It's kind of fun to do the impossible

Sholly

MallyGirl wrote: »

He will be a black and white Alaskan Malamute with the working name of Mac (McCoy being the posh version in his kennel club name). He will be 2 weeks old tomorrow. We already have a wolf grey & sable Alaskan Malamute girl so he is coming to keep her company. I expect that I won't work from home for the rest of my life so she will need to have a friend during the day.
More fluff dust bunnies!

Aww very cute!!!! Love the name...its the start of my surname so I call my son Little Mac! I love that he has a posh name aswell :j aww!

Sholly

The log burner has been fitted and is beautiful!! Cost: £2,050. Loft has been boarded and loft hatch, ladder and light fitted (mostly for log-store as no secure outside storage). Cost: £550. Windows are being fitted today to avoid mouldy, leaky windows this winter and keep some of the lovely natural heat in. Cost: £1,380. I'm not used to spending money like this and I don't like it!! Although I know it's to make improvments, it's still uncomfortable. If I hadn't spent it, my debt would've been paid off last payday but I know it's wise to get these things done before winter. My debt currently stands at £5,895.72 (0% until mid-December), I have £735 in savings. I'll be using approx half of this on decorating/new carpet etc. By the time the 0% credit card is due, I will have saved another £1,900 so I'll need to transfer £3,628.22 to another 0% card . I've seen a card with a 1.5% fee so this will cost £54.42. If I then pay £750 per month, my debt could be gone by April 2014. I have a holiday balance to pay in April though so my new goal is July 2014 payday! Must stick to it this time! Will stick to it this time!

Sholly x

Sholly

I can't believe it has been a year since I was here!

So things didn't quite go according to plan but not in a bad way (although not good for the pocket which I know is the point here!)

So at the end of last year my son's school had a terrible Ofsted report and, as we'd had problems at the school anyway, I decided to move him to a new school. It wasn't an easy decision but then when is being a parent easy!! His new school is a 3 tier system and we weren't in the catchment area for any middle schools. As a result, we looked at what was on the market in the catchment area for the best middle and high school in the area. We found a perfect house in a lovely, quiet area - and in that all important catchment area! In October 2013, we submitted an offer and exchanged in January 2014. The house hadn't been touched since the 60s so we spent the next 6 months ripping out 50 year old carpets, stripping the psychadelic wallpaper and pulling down (and rebuilding!) walls. It was stressful and I hope I never have to see another tradesman again!! My flat was rented out really fast so we moved in with parents until the house was ready. We took out a loan to get the house done, but I'll get to that later! We are living in the house although parts aren't finished (the conversion of half of the garage into a playroom) but we're hoping it'll all be done by Christmas THIS YEAR!! We bought the house for £180k and spent £35k but the house is now worth approx £240k - although a house in the street has just gone on the market for £290k - we'll get ours valued when we've finished.

So, the dosh...

We have debt. But we also have a plan. It's not a small number but it's under control and I'm not worried. We have a schedule and I have Excel so I'm happy! The accounts are checked every day and the spreadsheet updated accordingly.

Individually, I have £1,420 left of my 0% credit card which will be paid off by Christmas.

Together we have a total debt of £31,391.75 - 1 loan and 2 0% credit cards. The loan will be paid off in October 2015 (3 years and 5 months early), CC1 will be paid off in December 2015 (1 month before the 0% expires) and CC2 will be paid off in August 2016 (3 months before the 0% expires - although the payments after March will be minimal as I get a payment in August 2016 which will clear the balance)

So there we have it. The countdown is on! :T

Sholly x

Sholly

£205.00 :eek: money was saved though :T

Sholly x

Sholly

Last week we got a voucher in Tesco for £15 off our first online shop. Delivery was £1 and we had tonnes of clubcard coupons so that added to our savings. Our shop should have been £88.44 but we only paid £68.32 - and it was delivered :j For £1, it seems worth getting our big shops delivered - and it helps us to avoid those pesky Tesco temptations!

As far as debt-busting, there is never much movement around this time of the month. I do need to start ebaying after our recent housemove weeded out all of the stuff that we don't need. I will try to get some of that done next weekend.

I was supposed to be out on Friday night but my friend cancelled. I know this money could've been put towards debt but instead my boyfriend and I went to Wagamama. I know, I know! All of the debt payments are covered so we are no further behind but we could've been closer to being debt-free. I can't dwell on it though. Just gotta keep swimming! My friend rearranged for next Friday but there's a good chance that she'll cancel again.

Saturday was more frugal. My son started at a new football club which was £3.50. Grandad bought him some football boots (Grandad's are awesome!!). We had a trip to the local B&M bargains for essential stuff - hangers, disinfectant etc - all that boring stuff! Littlie and I had a night in, snuggled up watching X Factor whilst my boyfriend was at work.

Sunday was a no-spend too. I [STRIKE]was forced into[/STRIKE] happily attended (:rotfl:) a wedding fair with my sister yesterday (she's getting married next summer) but luckily I found free tickets beforehand and got free chocolate so it wasn't all that bad. My boyfriend dropped me off and picked me up so there were no parking charges. Sunday afternoon was my son's second football lesson of the weekend, a visit to the in-laws for tea, and then following my son to another activity - diving.

I really spend most of my time following the little one around - football twice a week, diving & karate once a week and I take him swimming. He also does gymnastics after school once a week and is just about to start learning to play the keyboard (help!!). I worked out earlier that these activities cost £117 per month. He loves sport and I want to encourage him so I don't mind paying it but it's a lot of money. It's a good job he's cute!!

Sholly x

Sholly

...oh and I've asked the bank for a settlement figure for the loan - I need to look at our options for a 0% credit card, if I can find one with a low fee and we'd get some interest back, it makes sense to do some juggling. Will investigate when the figure comes through.

S x

midnight_child

Sholly wrote: »

The house hadn't been touched since the 60s so we spent the next 6 months ripping out 50 year old carpets, stripping the psychadelic wallpaper and pulling down (and rebuilding!) walls. It was stressful and I hope I never have to see another tradesman again!!

Sounds exactly like my place!!

MC

Sholly

midnight_child wrote: »

Sounds exactly like my place!!

MC

You must like a challenge too then MC!

Sholly

I got the settlement figure back for the loan and it was a couple of thousand more than I was expecting. I asked for a settlement figure a while ago and when I've been working out our finances I've been using this figure but this must've actually been the balance minus the interest that would be refunded :mad: I'm annoyed at myself that I didn't realise that. But nothing I can do about it now. So the outstanding balance that we'd have to transfer is £16,416. We could still save money by getting a 0% credit card and transferring the balance so we applied for one for the max that was available (£10k). If we get that, we'll apply for another for the remaining £6,416 (we only applied for it in one of our names so that we can get another). It's not ideal but that's life! So it's just waiting to see if the bank will go for it.

Sholly x

Sholly

We were offered a CC for £5k so we've just decided to scrap that and stick to our original plan. Our debt free plan was to pay minimal payments from March 2016 until I get my payment in August 2016 which would pay the remaining balance off so now it will be minimal payments after May 2016. Nevermind, we'll be alright

Sholly x