Moooooving back to DFW - one Fresian's continued adventures in debt-busting

mooomin

*waves sheepishly*

Hello all

Well, I'm still floating around MSE although mainly on the Swagbucks page as it's the only MSE thing I'm doing with any regularity. I got made redundant at the end of September and although I have loved being away from employment, I really need to get my butt in gear and start jobhunting properly. I needed to take some time out though and just recharge my batteries.

The first thing I did with my redundancy money was pay off my small credit card balance (less than £500) and then get a new boiler as we haven't had working heating since the start of the year We now have a new combi boiler which means we have hot water whenever we need it and HEATING :j It's like living in modern times at Fresian Towers...! I will admit, I wasn't paying that much attention to the spending last month, but I'm knuckling down again as of today - and waiting for a £400 rebate to come through for the boiler as our last one was older than me so the government gives us cash for removing it

So, here's the state of play in Fresian Towers at the moment (and I know some of you have missed my detailed budgets, so this one should knock you out!)

Spending money - £152.79
Entertainment - budget doesn't exist anymore, fun times come from spending money
Food - £164.67
Cat fund - £300 (not being added to)
Car fund - £454.25 (MOT due in the next week)

Christmas money - £32.23
Amazon credit - £16.26
Boots points - around £15
I still have four or five people to buy for, all flipping male which makes it hard to pick something! I redeemed a £5 Amazon voucher with SB this morning, and should get another £20 by the end of the month, so should stick to the budgets above for Christmas unless something terrible happens. No idea what I'm getting for Mr Fresian though, so he's likely to be the something terrible that happens to the budget

So, it's looking ok. I have £8,800 in a high interest savings account which maintains the high interest as long as I stay over £5,000 and I'm withdrawing £1000 each month to cover bills, food and general spends. My credit card is clear. I have just over £5,000 in an ISA as well which I do *not* want to touch unless the other money runs out. I'm oddly in the best financial position I've ever been in other than being unemployed

All this means though that I need a job. I have a decent CV and no real qualms about any kind of work - I'm currently keeping an eye out for local retail work over Christmas as that will keep the pennies coming in while I look for something more permanent. I'm currently a paid helper at Fat Club which is something although it only works out around £30 per month

One thing I've been lazy about recently has been the MSE cooking side of things, so I have been making sure that my freezer is stocked. Tonight I'm doing pea and ham soup for dinner (my soup is a real meal!) and have some batch cooking planned for Sunday too.

Hopefully you're all doing well and I'll be catching up on the news soon

Siouxsie32

Hurrah!!! You're back :wave: I was JUST thinking of you last night! Yeay to the good stuff and boo to the lack of job!

I'll be back properly later (just climbing into bed after the nightshift zzzzz) so I'll catch up then

Oh, I've got a new name (it's a bit like a new haircut but different )

rising_from_the_ashes

*waves*:D great to see you Fresian!

Was wondering how things had gone job wise etc & congrats to the new boiler :j:j:j and heating *sigh*

Fingers crossed to the job hunt ..... sure you'll find something to keep you going over Christmas etc as usually loads around if you're not fussy about what you do and happy for pennies to be coming in.

Oh I have missed your updates

lilmissmup

Woooot you are back!

Can i ask a question? Your car loan, was it a personal loan or actual car finance? I am considering getting a newer car but not sure....I think i will prob end up saving for a year and splashing out then as not sure I can commit to a loan and dont like the idea of car loans :cool:

mooomin

lilmissmup wrote: »

Woooot you are back!

Can i ask a question? Your car loan, was it a personal loan or actual car finance? I am considering getting a newer car but not sure....I think i will prob end up saving for a year and splashing out then as not sure I can commit to a loan and dont like the idea of car loans :cool:

It was a regular old bank loan. The car dealership really wanted us to take finance, but my loan allowed overpayments which meant I cleared the full £5,000 loan in 12 months like a good little MSE-er

slowlyfading

Nice to see you back! Good luck with the job hunt, I'm sure you'll get something

lilmissmup

flying_fresian wrote: »

It was a regular old bank loan. The car dealership really wanted us to take finance, but my loan allowed overpayments which meant I cleared the full £5,000 loan in 12 months like a good little MSE-er

Yeah thats what I think I will do if I go ahead. Trying to convince myself to safe up though....

beanielou

Good to see you :wave:

taxi73

glad to see you about was thinking of you the other day and wondering how you'd got on x

tomtombeanie

Hello from me, too! Glad you've been able to recharge & can now surge forward with renewed vim and vigour

Sounds like you know exactly what needs to be done - even if you're not necessarily quite doing it yet - and that's more than half the battle won already.

X ttb