Redouble Redoubles her Efforts to be Debt Free

Redouble

We made the terrible mistake of thinking our debts were rather small and didn't matter and lo and behold, they're not so small anymore

So, 2013 is !!! kicking time!
It's going to be a really challenging year, we have a house move and the new house is going to cost us about 3-4 times as much as our current home and I have to pay to move our horse too.

We also have car tax due end of Jan, and the car needs MOTing, plus a trillion and one other expenses. (Our sofa has fallen apart, is irreparable, our bed also, and our TV is also on its way out :wall: and am strongly resisting the temptation to buy new shiny things :o

Current debts: mortgage £28k remaining (ish) car finance £16k remaining (ish) credit card 6k remaining (ish) overdrafts 1k remaining (ish)

Considering this time last year, we just had car finance (for the old car, it had 18 months left, we now have 3.5 years left ) and the mortgage...

So, I have until March to really kick butt, I need some clear space on the credit card (interest free currently) to get us to new house and I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and look at getting a job when we move (as a stay at home mum, I did not want to work until all of my children were settled in school, but this doesn't look possible anymore )

*sigh*
I will be back with more info, and my plans etc, but I needed to get this started, I have seen others achieve so much with their diaries, I thought I would give it a whirl, and now I can't wuss out

Redouble

Redouble

I have just completed my first step. We have an online national lottery account, we play 2 lines twice a week. I have just cut it to one line once a week, yes I know I could stop it altogether but my husband wants us to play so this is a compromise for now. I am due a £12 refund for this too so hey, that's £12 off the overdraft!

StressedSteph

Good luck Redouble, I can see your no newbie so I won't come out with the usual soa & spending diary blurb as I am sure you know how important those things are.

Will subscribe to your diary and follow your journey. Its sounds like its going to be a tricky year for being frugal what with the house move and all that entails but sure you can do it if you set your mind to it.

Happy New Years eve.

Redouble

Thank you for the reply Steph, didn't expect anyone to read, nevermind reply, so I am very grateful. Happy New Years Eve to you to :beer:

Redouble

Just noting down cheques I need to write for Jan: (depressing this bit )

School dinners (2 children) £71.40
Nursery (1 funded child) approx £26
Cleaner (owe from December, this is one off) £50
Horse livery: £160 (means I'm paid up to Feb 1st )

Obvious cuts:
School dinners. Now I am AWFUL at organisation, so these will stay as an expense until we move. DHs job will be different so he can help with packed lunches etc so this expense can go in March. I am toying with the idea of perhaps cutting the days in Feb, we will see
Nursery: my son only does 2 mornings and an afternoon. But our nursery doesn't allow you to use your funding for afternoon sessions. I need that afternoon to work, so I can't currently cut that. This expense will go in March as I'll take my time to find the right place for him and hopefully that'll let me use the government funding in a different way
Cleaner: this was a one off clean, desperately needed as we were all ill and couldn't do it ourselves, the whole house was done including carpets, on a special deal.
Horse: he is my baby. He went out on full livery for 7 years and has just come back to me. He is very old (26ish) very arthritic, completely lame, and an absolute lunatic, I cannot sell him, loan him out etc, plus, he is at the end of his years, I want to spend the last bit of time with him I can, so he is a necessary expense. Just a rather large one

Redouble

Redouble

Direct debits to sort:

AA cover, currently £15 odd a month for gold membership, can come down
Car servicing plan, this is still running for the old car :mad: :mad: I have told DH to sort it time and time again, but no... RAAAAAH
Sky, we like our HD movies but that's it, so can take it down to just that

Gas and elec, switched at martin's recommendation on here, so locked in till Jan 14 (need to reduce direct debit by using less though. Have a electricity meter thing somewhere, must dig it out and use it, to help us cut down)

Car insurance, just bought, got good deal and paid for a year on credit card but it cut a LOT of interest so hopefully will turn out to be the right decision

House insurance X 2 (buildings on one house, contents on other)
Have to leave contents for now as it will insure our move, but in march I will switch as I know there's a cheaper deal out there.
Buildings, it has just renewed automatically so presume I can't switch yet.

Cat insurance, currently with pet plan so can definitely reduce that!
Horse insurance, currently at cheapest level, we have a pony away on loan also that we insure, I need to switch that policy to a cheaper one too.

We have 2 mobiles, but no landline, (we did just have the 1 mobile, but DH didn't like the phone so bought another ... *sigh* )
And the is only one Internet service available to us here so we have that one, when we move things will change on that front.


Phew! That was hard going, but I needed to get it all written out, I know what I need to do now

(Feels better already)

Ladybird.

Fresh year, fresh start Redouble Best of luck! :T

Redouble

Thank you Ladybird, just starting a new accounts file for 2013, one account in better shape than I thought, so can clear one overdraft this month!
Haven't got the courage to check other account yet though...
Will do so, but savouring this moment first

Redouble

Just double checked figures and that's one overdraft cleared! I am going to check the big account now, wish me luck!

Redouble

Phew, done that.

Have worked out that by the end of Jan I will have £270 left of overdrafts to pay off (+ whatever my credit card payment is as I can't remember my log in details for it so can't access that at the moment )

I a, hoping to make £310 in Jan so really hoping that I can clear my overdraft. It is my aim, then Feb will be batter the credit card debt month.

I WILL succeed, failure is not an option here, I don't want my kids to grow up thinking that money grows on trees

Redouble

And worked out the exact amount of debt I want to clear by the end of 2013 (have assumed CC is maxed out, as it may well be by the time we have moved but if I work on worst case scenario, I can only do better I suppose )

This year I want to pay off £13,446.16
This includes, overdrafts, credit card, car finance and mortgage. (Have included the last 2 even though they are direct debits as it feels good to see the amounts falling )