12 months, £15k and a life too?

Archer0710

2014 is going to be mine and Hubby's debt free year! This time next year I would like to be sat smugly having paid it all off drinking a glass of celebratory champagne and yes it will be Moët all budgeted for etc:rotfl:

It won't be easy though, my calculations actually put my debt free date at about Feb so I will need to keep my head down to do it!

Debts are
£4300 to M&S C/card
C.£2400 to Lloyds (ends May need to check amount was £20k)
£1200 Lloyds card
£5000 Bank of Mum and Dad (500 PCM 0% but principally the one I want to clear first)
£260 Next

We have come a very long way. We have no overdraft, have cleared 3 c/cards DH's overdraft, loan and payed his car off. Paid Sofas off, tv off £2k overdraft off and tbh cleared the M&S card once but at our most skint ran it back up again to save defaulting on other things which whilst not financially savvy hasn't bitten us on the !!!! yet

So in summary we pay currently
£500 to parents
£406 something to the Lloyds loan
£100 Lloyds c/card but the balance jumps up and down depending on work expenses
£100 M&S

I intend to roll over the £406 to M&S and then pay of £506 a month once the loan finishes in May.

Debt really was as a result of starting again (me) setting up home and reckless living and a failed relationship (him) but what's done is done and I am not into apportioning blame, it's we not not me and him.

I will have a look at my SOA when I finish work for the holiday but I am very grateful for what we have and will never take for granted what I have.

My plans are also to save up a contingency fund £175 in it currently, save for Christmas (rolled over £35 from my supermarket savings) and bring down my grocery bill.

I keep trying to start a diary but fail to keep it up so fingers crossed I do it this time!!!

beanielou

Happy shiny new dairy
Keep posting!

Archer0710

I intend to, I can't commit to daily but will endeavour to do so weekly.

Once I have a bit more time I will explore my slightly mad plans it's useful to have a sensible sounding board as my Darling Hubby agrees with everything I say, if that was let's spend all our Christmas money on wine he'd agree :rotfl:

I have gained £4 and potted 50p too since I started my diary (all of 2 hrs ago) so today I am feeling positive.

It's just occurred to me, I waste my dinner hour wandering round town so if I updated my diary during my lunch break I'd save money and update too. I feel a plan coming on :cool:

Eyebright

Found you!
All sounding good, you have a plan, so all you need to do is go for it! We can encourage each other to keep up with our diaries and stay on the straight and narrow :rotfl:

LAM2011

Good luck on your journey

Archer0710

Hi Eyebright! Nice to see you here. Lam thankyou this one I intend to keep up.

Today was a bit of a spendy day, I braved the queues in M&S and despite all the tempting offers bought one pudding for Christmas Day. I also spent £9 on Crabtree and Evelyn hand cream for my boss. She is the lady who has everything so hoping it will be appreciated.

I really struggle with what to buy bosses as it's usually less than £10 and I don't really think wine and chocolates show any thought. I'd hoped to get her a mug with a Westie but typically I couldn't find the Alex Clarke one I wanted another example of needing to be more organised. At least I'd taken wrapping paper with me so I avoided that cost.

I have set myself some little tasks to achieve over Christmas:

1. Bank cheque from MIL, it's £50 so think I will put it in the emergency account which will make that up to £225.

2. Amend S/o to my second account to £50 this will be my Christmas account.

3. Divert the other £50 to our Santander account that we have no card for (it's an old style account) which is great as it means we don't touch it.

4. Bank Cheque from DH's employer which is a refund for work clothes. It's owed to my Mum though as she paid for it on her c/card for us. It's taken about 6 weeks to get it back from them:mad: it's £480 so it's not like it's pennies.

And my rambling for the day is:

We have an M&S credit card which gives you M&S vouchers when you spend on it. I love M&S Christmas stuff but hardly buy it as it's quite expensive. If I used my card (and paid it off in full) I could save my vouchers for Christmas. Is this a daft plan?

beanielou

Good idea to boost M & S points
As we all know points makes prizes

Archer0710

beanielou wrote: »

Good idea to boost M & S points
As we all know points makes prizes

Or party food in this case! Which is even better :j

Eyebright

Hi! :santa2:
As long as you are disciplined and pay off the CC in full each month I don't see why you can't use the CC. Gift vouchers are pretty useful, and means more value for your money!

Archer0710

I think if I just put my fuel on then I will set up a standing order to pay the balance each month.

Not sure how many vouchers I'll get with £200 PCM? But even a few ££'s is good.:D

Hubby has just asked what I'd like to do in my time off, thinking

Was talking to a veggie colleague earlier and if I ever tuned my head to thinking about meat I'd stop eating it, so thinking about starting out eating meat every other day but DH barely eats enough veg to be healthy so he won't buy in to that. Just wondering if it would increase or decrease the food bill.

savvykaz

Hi, you can set up a DD to pay the whole amount outstanding each month on your M&S card, so when you've cleared the current debt on it I would defo recommend you use it each month and pay it off. A colleague of mine has one and she does just this, buys ALL her monthly shopping on it, pays it in full each month but gets the vouchers - she's earned £400 this year and has used it for her Xmas shopping :j