My debt free wannabe diary

cat4772

Just thought I'd clarify a tiny point - though I've amended my SOA now.

Hubby and I had a 'hole in corner' wedding, no honeymoon in February 1998. We had a big a marital wobble (divorce lawyers at 10 paces - started at 20), a couple of years ago and agreed that we'd renew vows, have a church blessing and honeymoon at 15 year anniversary, but we'd need money! It helps that whatever we've got saved up, a family member will match it, so we'd agreed to aim for about £4-5K (meaning total would be £8-10K), but that would have to pay for absolutely everything:eek:; so we don't actually go on holiday in winter, but this is an emotionally decided outgoing and logic didn't stand a chance, so we're working with it!

Penny2myname: have cancelled the card by phone and letter (had a stamp in the house, so not an outgoing)! It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be either.

Smashing & do it today: bike fund will buy hubby a bike so we can save the £60 a month he spends on bus fares. He used to cycle but his bike was stolen:mad:, hopefully new bike bought in 6 months then we'll have about £80 a month to throw at debts or turn into a baby fund. I'm getting quite into this cost-cutting now!

Another little piece of good news is that I've been asked to do more private work (it'll generate about £400 a year, though £300 after tax). We'll be using that to pay off his credit card a bit quicker!

daphne_descends

Have you considered trying the Allen Carr method for stopping smoking? It made it so easy that OH and I stopped at the same time - haven't wanted one cigarette since.

cat4772

Well, four pieces of good news today, though one is questionable IMO!

Am going to my cousin's wedding in July and initially we were looking at hotels / B&Bs costing about £40 each for the Saturday night, add taxis, drinks, pressies etc on to that and the day would have cost about £150 - £200:eek:; but my uncle (and cousin's uncle) has said that as he's in Greece then, we (hubby, me, brother and his girlfriend) can stay at his house. Now the taxis would be more expensive, but cousin's mother has said that she's ordering a minibus, which will work out cheaper and we can use that. All this means we've made a virtual saving of £90 - £110!:D

Second piece of (questionable) good news, I used to do a bit of private secretarial work, which included typing about 3 - 6 reports (medicolegal) for my previous boss. She's back in the game (she really is a specialist and highly thought of in her area of expertise; it helps that her evidence helps claims get setteled out of court and therefore saves everyone money) and she's put her prices up - though in line with market level, which means that my payment goes up too. This one's more of an ethical / moral thing because I wouldn't really want to do more of these reports as that would mean more kids are having nasty accidents), but I'm getting paid more for the work I currently do:D.

Hubby has been told that they'll need him to do between 3 - 9 hours overtime each week (otherwise the company would hire another member of staff, who they'd have to train to do the work, get he work done then lay off in a couple of months when the excess work dries up again), so he'll be earning a bit more (of course, this extra earning will get thrown at debts and hopefully our debt free date will be that little bit sooner).

Final piece of good news is that Hubby has used some of his £20 to buy some patches, so he's ready to quit in July!:T

do_it_today!

Brilliant News!
about the bike... for some reason I had a monster yamaha mans toy in my head!

cat4772

well, more news. I've done some more private work this week, which should bring in about £250 after taxes. Wayne has also been working overtime.

We had a bit of a barney during the week. He was moaning about not being able to go out with his friends from work, and it was like a match to petrol! I mean, everything else wasn't debt; more bad money management, but I feel darned resentful too. He'd maxed his credit card, got a loan to pay off a mobile phone bill but never considered how much the loan would cost to repay, nor how that would affect our finances. I think the last straw was when he asked me to get him some more cigs! He'd gone through 400 in 2 weeks!!!!! I get through about 90 a week and the end is in sight! So we both now know where we stand with how we feel about the debt - he's guilty and I'm resentful, but we're still working together to pay it off!

I'd asked him to get a settlement figure for his welcome finance loan (he'd borrowed £2500), to settle it by 1st July is £2700!!! I think they've added payment protection to it automatically. I have that money in the bank and I've checked on snowballing etc and even if I transfer it to my emergency credit card (I owe nothing on it) we'd have it paid off in 28 months (about 4 months sooner). I think though my talking about interest rates and time to pay things off is working because he suggested that I clear the loan from the house renovation fund, pay off the visa, then put the money back into the house renovation fund. That would mean that debts are gone in 15 months and nine months later I have back the money for the house renovation.

My only concern is that I've paid his debts off in the past and he hasn't learnt anything from it, but on the other hand, if I paid the debts off, we'd be in a better financial position to try again for a baby in a couple of years time! Oh my head hurts thinking about it all. I keep going round in circles I want the debts paid off, I want a baby, I want the house finished and the mortgage paid off! Hmm, decisions decisions. I guess two years would mean that I'm only 36/37 so having a baby is only slightly risky, but better than leaving it till I'm 39! I think I've got my answer, don't you?

cat4772

House:
Well, after the recent deluge, our gable wall is acting like a sponge. We've only just (two months ago) had it repointed:mad:. There are leaks in the attic (that we've again only just had finished) along the gable wall and along the wall adjoining the next door's property.


