To infinty ... and beyond

Elena_Handcart

Another week flies by, and still no further forward in my quest to be Debt Free

IN FACT - I am now officially in more debt than when I started this little diary. Yes, I have now replaced poor old Flossie and have got myself a new little Handcart. I am loving the new car, and it does all the things you would expect. It drives you to the shops & work and everything! I haven't gone near the petrol station yet, I think there should be enough fuel in there to get me where I need for another week.

I am waiting for the monthly payments to start applying, and then I am going to recalculate my snowball date. If I am really strict with myself, I am hoping that I can still repay everything by the end of the year. But in reality, I think I will be adding quite a few months to my DF date. Oh well, I definitely needed a car as public transport would be too expensive/inconvenient to get me in and out of work, it just happened 12 months earlier than I hoped for.

Nothing much to report in the way of financial matters this week. I am still in the process of starting up my First Direct account. They sent me an e-mail saying, that in order to get the £100 bonus, I would need to organise transferring the standing orders/direct debits through their 'easy set-up' department (not sure of it's real name, as I am too tired to look it up at the moment). WELL, I have already done the bulk of that myself - There is still one DD to transfer plus the new car payment once it has been set-up. so hopefully, I can transfer them, using their 'easy set-up' and that will be enough to get me the 100 smackers.

Right - I am off to read a few more posts, before I get called out on taxi sevice. There will be a few drunken housemates that need picking up later tonight in the new car. This Designated-Driver lark certainly is good for reducing my spending on a weekend :T

Cturkleton

Congrats on your achievements so far and good luck for the future. I have just started my DFW journey after finally admitting my situation to myself. Did you ever sort lovefilm out ?. If you have the ability to stream films then you should check out blinkbox. You only pay for what you watch !!. May not be massive savings but hey every little helps

Elena_Handcart

Hey cturkleton,

Thanks for that reminder. with all the running around sorting the car out - I had completely forgotten about Lovefilm. I will get straight on the case and change that now.

I haven't really looked at Blinkbox before, so i will check it out. Thanks for the advice.

Good luck with your journey.

Elena_Handcart

Well, well, well - it has been some time since I updated my status on here. I haven't been missing-in-action and have regularly dropped in to check up on how everyone is doing - I just haven't been in the frame of mind to log on and update on my quest to be debt free by December 31st 2013.


The truth is - after I got my new (second-hand) car earlier this year, I knew that I wouldn't be able to realise my dream of being debt free this year. Because of this I think that I lost my mojo, and it has taken this long to find it again.


So I thought I would drop in and celebrate in all that I have achieved in 2013, and then re-affirm my drive to get debt free in 2014.


So at the start of this year my total debts were:-


£8,876.... which was made up as follows
CC1 - £2699
CC2 - £4795
CC3 - £1381


As we stand today my debts are now:-


£13600.... which is now made up as follows
CC1 - £3590
Car Loan - £10010


The good news is that the Credit Card is 0%. £700 is 0% until 01/01/14, and £2890 is 0% until 31/03/14. I have currently saved £1700 in various savings accounts. So I will be able to repay the January payment before any interest is charged. and I have 3 months to try and save as much as I can to pay the CC off in full in March.


I then need to move on to the Car Loan. My current thinking is that when I repay my Credit Card, they then offer the facility to balance transfer a cash sum to my current account. So I am thinking that I may do this so I can then pay off the car loan early. I should then make a saving in the interest I am currently paying to the loan company. Before I do that - I need to work out how much interest I would save, and how much the Balance transfer will cost in fees - Just to make sure it actually saves me money or costs me more.


So what else have I achieved???


Welllllll....


1. I am still in employment (a few redundancies/sackings in our offices)
2. I have a car that is reliable and economical
3. I have been on a great holiday with my family (Groupon special - so only paid a fraction of the standard price, and everyone loved it!!)
4. I have had to replace my laptop after my last pc went Snap, Crackle and urggh POP (replaced it by paying cash, yay!)
5. As well as the savings I have listed above - I am also saving through my work's sharesaving scheme. (I am not counting this as savings as I have to commit the money for 5 years - but even if the share price doesn't go up, then I will still have £3k saved at the end).


So, I think everything is looking rosy for the new year - I just have to get through the expense of Christmas first.


I must NOT overspend, I must NOT overspend (Repeat until December 26th)

Elena_Handcart

Not much DFW action today,


Eagerly awaiting pay day next week so I can perform the Credit Card Shuffle. Until then simply trying to resist spending money.


Needed to pop to SainsBugs for a few essentials today - but kept my spend down to £22. Got a price promise voucher for 99p - so that will help with the next shop whenever that is. Also found a penny roadkill - so that is now in the penny jar ready to go to the bank when it reaches a full bag.


I'm off work for the rest of the week - so at least saving on petrol for a bit. I have half a tank, so I might get away without filling the car before PayDay.


Ok - I am going to read up on how you guys are doing. Hope you have all been good DFWers.

Elena_Handcart

Well I have been enjoying my time off work and researching all of my Christmas purchasing ideas. I am hoping to maximise all the offers available and keep the costs down to a bare minimum.


My spends have been quite low - but no NSDs. I had to pick up a few essentials from Sainsbugs & my prescription from the chemist (total spend - £47.09). I did treat my self to the new FIERY beef jalapeno steak melt @ Sbubway. but this now gives me enough points on my subcard for a free sandwich. Almost like a buy one get one free .


PayDay next week - so I will be busy with the Credit Card shuffle. It will probably be fairly quiet as there has been no overtime for a couple of months now. However, my friends at work tell me there are a couple of quite major projects coming up that will involve plenty of overtime. I doubt I will feel the benefit this side of 2014 - but the new year looks promising for a couple of hefty pay packets (well - I can only hope).


