Chapter 2 - Pulverising the Post Office - one debt at a time

StressedSteph

Afternoon Housework Fairy,

You are very good at monitoring your electric. I ought to do that really, but sometimes feel we have the heating set as low as we can already.

Our heating come on for a blast at 7-8am and again 4-8pm and other than that, it is just set to frost guard. I am home all day and have been wrapped up in I don't know how many layers trying to keep warm .

Good news on Dh not going out last night, but hope he did'nt drink the wine round the neighbours and not share some with you?

xxx

Housework*Fairy

StressedSteph wrote: »

Afternoon Housework Fairy,

You are very good at monitoring your electric. I ought to do that really, but sometimes feel we have the heating set as low as we can already.

Our heating come on for a blast at 7-8am and again 4-8pm and other than that, it is just set to frost guard. I am home all day and have been wrapped up in I don't know how many layers trying to keep warm .

Good news on Dh not going out last night, but hope he did'nt drink the wine round the neighbours and not share some with you?

xxx

I don't really drink Steph. I'm a terrible drunk and just fall asleep so I only really drink if I go on a night out. I was quite happy for him to disappear next door, he doesn't really get out often at all.

I also don't think I chose the best month to start fuel-busting. It's important to my mental wellbeing that I am warm.

A bit of good news! using this tool https://creditcards.moneysavingexpert.com/default.aspx?guxgmGEBagw= which tells you if you've got a chance of being accepted for a 0% credit card, I did this for myself (fat chance and no chance) and DH (strong chance) and he's been accepted for the MBNA 5.9% for the life of the balance and given a limit of £4900 which means we can shift £4655 onto that card.

At moment I think I will get him to transfer my Natwest balance £4126 onto that card, this is at 21.9% and is the highest interest card. It's also a 2% minimum payment so is also our highest monthly payment at £93. The MBNA is life of balance at 5.9% and just a 1% + £5 minimum payment so will be £47 (ish) meaning I can snowball the other £46 onto one of the other cards OR I can treat it as a loan and by paying £86 (ish) a month, I will definitely have it paid off over five years.

Housework*Fairy

...and spurred on by the above we have also applied for a loan with Nationwide to consolidate the CC debt. We were accepted at a rate of 9.2% over five years. I wont give figures, but that will enable me to pay off our 2 Halifax Clarity Cards (12.9% interest) and then transfer 3 further credit cards at rates of 16.9% + 18.9% onto the 12.9%. I feel that I have got my compulsive spending under control, and that I'm now budgeting really well for food, and am starting to understand our heating bills, so I trust myself with a loan. It's credit cards I can't be trusted with.

Oh well, I'll not count my chickens before they are hatched and will wait until everything is nicely paid off before I see it as a done deal

EDIT: also means that we won't have any borrowings with either of the institutions we have our wages paid into, so if we do get into difficulties we will not have to find a new bank.

StressedSteph

Morning Housework Fairy,

Wow sounds like you have been a busy bee.:j

I did that eligibility checker, all it did was depress me. Our highest chance was 20%. Weird really as we are pretty good payers but I think its probably the amount of CC debt we have.

The last card we applied for to do a Balance transfer offered us a miniscule credit limit of £800 :rotfl:. That would'nt pay off even my smallest debt, so totally useless. And what did I do???? Yes I just maxed it out, so now I have another CC to deal with :mad:.

I like the idea of a loan, but as hubby is our only wage earner and if self-employed, its way too risky for us, the odds we would'nt be able to pay it some months would be very high.

Can you over pay on your new loan.? That would be fab if you could.

Glad you feel more in control. xxx

Housework*Fairy

StressedSteph wrote: »

Morning Housework Fairy,

Wow sounds like you have been a busy bee.:j

I did that eligibility checker, all it did was depress me. Our highest chance was 20%. Weird really as we are pretty good payers but I think its probably the amount of CC debt we have.

The last card we applied for to do a Balance transfer offered us a miniscule credit limit of £800 :rotfl:. That would'nt pay off even my smallest debt, so totally useless. And what did I do???? Yes I just maxed it out, so now I have another CC to deal with :mad:.

I like the idea of a loan, but as hubby is our only wage earner and if self-employed, its way too risky for us, the odds we would'nt be able to pay it some months would be very high.

Can you over pay on your new loan.? That would be fab if you could.

Glad you feel more in control. xxx

I was 20% for the eligibility checker which wasn't really surprising as most of the debt was in my name but DH was 70% so I decided it was worth a punt. If everything comes off (and I still wont believe it until the money is in the bank*) we'll have a big loan in joint names, I'll have one credit card, and DH will have two. So, if we were to split up (and at one point last year it did look that way) at least the debt is evenly distributed between us. Hopefully once I have cancelled all of my credit cards (just planning to keep Tesco for grocery shopping because this has worked really well for me this month) I might even be able to get myself a life of balance card and then be able to get rid of some of the Halifax card at 12.9%. I can't overpay the loan without incurring a penalty of two month's interest but I was hoping to have all the debt paid off in five years so as the loan is five years, I can spent five years concentrating on overpaying the credit cards.

