Sat 24th/Sun 25th Aug: What DFW Things Will You Be Doing This Weekend?

foxgloves

La E - Try not to despair, if mr f & I can reform from our previous absolute USELESSNESS with money, I truly believe it's possible for anyone. Car finance is one of those things which looks like a useful idea at the time, but can turn into a bit of a trap as payments are usually around £150 to £200+ a month for 5 years & that's a big commitment when you want to be seeing debt totals go down, not up. If you can get a run-around that has been well-looked after that you'd mostly be using for reasonably local journeys, that may well be your best option. There's nothing to say you can't have something a bit fab once the debts have gone. The trap with car finance, as you'll know, is that you can't usually overpay it. You can ask for a settlement & pay it off as a lump sum, or you are stuck with the monthly repayments for 5 years. The other problem is that new cars depreciate in value so quickly that if you decide you want to sell/change your car, it's usually worth less than what's left to pay on the loan. I'm not sure whether you were asking us for thoughts or not, but if you were, then my view would be to have a good look at all non-car finance options first.
f x

cherryscented88

First time post!

Signed up to preloved.
Tried to sign up with gumtree but activation email won't come through!cleaned sofa I want to sell and will put it on to sell today.
Will bulk cook tonight.
Started a sealed jar.
Hubby stopped smoking starting today

foxgloves

Morning all,
A few positive things today:
*Picked another 2lbs lovely ripe tomatoes.
*Dinner as per August meal plans (& will involve homegrown courgettes!), lunch is home made soup from freezer.
*Everything photographed ready for ebay, post office pricefinder website used for postage prices. Will list everything this afternoon. Feeling a bit hormonal, so mindlessly listing stuff on ebay will be about my level today :-)
*Handwashed a cardi to sell, put on spin cycle, line drying. Not worth wasting electricity on such a titchy load.
*mr f filled oil lamp & dyed the oil 3 separate colours. Looks v pretty & as I love the soft glow it gives, I'll be lighting that some nights instead of having the lights on.
*All free entertainment today: recorded tv progs, library book, knitting & audiobook.
Right.....I'd better get signed into ebay & start touting our wares....
Have a good day, everyone,
foxgloves x

cherryscented88

Oh how do you put the info on at the bottom of your posts. NSD's etc

La_escocesa

Thanks for your words Foxgloves. V much appreciated. We've had a bit of a wake-up call re finance. TBH I can't even imagine they would approve it! Hopefully find something that I can get with cash.

I guess I just feel like a bit of a fraud - been posting here for 4 years now and my debts have gone up instead of down. What a mess.

La_escocesa

cherryscented88 wrote: »

Oh how do you put the info on at the bottom of your posts. NSD's etc

Hiya cherryscented88, Welcome to the thread :beer:


On the top bar you'll see 'Quick Links' - click that and then edit signature. HTH.

josiebabie

Afternoon all!

La E I really feel for you! It's a horrible position to be in and I know how you feel. I was so close to paying things off and then something else comes along, in my case it was HMRC but in your case I'm sure it's been something just as pressing. I very much doubt you've been out on wild spending sprees so you can't beat yourself up too much! Just think how much worse off you would have been if you HADN'T been posting here? My debts have gone up in the last few months, but if I hadn't been using all my "small things" they could have easily doubled again by now!

This is me today:
- Checked banking
- Updated spreadsheets
- Walked to W8rose for snacks for my arrivals later
- Reduced Rhubarb cooked ready for my pudding later (with 0% fat vanilla yoghurt)
- Peeled and cooked cooking apples given to me by work colleague for guests pudding
- Changed bed in sisters bedroom as it's been used as a spare
- All clean dry washing folded and put away
- FINALLY tackled those dresser drawers and kitchen basket, found the biggest number of hair related accessories you could ever imagine! I don't often do much with mine but DD has clips galore

Still to do:
- See how much fuel DM has left me in my car after having it for 3 days
- Cook roast dinner and finish making pudding for 7 later
- Check through stores and price up party food list online, didn't get this done yesterday
- Iron minimal clothing, work shirts!!
- Maybe settle down with the fam tonight and watch a film, although I'm sure my sister will want to unpack and sort her new bedroom out with her BFF rather than sit with her ole' sister!!!

