Is it time?

Maybe_its_because

All on track for this months payments and savings in at £450 this month. (probably wont squeeze any more out of that before the end of the month but who knows)

So payments made
Virgin - £40.38
Argos - £250
Fluid - £48.26

Added to savings
£450

New totals
£9,352 vs £15,625

Maybe_its_because

September already and back to work post holidays....! Strangely nice to be back in a routine though.

Last month was expensive (paying for holiday - paid from planned overtime) and OH spending a FORTUNE in the supermarket(s).
Cant blame him though as he's in charge of my pregnancy packed lunch box and without that I wouldn't be able to keep my morning sickness under control.

Have no idea what our income will look like whilst on maternity leave next year. I know the % of salary etc but I can't get my head around what my take home pay will be as its all calculated weekly - and don't know what the tax implications will be.
Need to find a decent online calculator to help work it out.

OH has a new job so that should bring our income up quite a bit - will see by how much at the end of the month.

Despite the grocery overspend and holiday, we're still on track for debt payments and savings.

DDs are in place this week for;
£662 off debt :j
£600 into savings

That includes paying off the Argos card :T

Virgin. Apr 12 = £4,742, Sept 13 = £3,957. 0% period up in Oct 2013
[STRIKE]M&S. May 12 = £2,920, Jun 13 = £1,741. 0% period up Jul 2013
JL. Nov 12 = £802, Apr 13 = £688. 0% period up Jun 2013[/STRIKE]
Fluid. Mar 13 = £5,024 Sept13 = £4,730. 0% period up May 2014
[STRIKE]Argos. Oct 12 = £1,102. Sept 13 =£0. 0% period up Sep 2013[/STRIKE]

New totals

£8,690 debt vs £16,225

Very happy with those numbers and can't wait for next month when there'll be a big big chunk off the Virgin card.

xx MIB

Maybe_its_because

Righto - all figures are now in and the October update is (finally) here.
Been looking forward to this one as there's a big planned pay off just occured. :j

Using (some of) the money we've been saving up diligently over the last few months and a bit leftover money in the current account, we have been able to pay off the Virgin credit card balance ready for the 0% period to finish.
The money has been lurking in the savings account for a while acruing (not much but better than nowt) interest and I cant believe we've resisted either a) paying it off sooner or b) spending it.:eek:

There was a real moment there when option b was on the cards. We discussed transferring the balance onto a new 0% deal and spend the savings on the next round of house refurb. But :money:won out and we have paid the debt off instead. The house refurb part deux is something we need to do but can save up for in due course as its not urgent. I'm a bit gutted not to have a new bathroom but hey ho - sense prevailed.

Heres' our current debt picture
[STRIKE]
Virgin. Apr 12 = £4,742, Sept 13 = £3,957. 0% period up in Oct 2013[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]M&S. May 12 = £2,920, Jun 13 = £1,741. 0% period up Jul 2013[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]JL. Nov 12 = £802, Apr 13 = £688. 0% period up Jun 2013[/STRIKE]
Fluid. Mar 13 = £5,024 Oct 13 = £4,682. 0% period up May 2014
[STRIKE]Argos. Oct 12 = £1,102. Sept 13 =£0. 0% period up Sep 2013[/STRIKE]

We paid off the £3957 on Virgin and £47 off the Fluid (min payment)
So we have only the one remaining credit card with 0% debt on it. :dance:

We also added £400 to the savings pot this month

New grand totals for debt vs savings is.... (drum roll)

£4,682 debt vs £12,657 savings

Happy with that.

Maybe_its_because

Just projecting savings for the coming months.

I'd like us to try to hit £15k in savings at the same time we finish the Fluid 0% period. (May 2014)

Not sure how feasible that is due to
a) am starting maternity leave in February 14
b) the bathroom/refurb part two still needs doing
c) resisting spending all our spare money on the new baby

Off to see if there's a saving challenge I can join.....

Maybe_its_because

It's monthly update time.

First things first, savings has all been transferred so new savings total = £12,857

But am in a bit of quandry over how much to pay off the 0% Fluid.

Last month's picture is
[STRIKE]Virgin. Apr 12 = £4,742, Sept 13 = £3,957. 0% period up in Oct 2013[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]M&S. May 12 = £2,920, Jun 13 = £1,741. 0% period up Jul 2013[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]JL. Nov 12 = £802, Apr 13 = £688. 0% period up Jun 2013[/STRIKE]
Fluid. Mar 13 = £5,024 Oct 13 = £4,682. 0% period up May 2014
[STRIKE]Argos. Oct 12 = £1,102. Sept 13 =£0. 0% period up Sep 2013[/STRIKE]

The min payment DD of £47 has already gone through this month resulting in;
Fluid. Mar 13 = £5,024 Nov 13 = £4,635. 0% period up May 2014

But without increasing the Nov payment there's no way we'll make the POAMAYC target of £10k by end of the year. (we'd have to find £1,500 next month)

We have the money available this month to top our Fluid payment up to £700 meaning we'll be so much closer to the £10k off our debt target - and have a real chance of succeeding in the challenge.

I've had letters from our old power company and new power company that there are issues with our readings and there is likely outstanding bills to pay. No idea how much - it could be many hundreds.
So do we put the £650+ Fluid money to one side in prep for the power bill(s)?

