Debt free by Summer 2012 (if not sooner!)

DebtFree2012

You will have to let me know if the charity shops are failry expensive now as on a few of the other boards there's a general consensus that they have gone up in price.

Ooh winter lettuce - do you have to grow that inside?

My blooming chickens keep taking chunks out of my veggies at the moment. I love having them roam about but that have to be supervised until I sort something out which is a bit pointless really as the idea's to let them have free rein without supervision

DebtFree2012

Goood morning everyone.

My poor little boy has this virus that's going about so didn't have the best night sleep but he is a bit better this morning. Hopefully he will keep picking up - I hate the kids being poorly.

Right - on the cutting back front I have my meter readings which I will put in after this post and hopefully show we're using very little! Then I will call them when the office is quiet to ask to reduce my monthly payment, assuming we're using less that is!

Also, as I am not buying anything new for myself cosmetic and clothes wise I am starting to use up all the things (creams etc). Made me realise, this morning I took out a clarins lip moisturiser thingy which cost me nigh on £15 on the CC! So I am using this up first along with a simple moisturiser as my normal one has run out.

Everything I used to buy I would put on the card without a thought of when and how I would pay it back. Ashamed!!!

Ok on the debt busting front - I am hoping I have some statements available today. I will also be working on my food list for next month during my breaks.

Hope everyone is well.

Hovel_lady

((Hugs)) to your little boy. Hope he's feeling better very soon.
We've never had a problem reducing our payments for gas/electric. It was done straightaway.
I'm using up toiletries as well. Can't remeber the last clothes I had. A pair of sandals is the only thing this year. Practicing for my hovel in the hills on 3p a week :rotfl:
xx

DebtFree2012

Thanks HL. I hope he is better soon too.

Well for gas and electric we are paying an old balance off (de ja vu) so they won't reduce the payments by much. I pay £160 a month now and looking forward to when I can pay only for what we use currently!

We are using an average of 10 kwh for electric a day and 9 for gas. This is the lowest we have used since we moved into the house so I am proud of that. However the plan now is to reduce the balance owing so that it is 0 after each month's payment.

Last night was a bit of a shock in my neck of the woods, the house was really cold and so were the kids in bed. Was scary as Winter's going to be a nightmare. Preparation is the key.

xx

DebtFree2012

Ok I have an outstanding balance of £255.07 for gas and electric (this is down from £700 something). I am using around £63 a month actual use and pay £160 therefore £97 is going towards the balance. So in 3 payments time (if I can keep the useage down) I will have paid £291 to the balance therefore in credit and still paid off the useage. So in payment # 4 the balance will be down to £0 and I will be paying for current consumption only, not the previous years and years!
Therefore from payment #4 I can expect to reduce my bill to - I guess - £100 a month to allow for Winter (frugal) use of the heating/over (gas) and washer/shower/dryer (electric).

I will have £60 free'd up a month to go to debt/xmas/DH birthday in Nov. :T
This seems good, on paper - I hope it works out like this in reality which in the past it hasn't! Fingers crossed. :dance:

DebtFree2012

Ok I have been an anorak and worked out my miles for next month and the cost associated in petrol.

I used Google's calculations for both.

From 25th Jul - 24th Aug I HAVE to do 208.6 miles. This is dropping the kids off with baby sitters, getting to work and getting home each day and 1 trip to supermarket each week.

The cost of 208.6 miles is £58.42 allowing for £1.35 a litre and standard car.

To allow for emergencies/unforseens I have put the allowance at £65 for the month.

My petrol should be cheaper than previous months as I do less travelling now so I am looking forward to seeing this in my payments. I used to spend up to £115 a month. Again, any spare goes to debt, sigh.

I plan on doing this each month now.

Hovel_lady

Glad I'm not the only anorak that does that. Like you we used to spend much more on petrol but it's so blinking expensive.
I remember (showing my age here) going 130 miles to a holiday on the coast on £5 of petrol. Those were the days

Skint_but_Optimistic

Hope your DS is well now. mine has just recovered from a nasty virus.

Thanks for mentioning the electricity payments, I need to chase that up.

We are doing a house up and they had estimated 50 a month usage, which is what I pay!!

I disagreed and they said the meter needed reading first.

It has been done, and the payment was apparently adjusted down... to 50 pounds per month.
I shall phone them.

I do meal plan too, and cook in bulk. I try to buy cheap mince / steak whatever, make pies / chilis / stroganof / pasta and freeze it, then Ive got some extra time too. (well thats the plan) Also reduce grocery spends by baking scones and cakes. for snacks. Well done on the petrol number crunching. Its all so expensive!

Skint_but_Optimistic

Oops yes winter lettuce seeds can be planted now and grown on a windowsill.

cheaper than the harvest your own alternatives in supermarkets. x

DebtFree2012

DS is still with temperature and just doesn't know what to do with himself. I had him to the docs and they said it's a virus that is doing the rounds. Poor lad.

Thanks for the reply - after number crunching I have decided to leave the payments for the time being. The reason's for this are after 3 payments we should be cleared of the balance, continuing at current useage that is, which will be hard given it'll get colder within 3 payments (months). Also we've switched to a capped scheme to avoid these nasty hikes which is more expensive a month BUT still less that what I am paying now. I would like to clear balance then see what month's use is for October.

It'll be my first Winter trying to not use the heating - we have a wood burning in the living room which kicks out a lot of heat but it doesn't heat the house. Dilemma when you have children so young. Once they are in bed it's fine, it's the getting them bathed and in jama's when it's cold that will be a pain, especially as our bathroom is REALLY cold. Maybe a 30 min switch on over bath time would suffice.