is next Thursday, and I am hoping to hit 1%!

beanielou

10% is good :j

poohbear59

HappyNow wrote: »

That's a real milestone, well done :T. My payday is next Thursday, and I am hoping to hit 1%!

beanielou wrote: »

10% is good :j

Thank you both

It is wierd but having achieved 10% feels like a major breakthrough. I don't think I ever thought I would achieve it with all the added costs we have had over the year.

Now I need to take control my spending of the business money on marketing or we will never see a profit.:o

DD suggested yesterday that I should calculate how much I have spent on marketing. I really don't want to as I think it is going to be far too much.

poohbear59

The total amount we owe has gone up slightly with the addition of interest on the loan: but I am going to leave my total repaid at 10% as it makes me feel hopeful for the future.