Tales from a country cottage

Igamogam

Good news on card. Does the card have 0% on purchases too - if so buy your train tickets on it but remember to move it all onto another 0% card before deal ends or pay it off of course.

Hope the mouth feels better. DD2 starts some serious orthodontic work on Friday She is cool about it

prettypaula

ani*fan

horrible news im afraid but the old sim will have been disconnected after 120 days of no use. its the law sadly.

however, u can get some fab £10 pm 12 mth sim only contracts, T-mobiles is on offer at £7.71 pm at the mo (time limited offer) and if u got through quidco u get £50 cash back!!!!

(other contracts are available, this one gives u 300 mins and unlimited texts!!!)

ani*fan

Hey everyone

Just a quick update. I don't know where this week has gone...

The new card is fully functional and I've started shifting the debt. It's only 0% on purchases, not transfers, so I'm using it to buy petrol and food then taking that amount from my current account and paying off debt with it. I expect to get a little confused with this so I'm needing to be very careful I don't increase the debt by mistake.

For that reason, I'm targetting the overdraft right now. It should be down £100 by the end of the month but we'll see. The bills just keep coming. Looking on the bright side, only a couple of months ago with my head in the sand I'd have had no clue what I could afford or not, or where to find cash to pay these extra bills (dentist, tax, £20 for my driving licence photo card renewal, etc.) Now it's all totally in hand and though the debt reduction is slow, it's happening.

My new spreadsheet is great but I've not updated it all week and have a pile of receipts on my desk for that purpose. I'll need to get onto it at the weeked. Maybe I'll put it on a flash drive and update it at work. It only takes a second.

Prettypaula...hi and thanks for dropping by. :wave: And also thanks for the info about sim cards, that saves me a job trying to find my old one!

Have a great friday everyone. Thank goodness it's finally here.

wot-a-mess

Good idea with the 0% card. It's also a good feeling knowing that the head is unburied from the sand, debt has stopped increasing & is actually reducing.

ani*fan

Thanks wot a mess

I think it's going to get confusing though, shifting money all the time and keeping receipts and not forgetting to do it. I need to keep on top of it all. Just another thing to remember.

My new spreadsheet shows £60 extra that we don't have. Think I've made a mistake with it somewhere but never mind, it's my first month of trying it and I guess I'm learning. It feels pretty good to see at a glance what I've spent the cash on (or most of it, don't know about that £60!). It really has been a bad month for extra bills but at least I know it won't be like that every month.

I'm very tempted to get a takeaway tonight. We've been so good with money, and the turka dal is calling. Will try to resist if I can.

OH's new business selling stuff is doing well. First £50 made and in the pot. I'm well pleased. I realise it's a christmas rush but still, what better time to make a wee bit extra?

My road tax is due at the end of the month. It's £260 for a year and £143 for 6 months. This is not a little bit annoying. Why is 6 months not half the amount of a year? I know I should buy a year's tax to save cash, but I want 6 months so that it can be due at a different time from the mot. I can't cope with it all at the same time. But saying that, the £26 savings from buying a whole year's tax would pay for half the actual mot test cost. If you see what I mean. I don't know what to do. Decisions, decisions. And if I was organised financially, it wouldn't matter a toot if the mot was due the same month as the tax cos it would all be budgeted for and the cash sitting there ready to be used. I quite like the idea of no more big car costs for a whole year.

God I'm getting obsessive.

ani*fan

I'm tempted to update my signature. With another two CC payments paid the debt has gone down by about £65. :jHowever, maybe it would be better to do it once a month on the same day every month. That way it wouldn't show the slight variations throughout the month.

I'm more than half way to paying off my first grand of debt. :j It does feel incredibly good, I have to say! The day one of my mortified faces in my signature turns into a happy smiley face will be very satisfying indeed.

Got my Mr T vouchers through. £9 in total. I worked out that even if I used these to pay for train tickets (you get three times the value) the tickets would still cost more than they do now cos you have to buy full price ones. So that plan is scrapped for now.

ani*fan

Signature updated. I couldn't stop myself.

Quite proud though. The debt would definitely have gotten bigger if I hadn't been on here. :T

wot-a-mess

Ani, great to see the signature showing reduced debt. I really wish my debt was £13,707.35 but it's not..... Thats the way it is

Reducing debt really is a great motivator :beer:

I now think that it is possible to reduce debt & also have a decent lifestyle. Its just a matter of balancing things & not being disrespectful or oblivious to money

ani*fan

Thanks wot a mess...you're so right. Seeing the debt figure go down is a great motivator. And don't forget your debt is going down way faster than mine...you may over take me!

I just reread my diary there and am amazed at a couple of things.

First...how do I never remember to PAY THE HIGHEST INTEREST DEBT FIRST! Honestly, am I totally stupid with the memory of a goldfish? This is the most simple rule on here yet still I talk about deciding to pay my overdraft next. Good grief. I need to be paying the capital one cards at the same time as shifting them to 0%. I can't just sit back while the debt is being moved. The interest rate is outrageous, I need to pay Capital 1 first!

Second, I'm astounded at how many different plans I make then don't follow through. It's a real skill, making a big decision then forgetting about it totally. Example number one, I was going to move all money not required to pay direct debits out of our account and make that a bill paying account. That way, I'd know the cash was there for direct debits and not have to worry and check it all the time. I totally forgot to do that. :mad: Also, what happened to my student bank account idea for free overdraft? And student discount on council tax?

I've managed to make some progress but clearly still have a long way to go. I'm going to reread tomorrow and make a list of MSE ideas I've had or others have given me and try every single one.

Right now I don't deserve to be debt free when I'm still making such newbie mistakes. :mad: It's all my own silly fault.

wot-a-mess

It's easy honey ...Write things down

I've gone for the old fashioned writing things down... & it defo works