Blinded by the LBM...!

hillside777

I'm glad I'm not Mr B.
Poor chap being interrogated and having his wallet gone through.
Does a man have no privacy? :rotfl:

banwa

My Mr B still hasn't learned that leaving his cash lying around means it gets tidied away into my purse. If he had a wallet, I would empty it:D

Beencounting

Thanks for your comments folks...Bonnington, it's nice to have a man's opinion, but I think the ladies out-number you :rotfl:

This morning I'm pondering a mini-consolidation loan. We have an existing loan which has now been running for over 3 years and just under 2 years left to go. We have the option to apply for a top up on the loan, and it would give us sufficient to settle one of the larger card balances in full, at a significantly reduced interest rate. The main advantage though is that we would "save" £200 a month on CC repayments, although in reality it just moves the payments to 2 years from now.

I really do need to get some breathing space into our cashflow, so this is definitely an option. The only thing that's worrying me is going through the application process and declaring all our CC balances , that could cause them to turn us down. But, I guess that would just leave us exactly where we are now, so no difference really.

I know consolidation is not the long term answer, btw, I've well and truly learned that lesson , but the card I want to settle is already cancelled as I refused an interest hike, so it's only open to make payments on it anyway.

Will discuss with OH later, then decide whether to go forward or not. Any thoughts folks?

Been

banwa

Well it depends on one thing really.

Have you truly changed your habits?

You need to be really honest with yourself. If you get the 'breathing space' will you carry on being strict with yourself?

I considered consolidation, but was talked out of it on here, and seeing as we are continuing to get the 0% deals, I am giving the 'tarting' a go. And I am glad I did. But I don't think that consoldation, even if it is more expensive, is a bad thing, as long as you have the self control to not get further into debt.

The only person that can answer it is you. We will support you what ever you decide. Have you ever posted a SOA? It's quite personal so I would understand if you didn't want to, but I got some good advice when I posted mine.

Beencounting

banwa wrote: »

Well it depends on one thing really.

Have you truly changed your habits?

You need to be really honest with yourself. If you get the 'breathing space' will you carry on being strict with yourself?

I considered consolidation, but was talked out of it on here, and seeing as we are continuing to get the 0% deals, I am giving the 'tarting' a go. And I am glad I did. But I don't think that consoldation, even if it is more expensive, is a bad thing, as long as you have the self control to not get further into debt.

The only person that can answer it is you. We will support you what ever you decide. Have you ever posted a SOA? It's quite personal so I would understand if you didn't want to, but I got some good advice when I posted mine.

Thanks Banwa - lots to answer from your post

Yes, I *think* we really have changed our habits and our outlook on the debt situation. Our heads were permanently buried in the sand before the LBM, but they're not now. In fact, I don't think I could ever go back to the blase attitude I had before, it's just too scary. That's not to say that we don't have the occasional wobble, but on balance we seem to be keeping to the straight and narrow.

Re the SOA, no, I've never posted one up. As you say, it's quite personal and I've never felt comfortable with putting that much of myself up for public scrutiny . I'm sure there are still things which could be cut, but, we also need to live through this period without being so miserable that we chuck in the towel. I think we've got the balance as right as we can for now.

And thanks especially for your comment (in red), it means a lot to know I'm not on my own :).

Been

Beencounting

Ah well, tried but not successful ...back to the drawing board...

banwa

You mean you applied and were turned down? You can do this without consolidation, I really think that in 2 years time, you'll be glad you were turned down.

debtfreewannabe321

ahhh sorry to hear that but i have read soooooooooooooo many comments on here advising people NOT to get them anyway, so perhaps it's for the best like banwa says? You use the snowball anyway don't you so that will help you, do you do PAD perhaps that might help you get the debts down a little quicker? ummm sorry no real suggestions, but sorry you were turned down -this happened to me pre-lbm and was gutting!

Hope you had a good weekend anyway x

Beencounting

Thanks Banwa & DFW. It's disappointing but not entirely unexpected . I know you're right, but it all feels so slow at the moment. Hey ho, onward and upward.

Just did my weekly shop online, showing as just under £63, that's a bit more than I wanted to spend, but it's half term, so need a bit more in than usual.

We didn't have anything for a packed lunch today so ended up spending over £6 (for 2 of us) lunchtime :eek:. I've put some extra bits on the shopping - some soups and instant lunches that I can keep in work for when I haven't got sandwiches. I hate spending so much at lunchtime when it's so much cheaper to bring something into work . Tomorrow I'll take a tin of soup as the shopping won't be delivered until tomorrow evening.

A few bits to do this week:

• bank some cash
• update budget spreadsheet
• pay DDs landlord
• cancel gym as I'm not using it
• remind OH to cancel gym too

Been

Beencounting

Everything on my list from Monday is ticked off . The gym fees are/were due to be debited on the 17th, so I will need to wait to find out if I cancelled in time. Hope so .

I forgot to bring my tin of soup into work yesterday, so needed to buy a sandwich . Managed to find an egg mayo sandwich in MrS for £1, so that's not too bad. I didn't spend anything else as I already had snacks for the rest of the day .

It should be a NSD today as I have absolutely no money on me . I've brought my packed lunch, snacks and a drink from home, so feeling very organised .

Been