A Little bit of an extra push

leimichellecat

OH and I have never looked at out debt as proper debt (naughty, I know) so have plodded along quite nicely making our payments and enjoying our 0% over drafts....
...until now! We have had enough, we want to clear our bills swiftly and have fun whilst doing it.

So first I must document what we owe...

• Bank of Mum and Dad: £2400. Boiler in our first home gave up, which they kindly paid to be replaced. This is being payed off at £100 per month, which is an amount i have been paying to them for the past few years to pay off a car, which is now paid for so time to pay the new loan!
• Car loan: £15000 (inc. interest) This was a rather eccentric buy, but again all payments of £260pm are made without any financial strain.
• Credit card: £900. Attempting to get a refund from airline/Sta travel for there error, which they have all been avoiding for several months, I have made a mental note that if there is no refund by Monday I will leave it to the CC to deal with.
• Overdrafts: £1050. OH still a student, so his £750 OD is free and mine is only £1.50pm. Needs clearing, but not top of the list

At the current rate, we will be debt free in October 2014, but that's definitely a target to be broken, lets aim for October 2013!!!!

leimichellecat

Following discussion with OH the action plan is...

• BMD - For the next 8 months we up our payments to £300pm, debt cleared! Usually we put £200pm in the savings pot, but this will go to parents.
• CC - Due a nice back pay next month, so if the airline dispute is not dealt with, I can clear the CC so I'm not paying interest.

In the mean time, I have been trawling some of the challenges, and love the grocery ones, we are a little flippant when it comes to Tesco spending!

leimichellecat

Day One still and on my third diary entry already. Got the car insurance quote through, £1250 for two cars. I understand there has been a hike in insurance, but that's pretty extreme! So I go on the same multi car insurance providers website, enter the same details and the quote returns £850. Unfortunately it is too late to call tonight, so I will be making phone calls first thing tomorrow morning, and saving myself more pennies!

leimichellecat

Good news! I hadn't noticed but I've already paid my parents back £300, and they are happy for use to increase our payments to £300 per month and pay them back quicker. Bad news is they want to help me go back to uni earlier than planned, which means less time for saving and paying debts off!!!!

leimichellecat

DH's birthday today! Normally we would go for a buffet Chinese for celebrations, but today I am going to attempt to cook a cheap/healthy/yummy meal. This ticks my money saving box and his weight lose box! Normally this would come to £35, but I'm pretty sure I can put something together with the content of my cupboards and a trip to the butcher!

leimichellecat

A successful morning. I accidentally agreed to a car insurance renewal yesterday that would have cause £950 to leave my back account on the 1st Nov, which I just didn't have. So today I have called them up and cancelled that plan, plus I have found cheaper insurance elsewhere. Also called the CC and they are sorting out the flight ticket dispute, whoopi!!! That's MY money and I demand I get it back!!!!

leimichellecat

Following my fantastic morning, an excellent evening! Been QuidCo-ing away this evening, and making a successful few pennies!!!

• Car insurance - Got a brilliant deal, and got £50 cash back
• Cat insurance - Could have got better, but with £65 cash back, that out does the other deals.
• Love film - I've used and loved this before, so for another free 30day trial, £7.50 cash back and a £20 Amazon voucher, brilliant!

Grand total: £145!!!

Smashing!

beanielou

Good start!
Keep plodding!

leimichellecat

Thank you Beanie! I'm really enjoying the challenge, every penny spent is a disappointment, much better than the excitement of shopping!!! Back to work after a long weekend off, back to pack lunches and closing the windows to keep the heat in!!!!

leimichellecat

After a 14hr shift, I have spent £1.30 on a magazine, and have burned many calories cleaning cat sick off the carpet... Thankfully the DH cleaned the dog sick!!!! Not yet established the reason for the mass vom, but know doubt it will cost £££ to get to the bottom of. Yay for pet insurance!

leimichellecat

not a spend free weekend unfortunately, however had the car MOTed and cleaned this morning with a groupon voucher, £26+£18 for wiper blades. Needed some house bits (Broken toilet brush and tea bag jar) so raided the local bargain shop. Bought a pumpkin, planning to make some pumpkin soup and freeze it, maybe a pie as well!