Post wedding debt plan

Pengwern

I phoned the insurance company and nothing had been done with our claim! It is now being actioned thank goodness and should be with me in 5 days! Neighbour is now having roof issues and I have managed to persuade them to use the same company we did. They are renowned for using cheap cowboys! NSD total is 3 so far, all doing well I think. Still the numbers are still giving me sleepless nights. Let's just hope the run of things breaking has ended of a while so I can get back to making more payments. Family loan got paid £200 this month and I am still rounding down the joint account and sending it to the cc £75 this month so not doing too bad.

Hoping for a low fuel spend this month currently on track. Food still could do better. I think the long cold nights makes it hard not to stock up on treats. Saving up the tesco points and hoping they will come in handy at some point.

Pengwern

Finally some of my tcb money has been confirmed and it is a large amount of £75. That is hopefully speeding its way to my account and will be sent straight to the cc when it arrives. Still another £80 outstanding but now the pressure is off a little. Hopefully the insurance cheque will arrive soon and that will make my account back to square one as I have been covering the joint account with my interest free overdraft! That ends in May but once the cheque clears I will be in the black. I have been in the black for the last 2 years so I can safely say it was the weeding that has created the debt, oh and the deposit for our flat! We do not make our life's easy. Anyway there is some movement at work which could possibly mean I could move to the flat with my husband. Fancy that husband and wife finally living together after9 months of marriage. We would hang onto the house but rent it out. That would mean the mortgage and bills would be covered and would reduce our mortgage payment from £1300 to £400/ month! Now that is a figure I like. However moving from a 3 bed house to a 2 bed flat would be a challenge and storage costs would be needed to be factored in. So that is what I am going to look at next. We love our house but if it can cover itself financially for a few years when geographically it is not the best for work, then maybe at some point down the line we can move back in. All very scary stuff but lots of decisions to make first. The big one being about my job.

Pengwern

Well house ownership is quite expensive! A power socket was not working well and appeared quite dodgy, electrician called and my fears confirmed so a new socket fitted. He also said I need a new fuse board but as it is not a legal requirement just a recommendation to update I will not be doing that soon as it is about £500. Very impressed he came out for a small job. I live in the middle of nowhere so that always adds to the complexity of finding suitable tradesmen. Another bill to pay so this month has not started well.

Hope to make some savings on my fuel budget based on my predicted travelling this month. Food shop will also need to be frugal, but after a few months of eating supplies it will be a challenge. Beauty supplies are going well, not added to the stash and I have a number of items used up over the past few weeks. Also started using tescos own brand shower gel and my skin has not reacted to it yet. At 35p I hope it is ok for me as the sensitive types are a lot more. I am going to try their shampoo when my stash has run out. Let's hope it works just as well.

Pengwern

Well not a good day, I went to the shops! A department store was shutting down so had big reductions on branded make up. Only brought what i would use normally but all in one go it adds up. Will help with the 2 house situation as I will have less to transport between the the two. I also brought new pillows as the ones we had were not comfy, there was obviously a reason why they were our spare ones at home! So my predicted over spend this month has got a little worse. Need to see if I can save elsewhere but the only place is on food and fuel. Let's hope it is a low fuel month, I should get away with one more tank if I am careful and that should give me £60 back to help ease the overspend. My only good thing today was I did not buy lunch or coffee, lots of temptation but I waited until I was home. Pleased about that. Now I just need to stay away from the shops for a while.

MrsSmith2013

Hi Pengwern, how are you? Just having another diary catch up and thought I would pop in and say hello.

How are things with work, do you think you'll be able to move in with hubby? Those figures look fantastic I have to say, that would be a brilliant saving on your outgoings for rent/mortgages.

Don't beat yourself up about the overspend, especially if its for things that you will use.

Good luck avoiding the shops, I know thats easier said than done sometimes!!

Mrs S x

Pengwern

Hello, I am ok thank you, decision on job will not be known until March. Trying to do well with the non essential spending and the end of the month has been better. Managed to save on the food and fuel budget so that has minimised the overspend but I still have found myself £140 into my overdraft. Do not worry too much as next month I should be able to stay in the black and the overdraft is free until May. This week I am really busy with work but I will be able to put my monthly expense claim in. Let's hope they pay it quickly. Other than that I have not been doing anything exciting. Managed to make it into the garden this morning and cleared up the mess a bit. Sorted out some more clothes and a bit box of stuff to go to the charity shop. Still trying to make sure there is more stuff that goes out the door than comes in.

Should be able to pay the family another £200 this month so that will help. I have also kept on rounding down the joint account and sending that to the cc. Not seeing Huge progress but hopefully it will help in the long run. Will have to update my signature at the end of the month.

MrsSmith2013

Well done on managing to save on the food and fuel bills it all helps!

Fingers crossed the expenses from work are paid quickly.

£200 is a good amount towards the family loan, all ammounts off debt are good!! It does sometimes feel that you're not seeing any progress, I suppose we all feel like that sometimes.

Will look forward to seeing the updated signature,
Mrs S x

Pengwern

Family loan paid another £200 so that now stands at £9600. I just paid £100 onto the cc which covers the min payment and some extra. I will keep tidying up the joint account and sending it to the cc. So after a rather frantic dec and jan, February is ending and has been quite quiet. I am very pleased about this. Finally managed to get some sense out do Scottish power but that was after an email to their CEO! I am switching firms and that is in process, I cannot believe how long it takes, I think that should be another area to get sorted like the bank account guarantee. Need to submit my expenses today after a busy week travelling for work. That should help with the pennies. Also still waiting for about £90 from tcb, I sometimes wonder why some gets paid quickly and others hang around for ages.

Need to work hard on not spending any money this month. I think it is going to be hard as the determination gets challenged by the weather turning nice and the thoughts of 'you only have one life, so live it'.

Pengwern

What a week, tyres on car were bald so £400 spent! Husband got a 15% pay rise as of next month and I am likely to get £12k from my nanas estate. Lots to think about and how best to use it all. Still not decided so will give it some time. We have agreed an extra £100 will be put into the joint account each month and added to debt repayments straight away. I am inclined to stash my inheritance away and see where we are towards the end of the 0%. Should give us time to think.

Pengwern

The tyre cost still has not hit the cc yet, there was an issue with taking payment at the time. However I am not sure I will be that lucky, but if it is delayed by another week it will help as it will hit the following months bill. Not spent a penny since Sunday and that was budgeted fuel spend. I am hoping I can hold out till the 19th when my cc month ends. That should bring me under budget for food and fuel and really help with the expensive tyres.

Another £200 will be sent to the family loan at the end of the month. We have also finally switched energy providers so just waiting for the final bill from sp. council tax is being paid over 12 months and it is slightly lower for the flat than I had budgeted so £19 extra per month to send to the debts. I need to update the signature but will do that soon. Still tidying up the joint account and sending the few pounds to the cc and it is slowly coming down.