pickle me's diary

pickle_me

I had my hair cut today. £10 at the local college, plus £5 tip. It's the third time I've gone and each time I've had a great cut. I can't see myself ever going back to a salon to pay £70+ when I can get it done so cheaply at the college. One of my MSE-inspired changes that will stay with me.

The other thing I was thinking about was birthday presents. As some of my earlier posts show, what I found hardest at the start of this journey was having to cut back on what I spent on birthday presents for my family. Now I actually enjoy the challenge of getting a great present and saving money doing it - finding a deal here, or a reduction there, or a sale bargain. These are good habits for life

pickle_me

Well, we did it. I've neglected my diary over the last few months because somehow I felt as though we'd crossed the finish line already - once we'd got within touching distance of £0 debt, it didn't feel like big news any more.

But we're debt-free. I can't believe we ever owed £15k. Now the hard work really begins - we'll never be in debt like that again, and credit cards will only be for exceptional use, but the temptation is there to spend every penny we earn, and now we need to get used to saving money. Saving it, and not touching it! That's the next challenge ...

Thank you, everyone who commented here, who thanked me for a post, or simply read what I wrote. It was really nice having the support

Goodbye, and good luck all of you with your debt-busting efforts! I'm off to edit my signature for the last time

stepuptothepl8

Congratulations!! I was mostly a lurker, but it's inspirational to see that it can be done! What next for you? xx

eco_farmer

congratulations. maybe treat yourself a long the way!


eco

in_need_of_direction

Well done but I'm gonna miss that little minion.

NHS_worker_bee

Congratulations and good luck with the next challenge!

pickle_me

Thank you, stepup, eco farmer, INOD and Bee

What's next? Well, we have a dishwasher that hasn't worked for several years and we could never afford to replace; we haven't had a tumble drier since we moved here 4 years ago; we have the balance of our forthcoming holiday to pay for; and that's before we even start to think about making a decent dent in the mortgage! But we will treat ourselves a little - I've already revised my initial post-debt budget to allow a little more family spending money for days out with the kids - no point being so frugal we can't have any fun :cool:

Thank you my friends, and good luck to you with your own endeavours :beer:

eco_farmer

good luck.don't forget to post on the debt free role of honour.

pickle_me

I don't know if anyone will read this but I had to add a little postscript to my diary.

We've just got back from two weeks away and yesterday evening my husband sat down to open the post. Suddenly he handed me a letter to read. It was from the Co-op (Bank), in reference to his PPI claim.

You can all guess where this is heading ... but the thing is, we wrote to all the banks with which he used to have credit cards/loans back in November 2013 when I first found out about the debt and was doing everything possible to counter it. All the banks wrote back and said there was no claim to be made, the Co-op included.

So we got on with paying off the debt without any windfalls to help. And now, almost two years later, the Co-op appear out of the blue to say that they've decided he is due a PPI refund after all. Almost £5,000 :eek:

The lovely thing is that this comes after we've paid off all our debt. We did the hard work and this feels like an amazing reward. We've been planning to redecorate our daughters' bedrooms for Christmas, and I was worried about how we'd pay for it - now I don't have to worry :j

And a new dishwasher after years without :T

I think I will write to the other banks again, just in case - you never know

dawnybabes

Wow, that's fantastic xxx