A few months and several questions

Knitting_Nora

That's so cool about the cat!! (Rosa, that is....I'm less sure about the psycho cat, and speedy...sorry Wordsmith!!).

Oh, and I have a washing line!! See, knew you'd be the person to get excited alongside me!

Nora.x

RosaBernicia

Wordsmith wrote: »

Hi, Rosa. Great news about the cat! Brilliant company. If I'd known you were looking you could have had one of mine - actually, both of them. One scratched me down my nose last night as we had a difference of opinion as to whether he should be inside or out, and the other did a Mach 3 circuit of the kitchen when the smoke alarm went off when I was in the shower (I think it was the noise that set him off, but it could have been the sight of me emerging naked from the bathroom) and broke my favourite mug. (Is it OK to have a favourite mug when you are a grown up?)

:rotfl: I hope your nose is OK Wordsmith. I'm sure it was the smoke alarm noise, mine went in his cave yesterday when I used the microwave and it made a noise he hadn't heard before which is apparently scary. Same result with the hoover, although oddly he doesn't seem to have figured out that the big plastic thing he scrambles over to get into his cave (aka space among the stuff shoved under a table) is the scary hoover itself.

And of course it's OK to have a favourite mug. Though I like most of mine now, as last time I moved I decided to leave all the old ones that I didn't want in the kitchen for the builders to use. I'm not sure they would properly appreciate the lopsided butterfly ones, but it did mean that now I have white crockery (mishmash of Sainsburys on offer, Wilkos and others - the point being that plain white is very easy to cheat with matching) and white-with-various-print bone china mugs. Which makes it much easier to tell whose mug was whose for refills than just having a half dozen white ones.

I seem to have picked the world's most laid back cat and he is marvellous company - has no objection to also sleeping in til mid afternoon and is a sociable soul. He purrs when spoken to and doesn't belt off in a sulk when I fidget. Fabulous cat. Best idea I've had in ages.


Rosa xx

RosaBernicia

Knitting_Nora wrote: »

That's so cool about the cat!! (Rosa, that is....I'm less sure about the psycho cat, and speedy...sorry Wordsmith!!).

Oh, and I have a washing line!! See, knew you'd be the person to get excited alongside me!

Nora.x

Woohoo, less ironing and more feeling-very-chilled-and-happy-while-pegging-out-nice-smelling-sheets-to-waffle-in-the-breeze :T:T


Rosa xx

moo2moo

Slightly belatedly.... hook on stick = one of these or these and a wooden mop or broom handle... you could always paint it a funky colour. Its only slightly cheaper to use a giant cup hook but because they screw into the top of the pole rather than through the side they tend to pull out rather easily.

ps. Fab that you've got a houseguest.

RosaBernicia

moo2moo wrote: »

Slightly belatedly.... hook on stick = one of these or these and a wooden mop or broom handle... you could always paint it a funky colour. Its only slightly cheaper to use a giant cup hook but because they screw into the top of the pole rather than through the side they tend to pull out rather easily.

ps. Fab that you've got a houseguest.

Wooooo :T thanks Moo, you are a genius!

That's exactly the thing. (And there's even a Screwfix branch I can get to on the way home from work.) :j


Rosa xx

RosaBernicia

Hmm, well after some shuffling of funds ready for family weekend I think, even allowing for potential costs of another cat, I should be safely well below 10K total debt on payday at the end of this month. All being well, it will actually be below 9.5K and a net status of sub 9K.

A little more shuffling has suggested that barring disasters, I should be at sub 7.5K by the end of the calendar year - so you can see why I've rather dropped out of the DFbyXmas12 challenge, but it would be over 30% down which is pretty good considering the size of the starting amount and halving my disposable income with the new rent! I should also have paid off my overdraft and will only have three accounts left to deal with. Plus this year I have got sorted with bills by direct debit and savings accounts for bigger expenses, so that's also progress.

After that, I'd be sub 6K by April 13 when my job changes. That's fab as it feels much safer than the original total. It would also be nearly 50% paid off. Ideally I'd like it to be sub 5K at that point, so we'll see.

I've been offered a credit limit increase on my low life of balance card, so might try ringing them and seeing if they'd give me a decent balance transfer. Must also go into town and close up accounts I'm not using but that will have to wait a bit.

It's not a fast journey, but it's going better than previous attempts so will just keep at it!

Rosa xx

RosaBernicia

Had fab weekend with family, drove me much less bonkers than expected and as Mum has insisted on covering costs my £100 holiday money can either go back in it's pot or contribute to killing the next overdraft.

But woke up today with sinusitis and sore throat - probably not unconnected to the hotel room which was far too hot and air-con therefore dry. Called in sick to work as have finally learnt that doing so means I spend one day off with URTI instead of 2 weeks with green-goo bronchitis.

Cat was checked on by nearby friend the day I was away and is fine though I suspect there is another hairball to come. He's getting more active and his white socks are getting cleaner. Surprisingly it also seems to have sunk in that he's got kibble for part of the time and wet food morning and evening. Now just need to see how he copes with a new litter as have changed it to a super-sustainable wood based one where the clumps can be flushed - much easier on me, let's hope the cat has no objections.

Halfway to payday, suppose I should go and check on accounts to see how things are going.


Rosa xx

RosaBernicia

Wooo have just cut my interest bill :j:j

Barflycard wrote to me last month to tell me they were putting my credit limit up by £1K. So rang them and asked if they'd do another low life of balance transfer. And they have... £1,300 of debt now costing me 6.8% and no fee, instead of 19.9%. I was turned down for transfers last time I applied and that included asking Barflycard, so dunno what changed there.

Hopefully will be swopped over by the end of the month so that I can sort out totals and catch up with myself - gave up trying to track what was going in and out of my account in the last couple of weeks what with cats, money from Gran and funds for family weekend.

Also means that the expensive card will be the smallest balance after my overdraft, so will be tackled in due course. The order of execution is...

Overdraft
probably about £800 at end of month, possibly less. First £250 is interest free and the rest about 16% APR. I want this paid off first because it will just be so much nicer to feel in the black for my main account and because I think it will look better on the credit rating. I'll also cut down the arranged overdraft once I'm safely in the black, probably to about £500.

CC1
probably about £2,200 at end of month after the balance transfer. APR of 19.9% so is expensive.

CC2
will be at about £3,350 at the end of the month. About 1/3 of this is on 0% for a while and the rest on 18%, again because I couldn't find offers to move it to when I was looking.

CC3 - Barflycard
will be at about £3,550 at the end of the month. All on 6.8% life of balance.


Must be making progress as I think it's the first time I've been brave enough to declare those in public

I'm managing to pay off about £350 a month, not including interest which is about another £100. That's what got me thinking about how reducing it would mean more of my payments went where I want them. It's been noticeable how the low life of balance one has gone down much faster than the others that started at a similar size. I think that level of payments should be manageable for the foreseeable as even though the cat has arrived, I am going into town much less and therefore not spending on bus fares and impulse shopping. Having the savings account pots for regular things also really helps as there's less yo-yo-ing on balances and it's much more visible if I splurge :rotfl:

So still hoping for DFD by end of 2013


Rosa xx

vasseur

Great news about the cat Rosa

Knitting_Nora

Rosa, you're doing an amazing job bringing the debt down - seriously an inspiration, lady!