*reason I'm being a bit cautious is that a couple of years ago we went to the Natwest for a loan, they approved it online, and said the paperwork would be with us in 2 days. We signed the paperwork, sent it back, but then they said that the signatures on the paperwork did not match the signatures they had on file, and wanted us to bring in our passports / driving licences. At that time DH didn't have an in-date passport and couldn't find his driving licence so he had no photo/signature ID and thus they wouldn't let the loan application go ahead.

Housework*Fairy

Cash-in-hand situation:
Money in purse £1.00
'money put aside' account £176.96
Money in change box (A) £5.88
Money in bank: £100.19
Grand total: £284.03
Days left til payday: 11

Reduction since yesterday + £92.62

So, where's the money gone?
£10.00 – DH, gone to the pub to watch the football. MERGH although I did put my foot down as he said “can I go to the pub AND buy a 4-pack” and I said no, so he's opted for the pub instead.
£4.00 – I did DS1's paper-round today so pocketed the wage.

I've shifted all my 'money put to one-side' into one account now, hence my available money remaining has gone up. It looks like a decent amount but unfortunately when I went through my credit card statements yesterday I discovered that one of the CC bills that went out on Monday 31st December (i.e. this pay period) should have been debited on 30th but it was a Sunday hence coming out the next day, so obviously I am paying it on 30th this month too and it's £50+ (can't remember the whole amount) so I'll have to transfer some money from my spends account to cover the shortfall as the bills account is perilously close to the overdraft limit when the end of the month is nigh. BAH!

Seem to have haemorrhaged money this month. Don't seem to have spent anything but don't seem to have anything left, might have a tot up to see where it has all gone...although saying that I have PADDED £100, it's just a shame that I will have to use it to cover bills (boo hoo woe is me).

I've started a lovely shiny spreadsheet for my gas and electric meter readings, so far my spend on units only (i.e. no VAT or direct debit discount applied) I'm up to £78 in 16 days which I think is quite decent for a very cold month. I did have the tumble drier on for three hours yesterday too as I needed to dry bedding and towels and just didn't have enough hanging space indoors. I've got into a good routine now of doing 1 load every other day, hanging it up on a good sized airer for up to 2 days and repeating the cycle.

Housework*Fairy

Grocery/Petrol Fund: Was £500 – is £190.83

(Went to Morrisons this evening and got two nights worth of evening meals, some fizzy pop and some pop for work and bizarrely DH wanted a lump of cheese...

They barely had any pies left so I bought 2 meat & potato, and 2 Cornish pasties, which should have been £4.20 but when he bagged them up, he'd put them through as '4 assorted slices' for £3)

Cash-in-hand situation:
Money in purse £1.00
'money put aside' account £180.46
Money in change box (A) £5.88
Money in bank: £70
Grand total: £258.74
Days left til payday: 10

Reduction since yesterday £38.49

So, where's the money gone?
£19.99 - Argos (Heater)
£10.00 - DH Cash (GRRRRR)
£3.50 - PAD
£5.00 - Lotto

The PAD was made up from DS2 not having after school footy practice any longer £2.50, and DS1 having a snow day so not needing bus fare at £1.

The big day is nearly upon us (tomorrow) and I'll find out whether we're Wembley bound. However I'm having second thoughts about it because the minimum it'll probably cost will be £320 which is a LOT of money for a 90-minute game. I said this to DH and he agreed with me, But that's four four of us, and half of me thinks that it's DS1 and I who go watch them week-in-week-out so why should we have to go without?

Nowt in the post yet in terms of loan or credit card paperwork but as we didn't apply for them til Saturday afternoon I suppose it would have been miraculous if they'd have arrived today.

Spurred on by wanting to know where the money has gone I totted it up yesterday and DH has had £127 (now £137!) to my £65 and I've PADDED nearly as much as DH has had. Yet to listen to him carry on you would think he hadn't seen a single penny all month.

mooomin

Housework*Fairy wrote: »

The big day is nearly upon us (tomorrow) and I'll find out whether we're Wembley bound. However I'm having second thoughts about it because the minimum it'll probably cost will be £320 which is a LOT of money for a 90-minute game. I said this to DH and he agreed with me, But that's four four of us, and half of me thinks that it's DS1 and I who go watch them week-in-week-out so why should we have to go without?

I know I should be the MSE voice of reason, but realistically how many chances are you going to have in your lifetime to go to Wembley with your wee team? Go for it.

Ideally take just DS1 but that would be horribly unfair on DS2 (although a large chunk of me says Mr Fairy should be made to stay at home for spending sh*tloads of money on himself like a selfish twit) Go, enjoy it, and hopefully win and have memories that will be much more exciting than watching it on the tellybox.

*hides from proper moneysavers*

Housework*Fairy

mooomin wrote: »

I know I should be the MSE voice of reason, but realistically how many chances are you going to have in your lifetime to go to Wembley with your wee team? Go for it.

Ideally take just DS1 but that would be horribly unfair on DS2 (although a large chunk of me says Mr Fairy should be made to stay at home for spending sh*tloads of money on himself like a selfish twit) Go, enjoy it, and hopefully win and have memories that will be much more exciting than watching it on the tellybox.

*hides from proper moneysavers*

Thank you for the support. Let's see what tomorrow night brings come 10pm but I am quietly confident xxx

mooomin

If our team had a snowballs chance of getting to a cup final (and we might be a couple of leagues above you, but we won't be getting there for a while!) we would go to Wemberley. Some things are one-offs.

I'm bad and will slink off again now