Pinot's Potty debt free journey!!!

PinotGrigio41

Sorry back again, just seen DFW's comments as well with the Life Insurance. That just reminded me also why Mr Pinots is high, he is often away in rather dodgy areas for want of a more in depth description and therefore this bumps up his Life Insurance Better than when we atarted out 13 years ago though, we were paying £900 a month for Life Insurance !

kerri_dfw

Oops cross-posted ignore my comment re: life insurance

PinotGrigio41

kerri_dfw wrote: »

Oops cross-posted ignore my comment re: life insurance

Its fine ! always handy to know !:)

Yes had a lovely time yesterday thankyou. Was short but sweet, but a nice start to what turned into a manic day !

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Morning Pinot

You are making great progress.

Nothing intended as cristicsm, but I think you know that.

If DD 14 yes I agree count as adult but say that and hence why no income stream.

Know what you mean re mortgage, keep going through same dilemma and as they accept it then be paying it off.

Tad worried for your electric, seems cheap, can you ask for an interim bill so oyu don't get any nasty shocks?

As I understand it with water meters you can get them to give you a prediction of the cost so you can work out if beneficial to change. That said, I've been on meters for years I was in a much larger 5 bed house but mainly there alone and was paying £150 per month. Now in much smaller house, hardly any less usage and only £20 per month, different providor but that is bonkers!

Had I my time again, and at the start, I would fight for every penny on the accepted SOA, push to the max in each area wherever possible. On your own SOA I think you have to be as accurate as possible in each area. noit just the planningbut the spending log too to ensure it is realistic.

HHx

PinotGrigio41

Of course I dont think its a critisim. I find it easy to answer the questions youve raised, as if I do that ,things might jump out at me. Likr the Water meter and with DFW's comments, it reminded me why our Life Insurance is so high, so its all good.

The Electric /Gas was £280 this time last year, although we are using much less and we havent had that really cold spell yet ! I have put cosy blankets on the sofas and make everyone wrap up. DD1 made me laugh yesterday she had so many layers on she could barely walk and both girls went to bed in ear muffs ! Maybe I am taking things to extremes a little. We are due a reading next week apparently,so we can see how we are getting on.

I am determined to keep making the proper payments on the mortgage if we can. I think we may struggle next month, but they have allowed us to continue paying at any point within one calendar month rather than by direct debit on a set day . They were always bouncing anyway ! That way when the business gets some money in I can pay them, so sometimes I make 2 or 3 three payments in a month to total it up. Its easier for me that way with the irregular income.They have been very accomodating.

We get two water bills for two different providers. I think one is sewage and one water or something like that. If you were paying £150 then our £79 possibly isnt too bad, with four of us.We have fitted the showers with the thingys that reduce the water flow and put a shower timer in DD1's shower and I bang on the wall and holler to get her out of there. Mr Pinot threatened to put in a timer that cuts out after 2 mins and make her get out with or without shampoo all over her hair !! I will check out your suggestions though.

My spending log is going great, I am so pleased with myself. Everybody is using it. I have put in a total budget for each area and we can see how much we have used and how much is left in each category. At the end of each month I will put any surplus across into the savings funds if there is any, which I am determined there will be.

If I had my time again, I wouldnt have listened to any of the old Accountants who told us not to be a Ltd Company that we must be Partnership even though I queried it time and time again. We should have followed our heads and hearts. We looked at our tax bill for last year as opposed to the tax bills from previous years when a Partnership and the bills have halved even though the income has been similar ish. When we took these amounts and added them u pover 13 years it amounted to our total debt ! Coincidence maybe. I would do many things differently as I know Mr Pinot would. We spent many years in the business being very loyal to one or two clients, but didnt get the same loyalty in return. I used to say to Mr Pinot that we needed to branch out a bit and not put all our eggs in one basket. We now have 10/12 regualr clients and the work is spread between them........................................................anyway I will shut up now my head and brain is getting carried away .

Thanks again !

debtfreewannabe321

:eek::eek: £900 a month!!!! WOwWOW wow :rotfl:My tea went down the wrong hole reading that :rotfl:! I guess yours is pretty 'cheap' compared to that then lol!

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Gentle prod........ where's that sewage charge on your SOA woman?!

Laughing at ear muffs and policing shower, good to hear everyone is on board too.

Just thinking back to car expense...... if business only pays a proportion they need to be on your SOA? Better in your pocket either for quality of life or emergency fund or !!!!!! me thinks.

