Debt Free by September 2014 - SOA included

wegle

Paid my loan minimum today bringing me up to 21.08% paid and total £1019.43 paid!! Woo hoo!!!

Also had a pay out of £15 Amazon voucher and £10 cash from survey sites. Bonus!! I've decided that I'm going to squirrel away any survey cash I get to put towards my Spain music festival road trip next July. I really really want to be able to go and I was chatting to my friend last night who should be coming too and we've decided it has to happen. So now the pressure is on even more to make extra money so that this can be done without impacting on the debt repayment plans.

Off to Tesco later so I'm going to have my roadkill eyes peeled and I've got my list so no silly extras.

I have been needing a new winter coat and have been putting it off as I just didn't want to spend the money. However whilst I was round my friends last night she told me she had bought a new coat off eBay. She showed me and it was lovely. She then told me it only cost £18!! So I quickly got on eBay, found the seller and bagged myself one. Brand new winter coat well within my £30pm clothing budget!! Yay!

We're having a real problem with damp and mould in our bedroom at the moment which is driving me insane!! Our landlord made some repairs to the roof last year to try and sort it but it seems to only have resolved one of the problem areas. I've managed to borrow a dehumidifier from one of my work collegues and I've bought some of the gel boxes to place around. Really hope this helps as it's horrible sleeping in a musty damp room.

Hound was in the bad books this morning as when I was getting ready I could smell something pongy! He's only done a bloody great dump on our bedroom floor!! Dirty dog! He very rarely has accidents and he is getting a bit older so I tried not to get too upset with him, but I definitely wasn't best pleased to be having to deal with that at 6am this morning!

No plans for the weekend really, think it's going to be pretty miserable so just curling up and watching some movies.

wegle

Morning all!!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. Not much to report here but I'm at 2 NSDs and should get another one today as well.

No roadkill for me all weekend!! Grr!! Just 1 lonely penny would make me happy now!!

wegle

Busy day at college yesterday and I did overspend a bit at Greggs but still kept it under £10. Problem was I overslept so didn't have time to make my lunch to take with me! Doh!

Good news today is I've had another £10 Amazon voucher paid out and am up to 3 NSDs. I have had to fork out for 2 new pairs of jeans which is a !!!!!! but is necessary. One pair I have is 4 years old and now have a hole in the bum where the material has got so thin! I wear jeans for work so I can't cope on just one pair. So I've ordered 2 new pairs. With delivery this came to £28.93 so it's not a massive expense and as I've got my new coat on the way to me too this should be the last new clothes I need until next year.

No roadkill anywhere for me. I think the people of Devon are just too careful with their money!!

Paid the minimum payment for my credit card today which brings me to 21.97% paid. Nearly a quarter of the way there!!

wegle

Grrrr!!! Just had message off the people I was buying my coat off to say it has been returned to them by Royal Mail damaged and they don't have anymore in the colour I want! Good news though I've found another seller with it who is selling it cheaper, so I've asked for a refund and I've bought from the other seller. Just annoying as it means I have to wait longer to get my nice new coat!

wegle

Feeling pretty down today. Husband and I are currently in a limbo position. We need to move really. Our house is not big enough for our needs and is not in a great location. We moved here 4 years ago when we first got together as it was cheap rent and near to hubby's work (he couldn't drive at the time but can now). We want to start a family and want to live in our forever home. To move to a new rented property we need to get at least £2000 in savings just to pay to move. I figured lets have a look at the possibility of buying, there's loads of schemes etc nowadays to help first time buyers. This is where I've got myself depressed.

Price of a 2 bed property in our ideal location for work etc £150,000 (this is the cheapest I can find that doesn't require a ton of work doing to it).

Amount of money we could borrow £98,000. So we need £52,000 deposit!!! And that doesn't take into account sols fees and other costs.

This just seems like it will never happen for us. Even when my debts are paid off this will take us 8 years to save up. I'm 30 and realistically probably don't have 8 years to wait to have a baby.

I know this post is all self indulgent and depressing but I think we just need to accept that we will always be renters and just continue to save to use the money in retirement. What is so frustrating is if the bank would lend us £135,000 based on us having £15,000 (10%) deposit. The monthly repayment would be less than our current rent payment and at least £200 pcm cheaper on the rent for the same property that we would buy/rent.

So any one got any tips on how I can magic up £52,000 in the next 2 years??

Any young'uns out there reading please please please make sure you are saving from the day you start earning. Husband and I never had the opportunity to live at home with parents so if you do take full advantage and save as much as you can whilst you are there!

