Saving for a new Horse!

LAM2011

BB - she is gorgeous.

I am also up about £14 each month with new tax code My mares are due to go out 24/7 soon (when summer decides to arrive) and I have decided to stockpile bedding through the summer.

I also have a few things on ebay this week as I really need to get back on track with my debtbusting.

Hope you have a good week. x

Baldybear

Thank you both for your comments Wish mine could be out 24/7 but out for as long as I can, there is no time limit so in summer will prob be out at 7am and not in till after 9pm so not too bad, could move her if needs be where she could be out 24/7 but a 15 min drive and no stabling so saving costs with being 5 min walk from home

OH spent £181 :eek: But that was on 8 bags of bedding so 5 or 6 to start bed and then one every 2 weeks or so, 10 bags of haylage which will last a while and 4 bags of feed which should be over a months worth so not needing to spend this amount all the time!! Will be carefully monitoring horsey food and bedding spends. There is a discount if you buy over 25 bags of haylage so see if I can find somewhere to store as that will help. Also have loyalty card which will be well used

Baldybear

Bleurgh, I hate mornings especially rainy miserable ones :cool:

A NSD today which is of course much needed after yesterdays mammoth spends which unfortunately have had to go on the card Good news is some money in and budgets. Have got enough in budget to pay for horse transport so ebay sales can go towards cards. Have approx £40 in paypal from sales can transfer and another £15 from survey sites waiting to land in paypal so waiting for these to hit and withdraw and send to card straight away.

I have an overdraft which I havent included in the debt totals its £850 usually in up to around 600 each month. I am not too worried about this it costs me about £4 a month in interest charges so not a huge amount, I would really like to pay this off but with the cards that are interest bearing charging around £80 a month in interest think these are still my priority. I still want to go full out and pay these cards of asap but I think I need to build myself up a little buffer in emergency savings.

Now thats the quandry do I use the extra money to build up an emergency savings but with pitiful interest rates and just pay minimums on the card for a few months. Or do I still keep overpaying the cards, reducing the interest charged each time and keep them open and use them if there is an emergency.

I think the obvious option is to go for keep overpaying the cards, makes sense as cheaper in long run just stupid brain keeps worrying about not having any fall back.

Baldybear

sneaks in, turns out not to be a NSD, spent £2.46 at lunchtime, bread roll to go with homemade soup which turned out ok, bottle of squash for work and some carrots for the horsey, nothing too bad but need to make sure dont spend this all the time as will get into bad habits!

Baldybear

Morning A definite NSD, I will not go out, I have no money, even though I have just been paid its all allocated, I do not need anything, I have plenty of food, I will not starve! Going to the shops is just to much temptation! Go for a bread roll and always come out £10 lighter!

On a good note am sticking to the meal plan and this is slowly using the freezer contents up and not wasting any food. Another ebayer paid today so parcelled up and ready to send.

A meeting next Wednesday in our Southampton office which will mean another £40 expenses profit to come through at the end of the month.

Havent added anymore to ebay, so must do this weekend, moving horsey on friday, got most of her stable ready last night, nothing else planned for the weekend, so settling her in and ebaying :cool:

Had a letter about a past loan and possible PPI, only have one old letter relating to that so spending £1 to send of martins standard letter to get information and then hopefully claim back some PPI, cant remember exactly if I had it, will wait and see.

Decided to keep on going as I am and throw every last penny at the debts and use the cards as emergency if I have to, although will be last resort, would be nice to have a nest egg but the interest option outweighs it at the moment, if all on 0% may be different, this needs investigating to see if we can get anymore balance transfers. Another task to add to the to do list.

This to do list is ever growing but will get there one day

Baldybear

Good morning, have half day at work today which is great as I feel crap I have I believe start of another killer migraine, last one ended up being 3 days and an emergency visit to A&E to get stronger painkillers :eek: I am hoping this one doesnt end up the same as dont have time to be ill this weekend.