Agree and what shame re Accountants. Part of the reason I tipped over was Ex not being able to pay his due due to failing business. I don't resent him, he was too nice and not firm enough rather than being greedy or malicious. ah well, these things are always easy in hindsight!

£900 a month, not suprised the tea went down the wrong way, he must be VERY special, you make sure the pampered boy knows it!

HHx

PinotGrigio41

Oh no !! Sorry DFW ! Hope you are ok now though, I will try not to shock you with anymore of my tales

Ok, I really must get off of here, things to do today :-

1 - Cheque in from Cash For Clothes - £7.80, make a PAD
2 - Hoover
3 - Work
4 - Go and stand in freezing cold muddy soggy field and watch DD2 in her cross Country Race
5 - Find something to make from contents lurking in fridge. Am thinking veggie soup, have some slightly odd looking courgettes, think they will be ok if I peel the skins off, floppy leeks, broccoli, red onions and some other bits. got bread flour in my delivery last week so if I have time I will get busy with the Bread Maker
6 - Pay Council Tax

Cant think of anything else now. On a good note, I cant remember if I mentioned that we now have our final creditor onboard, Santander , Interest 0% for 7 months until the review. I am just waiting for it in writing as we rang them in the end. Both Santander and M&S were asking lots of questions on the phone, and we got the impression both were holding out on responding to our letters until we called them, then they could bombard us with questions. As we told them both, the answers to all of their questions are on the bottom of the CASHflow Financial Statement but if they want to ask anything else put it in writing then we will answer. They both deniedn receipt of both letters despite me having confirmation that they did indeed have them and both claimed to have only received the letters the day I called. Funny that ! I am so tempted to ask them both to refund me the interest between the date they really received my letter and the date they are pretending to !

Following on from Brizzleds post today she got me thinking that Mr Pinot and I have accumulated some points through hotel loyalty cards from business trips, so I will have a little look if I find time and see if we can sneak off for a break sometime soon.:T

Also came up with a cunning plan to save on the heating bills. Last year, Mr Pinot followed a council truck down the road as they cut trees down and shredded the logs. He grabbed the logs as fast as he could and piled them on the car before they were shredded and bought them home.:o They are stacked high on the drive and we take them with us when we go on camping trips. My plan is that ,we have a Fire Pit in the garden, so rather than turn up the heating, we could all wrap up warm and go and sit in the garden around the fire pit and play Camp Out ! We could toast marshamallows and drink Gluhwein ( well we can ,the girls can have Hot Choccy), therefore having fun , keeping warm and spending no money at all. Not quite sure what the neighbours will make of it though, but then again, do I really care ?:rotfl:

Oh and picked up lots of work for January now so all back on track and looking good x

PinotGrigio41

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Gentle prod........ where's that sewage charge on your SOA woman?!

Laughing at ear muffs and policing shower, good to hear everyone is on board too.

Just thinking back to car expense...... if business only pays a proportion they need to be on your SOA? Better in your pocket either for quality of life or emergency fund or !!!!!! me thinks.

Agree and what shame re Accountants. Part of the reason I tipped over was Ex not being able to pay his due due to failing business. I don't resent him, he was too nice and not firm enough rather than being greedy or malicious. ah well, these things are always easy in hindsight!

£900 a month, not suprised the tea went down the wrong way, he must be VERY special, you make sure the pampered boy knows it!

HHx

Thankyou for the prod :rotfl:. The sewage charge is included in the £79.00.

I'm not exactly sure how the Accountant work sit all with the Cars if I;m totally honest, I will have chat with her. To be honest she is so good and has helped us so mch since she was recommended to us, I sort of let her do her thing where the cars were concerned anyway ! But I will check it all out !

Sorry to hear that was one of your problems also, I think its the whole two tax bills a year, and paying in advance for money you havent even earnt yet. I know so many people who are in similar difficulties. I was paying tax with the credit cards, I think i would much rather have spent it on Jimmy Choos !! One Day in the far far off distant future ! But then again just think how many pairs I could have from New Look for the same price. Oops going off on a tangent there !

And yes he is very special, I'm lucky to have him !! Cant tell him that though, as he could get too spoilt and used to it ! He really isnt worth £900 a month though and if theres any pampering to be done, I think I deserve it far more than him !! :rotfl:

Ok I really am going now to do some work before heading off out in the rain !

AJGray

Hi there, Ive just read your diary it is very inspirational and positive

Ive picked up a few tips im going to use

But what is snowman soup?