No Debt, No Beer

InsertWittyName

Hi clippy_girl.

Read through your diary earlier on, it's a good read

The Sky does have the HD part... we pay £38.50 + £10 for HD and we normally have £1 or so on calls.

I would cut back on the HD to save the extra £10 but we've only had the package a short while and got the free install, M&S voucher etc. new customer deal.

That and the TV is only real entertainment we use extensively and the channels we watch look so much better in HD!

Thanks for dropping by though and taking a look over the SOA, it's appreciated!

InsertWittyName

Spent £36.47 on the weekly shop today after meal planning for next week, result!

Also spent £10 on birthday gift and £1.48 on birthday cards.

Today's 'dose' of beer has been postponed - need to make a longish journey tomorrow to visit relatives and deliver birthday stuff.

Currently running under budget so far for this month so hoping to make a decent payment toward the Lloyds TSB CC when payday arrives (21st).

InsertWittyName

Yesterday was a bit of a spend day - had to put £30 of petrol in the car and give £30 to the OH for school dinners until next payday. Had a 'dose' of beer too which came to about £11 (went 4 days without though!)

NSD today, no beer and back to work tomorrow.

InsertWittyName

Yesterday was almost an NSD - until I spotted a Xmas present DS wanted that was on offer somewhere for £18 instead of the regular £28.

Oh well, something less to buy for presents and got it for a good price!

Transferred £20 to the OH today for spends and bits and pieces of food shopping.

No beer today or yesterday

InsertWittyName

Been a few days since I posted an update...

Went out for a few beers with friends last night, spent around £20 altogether (don't go out that often!)

Weekly shop today and spent £95, which I was quite happy with as we needed a complete re-stock of food after only spending £36 last week on food!

Got a feeling I won't be able to make any overpayments this month, but quite happy with that as I paid £96 for car insurance deposit, £69 for breakdown cover, paid about £380 extra to clear and close my Capital One CC and it's been DS and OH birthdays this month.

Only 12 days until my last HP payment for the car - that'll free up £233 from next month to throw at the Lloyds TSB CC!

InsertWittyName

Quick update.

NSD today and no beer (no beer yesterday either )

Been going through all my old financial paperwork and realised I had PPI on an old loan & CC which I cancelled after a while (because I was essentially 'forced' into buying it!), might send off the forms for mis-sold PPI - although it won't be for much as I can't remember having the PPI for that long.

Both were with Halifax and I found a dedicated number to ring regarding it - will ring them tomorrow.

Squidge123

Sounds like you're doing well - I've subscribed to your thread

InsertWittyName

Welcome Squidge!

Been a few days since I last updated, been busy(ish)...

Was DD's 4th birthday this weekend and we had some family over for a small birthday party. Made all the buffet food ourselves and got compliments on how nice it was

Did a mid-week food shop to stock up for party which came it at around £42, pretty happy with that and it should keep us going until payday which is on Wednesday.

My OH is keeping an alcohol diary for both of us (and has been since we started this journey). We reviewed it last night and my consumed units have decreased week on week! Glad to see that going in the right direction. Next goal is to get it under recommended health limits (3-4 units per day for a male).

Had our tax credits renewal come through yesterday to find out that they're stopping our tax credits altogether now. Not really a surprise as we were only receiving ~£9 a week and my income has increased - unfortunately though we've been overpaid this since April which means we owe them £254! No instruction on how to pay this back on the letter so will ring them to find out at some point this week.

Haven't gotten around to ringing up for the PPI claim, must do that this week too. Maybe the claim will offset what we now owe HMRC

Also, have agreed with the OH that from payday we will both keep a spending diary so that I can analyse exactly what gets spent where and identify any possible cut backs.

Feeling pretty happy overall, nothing really overpaid but all bills paid for this 'payday' month and £55 in the bank to last us until Wednesday and no other outgoings

Oh yeah, and tonight is a 'dose' night :beer:

Squidge123

Glad you've had a good few days. Hope you carry on having loads more

InsertWittyName

Bit of good news today...

Was looking over my online Halifax accounts (I do virtually all my banking with Halifax) and spotted a banner ad for personal loans for existing customers. Decided to have a click through and see what sort of rates were on offer. 8.8%, which is a lot less than the almost 30% I pay on two of my credit cards.

Anyway, after looking at the payments etc. I thought f**k it I'll just click the apply button... 2 seconds later was approved and the funds were directly transferred into my account! result!

Instantly sent full payments of £5,693 to the Halifax CC and £2,878 to Lloyds TSB to fully pay these ~30% interest evil cards off!

I've left the remaining £1,429 in my account to pretty much clear the overdraft.

So happy right now, hated the high APR cards and as soon as the payment has gone through they will be cut up and closed!

Duration of the loan is 3 years, which with a few overpayments will still see me good to be debt free before my 35th birthday.

Will re-post up my SOA on Wednesday when I get paid.

Only reason I can think why I was approved is that it was all done from my internet banking account - I didn't have to fill in any income, expenditure or address details at all. I've banked with Halifax for around 14 years, have lots of accounts with them and have never missed a payment on anything.