My SIL works for a building contractor, so I was really cheeky and asked for some advice. Two of his builders are hopefully coming out next week to give me some advice about whether the original builder has b*llsed up. It struck me at 3am this morning that the original damp proof course guarantee expired 1 year after we moved in and that was 7 years ago, so that might be the problem. All I can see is more £££ getting thrown at the house! needless to say if I have to get a new DPC then I'll not be able to pay off the welcome finance loan:mad:.


Work is... interesting.
Attended the Health & Safety meeting and was 'chosen' to write the safety notes for patients who visit the University to help with student teaching! It has to cover the needs of patients with disabilities, children, the elderly, fire safety, medicines etc. I wish they'd go back to using patients in the hospital as that would be the nightmare of the NHS trust!! Never mind, it'll be a learning curve to see what's already out there, what needs updating and what needs creating!
Coursework: So busy at work that I've not done my coursework for NVQ 3, only got one unit (302) to write and then complete the signposting, but it has to be submitted by Tuesday next week:eek: !!!

Oh well, tomorrow is another day as Ms O'Hara said!

cat4772

I had the strangest phone call at work today. Answered the phone and a bloke said 'you're going to have to give me your card number to pay your Next catalogue bill'. WHAT BILL?:mad: I haven't had a next account for 14 years and that was paid off and account closed... I'd paid off the £2.04 outsanding with a cheque, my bank had paid £204.00 out of my account, (that darned decimal point), put me overdrawn etc. I'd gone straight to my bank to ask WTHeck they were playing at; one week later I've got my money reimbursed £201.96, no charges from my bank and a nice letter from Next saying account paid (so I closed it) and £50 in vouchers for the inconvenience caused!

Turns out this bloke was calling from a DCA and had misdialled but got me saying... "What bill? I acknowledge no debt. Statute barred. Paid it off 14 years ago. Closed account. Any further communication in writing." He apologised and we (slightly hysterically) laughed about it:o!

After the shock had worn off, I really started to laugh about it! If this had happened a year ago, I'd have paid up without thinking, but as I'd done the LBM (even collected paperwork from my parents house so I would know for sure who my creditors were) I knew Next was non-existent!

cat4772

headoutthesand wrote: »

My DH phoned up O2 at the start of may and was told he could have phoned at the start of April to get a cheaper deal.

He told them he saw a deal with 3 and that he wanted them to match it. Minutes, text and phone for £15. He said he would pick O2 over 3 if they could make it £15 a month after VAT - they did it.

Headoutthesand, thanks for that tip. I'm going to try it. I'm on payg, and spend £120 a year for text bundles and at most £50 a year for calls, whereas Wayne's phone is £35 a month. I'm going to ask them to do both of us for £25 a month and see what happens!

cat4772

really good day today. Did the weekly shop and the BIG shop (once every 6 months or so) and this usually comes in at about £100 (+£50 weekly shop). But I thought about what we needed (laundry detergent, soap, shower gels, bin liners etc) and made a shopping list. Grand total spent: £80 (including weekly shop):D

Wayne and I went to the smoking cessation clinic and I've got to see my doctor for a (?sp) Chamonix prescription, but he's got the inhalator thing. He's all set and ready to stop smoking tomorrow. I'll be going to the greenhouse for my ciggies as I'm not stopping till 23rd July, but we're both set!

Paid car tax today £115, so that's the car sorted now until March (MOT), so that's one less worry.

Ran out of time so couldn't pay off the Welcome financial loan today, but by the end of August this will be gone and then I can throw £300 a month towards Wayne's visa (plus any overtime he's working). Of course the problem with the leaking wall may mean that money has to be spent there, but I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Potential outgoings for week ahead:
Farmer's market (Sunday): £20
Meal (Tuesday): £50
Prescription: £7
My allowance: £50 (need to put petrol in car this week)
Wayne's allowance: £50 (he needs to buy me a present)
total: £177

I'm setting a new shopping challenge for us £40 a week - I've been hitting £45-50 for a couple of weeks, but with a little more self-discipline, I think £40 is manageable.

I've looked at the holiday savings account (we currently have £500 in there, and I figure that if I can get it up to about £800 we should have a fairly decent holiday at the end of August). I'm confident that we'll be debt free much sooner than January 2010, and even hopefully by january 2009, so I'm going to use this as my record of achievements!

cat4772

What a wonderful day, and just part of a wonderful week!!!

Monday had my work review and the agreed outcomes are: 1) apply for a special payment to reflect my contribution to work and unpaid overtime and 2) apply for promotion. Both of these means more money.:dance:

Tuesday: handed in my NVQ. I already know it's passed and just needs the external verifier to check it out! Was asked to consider doing the City & Guilds Licentiateship, but I'm keen to do a vocational qualification (massage). Hopefully I'll get £125 from work towards this so course fees would be less than anticipated!

Also, went for a meal last night with Wayne, his sister, her husband and Ash. I expected to pay about £50, but sister in law said that it was her treat for my birthday and that she'd treat Wayne as an early birthday pressie for him:j.

I think I was poisoned though, I woke up this morning feeling like death warmed up, have amnesia (rather than looking at a video of the night I'm seeing a photograph album of snapshots). Of course, this has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the five bottles of wine that us three girls got through:D!!!

Everyone knows we're in debt so I'd asked for money for my birthday. I got £20 in vouchers (so I get to go shopping at the weekend) and £30 in cash. I'll add that to the £50 I saved on last night's meal and that's £80 towards a debt!