6 grand in 6 months - my personal challenge!

debtfreewannabe321

Morning C-R!

A new kitty! Glad he's settled in well, and I hope he's easing the pain of losing poor other little kitty so soon :A

Great news about OH getting a new job :T well done! And look forward to seeing you reach the 10k mark! xx

cottage_retreatist

ok the internet shop deliveries have turned up and all good, apart from @sda not having any eggs so gargh!!!!! :mad::mad: might have to waste a NSD at some point to get some - a great staple!!

everything has been put away apart from the stuff that needs to go into my jars, as i rewashed and sterilised the jars in the oven so just waiting for them to cool.

OH back around 10pm tonight - going to do some loaded nachos - our new creation/discovery!!! just some tortilla chips, some cheese and put in the oven for a few minutes til cheese starts to melt, then Mexican dips (pre-made, a little treat!) and lots of toppings! cucumber, tomato, feta and some olives as well i think!!! Even got some beers in the fridge cooling down for him!

Where is my good wife badge! Quick someone bring it now while i still deserve it!!!!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Little kitty update - he is doing well!! Really likes his biscuits much more than wet food so opposite to gone-but-not-forgotten kitty. He seems much more comfortable in the flat but still gets a bit flighty if I move around too quickly. Not heard him meow yet, but he has made some little noises!!! Will need to buy a carry case at some point for him as we couldn't bear to go back for the old one, also as that one was on its way out with a dodgy clasp on the door anyway.

Was planning on doing some batch cooking but freezer is well and truly stuffed so not sure if anything would fit!! Might give it a defrost tomorrow as there is lots of ice on the shelves so might get some extra real-estate with some elbow grease. Would love a second freezer and I've made space now for it in the cupboard under the stairs but OH says to wait until we move. Hmmmm, very tempted to do an eb@y! Only problem would be how to collect it!

Hope everyone is enjoying their looong weekend? :cool:
xx

HOK3Y

Hi C-R, how's it all going at your end? How is new little kitty? Glad you have got rid of the noisy neighbours too - we know that feeling as well! Hopefully someone a little quieter will move in. x


Hope your hubby's new job is going well and you are on track to get down into the £10k range. It's amazing when you consider how far you have come in a year. You have done so well!

cottage_retreatist

Hey Hoks!

Thanks for dropping in! apologies for the late reply, OH doesn't have his job! He walked out after an hour!!!!! :eek::eek::eek:

So I have been propping us up - thankfully lots of NSDs for this last month!

Lots of cupboard and freezer eating! Our friend came last weekend and he kindly took us for a meal so we got treated to a lovely turkish supper!! (my favourite!) Our last holiday we had about 5 years ago we road-tripped around central Turkey and just fell in love with it all - even the hubs who is a 'costa-del-sol man' through and through!!!!!!!!! :rotfl::rotfl:

It also means we missed our F&F agreement so will have to try again! So still not below the 10k mark!!! Frustrated but really what can I do?

Little kitty is good! he had a little play this morning and is now sitting on the bed! he sleeps by my feet at night which is good

Had to do some admin today - got an energy bill the toher day for our elec, seems they managed to do an accurate reading of our bill and sent us a bill for 1000 quid :eek::eek::eek::eek: for the correct meter reading! well - can't afford that!!!! So paid them 200 quid today and set up a plan to pay them 100 quid a month starting in august to clear the overhead! Not the best news but at least I didn't default and ignore the bill!!! I'm a big girl now :D

Getting a pay rise this month but it will only amount to about 50 quid extra a month but every little helps!

We've also decided not to wait to move out of London until after the debts are cleared but to start saving for that as the priority. It kinda makes sense as living out of London we'd pay less so have more disposable income to chuck at the debt, still want everything sorted by Xmas this year though!!!

Just got to keep the motivation up and keep spending tight and not fall back on credit cards to tide us over!

Hope everyone else is ok and knocking back those debts?

xxx

cottage_retreatist

oh - and i forgot - im thinking of writing a complain letter to won-gaaaaaaaaaaaaa about the 2 defaults with them. because they allowed us loans even though a previous loan had defaulted and allowed us to roll it over and never sent any letters about the first default - i call this irresponsible lending - dunno what everyone else thinks? worth a punt?

xx

HOK3Y

OMG!!!! An hour?!?! Wowzas!!!! You are the queen of composure C-R - I'd have thrown all my toys out of the pram at that point!! Keep working out.....it will help with the stress!


