I'm going to buy a ski lodge.......

daisystar

Happy Saturday!!! :j

Hope everyone's having lovely weekends. I've had a fairly spendy week but a very positive few days of getting the house decluttered, organised and generally looking far more presentable than before. I mentioned the bookcase I've cleared and was going to sell on my local FB site to my mum, who immediately said she can use it as she has too many books at home. Of course I don't begrudge giving it to her but it is an earning opportunity missed So I've organised a few more things to list on there tomorrow night (I reckon more people will be browsing on Sunday nights than Saturday) to try to make up for it.

Another slightly irritating turn of events is the fact that we asked my SIL for my nephews wish list for his birthday, which is on Monday. A couple of days later she replied giving 2 options, one for £20 and one for £32. She didn't check what our budget was or if these were ok. We have gone for the £20 option, and before our LBM or without the debt this would have been fine, but it just feels like an awful lot of money for our tiny budget at the moment. AAAaargh!!! Its done now so I just need to move on, but my main issue is that no present we've bought him in the past has ever really been appreciated, as he just has so much stuff :mad: Crikey I sound like a grumpy old woman - I'm honestly not!!!! Just had to have a rant.

In lovely news, my free gift from my uber-cheap mag subscription came through, and its delightful!! Marvellous brands, face wash, moisturiser, mascara, everything!! So that's great.

Also today has been gorgeous, I took DS to his little friends birthday party, they were all so so cute and a lovely time was had by all :):):):):):)

Apologies for how disjointed this update is, the perils of watching strictly while writing!!!!

daisystar

Morning!! :wave:

Just had to post as I'm feeling a lot more positive today, the sun is shining and I'm working well towards this huge goal of mine :j I just can't wait until the 20th - this is when all the statements are in and I can update my signature, yay!!

Not much money left for the rest of this month but I'm confident we can do it, day by day it WILL happen!!

Daisystar

brizzledfw

Like the positivity daisy star, keep it up!

daisystar

Thanks Brizzle!! Full of positivity today despite the germs taking over in our house because......... Statement for CC1 became available today and due to a combination of DH's bonus, a 0% balance transfer, and many many extra little payments through the past month. So I've been able to update my signature and taken nearly £2K off pesky CC1 :j

However, I'm under no illusion that this will translate to 2K off the debt because of a) the balance transfer, and b) the interest we are paying all over the place. However, its a mighty good start!!

I will find out on the 20th what the current total debt will be, so can't wait to update then.

In day to day news, my lovely friend has given me a bag of maternity clothes, all of which will be useful. This means I only really need to buy some tights, leggings, a giant cardigan (good for feeding afterwards too) and obviously some GIANT underwear and I should be set until about May next year for clothes, hooray!!:T
Also paid another £7 to CC1 after selling something on local fb site and not going to one of DS's toddler groups due to germs, so put the money to debts.

Now I'm making plans with friends for Xmas socialising, mostly to be done at my house so cheap cheap, and much sooner than I realised :):):) Tis nearly the season...........

daisystar

Ugh, germs have hit our house so have lost my mojo a little bit, I'm just trying to rest up where I can and haven't even had the laptop out for a few days, unheard of!!

I've had a bit of an annoying setback on the £20K off mission - my CC (lets call it CC2) statement became available on Friday, and the monthly payment was much, much higher than it has been, like over twice as much. I checked it out and its because most of this card was on a 0% which has now come to an end. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!!!! :mad::mad::mad:

The reason I didn't know, of course, is because when I did the transfer I wasn't the organised, enlightened money saving guru (ahem) I am know, and didn't keep a record of such things and when they finished. So, I'll treat this as a learning opportunity and have made sure to record the end date of the latest 0% transfer I've just made. After the initial annoyance its just made me more determined to get this under control and get rid of this debt.

So, a very muted update from me, fingers crossed for feeling better soon and a return of decent energy levels

Chrysalis1976

HI sorry to hear you'e been feeling poorly, r.e. cc can you see if you can switch to another 0% deal and then be able to focus on the debt again whilst knowing what the end date will be.

Hope you feel better and more positive soon.

C x

daisystar

Hi Chrysalis, thanks so much for your reply Unfortunately we aren't really in a position to apply for any 0% deals at the mo, I don't work so wouldn't be accepted and because we have soooooooooooooo much debt DH has been refused a couple the last time he applied So, our plan of attack is to target one CC at a time, as when we have paid these off in the past we have been offered 0% deals to transfer onto them.

The difference this time, of course, is that we are going to pay it ALL off!!! AND I'm going to make a note of when any 0% periods run out so no more surprises like today :cool: We know that these first few months will be the hardest because of the sheer amount of interest we are paying, but once more of it is on 0% things should speed up

In most excellent news, the totals are in and the signature is changed, with a grand total of £1254.96 coming off our total debt :j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j yippeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Chrysalis1976

Great totals, well done x

Every bit counts and the amount you keep paying off will reduce the interest each month too, keep it going.

C x

daisystar

Thanks Chrysalis!! Its so lovely when you realise other people are actually reading

Well, I'm back!!!! :D:D:D

Well what a gross few days its been in the daisystar house :eek: We have had poorliness after poorliness from all three of us, so its just been a case of trying to get through each day but its been grim, grim, grim :eek::eek:

However, we are emerging now, clean, healthy and with a (little bit of an) appetite for food and life again Opening the laptop tonight has been glorious, and so has the realisation that we have spent NOTHING over the last few days

In v positive news, THE TENANTS HAVE PAID!!! :j:j:j I enjoy this every single time it happens on time as its just so impossible to know when it may not be the case, so every two weeks is an occasion to celebrate.

So, I put £50 across to CC1. According to my budget plans, I should really be putting £100 each time, however I have a feeling I may have to buy DS new shoes v soon, plus some cold weather gear as its biting here today, so I will take him to get his feet measured tomorrow and if I don't need to get them I'll move the rest of the money.

I also celebrated our recovery with a MASSIVE shop - but I now have enough food to last for aaaaages so I must be strong and not go again until I need to, and NOT when the call of the mince pies becomes too much.

Finally, DH has had expenses in which we have put in an account which is generally for car things, but in reality would cover us for house issues and non-paying tenant type things if needs be too. We had a discussion and decided this should sit at £500, so once we reach that amount we will put any extra expenses to the debts too. The funny thing is I have no idea what we used to spend this money on - I think it just got swallowed up in day to day spends, but now I'm on this tight budget this just seems impossible to me - how times have changed!!.

Such a long post but its been a while, I plan to get on here far more regularly from now on

Enjoy your evenings people - wishing you all good health and a germ free week!!!

Chrysalis1976

Great news that the tenants have paid, we also do a big shop on payday maybe that's something we should control so as not to run out towards the end of the month!

Glad everyone is on the mend, it's rife at the moment especially through school.

The savings sound good, well done on progress.

C x