The final countdown... and a newbie in the DFSD house!

debtfreesomeday

Well this is (hopefully) the last installment in the back catalogue of my debt-busting diaries...

Previous episodes can be read here - detailing how we got our debt down to around £15K from £33K+ in a couple of years.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1253365

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2313539

A little about me for those not in the know... I'm 31, married to Mr DFSD, and currently 6 months pregnant with our first little DFSD. We both work full time presently and earn a decent enough wage between us for the area we live in, but this will change next year when we have to consider nursery fees and part time working.

We are currently stashing away £500+ per month into a 'maternity leave' account whilst we are both working full time, which we can draw upon through the next 3 years of variable income until our loan is paid off and finally all our money is our own (except for the usual bills of course...).

Although not usually a good idea, we have just managed to cut two years off our debt free date by getting a lower interest, shorter term loan to cover two existing loans which were at a higher interest rate. In this case, it has worked in our favour - we are paying £50 extra a month which is affordable with some juggling, but we will be debt free in 36 months time. The sentence has been shortened!

Let the countdown begin!...

ragstoricheswannabe

have been a lurker on your other diaries but wanted to say happy new diary and good luck!!!! xx

debtfreesomeday

Thanks rags to riches! X

wantabetterlife

Hi DFSD, have subscribed to your new diary and wish you luck with the final hurdle, you have done amazingly well so far :j. Love the new signature aswell. Xo

Chocforever

Hi DFSD

Happy new diary! And 71 views already

I shall enjoy counting down the 36 payments until your DFD and hearing about how you are getting on with the newbie!

Best wishes

debtfreesomeday

It seems my wages have gone into the bank already, so I have transferred £500 into the maternity leave account (now at £1432), £100 into the tax and insurance savings account (now at £400) and £185 paid off the credit card.

This weekend has largely been about Christmas shopping and painting the new rooms. I've managed to get 4 more Christmas gifts this weekend - one for 'free' today with my boots points - some perfume for my MIL. I had to buy some bits to boost the points very slightly so we had enough to cover it, but bought some baby bits which we needed to buy anyway. We've also been busy painting, and the rooms are nearly finished - just one more coat on the woodwork to do in the week and then the carpet can go down.

Also today, we spent £13 on some woodwork paint for the new room, and picked up an ipod speaker/radio system to go in there when it's finished. We bought this in Maplins using the vouchers we got from their recent glitch, so basically free! We have £15 worth of vouchers left too.

We also bought a cardi for MIL's birthday in December, costing £22 in the sale, from £30. That's another pre-Christmas expense ticked off the list.

We roasted a chicken from the freezer today for dinner and there's loads left, so it will make another meal tomorrow. I've got some homemade soup out of the freezer for tomorrow's lunch, hubby has a business lunch tomorrow so doesn't need a packed lunch.

The house insurance renewal came in the post last week, for just over £200. I expected it to be much more as thats about the same price as last year. We have £400 saved towards that and the car expenses, so it will more than cover it.

Have a good Sunday evening all

DFSD
X

debtfreesomeday

Brrrr, it's freezing here this morning, we had to de-ice the car before setting off for work today. Good job we bought some de-icer at the weekend!

This morning I've moved a little money around again as I forgot hubby had an extra £20 to pay out this month, so it's £20 less in the joint pot. No problem though, I've cut it from the Christmas shopping budget this month as we've done really well with that already and can finish it off next month. So, there's £15 left in there now which will buy two more little gifts - I need to pick up a £10 and a £5 voucher so that'll do nicely.

We have a couple of days away this week relating to hubby's work. The hotel was paid for months ago and it includes breakfast and an evening meal, so will be a nice little getaway without spending a penny, hopefully. We have a full tank of petrol so no need to fill up before we go. It's only for one night, but it will be a nice change (and less days at work this week!).

Dinner tonight is already sorted - wagamma chicken noodles with the leftover chicken from yesterday and some noodles & sauce from the cupboard and some stir fry veggies thrown in for good measure.


Have a good Monday all

DFSD
x

debtfreesomeday

Just printed off my free £5 voucher for Debenhams from the 'grab it' board - will help with the Christmas shopping!

debtfreesomeday

I was naughty today - really didn't fancy soup at lunchtime so popped out and bought a sandwich and packet of crisps for £1.65. I'll have the soup tomorrow instead.

I've printed out all of the directions and hotel booking confirmation we'll need tomorrow - printed at work of course (a. because it's free and b. we don't have a printer anyway!). I need to pack tonight and figure out what the heck I'm going to wear - I need to look semi-smart tomorrow but I don't have many clothes anyway and those I do have, I'm not entirely sure I'll fit into them now with the bump. My maternity wardrobe consists of 2 pairs of maternity jeans bought on ebay! There's no way I was going to buy anything for one day though, I may need to experiment with some safety pins!

DFSD

debtfreesomeday

It's so dark this morning - I think the sun forgot to come up! I'm not looking forward to even darker mornings next week after the clocks go back.

I've transferred the odd 59p from the main bank account to the maternity leave savings this morning. Hubby is chasing up his bank as he made two 'faster payment' transfers of his wages to the main account yesterday and only one is showing up. The same happened last month. :mad:

Not much else to report on the moneysaving front, all's pretty quiet until most of the bills come out on the 1st of the month.

Have a good day all

DFSD

debtfreesomeday

We're back from our night away - it was a nice break but I'm very tired now after 9 or so hours of driving in the last 36 hours.

I've just logged on and the loan money has gone into the account - nice to see a balance of £15K+ when I opened my bank account!!!! Shame it's not actually my money though... I'll phone up and pay off the other two loans with it tomorrow. Hopefully we'll then not have to pay this month's payment on one of them and be £200+ better of this month.

I also just completed two surveys, earning us £6 for the paypal account. That'll go as a little payment off the credit card balance as it's money we wouldn't have had anyway.

Also, it doesn't seem like the MS company intend to pay me the correct amount this month. :mad: I emailed them a few days ago as I should've been paid £30+. but only received £6+ from them. They haven't bothered to respond yet. :mad:

Update more tomorrow when I'm not so tired!

DFSD