Having a DVD day tomorrow as I was recently loaned the Harry Potter box-set. I can't believe I have made it this far in life without watching the HP series. Hopefully, this should keep the costs down but may be forced to invest in some popcorn.


DFW things that I am considering at the moment.
1. - Applied for Mystery Diner and just been accepted - so need to read up on their rule book and work out the next step. Looks like I could be in for a few free nights out
2. - Organising my ISA. I only have a couple of hundred in here - but I don't think I am using it correctly as I keep withdrawing the money to pay back the CCs when they become due. If my plan is to be free of CCs next year, then I want to make sure I am getting the best interest I can from the ISA. Also, I only have a cash ISA at the moment, and would be interested in adding shares to this as well because everything I read says that the share prices are going to grow over the next couple of years - will have to change my name to Elena_Gecko when this happens!
3. - Work out a plan of attack to becoming Mortgage free. The current mortgage is a shared equity type thing - which only covers 75% of the purchase price. In 6/7 years will have to pay for the other 25%. I want to be able to pay as much of this in cash as I possibly can. I really don't want to add to the mortgage if I can possibly get away with it.
4. - Must try and understand matched betting. It looks like it could be free money - If only I could understand exactly what you need to do...


Well - I must go and check if I have won the Euromillions. Hmmmmmm £80,000,000.00 - What would I buy first???? Probably a new set of clean underwear.......

Elena_Handcart

Ohhhh Well - it seems that I haven't won the lottery - so it is back to work for me tomorrow. I'll just have to wait until Tuesday now..


Very little DFW action this weekend. I transferred £100 from my savings to my main bank account as the DD's & SO's would take it overdrawn without it. That's what I do appreciate about the DFW way of life. 5 years ago - I would have had no idea that I was about to become overdrawn and incurred loads of charges. But now I know what my current balances are and when the bills will reduce that balance. I think just having this information in my spreadsheet has saved loads of money over the years.


Oh yeah - also been invited to friends birthday party. This will involve a hotel stay as it is quite a few miles away. So booked a Travelodge for £29. I think that is quite a reasonable rate. Now need to think of a suitable pressie. Time to put my thinking cap on.....


See y'all later y'hear

Elena_Handcart

Well, well, well

It has now been a year since I started this here diary. I started off last year with my debt standing at £8,000. As I start 2014 - the debt now stands at .....£12500.

Now - if I was to get all disheartened by this, then I just have to look back and understand how this debt has worsened. Firstly, I had to invest in a new (second hand) car, as 'Old Faithful' finally headed to the great Mechanic in the sky. So, in order to buy the new motor - I increased my debt by £11.5k. If I hadn't have had to do this, then I would have achieved my 5 year plan and been debt free this Christmas.

I also had a really fabulous holiday with my family - and all for a very reasonable 'Groupon' price too. I also overspent a bit this Christmas, which was partly down to poor planning, and partly trying to over compensate for being a tight-ar5e most of the year.

In short - I am feeling very optimistic about the coming year, and hope to be completely debt free by the end of 2014, and then working towards becoming mortgage free from 2015 onwards.

I have my new 5 year plan all worked out and here it comes.......

Elena_Handcart

Firstly, I want to be debt free by Christmas 2014. My current debt stands at £12.5k, but I do have some money saved (currently - £1999.55) in readiness to repay a 0% when it falls due in April. The balance to repay is £2800. So I need to find an extra £800 in 3 months.

Next, work is going to be mega-busy next year and this will involve a lot of extra overtime. The last time it was this busy - I was earning an extra £800 a month. This is unlikely to hit my pay packet until March - so I hope it does happen in time for the 0% ending.

Next - I plan to throw all the extra money at the Car Loan and pay it off early. That way I can maximise the interest reduction by paying it off sooner rather than later. I am hoping to save anything between £500-£800.

Next, I am hoping to be in a position to pay my next car insurance in one lump sum when it comes time to renew. I also want to do this shopping around business, because I can see so many of you guys making such great savings.

Next - I also hope to get another holiday in again this year. My 5 year plan actually budgets for £1k a year on holidays (that is paying for 2 people). However, we are looking at a holiday abroad this year. AND all-inclusive!!! For that budget I think I will need to do some serious DFW homework.

Next - I have been hitting the surveys/competitions/vouchers in a serious way since Christmas. I have tried to complete any survey that has hit my inbox. I have also tried to enter as many comps as time will allow and I also used some T3sco vouchers to get an £18 shop for £4. I was very pleased with myself as most of the vouchers I used were due to expire on the following day.

I think these plans should keep me busy in 2014 - but there are a few snags I see on the horizon. And they are.......

Elena_Handcart

Snag no. 1 - I really need to go and see a dentist. As with a lot of people on this site - when cutting back, the dentist charges were one of the easiest to cut out. The trouble is that I now need quite a lot of work doing, and I want to try and get this done before it becomes too late.

Snag no. 2 - I am pretty sure that I now need glasses. (if I was a horse I would have been shot by now!). I find that in order to read things these days - I have to hold the paper in all kinds of strange positions in order to focus on the letters. I have a (free) eye test booked for tomorrow morning and fully expect to be choosing frames before I leave...

Snag no 3. - I really must go and visit some family members, and I know that this will prove to be very expensive. It always does and also proves to be very mentally taxing. I love the people so very much - but things can be a bit stressful when we all get together. Families, eh!

Well, I think that should give me some focus for '14. BRING IT ON......