I'm Going to Reduce My Debt

Hallam_Macca

Hey all. Not much of a update really. Not got much to report. I've still got plenty of Lev's left and I am due back in the UK on saturday.

For anyone thinking of going skiing, do it. It's so much fun to learn, only had 5x4 hour lessons and I can already ski to a decent level. It's like no other holiday I've ever been on. It's very cheap in Bulgaria although the locals do try to rip you off every now and again, for example a two-course meal for 6 people ended up costing the group over 200 pounds.

Anyways I'll hopefully be back in the country late on Saturday when I'll be able to take stock of my finances again. Bye for now :beer:

Hallam_Macca

I'm back in the UK now in one piece thank god! Had a fantastic holiday. Skiing is great fun and quite quick to pick up. Only had 6 lessons and I can go down fairly steep hills comfortably now. Such an amazing experience that I recommend to everyone.

However I've been that relaxed and not worrying about my money that I don't know quite where I'm upto at the moment. The things I do know are that my rent has gone up to £150 from £100 as my grandad is feeling the pinch a bit so all that is going on the food shopping. Going to use Tesco and see how much I can get using voucher codes etc.

I came back with just 8 Levs from a total of 262. Not really worth swapping and I'll probably be going again next year. Since the holiday I've spent £1.20 on a drink of water from a vending machine. £2.52 at tesco yesterday for my lunch, £10 on a ticket for tonights football match against Wolves. Come on you Blues! And a further £10 in subs for the football team I play for. Had to pay for two weeks as we've only just started out. Every bit of me aches today though, not a good feeling!

I think that's it for now, when I get a moment to myself I'll try to sort out where I am and what I need to do. It's all been a blur so far!

melaniec_2

Hi

just a daft girl question about season tickets, You pay an anual fee which allows you to go to matches and get first refusal on games???? But then you have to pay to go to games? How does it work? Seems expensive to me but as I say I'm a girl.

Verbatim

Hi there,

I've just read your thread through, hadn't seen it on the board before. My question is could you do without a programme? I like the theatre especially the £10 Travelex seasons in london lol but gave up buying programmes. They tend to have loads about the careers of individual actors and tons of ads and perhaps a few snippets about the history of the theatre but little about the play and many are pretty much the same. Am I right in thinking that football programmes are much the same? Do you actually read them and/or keep them after as collectors items?

Excuse me if it's not the same thing at all but I'd be interested to hear your take on this as I'm someone who has no knowledge or interest in watching football/sport but loves theatre.

Hallam_Macca

Yeah with the season tickets I pay upfront for all the home league matches, but get priority for away games and cup games. It was a cup game tonight so I had to pay extra but they reduced the prices, should be £16 I think normally in my stand so it's not too bad, plus we're out now so that's less to spend!

I like to read the programmes but I guess it's much the same each week but with different people. Don't do much with them here except leave them to collect dust. Got a load that I'm gonna try and flog on ebay or to other fans.

Just done the snowball calculator and I've got a debt-free date of September 2008, 20 months away. Hopefully I'll be able to reduce this further as I carry on.

Edit: Also to add there are some rumours going around work that redundancies could be on the cards, people from other departments are being trained on work my team is doing currently. I think now would be a great time to start to look for a new job before I get pushed out!

hbl_2

September 2008 - man, that's awesome. That's less than two years!

If you do everything you can now to get the date closer, you'll save a ton in interest payments alone. Also, if you manage to shave 2-3 months off it to say June 2008, then if something comes up later down the line and you have to make adjustments, then putting it back to September again won't be such a sting.

Verbatim

Well done on getting it down already. Hope you'll get redundancy pay if the worse happens...don't leave before you get that as if you walk before you're notified you'll miss out. Perhaps they're going to expand your team/section??

Hallam_Macca

Yeah that's a good point hbl. I'll try as best I can to get the debt-free date lower. Must admit I was a little disappointed, I thought I might be able to pay it off earlier than that.

There was a meeting at work today about how we had done last year and targets for this year.

They didn't say anything directly but the company are looking to make itself more efficient and when I asked whether jobs are going to be shifted to other offices, they skirted round the question but said there would definately be changes.

They are looking to expand the business though this year so I think the most likely option is that our jobs are going somewhere else and my team will be moved into doing something else.

I'm not leaving anything to chance though and I'm looking for a new job, the pay at my current isn't great as you might have seen on here. Might be able to find something I enjoy more as well as getting better money and prospects.

Not been all doom and gloom though as I got awarded the Reward & Recognition Award for my achievements in the final quarter of the year. Got nominited by a few people at work which is great to know. As well as a certificate I got £80 worth of M&S vouchers and a free lunch with one of the directors. :j I'm feeling quite happy with myself today.

Got back home and done the shopping online. Did it with Tesco's and spent £90.90 before any discounts. Got a £5 off voucher code from this site so I'm down to £85.90 before the food discounts. Still got quite a lot from my £150 budget.

Just got to do my NVQ work now for tomorrow and pick my sister up from work later on. I might just get a minutes rest sometime today.

Seaxwyn

Hi there

Glad you had a good holiday and well done getting that Award. You sound like a competent person, I'm sure you can get a better salary. I think it's definitely worth looking now rather than waiting around for possible redundancy pay, a much more positive mindset. Good luck with it!

angelavdavis

A quick hi! I read your thread tonight and you sound like you are doing really well so good for you! You also sound like you had a ball skiing (I'm not a skier - I'm a scuba diver! Even when I am supposed to be skiing I am diving!!!)
:j

Also, I have a suggestion.

Did you know you can make a week's worth of rolls for lunch on Sunday using fresh rolls and ham or another meat and put them in the freezer?. Just grab one every morning on the way out of the house and it will be defrosted by lunchtime. If you include a bag of apples in your shop, and a multipack of crisps plus soft drinks, you have a lunch ready to go every day!

I don't recommend adding salad or pickles, etc as they aren't great for freezing, but meat on its own is fine.

I discovered I was spending £70+ every month on lunches, coffees, etc. I was amazed!

Best of luck with your ventures!