Boarding the Bus of Positivity (for 24 months of travels!)

debtfreesomeday

Thanks for your post Chocs x

I've come to the conclusion that we've got through the worst of this debt, so I guess we have no other option than to just keep on plodding. I'm finding it hard to remain focused, but I shall try to step it up a gear and get back on the debt-busting trail again.

Later on I shall work out the total debt outstanding, including £1700 which was used to buy supplies for the busy period of my business (end of the year) at a reduced rate, but will be repaid in October/November.
Be prepared for the total to look a lot worse than it did this morning folks!

debtfreesomeday

Right, including the business spend of £1700 (which will be paid in October), our total outstanding debt is:

£8327.76

This doesn't include our overdraft, which we're currently £219 into, as this fluctuates so is difficult to put a figure on it. I shall try and reduce this as much as possible by sepnding less and keeping a better eye on the finances next month.

We have 10 more loan repayments left, after which we should be £435.40 a month better off to throw at the credit cards.

I'd love for us to start 2014 debt free, but we'll have to see how it goes.

DFSD

Chocforever

I thought you were going to say something over £10k so your new total seems OK. You really have come a long way with all the debtbusting and I admire your tenacity.

Having the extra £435 a month will make such a difference.

I think I might be playing the "how little can I spend in February" game. I'm generally at work next month and have a reasonable amount of food in the freezer so we shall see. I'm getting frustrated with the lack of movement in the house deposit fund and how much it is going to cost to get anything in the town I live in. There still isn't much on the market so I have time to save some money and have a think.

Take care x

debtfreesomeday

We shall be playing that game too Chocs!

debtfreesomeday

I've decluttered a couple more bits this morning to join the black bin bag full for the charity shop. Will try and drop that off tomorrow morning and get it out if the way.

2nd load of washing is on, first is dry. Kitchen has been given a bit of a clean whilst Ds is napping and I've made a huge pot of veg & lentil soup for lunches for the next week or so.

It's lovely and sunny here today, albeit cold, so am aiming to wrap up and get out for a walk this afternoon.

Moneywise, I've caught up with the business expenditure via a new app I've found -earnest- seems very good. Tonight I'll try and finish the incomings so far and work out if I still need to keep the large wad of money I set aside for tax. If not, hopefully we can use some of it to pay for the car insurance, MOT and pay off the overdraft, with a little left to pay off of the credit card.

Chocforever

Do you need to make an income tax payment on account or are you holding the "tax money" to pay over next January?

I hope you got out for a nice walk today. I'm jealous having spent two long days stuck in offices and staying at a pretty nasty hotel. I'm back home and just one day to go until the weekend

It is still looking good for the snow disappearing on Saturday when it finally gets warmer. I'm looking forward to walking and running on ice-free pavements

debtfreesomeday

Hi chocs,
It was money I had put aside to cover the tax bill next January, but, due to some large spends on equipment, I have technically reduced my overall profit considerably at the moment. Any money made from now on, a percentage will be transferred to the tax account.

I'd stashed nearly 1k in there until I'd caught up with my paperwork and worked out profits vs expenses, but the running total requires nothing like that to be paid, so I can free up some of that cash now.
I hope I'm thinking along the right lines here!

I've paid off the £281 overdraft with it, put a bit in pots to help with the insurances and mot due soon and might be able to pay a little off the credit card too which will be good.

Chocforever

Sounds good to me. I expect the cost of the equipment would be fully tax deductible in the (tax) year you bought it so, as you say, that reduces your taxable profit.

I haven't posted much because I'm not doing much about raising extra cash at the moment. I'm working a lot of hours (sadly, no overtime but good to be busy all the same) and not in the right frame of mind to be ebaying etc. Things should calm down by next weekend so maybe I will get around to listing a few things.

I just got a bill from Eon and it is huge compared to normal. I used to think very highly of them but things have not run smoothly at all since I moved. After a long running query over the electricity meter readings and whether it was working properly, they finally accepted my opening reading and came and read the meter this month so I think it is sorted out. But they didn't read the gas meter whilst they were in the building so I now have a huge estimated gas bill. Arghh. After the 7 month palaver with the electricity meter, I can't face their helpline again so I suppose I'll pay it and hopefully get a smaller bill next time.

Thank goodness its only a few days until payday.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi Chocforever

Sorry things haven't been running smoothly with your energy account of late.

I'm also sorry we've sent you an estimated gas bill, particularly when we read your electricity meter recently.

We're always happy to accept customer's own readings and, if you don't want to phone us, you can enter them through our website.

Also, if you register with our website, you can produce your own bill. This is through what we call Real Time Billing.

All you need do is enter the reading and you'll have the option of just seeing the balance the reading will produce or actually issuing a bill.

Alternatively, if you drop an email to the address in my Profile, I'll be happy to re-bill the account for you.

Hope this helps Chocforever. Give me a shout if you need any more info as happy to help.

Malc

Chocforever

Malc, thanks for your offer of help. I used to input my own readings but couldn't recently because the opening readings were higher than the real reading. The system has generated multiple bills and credits again so I'm just going to leave it for now and hope things settle down. If I continue to have problems, I will give you a shout!