Although, its unlikely the power bills will need paying this month and we could potentially reduce the Fluid payment next month if the bill arrived in Dec instead but I've set £400 aside in Dec monthly budget for the power bill just in case.
We mightn't get the bill til Jan They've been trying to sort this out for over a year already so who knows how long it'll take for them to give us the account balance. Who said switching was easy!!?

Do I
a) pay the Fluid balance down in preparation for achieving the POAMAYC challenge next month.
Or
b) keep the money to one side for the power bills.

We do have the £12k in savings to fall back on - its not like we're going to be left skint.

Whats the point of signing up to a challenge if you're not going to stick with it - and it was the POAMAYC challenge which stopped us from spending the virgin 0% cash on a new bathroom instead of paying off the card last month so its fared me well.

OMG - this addiction to saving and paying off debt is a nightmare.
Its horrid trying to balance that addiction with cash flow.

What to do.

32b3in2013

What an inspiration. Well done OP, you are doing really great

Maybe_its_because

Thanks 32b3 - appreciate you looking in.

You kind of made me look back and reflect over my posts since we started the debt-elimination and I spotted a comment I made about my OH new job.
It reminded me that he had incorrectly been put on an emergency tax code which wasn't resolved in time for the October pay day.

So he has been told of a tax rebate and a correction to his Nov salary.

The tax rebate and the £400 I set aside for the power bill is enough of an emergency blanket.

That's me convinced then. Didnt take much convincing

Off to pay down the Fluid account. Will report back with new numbers asap

Maybe_its_because

So caved in an paid off an extra £653 on the fluid card marking a £700 total payment this month.

new figures.....
[STRIKE]Virgin. Apr 12 = £4,742, Sept 13 = £3,957. 0% period up in Oct 2013
M&S. May 12 = £2,920, Jun 13 = £1,741. 0% period up Jul 2013
JL. Nov 12 = £802, Apr 13 = £688. 0% period up Jun 2013[/STRIKE]
Fluid. Mar 13 = £5,024 Nov 13 = £3,982. 0% period up May 2014
[STRIKE]Argos. Oct 12 = £1,102. Sept 13 =£0. 0% period up Sep 2013[/STRIKE]

So we've broken the £4k debt barrier

New debt v savings total.

£3,982 vs £12,857

No plans to use any of those savings to pay off the rest of the debt, it'll hopefully all be from the joint account/salaries, so hopefully its down with the debt and up with the savings from here on in.

MIB x

Maybe_its_because

December update a little early as there's only one debt to deal with nowadays.

Savings all set for transfer of £500 this month. Could have been a little bit more but I don't want to come up against cash flow problems over Xmas. Budget is in place for Xmas and thanks to clubcard boost, we've saved a fair bit on presents so far.
Will revisit what £s are left at the end of the month and any spare will go into Jan savings or onto the debt.

So new savings total is now up to the £13s - £13,357 :j

New 0% debt figures..... a payment of £910 left our account this morning for Fluid.

[STRIKE]Virgin. Apr 12 = £4,742, Sept 13 = £3,957. 0% period up in Oct 2013
M&S. May 12 = £2,920, Jun 13 = £1,741. 0% period up Jul 2013
JL. Nov 12 = £802, Apr 13 = £688. 0% period up Jun 2013[/STRIKE]
Fluid. Mar 13 = £5,024 Dec13 = £3,072. 0% period up May 2014
[STRIKE]Argos. Oct 12 = £1,102. Sept 13 =£0. 0% period up Sep 2013[/STRIKE]

This means we have reached the POAMAYC2013 goal - which has been the single biggest motivator over the last 6 months to attacking the debt.

So totals for Dec and therefore the close of 2013......

£3,072 vs £13,357 :T
MIB x

Maybe_its_because

Well, what a month.

After a great Christmas which stayed well within budget, we're now ready to push on with clearing the last of the credit card - and very much looking forward to it.
Have signed up for the Pay off all your debt by Xmas 2014 challenge and I hope we can get rid of the 0% debt well before then to coincide with the end of the 0% period - i.e. by May.
The spreadsheet seems to think it is feasible but with the baby due in just over a month, I'm trying to be realistic. Have budgeted for the new baby stuff (coupled with v generous family) but I have very little idea how much the baby is going to cost in terms of essentials and we possibly could get carried out away..... fingers crossed the "budget" holds out but who knows whats in store for us.

So, down to the numbers this month.
We have added to the direct debited savings but equally had to take some savings out as the boiler went kaput recently. So for a mere £1,000 we are now back up and running (couldn't have a cold house for baby - or me) so savings total has gone down
Luckily we absorbed some of this cost from the monthly joint account budget so didn't need to use £1,000 worth of our precious savings.
Subsequently savings now stands at £12,926

More positive is we paid of £310 off the credit card. :j

New 0% debt numbers.
[STRIKE]Virgin. Apr 12 = £4,742, Sept 13 = £3,957. 0% period up in Oct 2013
M&S. May 12 = £2,920, Jun 13 = £1,741. 0% period up Jul 2013
JL. Nov 12 = £802, Apr 13 = £688. 0% period up Jun 2013[/STRIKE]
Fluid. Mar 13 = £5,024 Jan 14 = £2,762. 0% period up May 2014
[STRIKE]Argos. Oct 12 = £1,102. Sept 13 =£0. 0% period up Sep 2013[/STRIKE]

Jan 14 figures
£2,762 vs £12,926