Enjoying the journey - budgeting, saving and remaining credit card free

Chrysalis1976

Ouch root canal work is painful, I've had it once and that's enough. Hope the pain subsides soon x

Fingers crossed that the car goes through the MOT with nothing to pay out for.

C x

fedupandskint

Feel better today after a good night's sleep. Also better for a proper day of work of course!

Today I will be running all over the place getting jobs down
Dog off to groomer for winter coat strip
Collect car hopefully having passed
Get some of the housework out of the way
Get a quote for the gutter cleaning
Household shop today if I can be bothered or tomorrow
Ironing
Make a nice spaghetti bol for tea and to freeze

I think that's quite enough for one day!

fedupandskint

Well, got nice and soaked dropping the dog off for his grooming today, thought it wasn't supposed to rain!

Got the quote for the gutter clearing to be done, date arranged for 2 weeks time. That's a job that really needs doing and I'll be pleased when it's done and I can tick it off my list.

So, in 2 weeks time I should have a new solid draught free front door, a kitchen window that opens at long last and cleared out gutters. I should also know what it's going to cost to sort the bedrooms out and when it can be done. Lastly, I might even have my pendant that is currently being made for me, what a couple of weeks!

Feels nice to have the energy to get the house sorted out and the drive to do it. In years gone by I would have frittered money away on useless things I never needed and feels good now that my priorities have changed for the better. Best thing that happened over the last twelve months? Lots of things I could mention but it has to be that financial money sense penny dropping for good in my thinking. Money can't buy that and the feeling is worth more than anything I could buy.

fedupandskint

Mr dog looks all nice and neat and tidy for once!
Car back, passed mot, had a service and also new brake pads. All ready for the year ahead, very pleased indeed!

Lots of walking today, almost 3 hours

Also did the household shop and stayed on budget, well below in fact, so very pleased with first month of this plan to stick to a set budget for all household items. Aided by some heavily reduced bathroom bits in sainsbobs, worth getting the last 3 on the shelf!

Also cleaned the bathroom today, attempted to get some washing dried. Made a pie filling and a lasagne sauce and 2 lots of spaghetti bol from one pack of mince, pretty pleased with that amount from one pack.

Tomorrow's plans are a walk up to town for bits, eBay listings and some usual washing, cleaning and cooking, along with the usual long dog walks.

fedupandskint

Ok, its time to face up to the last remaining debt to tackle. This is the one that is left apart from the mortgage, but it needs attention because if the interest rates go up again to where they usually are I'll be in a tight spot like I was when I first joined this site in 2008 and the money had run out.

I contacted the loan company a few months ago for a settlement figure of a long term loan I took out alongside the mortgage - unsecured thankfully. Just shows where my head was then - idiot!

The settlement figure was huge - almost double the original debt of £10,000. Since then I've been mulling over what to do to tackle and repay this debt. There's no way I want to take another massive long term loan out once my other loan is paid off in Sept. The ppi money is going on the house to do it up sensibly, not over the top or in your face ostentatious. I am determined to do the house up after all these years of not doing anything things need doing and the money has been put to one side for this purpose.

I've bought my treats from the pay outs so no more to be bought which is not a problem. I've got used to being frugal this year!

I've been left thinking the only option I have is to save up most of this money. If I can pay off £14,000 of debt in a year then I can save up this amount if I show the same determination and approach to this.

So with a big deep breath I look towards how I can do this. I wondered what to do with the eBay sales that once went towards the credit card repayments and it looks like I have found what to do with them instead of thinking I can buy skincare or perfume with these proceeds. It is the best thing to do as if I buy skincare or perfume I feel I'm returning to the previous behaviour I've worked so hard to change.

