Catriona's Credit Card Countdown

catriona79

dktreesea wrote: »

Hi Catriona,
Good luck with your move to London. I hope you find a decent estate agent to take care of your house. I found it (surprisingly for me) hard moving from a house to a flat, even though I hate gardening and for the most part avoided going into the garden. I find the proximity to the neighbours a bit claustrophobic, after being used to having a fence and some land between the house and both of our neighbours.

It's good you still enjoy shopping. I can't say I do. We were up in a large shopping centre near where we live the other day, and everything I looked at, I was thinking "space stealer!" and "hoarding addiction feeder!" Even the useful stuff. I lived in Japan for a while, and miss the places I lived there to this day. One place had a room with just a low table in the centre of the room, for eating. That was it. In the bedroom one wall was devoted to storage. No furniture. Just a futon which was rolled up and put away every morning, and a yoga mat which I left out permanently.

So I gave myself a lovely Xmas present. We had a good December for the business, so yesterday I celebrated by paying off my credit card in full.

Hello Debbie! :j
Well done on paying off your card in full! That's a great Xmas present. pleased to hear that your business has been doing well, fingers crossed you have an excellent 2014!

Your living arrangements in Japan seem pretty spartan to me, hats off to you!

How are you doing? I've seen you've subscribed to pay off your debt before Xmas 2014, so have I! Best of luck. X

catriona79

January update as follows:

Virgin CC - £5556.83 – 0% until January 20136/B]
NatWest - £0 – 0% until March 2016
First Direct CC - £750 – 0% until January 2014 - this to be shifted onto NatWest
Tesco CC - £2610 – 0% until October 2015
HSBC- £1490 – to be transferred onto NatWest
Homeowner Loan – £12531.34 - 3.4%
Savings - £6871

The total is :eek::eek::eek: £15318 :eek::eek::eek:



Aaah why oh why has it gone up?!...

dktreesea

Hi Catriona,

Best of luck with the pay off your debts in 2014 challenge. I too have barely made a move on my debt since the beginning of January. I start with good intentions but somehow.... I know it's just the little things, but I just don't fancy an austere lifestyle. We work hard enough as it is. I look at the food budgeters threads on MSE, and I really do admire the ones who have things like macaroni cheese or sausages for dinner when we are eating things like steaks and roasts - I do love Waitrose :-). Not to mention the ones who turn off the house heating completely at night. I know penny pinching works. But maybe I have got too old for it. I like my creature comforts too much.

catriona79

Debbie, you little devil!;) I love Waitrose too!:) mmmmmm....

Agree with you on penny pinching. I do it some of the time, but can't do it all of the time.

Right, I've had some good (?) news. I got my voluntary redundancy application approved on Tuesday.
I got dismissed on Wednesday!! Sounds horrible, I know
The upside is that I will be getting a payout, that will pay off the majority of my debt (will have to work out a strategy of how to do that).
I also had my first interview invite through yesterday, so that's happening on Friday. I'm not kidding myself that I will get the first job I apply for, but am feeling positive. Not leaving my job until the end of March.
Will have to work out my totals for this month on Sunday and see how I am doing.

catriona79

February update as follows:

Virgin CC - £5490 – 0% until January 20136
NatWest - £2362.75 – 0% until March 2016
First Direct CC - £0 – 0% until January 2014 - has been shifted onto NatWest
Tesco CC - £2550 – 0% until October 2015
HSBC- £0 – has been transferred onto NatWest
Homeowner Loan – £12514.55 - 3.4%
Savings - £7231.15

The total is :eek::eek::eek: £15686 :eek::eek::eek:

catriona79

Well, I have been doing some soul searching after I went through this thread from the beginning, a year ago.

And I think I have a problem with overspending.... STILL!

Feeling quite annoyed at myself, for not being able to get better at it all, and for having overspent so much over the last few months.
Inevitably, it is connected with me taking out the homeowner loan, and while I still would have much rather done it than not, as it gives me a feeling of security, I also think that I need to review the months since taking it out and see what the spends were on. I can only try to understand it and get better at it for the future.

I'm off sick at home and for the most part of today couldn't move an arm or a leg, but now need to feel like I can do a bit before I doze off again!

I will probably be back later with my confessions...

catriona79

So, having set up a new spreadsheet and input onto it the values from my MS Money files, I can see where it all went wrong. Christmas presents, two trips home - flights for Xmas were £400- and a lot of sale shopping!
Not very clever, but most of it really is justifiable, as life is expensive and I hadn't been home for Xmas for 9 years before then, due to the expense...

Still, now I am going to have to tighten the belt again and learn from my mistakes - also use the new spreadsheet more!

It's my good friend's birthday soon and I am going to go to London to spend some time with her, also to go out. Have asked my boyfriend to come along but he has been insisting that we get a hotel room instead of staying with my friend, on a blow up mattress on her living room floor. He says he likes his own space. Ooh Grrrr. What do I do with him?!

catriona79

I think I am back on the straight and narrow - for a bit, anyway!

I had a job interview on Friday and - as much as it would be brilliant to have a job lined up - I think that I would be better for my career if I didn't get it. The people who interviewed me were nice though. I've done my bit and we will have to see why happens next.
I am going to try and work on my cv for a bit.

I feel a moan about house mate coming up.... Ooh it's been a slog to get any cleaning out of her over the several months she's been here.
I worry about saying anything, as don't want to hurt her feelings, but by golly, I just wish she'd say she was moving out. Not long now though...

I think that post-redundancy, if there's a new job on the horizon, it will finally be time to stop renting the room out. Cannot wait!..

catriona79

Woo hoo!! I got offered a job!!

Non_compos_mentis

Congratulations!!:j

Is this the London job or the other job that you wanted?