Chasing the debt free daydream...

Winnie_in_Pooh

Today is getting off to a good start, despite being awake since 5am *roll eyes*, because I get to hear bub's heartbeat :j! Will update properly when I'm back xx

DebtFree2012

Morning hun

How exciting - it's lovely hearing their heartbeat. I hope it is fantastic for you - report back soon for us all.

I think your day dream list is great - I can't wait until I can put mine into action!

xx

Winnie_in_Pooh

Home from the midwife, and happy to report I have a rather large and very active little boy in my belly Heartbeat was fabulously strong and regular - DH looked like he was about to burst into tears as its the first time he's heard it

Forgot to say yesterday (I think?) that the insurance assessor came around (at 6.45am :eek:) and agreed our claim so hopefully there will be a nice cheque in the post before too long and we can get the hole in our bedroom ceiling fixed. I REALLY don't want to be sleeping in the living room anymore, the novelty has completely worn off! Planning to spend some time today looking for some lovely new curtains, just window shopping mind, can't afford to buy any until next payday lol!

Going to try to be a bit productive today, there's no rain in the weather forecast so I'm going to try to get the bedding and towels washed and dried on the line. My tumble drier died about a year ago and we've managed fine without it since but I'm slightly concerned about whether we'll manage without one when bubs is here. I know they are so expensive to run and we don't really have space for one but we also don't really have space for lots of airers either! Will discuss with DH, see what he thinks.

Also need to give the kitchen a really good clean and Furball is STILL moulting :mad: so need to get the fur off the floor.

Got a real hankering for toast with real butter....

Hovel_lady

Really glad all went well with the midwife.
And the hole in the ceiling will soon be fixed.
My furry boys used to moult like mad at this time off the year. One has been gone 3 years, one 2 years and I still sometimes find their fur. Which probably says something about my cleaning :rotfl:
Enjoy the great curtain hunt xx

DebtFree2012

I love hot toast with real butter mmm, something we don't have now - value spread all the way till DF when I may indulge in real butter again. Oh the joys of being in debt!

Congrats on hearing his heartbeat - a truly wonderful thing

Re the tumble dryer - it's difficult isn't it ...the only advice I can recommend is planning and organised with the washing so you know you will always have clothes dry before the clean ones run out. Leave them overnight in your warmest room although in my house at present things just aren't drying inside.

Let us know how you get on.

x x

Winnie_in_Pooh

:eek: DH IS CLEANING THE BATH :eek:

That absolutely never happens! I must be playing the "wo is me" pregnancy card really well

We were very naughty and went out for dinner last night - Morrison's cafe two dinners for £6, including a drink - so I feel guilty, but not too guilty! We did have a good reason though, DH wanted to celebrate what he's been calling "the heartbeat moment" and I melted and gave in. Hormones really are not condusive to money saving :rotfl:

Think this weekend might be a small spendy one; DS had a cracking school report. Up until this year he's lagged behind in reading and writing a little but he's achieving above average in everything except maths and writing where he's well above average so he's obviously worked really hard and I'm really proud of him and think he deserves a treat. I expect it'll be a trip to see Harry Potter which, while fairly expensive, he'll love and so will I

My curtain window shopping was reasonably successful, or at least it was until I deviated onto various estate agency sites! My excuse was I was looking for interior design ideas (I'm just SO nosey lol) but I ended up finding at least 6 houses within 5 miles of us that would make a really good nearly forever house! I say nearly because our forever house will have enough land for lots of dogs and a dirt bike track and we're a long long way off achieving that! A nearly forever house is one that will last us until we can afford the forever house :rotfl:

Oh and today was a NSD :j:j:j

Hovel_lady

Well done on a NSD :j
And do enjoy your lovely clean bath :rotfl:
This is for your son :T

Winnie_in_Pooh

So, DH has done something clever with a computer and (after a little more tinkering because said computer thinks we're in London ATM) Sky can officially be cancelled!! This means a saving of £36 a month. I worked out that if we pay that additional amount to the biggest overdraft which is currently due to be clear in August 2019 that date will change to February 2014 - over 5 YEARS knocked off!!!

That was a bit of a wake up call. It made me realise that instead of the vague, loose idea of clearing the debts by the time the car loan finishes we need an actual, bona fide, set in stone PLAN.

With that in mind I'm after some advice. Most of our debts are currently not incurring any interest. The only debts that do attract interest are the car HP @ 9%, the Tesco loan @ 7.9% and the HFC loan @ 24.9%. HFC is due to end in December and I can make overpayments to that one so that is the first obvious target. But where do I start after that? Neither the car HP or Tesco allow overpayments. I'm still waiting for confirmed balances on most of the others but this is my closest estimate:-

Santander 1 - £1920 (confirmed) - currently paying £20 a month
Santander 2 - £650 (confirmed) - currently paying £10 a month
HSBC - £400 - currently paying £25 a month
Provident - £640 - currently paying £5 a month
Capital One - £1100 - currently paying £15 a month
Black Horse - £5000 - currently paying £20 a month
Orange - £500 - currently paying £5 a month

All of the above are with various debt collection agencies and none of them have interest or charges being applied.

As far as I can work it out, we have 3 options.

1. Increase payments to all creditors on a pro-rata basis;
2. Increase payments to one creditor at a time, starting with the smallest to reduce the number of creditors and as they clear increase payments to the next "target"; or
3. Save the money with a view to making full and final settlement offers.

What do you think?

On Capital One and Black Horse I had PPI policies so I want to have a bash at getting that back, also I want to try to reclaim the charges on Capital One. There are also a lot of charges on both of the Santander overdrafts and the HSBC one that I'd like to have a go at getting back, although I've probably missed the boat on bank charges. Anyone have any experience of reclaiming stuff?

Think I may have found some of that motivation I was wondering about!

mum2one

wow, it sounds daft but like you said when you see a new end date it makes a difference.

thinking with my loan I can't overpay, but at 4 points throughout the term i can pay full and final balance.

with the other part of 3 options, if you were to pay one creditor above the others it could jeapordise the plan that your on, the only way would be your no 1 suggestion, is do it as pro-rata so they have an equal % added on.

you've done brilliantly, and def go for it regarding ppi and bank charges. I've not done ppi, but have successfully claimed back bank charges and credit cards, most took the difference between £12 and what I had been charged, I did my cousins bank charges and got him over 6k back, U can go back as far as 6 years, even if its gone to a debt collection agency etc, those charges occured when u had the account up and running.

nataz

WOW winnie real impressed with the motivation!! Must be those pregnancy hormones kicking in

Not sure I have any advice, but I reckon you would need to stick to a pro-rata if thats what your on already. Or save and dont tell, which is what we're doing

Lovely to hear you so positive