HOK3Y

Hiya wegs! First off, about the damp.....the big problem with this is that it is easy for landlords to shirk responsibility and claim it is how you live rather than a problem with the house so it is great that your landlord has taken steps to try to correct it. Now, we went to a home building show last weekend and there is a treatment you can make to the walls inside the rooms where you have the problems although I imagine it will be pricey for your landlord. It is basically a thermal foam layer that is applied to the walls. Here's a link: http://www.mgcltd.co.uk/sempatap-thermal

Right, next issue, and the most important one you raise: DO NOT EVER, EVER, EVER MOVE YOUR MINDSET TO ACCEPTANCE THAT YOU WILL NEVER OWN A HOME. If you set your mind on that course, it is exactly what you will achieve. I know it doesn't look possible right now but if you believe it is impossible, it will be. Life changes - constantly. What you earn now will not be what you are earning in a few years. Money WILL fall into your lap from time to time. Saving a deposit will not be impossible. Promise me you will continue to believe because that is ALL YOU NEED TO SUCCEED. I promise you! Stay positive lovely lady!

wegle

HOK3Y wrote: »

Hiya wegs! First off, about the damp.....the big problem with this is that it is easy for landlords to shirk responsibility and claim it is how you live rather than a problem with the house so it is great that your landlord has taken steps to try to correct it. Now, we went to a home building show last weekend and there is a treatment you can make to the walls inside the rooms where you have the problems although I imagine it will be pricey for your landlord. It is basically a thermal foam layer that is applied to the walls. Here's a link: http://www.mgcltd.co.uk/sempatap-thermal

Right, next issue, and the most important one you raise: DO NOT EVER, EVER, EVER MOVE YOUR MINDSET TO ACCEPTANCE THAT YOU WILL NEVER OWN A HOME. If you set your mind on that course, it is exactly what you will achieve. I know it doesn't look possible right now but if you believe it is impossible, it will be. Life changes - constantly. What you earn now will not be what you are earning in a few years. Money WILL fall into your lap from time to time. Saving a deposit will not be impossible. Promise me you will continue to believe because that is ALL YOU NEED TO SUCCEED. I promise you! Stay positive lovely lady!

Ah HOK3Y thank you so much! You are always so supportive and positive. I'm not giving up and we will continue to save what we can where we can but we have decided that we will not put our life on hold for the sake of owning a house. We will be trying for a baby in the next couple of years whether we are still renting or not. I think there is a lot of pressure from the media and my grandparents generation that you buying your own home should be the only priority in your life and if you don't do it then you have failed. I don't think this is true. Hubby and I work hard and we save where we can. Unfortunately we live in a very expensive part of the country so it is going to take us a bit longer than other people. However this is not a failure and we will strive to succeed in all the other areas of life whilst we are working towards our own home.

Re the damp. This seems to be looking up. The dehumidifier we borrowed has been working brilliantly and it's sucked up so much moisture!! It's lovely to go into our bedroom now and it doesn't stink like a rancid old washing machine!! :rotfl:

Debt news!! Paid off another £13.99 that I got from surveys which brings my total to 22.26% paid. :j Bad news is I've been a bit reckless on the spending front. Things I've bought in the last few days that really I could have done without:

* New Dress £22 - justified it to myself by saying it will be my Christmas party dress and it was second hand.
* Take away pizza for me and hubby £19.99 - There is no justifying this really. But I did a modelling show yesterday and we were out from 8:30 until 15:00 without eating and were just too tempted on the way home. Good news though it was delicious!! :rotfl:

Actually it isn't as bad as I had thought. And when I think of what I've spent on a Christmas party outfit in the past this is not bad going!!

Yesterday's catwalk show was a blast. I was soooooo nervous though but in the end I really enjoyed it. I've made a couple of new friends through it as well which is always good!!

Plan for the day:

* Desperately try and get some more surveys to pay out.
* Not spend any money!!
* Update the household spreadsheets with the latest spending.

HOK3Y

Hiya wegs! :wave: How goes the debt busting??

MrsGSR

Hi Wegle, I must apologise, I've not really been checking on you too much. How are things?
Agree about not putting your life on hold because you are renting, many of my friends rent and have children and it works for them. One of my friends and her husband went through the shared partnership route when she was pregnant with their second so it can be done.
You've made fantastic progress, well done!

wegle

Hello all and diary!

I've been dreadfully neglecting this diary. Life just keeps getting in the way.

Good news is I am slowly but surely getting there with the debt busting. This month has had a couple of needed spends like new clothes but I'm still on track to hit my target of 27% paid by the end of the month.

College work is taking up so much of my time at the moment and I can't wait for it all to be finished. I keep getting asked if I will continue on and do the full degree but honestly I can't think of anything worse. I've already got one degree and it would be another 3 years on day release from work. Maybe something to think about for the future but for now I'm just looking forward to getting my HNC done and leave it at that.

I'm still going great guns with the surveys and have cashed out over £170 in cash and vouchers since I started at the end of August. I'm still useless at finding roadkill.

In other news I am back on a diet!! I've put on a stone since the wedding and I want to try and rein it in before the weight gain gets out of hand.

In sad news it appears I have developed an allergy to my wedding ring! I keep getting a horrible red rash on my finger when I wear it. I've given it a really good clean but from what I've read it's likely that it is the nickel salts in it that I'm allergic too. If anyone has any tips of how I can treat it that would be great. I'm wearing it on a chain around my neck at the moment but it's not the same!

Hope everyone else is doing well. I will try and keep up with the diary better but I can't promise anything at the moment. Any free minute I get I just want to sleep!!