Debt free by 40 -- 19 Months and counting

StressedSteph

Morning all,

Not too much to report here today, so glad it is Friday and half term next week:j.

Got to go into school this afternoon to chat to the ECO Committee children to tell them all about the orchard we are planting. Should be fun.

Handing in some cakes to school that I made last night. We have a afterschool Cafe before every holiday and there is always a shortge of cake donations. Thought I would do my bit this time round.

Not balance bank account yet, althought don't think much is due to be happenning today. Will do it at some point though as I like to reconcile my YNAB budget against my bank statement everyday otherwise it can get very confusing.

Kim - Great ideas about Staycations. I expect the children will still love it. Just got to hope we have a dry hot summer like last year. Not holding out alot of hope at the moment.

I am looking forward to finding quiet camp sites, would rather that than the big ones. Less threatening when you are on your own.

Can I ask your opinions - DO you think it is ok so me to take the two children camping on my own??. There is a small voice in my head that is telling me it is risky. (Lone woman - two young children) We camped last year but it was with other friends, but don't always want to be tied to when they go, but worried I am asking for trouble. (maybe I have watched too many crimewatches )

Off now, got to tidy up abit this morning. Looks like a hurricane hit my kitchen after late night cake baking

xxx

mizmir

Morning Steph. Hope you are feeling a bit better today. The holiday fund is an excellent idea. I think you should be fine camping - if you are worried go to a site that has a warden - they may be a bit bigger but there are still quiet ones and you know there is always someone around. You'll probably also find people will help you put the tent up and stuff if you need it - camping people tend to be quite friendly I've found.

Have fun at the School - I am so impressed about your orchard - it may have been not entirely sensible to offer it but SUCH a generous gift that will last forever - generations of kids will be glad of it. Lovely. And cakes too! Hope they appreciate you up there.

Enjoy your day. I have to confess I am still in my pjs - have been up hours but haven't got round to getting dressed! The joy of self employment!

StressedSteph

Morning Miz,


Glad to hear I am not being silly hoping to go camping on my own. Good idea about the warden. Will check with some sites when I start looking. Before my LBM I often pondered about going abroad with the children, but the fear of overly-amorous men always put me off. hehe .

It is lovely to be responsible for getting the Orchard idea off the ground in school. My children might not benefit from it so much but won't it be lovely if my grand-children end up in the school. It would be lovely to tell them how granny planted the trees :T.

I don't blame you being in your pj's. I haven't achieved much today.

Feeling a little exhausted with the favour people keep asking of me. I am looking after my neighbours chickens again this week while they go away. And also just been up to a friends for coffee and they have asked me to feed and walk their dog over the weekend when they go away . Sometimes it would be nice to have an official full time job just so that people wouldn't see me as an obvious choice for asking favours.

I don't mind helping out my neighbours and friends at all as they both have helped me in the past, its just that it never seems to end. Oh well, moan over. wouldn't be so bad if it was in the summer when the weather was lovely. Horrible doing my own animals in this weather, let alone other peoples as well.

Ok off to tidy kitchen before I have to go up to the school. xxx

StressedSteph

Well I signed up the the S#ntander 123 account because of their good cashback offers.


They have just taken out their £2 monthly fee. But they have paid in 65p for paying my Water bill and £2.87 for Communications. (Think this involves mobile / broadband / home phone).

So in profit with £1.52 x

I need to sort it out because I could be getting up £12 per month paid back to me.

Their Calculator say:-

Council Tax (£190) = £19
Water (£65) = £8
Mortgage (£701) = £84
Communications (£170) = £61


Total = £172 Per year minus Fee £24 = £148 per year / £12.33 per month Not bad for just paying my bills.


I could earn an extra £24 per year with my Electricity but I am not with one of their agreed suppliers. Not sure worth bothering about that as I am with the cheapest I can be at the moment and it might cost me more with one of their agreed suppliers.


My one BIG issue is that I have not currently got my Mortgage payment back onto a Direct Debit yet. S#antander agreed to cancel my direct Debit with the agreement that I will just definitely pay within each month to save myself from any charges.

I AM paying the mortgage every month, but my payment usually goes out on the 1st of every month and at the moment I just don't have the money at that time of the month.
We are still getting on our feet and I am constantly searching for the right time of the month that I ALWAYS have enough money so I can confirm a new DD date with them.

Not really happened yet, but until it is on DD I will miss out on my cashback from the bank, which works out at £7 per month. So really need to get it together as soon as possible.

Hope my ramblings all makes sense. It is such a pleasant experience being paid money from a bank rather than them just taking a massive payment from me for bank charges :T.


Loving S#ntander xxx

FinanciallyUnsavvy

Hi Steph

I've got to admit, the cashback from Santander sounds amazing... I may actually have to look into their accounts myself. Would you recommend switching?

I don't think you should worry about taking the children camping by yourself. I don't see why camping should be any less safe than any other kind of trip with the kids! As long as you're on a fairly busy legit site (and not pitched out by yourselves in the middle of nowhere :rotfl: ) I think you should be perfectly safe.

As Mizmir said above, if you are worried, then there are plenty of sites that will have security staff etc., so make sure you book with one of those.

Have a lovely day xx

mizmir

Wow - I didn't realise the 123 account paid cashback. I am with Santander but have a different account - they've offered to switch but I never did because we were so overdrawn but now that is sorted we could look at it again. Sounds good to get cashback for paying bills - we pay lots of them!

charlies_tribe

Hi, Just thought I would pop by and say hello now I am working my way around the site a bit more.
Good luck on your journey.

StressedSteph

Hi all


I applied online to S#ntander because to be honest I totally expected to be refused an account, so didn't want a face to face refusal .

I opted for the switching service and it all went incredible smoothly. It worked well for us as we are paid weekly. They gave us about 10 days notice of the final switch over day which fell on a Friday. So I just made sure that hubbys Friday wages that week went into the new account.

I rang S#ntander to make sure they didn't switch over my overdraft, I clicked on the application form that I didn't want an overdraft with them, but was still worried it would follow me

They were great and just said that as I was leaving an active overdraft they wouldn't be able to close my old account for me, but as long as I didn't mind then that was fine.

Really fab. I have even called them up to ask for a cheque book and some envelopes to post the odd small cheque to them to save me driving to the nearest branch. I got through to a human being really easily and they posted the items straight out.

Have realised just how rubbish B#rclays are. I have been with them all my life so had no reference point. :mad:.

S#ntander online banking is really clear and easy to use.

Love it xxx

Puzzcat

Hi ss,


I also second/third/fourth the holiday on your own with the children. DD and I have been going away just the 2 of since she was about 6.. I have to say we don't do though as I've never liked not having my comfy bed and somewhere to plug my straightners into.... I am more of a somewhere..


I've not had a problem with unwanted male attention.. although I normally have my nose in a book and we now usually go to the same place so have ready made friends to 'hang' with....


Hope you have a fab half term, I know your looking forwards to it. xxxx

mfmaybe

Steph it's interesting to hear how well you got on with S#nt@nder. I opened an ISA with them 2 years ago and it was shambolic! Glad it's not all as bad as it seemed. Certainly seems like a good plan for you.

Not sure what to suggest about the payment date for your mortgage. If you are paid weekly can you draw up a table and plot them out? Presumably you need a couple of weeks pay combined for the mortgage (taking into account other payments too). I know I was surprised to discover that nearly everything I spent was in the first 2 weeks of a month, then there is a huge lull, with 2 final DDs just before payday.