Jx

foxgloves

La E - Well, there's no need to feel like that, because if you hadn't kept up your postings & good intentions on this thread, perhaps your debts might have grown bigger than they currently are. I first started getting into debt at age 19 when I was a student. Nothing was 'disaster based', it was entirely my failure to budget & consistent overspending of my income. I didn't see the light till I was in my early 40s (having picked up a similarly indebted husband along the way!) & didn't become debt-free until 2011. So I could say I feel like a 'fraud' coming on here because apart from the mortgage, we are now debt-free. BUT it worries me that with such a long track-record of spending in the past, we could start to slide back in that general direction & that's a scary thought, especially with public sector jobs so under fire. Posting on here does a wonderful job of concentrating my mind & efforts on the task in hand & not going back to my bad old ways. I don't THINK I'd have a spending meltdown now, but I haven't really tested it out.....i.e Going in Jones Bootmaker or similar lovely old haunts with significant cash in my bag, etc..... I'm off to Glastonbury in the Spring......if I can get around all those fab little hippy shops with my budgets intact this time, I'll know I've indeed turned a corner.
I really am of the opinion that car finance is a poison chalice. We all seem to have become locked into thinking that it's normal accepted thing to buy a car that way, but it's emerged as a big finance sector because it's the best way the big car firms have of selling expensive cars to people who can't really afford them. I hope you can sort something out. As for your family not knowing about your debts, well, mine didn't really, either, because it wasn't any of their business. They knew I was bad with money, they can now see that I am much better with money, there isn't any need for them to have any more detail than that, as far as I'm concerned. You can always say that you have environmental concerns about buying another car.
I'd better get back to ebaying........yawns......love it when the bids come in though!

ShootForTheMoon

josiebabie wrote: »

La E I really feel for you! It's a horrible position to be in and I know how you feel. I was so close to paying things off and then something else comes along, in my case it was HMRC but in your case I'm sure it's been something just as pressing. I very much doubt you've been out on wild spending sprees so you can't beat yourself up too much! Just think how much worse off you would have been if you HADN'T been posting here? My debts have gone up in the last few months, but if I hadn't been using all my "small things" they could have easily doubled again by now!

Hi Everyone!!

Couldn't agree more with the above post from Josie!! What a lovely, positive way of looking at things - and so very true!! I second those sentiments - and don't fret LaE, I'm sure you'll find a perfect little run around much cheaper than you think! My sis-in-law picked up a cracking little Renault Clio from an elderly neighbour with very low mileage and had been well-looked after for £350 and its still going strong a year after passing her test!! Much better than the £12k finance she was considering for her dream Mini Cooper!!

Anyway, hope things work out for you!!

Not much to add since yesterday for me - been offered another 5 hours overtime tonight - which I've gratefully accepted as its made this weekend working worth an extra £200+ ish and been able to claim expenses.
OH doesn't see it in quite the same way and got quite upset this morning when I got in and told her - she thinks I'm putting work before "us time"...
I honestly thought the money would really help towards our goals and I was doing the right thing, given that ... So that added to a lack of sleep and another 5pm-7am shift tonight and I'm a bit flat today if I'm honest.

Anyway, onwards and upwards; shower and make some grub to take in to work now - hoping Bristol won't turn into a war zone by 11pm!!!! :rotfl:

Enjoy the rest of your weekend gang! Lots of love!!! xxx

La_escocesa

Hi guys,

Thanks for your words - does mean a lot. I am v happy to have found this place when I did - god knows where I'd be otherwise. My hubby got made redundant in 2010 just before we got married and then again in 2012 - two months after we'd moved into our new house. He's been working for just over a year now but he had to take quite a big pay dip - never really recovered. Loads of places we could've saved though - maybe we shouldn't have moved house when we did and we definitely shouldn't have gone on holiday while he was out of work, but hey ho, what's done is done I guess. Onwards and upwards...

I guess I'll just find myself a nice wee cheap car and get the best breakdown cover I can get with onward travel - that way if I'm off visiting my family I know I'll get there one way or the other. I just know mum worries that I can't get to her house at the drop of a hat should something go wrong -they live 250 miles away - I guess I'll tell her I prefer the train and if she feels really bad she can pay for my tickets.

In good news...
Had a free day out at the river with the pooch
Bought a bottle of wine to enjoy tonight rather than going to the pub
Not really eaten anything because I've felt like cr ap - that's money saving, right?!

Big hugs guys.

xxx