Keeping up appearances.......

HappyNow

Thanks Boomfloom .

A quick update before work.

We still haven't received the heirloom money - it should arrive around 5th August. We don't know the exact amount yet (we don't like to ask :rotfl:) but it will be around £7,000! Our two highest interest credit cards are Capital one at 11.3% with a balance of just under £3000 and a former Egg one at 8.9% with a balance of just under £2000. We will be able to clear them both in full and still have some left to throw at the others. That will leave us with just five cards, although they all have huuuuge balances. There was a time when we had TEN!!

£7000 is a massive amount of money, but I have to keep a sense of proportion and remember that it is only 10%ish of our unsecured debt, so not enough to solve our problems. A hell of a boost though .

FlacosFloozie

But getting rid of those two cards is going to reduce the interest you're paying, give you more money each month to pay off other cards and bring your debt free date much closer... It's going to make a real difference long term and you really deserve the good luck

allybee101

Wow, what a boost! That's fantastic! It will make a big difference being able to draw a line under two accounts. That should bring your deadline forward a bit shouldn't it?

HappyNow

FlacosFloozie wrote: »

But getting rid of those two cards is going to reduce the interest you're paying, give you more money each month to pay off other cards and bring your debt free date much closer... It's going to make a real difference long term and you really deserve the good luck

allybee101 wrote: »

Wow, what a boost! That's fantastic! It will make a big difference being able to draw a line under two accounts. That should bring your deadline forward a bit shouldn't it?

Hi FF and Alleybee . You're right - not only will it be a huge psychological lift to get rid of two cards, it WILL mean paying less interest so help bring my DFD forward.

When I first started this diary I did a snowball which showed my DFD as Feb 2019. The trouble is, I was over-optimistic about how much I could pay each month so Feb 2019 stopped being realistic a loooong time ago! But MAYBE this boost will put me back on track. Once the money is through I am going to redo my snowball and see where that takes me....

HappyNow

This is a tight month. Hopefully the cheque will be here to save us in a few days, but until then we are completely, utterly, flat broke.

Our winter hay has been delivered and that cost £360. It's much cheaper to buy it in one delivery straight from the field so it's actually a saving, but it was a lot to find.

Mr Happy's car exhaust needs replacing - he sounds like he is driving a jumbo jet. It was booked in for today but I have phoned to postpone it for a couple of weeks. The garage belongs to a friend and I would hate him to know that we couldn't pay the bill straight away so I've pretended I need the car for work. I know he wouldn't mind, it's just a pride thing.

All the bills are paid though and we've got enough food to last a week provided we're prepared to eat the scrapings from the freezer, so we will be fine .

grannyx2

Fingers crossed the cheque arrives soon, these lean months are hard and always seem to need something extra

Have a good day

Granny x

Piquant_2

Money being tight is horrible. One day we will actually have the money we earn. Until then we just have to soldier on.

Hopefully, the cheque arrives soon and means the car can be sorted out and give you some breathing space.

kerri_dfw

Lovely to see you back mrs H not sure how I missed it. Hope Mr Happy is feeling a bit better now and the smaller Happies are enjoying the break from university. Congratulations on the windfall, and so glad you can now sleep better. Well done also on the weight loss and telling Mr Happy about your finances, I'm sure this has aided in your sleep xx

scottishspendaholic

Hello Mrs Happy,

I spent a happy evening reading and gaining inspiration from your thread the other day (brizzle next!) - its one of my favourite threads on the boards - you sound like such a lovely lovely person.

Congratulations on the windfall! Can I suggest you pay off debts with 99% of it, and use 1% for a meal out or similar treat?

I'm sure I've more to say but its a few days since I read your thread, so I'll be back soon.

Good luck on freezer scrappings in the meantime. If you've any tins, what about chickpea curry - this is always a skint meal for me!

HappyNow

Thanks Piq, Granny and Kerri. Still no cheque! Apparently they pay out 35 days after the auction so that's the back end of next week.

Hi Scottishspendaholic. Thanks for reading and for your lovely words. I have just read the first few pages of your diary and I'll finish it off later today. I think we probably will do the 99%/1% thing with the money - hell, maybe even 98%/2%! I feel SO ready for a treat! Chickpea curry sounds right up my street so I will investigate that.

So, to update on my most recent mishaps - the 'coming in threes' thing is bang on!

Firstly, I borrowed my mum's carpet washer last week. It did half of one room then launched into a rather impressive firework display and stopped working. Mr Happy has taken it to bits and pronounced it dead . I will have to buy her a new one and that model costs £179. Ah well, I will be able to borrow it whenever I like so it's not a complete waste of money.

Secondly, the garage (who I postponed for a fortnight) rang Mr Happy on Friday to say they could fit in the exhaust replacement yesterday if he liked. The owner is a friend and didn't want to leave us with a noisy car for too long - or possibly he has paid for the exhaust and needs to get it fitted and his money back. Either way, Mr Happy agreed and it was fitted yesterday for £263 which is now sat on my credit card .

Thirdly, I was checking our bank statements on Friday and Mr Happy's petrol receipt caught my eye because it was over £75! He never puts that amount in, so I checked the receipt (which thankfully he hadn't lost like he normally does), and we have been charged not only for our £23 of petrol but also £50 for the previous customer's deisel! We drove straight down there and the attendant said it looks like their mistake but he didn't have the authority to sort it, so we have to go back today and see the manager. I daresay we'll get the money back, but what a pain and Mr Happy has now had a flea in his ear about checking amounts before entering his Pin!