Learning to Live on Less!

White_Iris

Woo-hoo, another couple of payments to the credit card - we're down to £1000 now!

jwil

That's great, well done! :T

White_Iris

Pay day today so I've sent the extra money I made from working some additional hours over to the credit card. I also sent a small payment a few days ago, that I made from selling a few more bits on eBay. The total now should be at £960.

On Monday all the money should have moved to where it needs to be (to cover bills etc.), so I'll make Februarys payment to the credit card plus this months council tax payment can go to it as well (we pay over 10 months). That should bring the total down to £530.

If the payment date for our loan has been moved to the 1st March instead of the end of Feb, I should be able to send another £400 to the credit card but I'm not going to do that until the end of the month and I'm certain the money isn't going to be needed. I've also agreed to some additional hours at work over the next few weeks, so that should net me an extra £100 in Februarys pay. If I send that over to the credit card as well, it may be cleared by the end of the month!

sweetpea26

Brilliant. Well done. Great progress.

White_Iris

White_Iris wrote: »

We also do have some outgoings in the next few months that I need to remember to budget for:
February
SIL birthday - £20 PAID
FIL birthday - £50ish (It's a big one but he doesn't want a present, so we'll all go out for a nice dinner instead and pay half). We're getting a take-away instead and have chipped in some money for some vouchers but it should work out to the same amount. DH is paying for this.
March
Mothers Day - cards & presents for mum and MIL £30 Looking out for some money saving deals on flowers and will probably make the cards, as I've got loads of paper-craft stuff (the children will enjoy helping too).
Swimming lessons - £110 We're owed a credit for one lesson as the instructor was ill, so that brings the cost down to £100 and I've managed to save £30 so far.
There is more in April, May and June but I'll just concentrate on the next two months for now.

So, February is paid for but I like to plan a few months ahead and April is going to be expensive (and I'm sure there are other things I've forgotten!


APRIL
Birthdays - £50 (busy month for birthdays!)
Anniversary meal - £50 (we don't usually bother but it's a big one this time, so we might make the effort!)
Trip to see family - £200 (petrol, food and sundries, hotel is already paid for)


I've just sent a payment of £430 to the credit card but fingers crossed I'll be able to pay off more at the end of the month.

White_Iris

Sent £10 to the ISA towards the house deposit (little drips make a big puddle!) and have agreed to another 4 extra hours at work next week, so my total additional hours this month should make about £120 extra to pay off the credit card. I'm about to go and dig out my card making stuff and get started on the mothers day cards, which should save a bit of cash.

White_Iris

Wow, the last three weeks have gone quickly, can't believe it was the fourth when I last posted!

Tomorrow I'll find out whether the loan is being taken this month, so if not I'll pay another £420 off the credit card, which will bring the total down to £110, which can then be cleared on Friday. :j

So March should be the start of saving up our new house deposit but I'm tempted to have a month off and use the extra cash for things like the childrens swimming lessons or a day out for us all on Mothering Sunday. Things have been fairly tight money-wise as I've been trying to get the credit cards cleared as quickly as possible, so it might be good to relax a little and start saving properly at the start of the new financial year.

I've just done some back-of-an-envelope calculations and, assuming the credit card is clear, I can put £75 in the ISA, pay for swimming lessons, a family day out and put some aside for our Easter trip to Wales and still have £175 left to put in our household emergency savings pot (which is currently empty and ideally I'd like £500 in there). So that, I think, is the plan. :money:

sweetpea26

Good plan WI. Superb progress. Well done to you.

White_Iris

Woo hoo, credit card is cleared! No more credit card debt ever!! Just need to get DH to phone up and cancel them this weekend. :-)

MeandO

Well done WI :T
xx