Very exciting about your move too - any idea where you guys want to move to? I love London but I don't think I would enjoy living there. Actually I am sure of it. I just spent a few minutes looking out the front window at the river that runs infront of the house. No, I don't want to live in a big city!


The payrise is better than a kick in the teeth and will go some way to paying the power bill. Jeez, £1000! I'd have died! They really are crap the energy companies. We have to deal with them all the time at work and they drive us crazy.


I would say Wong-!!! are worth a punt - you won't get anywhere if you don't try, right?! Give 'em heck, C-R!

debtfreewannabe321

Oh great news about a potential move I will be moving next year and can't wait!!! I moved out of London as soon as I could, most of my family are from there and lots still live there and love it, I just don't see the attraction aside from having everything on your doorstep (which can also be a minus!). Where are you looking to move to?

I hope your OH finds a new job very soon! It must have been pretty awful if he only survived an hour? :eek: ! xx

cottage_retreatist

Hey Hoks and DFW321! Thanks for popping in :beer:

apologies for radio silence

OH's 1-hour job - it must have been a futuristic-sounding hellhole as he described it; rows upon rows of people wearing headsets in a giant open plan office with dull eyes staring at computer screens and they repeated in a monotone voice 'hello IT helpdesk'!! ;)

but onwards and upwards we just need for him to pull something amazing out the bag and he always manages it-just as i start to lose faith - boom! (fingers crossed)

So no massive debt reduction this last month but also no massive spending! Felt really good, today is Day 18 out of a target of 15 NSDs and a few more days left to go before payday.

We have been super frugal (OH joining in) making our nicknamed 'bible bread' from a Hugh F-W recipe of flour, water and olive oil making tortilla style bread in a pan. We made a pack of bacon into 6 different meals by making a sauce and blending half of it to make a base for a pizza (made 4 pizzas) and put in the freezer, had some of the sauce left over to use as a bacon pasta bake sauce, and some not blended as a regular pasta sauce!!

Little kitty is living off his predecessor's stockpile (thank god he likes chicken!!) although he prefers fish so when I can I'm going to get him so variety as his preference really is fishy food!! :cool:

we are hoping to move far away from london to the coutnryside not far from exeter! OH's parents live down south so it makes sense to be closer to them as they get older, my family travels a lot, and no one likes coming to visit if you live in London! Fact! :mad: So by moving out others can come to us for Christmas (for once)!! :rotfl::rotfl:

so that's the aim - we have found amazing places for 500/600 p/m which is a third of what we pay at the moment :eek::eek::eek::eek: so would really free up some money to chuck at debts, just need OH to get back in the working mode to save up that money to make the jump!

Keep watching though - I will be making sneaky payments while he isn't looking :D

xxx

cottage_retreatist

helloooooooooooooo!!!!!

end of the month already - where has the time gone?

Made it through without using credit cards or going over our overdraft which i am happy about! Its going to be tight this month with my one income though so fingers crossed for good news soon on job front.

Bit of a shock yesterday - found our building where we rent up for sale, for a cool 2.2 million! so that has accelerated our plans that moving is the priority. We've estimated needing 3k to move. If we had 2 incomes we could save that in 2 months, but with just one we need 3 months realistically (with OH finding a job in the next week or so). If it all goes very wrong we have 2k locked in a credit card - but I will be working hard to not spend unless it stops us ending up on the street!!

We had a chat and said there's no point moving inside london but if we have to move, we'll go out. My only fear - what if work don't let me do a work from home schedule? Commuting in for more than 1 day a week could seriously hamper our saving/debt re-payment plan.

Should i discuss with my boss sooner rather than later do you think?

life is always throwing curveballs at the retreatist hovel!!!

xx

HOK3Y

Hiya C-R! :waves:

Well I guess the sale of the building just goes to show that you were right - time to leave and even the universe agrees! It's all good and it will fall into place.

I would tell your boss sooner rather than later. At least then you will know where you stand and you can plan with that in mind. I hope your hubby finds a job soon - mine is in the same boat and getting quite disheartened. It's hard to stay positive at times!

Just think how happy little kitty will be to have space to roam and play out in the country!! You've got a bit of an adventure ahead!