Over the next 12months these are the things I really want to happen;
1. Pay off the bank loan that has 9 repayments left - paid off Sept 2014
2. Save up as much as possible extra to what I'm currently saving
3. Use all eBay profits for the saving plan for the long long term loan settlement
4. Scrape together any other spare money to put towards this figure
5.Talk to the bank about my options once the loan has been paid off
6. Turn one of my savings accounts into the specific account for this plan.
7. Work out budgets at the end of the year and plan for 2014 to tie in with this plan, I've been keeping note all year of all spends.

Wish me luck, I'm going to need some. It's a good job I've taught myself to save over the last year as the task isn't over yet. When when does it end? When its all paid off!

fedupandskint

Right, I've finished the cleaning for today, got most of it done this morning along with some washing.

Spent some time thinking over how I can pay this loan off and I've devised a plan. Boy, it's going to be tough, but this year has been tough so I know what's coming.

My plan is to save a set amount I can afford now, use the free months from water and council tax payments to go into the savings plan, use the direct debit amounts from car and house insurance once I move to paying them in one go from next year and the use the loan amount payments when that's paid off next year.

The aim is to save £500 per month using all the above and eBay sales. I'll also use any spare pennies (if there are any!) at the end of each month. Then in a couple of years time use my regular saver for this each year and with determination beyond belief I think I can pay the loan off by December 2016 opposed to 2039. Maybe then I can overpay on the mortgage which is what I really wanted to do from the start a long long time ago. If I do this, I should be able to save up for car pretty easily after repaying this debt as that should seem like a breeze after this!

Ok, I'll make a start by converting one of my savings accounts into an account for this loan settlement plan and a standing order for it.

Looks like another year of very little spending on clothes but it will be worth more than a new dress.

Talking of which;

No Clothes Spend month 7!
NSD 27 for November
Petrol spends over at £108.32/100
Food spends over at £117.77/100
Overdraft = credit at end of month 2

Pretty pleased with these results and am on track for December to get that extra £25 into the savings plan rather than going over the budgets

fedupandskint

That was one nice lasagne for tonight's tea. 3 generous sized portions made, 2 portions of pie for tomorrow and 2 portions of spag Bol coming in around 51p per portions as all other ingredients were already in the store cupboard. Yummy!

Lots of left overs to get through and freeze. Nice and easy teas for the next few weeks.

Rejigged some standing orders to take my new salary date into consideration. Also set up the account for the loan settlement figure. Also had a quick look at some loan figures that weren't as bad as I expected. I can't get a loan yet, another ten months to go, soon to nine.

Plan stands as save money with the standing order of a small amount for the next ten months, plough all eBay proceeds in once fees and postage have been paid and aim for an amount to reduce the amount needed to pay the loan off.

So, let's see how much I can save over the ten months to get that amount down to as little as possible then see if I can afford a loan over 3yrs and then all unsecured debt will have been repaid.

fedupandskint

At last! My final Le Creuset pan for sale gets a bid and is off to a new home, yeah! That's taken 7months to sell but better someone else buys and uses it.

7 items sold tonight on ebay, relisted the ones that didn't sell and then list some more tomorrow

fedupandskint

Feeling well rested after a good nights sleep last night. Have thought things over about how to tackle that long term loan and I feel I've made the right decision to save up what I can over the next year then see if a loan to pay it off in 3-4yrs rather than 32years. Well, of course that makes sense and it means I will have paid off my final unsecured debt many years earlier.

Back to the plans then, lots of no spend days, very strict food and petrol/travel budgets, very strict spends on clothes etc.

Today will be making some soup, listing on eBay, writing things down for the damp assessment on Tues, all ready to go for the door fitting on Friday bar moving some things later this week. What else? Get stuff ready for work a lot later, ironing, sweep up more leaves, long dog walks and no doubt something else!

Chrysalis1976

Morning!

Your plans sound like the right thing to do and with your hard work and determination I'm sure you'll achieve it. Have you compared the figure of leaving your loan over the full mortgage term compared to over 3 years, I bet it's shocking.

The ebay sales are great, I'll keep putting on a bag I'm trying to sell maybe one day someone will want it.

Sounds like another busy day for you, have a good one.

C x