Mind change to debt thanks to MSE forums!

sassychick2014

Morning everyone

This week has been an odd week. I seem to be having some good stuff thrown at me (like a new contract with current client) but can't seem to get to enthusiastic about things.

Maybe it's because I have so much to do this week and not enough time so I'm sitting here fretting about it instead of doing it? I've got the old contract, the new contract, 2 other clients, a birthday party to arrange/fund, a house to get spotless as we've guests coming to stay for 3 days, a garden that needs sorting, a child that is quite upset that she's turning 10 as she thinks it means she "can't be a little girl any more" (where that came from I don't know!!) and a course & a few meetings to attend. I'm not sure where I'm going to get the time to do all of this but maybe a good start would be getting off here and doing at least one of them!

Have a good day everyone xx

sassychick2014

Damn, and I've just remembered it's half term next week so need to try and get twice as much work in so I can see my child. Bang goes sleeping this week!!

sassychick2014

Hi everyone

Well managed to survive half term. One of the drawbacks of having to work everyday was that I couldn't do things with Littley but as I had my nephew staying they played together quite nicely (most of the time!) I also had my parents at home so the 4 of them were quite happy to doss around together! Another plus is that I didn't have to spend much money

So, since I got back from my travels I've been trying to re-sort out my finances and have finally done it to start with the beginning of the month.

Debts (01/05):

CC1: 7579.74
CC2: 739.48
CC3: 939.66
CC4: 596.69
Cat1: 1215.85
Cat2: 92.00
Cat3: 386.77

Total: 11550.19

However, I finally received my first payment from the new contract and so CC4 will be paid next Monday. I have also paid my gas & electricity arrears and made an over payment on my water - mainly because I'm not sure if I owe them, they owe me or what!!

I have also paid Cat2, an extra £50 towards Cat3 and £125 off CC1. Cat1 was on a BNPL which ran out at the end of April so instead of gaining a further £600+ interest my lovely Mum paid it and added it to the amount I owe her. So, new totals are:

31/05/2015

CC1: 7429.74
CC2: 739.48
CC3: 939.66
CC4: 596.69
Cat1: PAID - CLOSED ACCOUNT
Cat2: PAID - CLOSED ACCOUNT
Cat3: 336.77
Mum: 1500.00

Total: 11542.34

It seems a heck of a lot to me but when I get the second payment I can clear quite a bit more. I would have cleared Cat3 but my fence is so badly damaged that it needs replacing and so I've got someone coming to fix it this week - £489!!!

I'm now going to update my signature. Have a great day everyone xx

Harryspotter

well done on avoiding the interest on the catalogue - that has a big effect on the amount owed. But eek to the fencing :eek:

housework mostly achieved (well good progress made at least!) here -ready for the girls to come home from school and make it messy again yay!!!

hope you're having a good day x

sassychick2014

I was having a good day until I had to ring hmrc who are earning money by keeping me on hold for nearly 15mins - do they actually have other calls or do they automatically put you on hold for 15mins to earn the phone call money? Drives me mad!! x

sassychick2014

Morning everyone

So, today I've got 3 men loitering in my garden finally putting a new fence in. Although I'm seriously begrudging the money the fence actually blew down in the storms about 2 and a half years ago and has been hanging at a very dangerous angle ever since effectively meaning I couldn't let the kids use that end of the garden. Stupidly (or not) I didn't have garden on my home insurance although last time I had damage from a storm I was told the wind was 2mph less than what I could claim against, resulting in me having to get a loan for a grand to fix my roof. Insurance companies will do anything for your cash won't they!!

Anyway, I've started putting the pennies into my savings account again each day, something I haven't done since I got back from my trip as I needed to get the old finances back on track. I do have an issue with online statements though and wondered if anyone else has this. Every so often my available balance will be slightly off where it should be, usually a few pence here or there, but then a few days later it's back on track and those pennies are still in my account. This really freaks me out as I don't know why this happens. It's happened again this week but this time it's £6.07 and I've racked my brains, searched all my receipts etc and I know I haven't spent that money. So where is it and why is it not in my account? Does this happen to anyone else or should I be ringing my bank asking what's going on?

Anyway, have a good day everyone xx

sassychick2014

Morning

Not much to report so this should, hopefully, be short & sweet.

Made an overpayment on CC3 today and have brought that down to £900 so that's good. Been putting a few pence into my emergency savings so that's also good.

That's it really! Have a nice day everyone xx

sassychick2014

Morning

Today I made a payment to CC4. Not the complete payment as I'd previously said I would as the 0% offer doesn't actually run out until September. Therefore I've kept a little back for emergencies and will pay the remaining £250 by the end of August.

Nothing else to report except people round here seem to be ignoring me atm and it's driving me up the wall!! By round here obvs I mean in my real life, not on here! lol I just hate it when people expect you to jump hoops and do everything you can but ignore you the whole time. Grrrr.

Anyway, I'm off to try and do some work although I could probably really do with a big sleep as I'm tired. Probably why I'm so wound up about a bit of rudeness really.

Ah well, have a nice day everyone xx

sassychick2014

Afternoon everyone

Today my mum received her share of the proceeds from the sale of Grandmother's house which although very sad is allowing her and her sister to pay things off or contribute towards other things (my cousin's wedding for example). My mum has decided that she would like to give some money to both my brother and me as well as all her grandchildren. Something neither of us were expecting as she's already done so much. Anyway, this means that she has just wiped my debt to her off completely so for the first time in a LONG time I owe her precisely zero pounds and zero pence. It's quite a lovely feeling and one I intend to stick to. No more borrowing if I can't afford to repay it straight back.

I also had a LBM last night. One of my debts is mortgage arrears and I had put it at the bottom of my list of people to repay. My theory being the interest is higher on other debts. However I don't actually know what the interest rate is and tbh, it's not good being in mortgage debt. So I'm now rejigging my repayment plans for the year and have put them at the top. I don't why I hadn't thought that mortgage arrears could be bad before - so silly!

Anyway, that's all. Got a million and one things to do and not enough time to do them. But I have booked in a hair appt in an hour as I feel I need a little pamper after a stressful few months.

Have a great weekend everyone xx

sassychick2014

Evening everyone

Today I decided to go through my accounts and see if there was anywhere else I could save or reduce expenditure. The first thing I noticed was that I had an old ISA that had a handsome £3.70 in it but was on a really rubbish rate. Have now had a look through the ISA page on here and applied for a better account at a different provider. The first ISA is now closed and the £3.70 is now winging it's way to me as we speak. I'm not quite sure how to spend this if I'm honest. As it's such a vast amount of money I did think about using it to pay off cc1 but then decided it would be better off in savings :rotfl:

I have also made another overpayment towards cat3 bringing that total down a little bit more. I'd like to get into the PAD habit and have decided to try that from tomorrow, working on one debt at a time. Obviously this will be the highest interest one so that's cat3. I can't wait to see another jumping face on my signature. Now I've got 3 on there I'm desperate to get the rest!

I've also been looking at what the tax rate is for self-employed people as I've not earned enough to pay any before and it seems I may be over-estimating what I'll need to pay. However I think I'm going to stay as I am and put away the amounts I've worked out so if I am over at all I can either put it towards next year or have a bit of a treat.

That's all for tonight. Oh, just remembered I've also renewed my WTC. Hate doing those things and tonight was worse as I had to go through that "yes I am me" form but at least it's done and I won't have to do it next time.

I think I'm going to go to bed! Night everyone xx