Over the Rainbow and Happy Ever After

castlelough

Well it has been two weeks since I last wrote a diary entry. I must say that I have not been frugal enough, and I have stretched my budget out, overspending on 'miscellaneous' spends.

That said, a lovely thing has happened. I had an unexpected tax return this week for the princely sum of €2300! DH's accountant mentioned that we might be entitled to a refund after becoming a married couple, because DH hadn't used up all of his tax-free allowance and we'd be entitled to transfer some over to me! I had been hoping for this money ages ago, and then just had put it out of my mind as I thought that maybe we weren't entitled to it at all. And now it is here! Happy days!

I've warned DH that it is 'not-to-be-touched' for now, but I have actually gone and spent about €360 on flights to London and 4 tickets to the Gold Cup at Cheltenham in November.
Am so excited, I can't wait to tell DH when I get home tomorrow (I'm with my mum for the weekend). He will be thrilled! It's his birthday next weekend, but I can't wait that long to tell him! :rotfl:We will spend a night in London with my brother and his fiancee and then all four of us drive down to Cheltenham together. DB has booked a fab 4-star hotel for £119 per couple, so that will still need to be paid for as well. Not very MSE, but the hotel was his suggestion and I didn't want to suggest cheaper accommodation...anyway, DH and I haven't been away anywhere since we went to stay with DB in Oct 2012, so I think we deserve a nice weekend away! Thank you Mr. Taxman :rotfl:.

I am also taking over ownership of my dear Dad's car now, which is 3 years newer than my old banger, but still a relatively old car tbh. Still, it might tide me over until I become debtfree and have our mortgage secured.
I'm paying it forward with karma, by gifting my own car to my sister's boyfriend. He hasn't had anyone ever give him a handout or a leg up in life - and this will be his first car!

So that is all the news here. Hope I get on alright with Dad's car. I'm going to try it out in the morning!

This coming week I hope to:

* hear back from the bank manager about our renewed mortgage application.
* have my car repaired for sister's boyfriend and sort out the paperwork for change of ownership.
* clear my credit card with money from the Tax Refund. :j:beer:
* pay landlady for due electricity bill.
* keep my purse strings TIGHT and stop silly spends.

My mammy always says 'A fool and her money soon part' - it has been one of many sayings that she has used over the years.
I've had my splurge with the tax refund. Now I hope to clear the outstanding credit card €600, set aside €500 to register my horse to race on the track (was having headaches trying to shuffle my budget to pay this fee) pay the electricity bill €116 and once all of that has been done, I am going to sit tight on the rest of the money for a bit....

Wishing everyone a debt-busting week!

beanielou

Great news on tax refund :j
How long to go on L2?

HOK3Y

Hello CL, I've just read your whole diary and have to say how impressive it is that you have kept such great forward momentum with all the heartache of the last few months. So very sorry about your dad but how lovely that you have his car. Lots of energy in there for you to enjoy I am sure.

On another note, and forgive me if I am about to offer too much information to you but it might help. I had two miscarriages also and nearly miscarried my son. I worked out that each miscarriage/near miscarriage had occurred the day after, well, a fun evening with the hubby. By the time I discovered I was pregnant with our daughter, I told him he was cut off for 3 months and hers was a problem free pregnancy.

It sounds like you have no problem in getting pregnant and that is wonderful to know. I have all my fingers crossed for you that a baby is in your future but, just sitting here thinking about it, I feel that it is. Very, very best of luck to you both. Xxx

castlelough

Thanks Beanielou and HOK! I posted on your diary HOK .

Beanielou I have 8 more fortnightly payments of €50 on L2..... do you think I should clear it? Or clear a bit off L1 which I'm paying more interest on? Then again if I clear L1 off, I can put the €50 extra per fortnight off L2...

Or will I sit tight on the leftover tax money for a while?

[STRIKE]

Oooh and how I would love to buy a new coat and boots for the winter
[/STRIKE]

castlelough

:jWell some good news this week!:j

Firstly, it transpires that DH can get 4 free tickets to the races and so, I rang up the racecourse and managed to secure a refund on the tickets that I bought at the weekend! They won't normally do this, so I got really lucky!!! So that is a saving of £109! Quite substantial! :j

And I am finally credit-card free! I made the last payment on the credit card out of the tax refund money- €617.85 paid off it! It hasn't really sunk in yet...it should be an incredible feeling, considering how long I've been burdened by it! It hasn't been clear in about 8 years! :beer:

The third good piece of news is that, inspired by my tax refund, I have put together the application to apply for a tax refund on last year's medical expenses, which should come to €127. That will be another bit to throw into the pot when it comes!

But my last piece of good news is the best!!!!!!!!:T
:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j

:jWE'VE BEEN APPROVED FOR OUR MORTGAGE!!!!!!!!!!!:j
:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j

The debt-busting has paid off!
We are going to meet the bank tomorrow to organise the life assurance. Paperwork has been posted to our solicitor and we should have our Letter of Offer in this afternoon's post!

Eyes_wide_open

Oh wow, congratulations. Well done. Hope all the mortgage process goes really well xx

beanielou

Looking good on all fronts.
You will soon be in the 4's too :j

castlelough

Thanks Eyes wide open and Beanielou!

I will be in the 4's tomorrow! It's payday tomorrow and my standard L1 and L2 repayments go out (approx €100 altogether off the principles) so that will bring me under €5k!

And somehow it still feels like a mountain of debt! It looks like the longer I travel on this debtfree journey, the less I like to be in debt. I thought I would feel a load off my shoulders to be free of my credit card. That is the way I felt when I closed my overdraft - such happiness!

Maybe it is just that I feel like the credit union loans (well, L2 anyway) will be long plods. I feel like it will be harder from here on, once we begin to draw down the mortgage and we need to focus money on other needs - like furniture!
Still, I have set myself the aim of trying to debtfree by the end of 2014 (excluding the mortgage obviously!)

I read the Letter of Offer from the bank for the mortgage this evening, and they have advised us to take mortgage over 30 years! :eek:
However, it will be variable and we will be able to make overpayments. And the long term of the loan means that the repayments are very manageable. I have no intention of being hampered by a mortgage for 30 years, and thankfully DH is already in agreement that we will overpay it. He took an awfully long time to come around to the concept of being a dfw, but has always had a thing about not borrowing any more than we have to to get our house finished.
Hopefully I will be joining the MFW board soon too!

DreamerHelen

I have just read through your Diary and I find you really inspiring....

I'm so sorry to hear of your Misscarriage's and of your Dad's passing....I hope that you can look forward to a much brighter future with lots of laughter and love in it...

I will subscribe if that's okay and keep up with your Journey...

HOK3Y

OH MY WORD!!!!!!! I just saw your post with all the bouncing smilies and I started bouncing along in my chair!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh that is just the most fantastic debt busting news ever!!! Very, very well done and CONGRATULATIONS!! I will raise a glass to you over dinner tonight (quietly and within my own mind you understand.....no need for the insanity to spill over into reality......):D So so happy for you!!! :j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j

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