Main reason is moving horsey to new yard this afternoon :eek: I am stupidly nervous and hoping she will be calm and settle in ok and just generally not be a cow. My OH will be around to help. I have done all I can to help her settle, the yard is quiet, her new field mate is old but bossy so hopefully will teach her some manners and not take any crap and she will learn some good habits from her. Have her feed, hay, likit block and stable ball which if she kicks around food drops out so lots to keep her occupied so hopefully she will be ok. Keeping everything crossed here

Moneywise didnt spend a penny yesterday :j and nothing planned for today. Have money already for the horsebox already and food out for later.

This weekend will be a bit spendy, going to go to butchers tomorrow to stock up on meat, reasonably priced and fab quality

And then joy oh joy its free listing weekend on ebay so an even bigger incentive to get more stuff on.

Just hoping my headache improves so can have a successful weekend

LAM2011

Hi BB
your subconsious is probably stressing causing your migraine. Hope it doesnt get worse and the move goes well.

have a great weekend. x

Baldybear

Morning, long post but need to get things written down somehow

Friday ended up moving the horse, what a farce that was, she is so unhandled that couldnt get her into box, managed with lots of gentle persuasion and food to get feet onto ramp, think if maybe had persisted a little longer would have succeeded, but the people we were moving her from were getting shirty and called their friends, one of whom knew years and years ago and basically manhandled/wrestled her into the box, not an experience I ever want to repeat or see again Was nearly crying and shaking. :mad:

So managed to get her to yard and with lots of cuddles she settled ok overnight. Saturday morning she was settled in stable and put her in field and she settled down really well with the others, phew Saturday afternoon went and spent £35 at butchers, but loads of meat, cooked a massive gammon saturday evening and have 3 boxes worth now in freezer plus some lamb and pork.

Sunday horse still settled and is starting to trust me and OH really well and listening/learning which is fab, still a massive learning curve for me but am pleased with progress Relisted a few items on ebay but no more put on as was very tired and think everything had just caught up with me :cool:

Yesterday went down to Portsmouth, OH took van back so drove him back, luckily weather was sunny and had nice walk along front. Popped into feed place and got some carrots and few more bits for horsey and then stopped of and enquired about getting a van for OH, as we are now down to 1 car.

OH is now officially unemployed :eek: So with wages and redundancy money and some work we have lined up for him will be ok for 3 months then will have to start dipping into savings. He is on mission today and looking for work and signing up to get some temporary work whilst he does his driving training so hope he gets a few bits.

Moneywise spent on card for horsey bits at weekend, other spends were budgeted

Applied for a personal loan last night £7.5k :eek: It has been approved and awaiting paperwork. Will check it when it arrives and if interest rate as agreed will go for it. The interest rate is 6.9%.

The plan for this money is as follows:-
£2254 to CC1 - currently on 17.9% so big interest saving here and then keep this card as emergency only
£2856 to CC2 - currently on 18.9% so big interest saving and then close this account down
£750 to clear overdraft - with budget shouldnt need to use this again so thinking of reducing this - currently costing around £5 a month in interest
£1396 to CC3 - currently on 17.9% so big interest saving here and then close this account down.
£243 remaining to emergency savings

So that will leave us with:-
CC4 which is on 0% for 14 months - aim to clear this before offer ends and then close account down
Sofas on 0% finance so pay of and then this will automatically close
Parents loan on 0% (currently on hold until OH secures full time employment)

The repayments on the card are over 5 years and would repay £1,344.60 interest so not much at all and the aim is to either repay in bits to reduce term if possible or build up amount and then repay in one lump with interest rebatabed at finish.

Lots of thinking was done before loan ended but think its right decision.

Baldybear

Things to do to improve finances

• Write to US re finalising details of account so can see if OH shares are worth anything and if so sell and put towards loan repayment
• Write to NR - had loan possible PPI so started process of reclaiming, sent one letter and awaiting confirmation, look up other details - any money back for this put towards loan repayment
• ebay, ebay, ebay - must do, have loads to sell
• surveys
• daily clicks
• comps
• meal planning - currently doing quite well with this
• lots of NSD - no buying carp

Think that will do, must get on, will conquer this debt

Baldybear

£10 received from survey site direct to bank today, left in there at the moment, awaiting on loan details and then will see where to send it. Mobile phone bill also received today and still in credit so another £30 to send to a debt as and when finalised which one.