Silverbird's Diary

Silverbird

I made £20 at the weekend with things I'd put on eBay and I listed a further 13 items on Sunday, as well as quite a few on Amazon. I'll gradually clear our loft of 'junk'!

I had a racing bet win week (only put £0.40 each way) and all of that money has gone off a debt already (£15).

Since the week before last I've been recording films off TV onto DVD discs and then selling the ones we already have on DVD and keeping our copies. We have 25 films already and I've put about 6 of them up for sale (the rest are films we'd always wanted, but never bought). This will have the added bonus of creating some more storage space for us!

Silverbird

Well, not a lot has changed since my last post, which is why it's been a while.

I'm still quietly chipping away at my debt. Any extra money I've made recently is all being saved, as we're going away to the Isle of Skye in June, which I'm very excited about.

I was lucky enough to win an iPod Nano this month and although I fell in love with it and wanted it for myself, I knew that with my debts I just had to sell it, so I did. It went for just over £100, so no complaints here and it's gone straight towards my holiday savings. Only need another £50 and it's all paid for.

I'm still recording films off TV and selling the DVDs that we have. It's working very well.

I've saved a little money by pre-buying 3 month subscription from Tesco DVD rentals (I was previously paying per month). It's still our only form of regular entertainment (we don't go pubbing, clubbing and don't eat out much) and we're really enjoying it and seeing some fantastic films.

We're going up to visit the family next week for 5 days, so that will cost us a fair bit, although OH and I have already booked our discounted ferry and paid half each. It's the petrol that costs so much, as they live so far away. Plus, we will be stocking up on things like black bin bags, kitchen rolls and rubber gloves when we're up there, as we don't have any discount shops where we live, but there are lots where the family are.

OH and I both work for the NHS and unfortunately we've just been told that there will be job losses due to our Trust being in debt. OH's contract runs out at the end of March, so now it's looking even less likely that he'll still have a job and I'm very worried as I'm the newest employee to the department I'm working in and I seem to have the boss with the least amount of work. We're both very worried indeed, but there's not a lot we can do about it until we know either way and we've not been told anything definite as yet. OH should know about his job in the first week of March. We're keeping our fingers tightly crossed.

It's my 28th birthday next month. So just 2 more years until I'm the dreaded 30 and hopefully (really hopefully) debt-free.

Another reason to be really excited about next month is that I will officially owe less than £5,000, which I feel is quite an achievement and something I'm very proud of. £4K and something just looks much more manageable than £5K, doesn't it?

Silverbird

I won the Grand National on Saturday! I had an 'outsider' bet on Mon Mome at 66-1 (wish I had ticked 'SP' so I would have gotten it at 100-1 when it actually raced, but c'est la vie!). I only put 40p each way as well. Drat. Oh well! Got me an extra £33 that I didn't have before and a big smug grin on my face, as OH had laughed when I'd told him which one I'd picked and said there was no way it would ever win or even place ... bless him though; he was gracious enough to congratulate me when it won!

I made £20 last month through Amazon sales and have sold £5 of DVDs on there yesterday too, so will be paying more money off OH's CC this month. I feel really happy about this because I feel like I haven't made a good dent in my debts for a while and this is because any extra money made/earned was all going towards payment for our holiday in June, but this is all paid for now and we're really looking forward to it.

The job situation at the place where I work has been confirmed and there will be no immediate redundancies, so we're safe at the moment. Further fantastic news is that OH has got a job extension and also the opportunity to apply for his current role at a higher band. *fingers crossed*

Oh, and you know I won an iPod Nano and fell in love with it and wanted it in February, but sold it as I needed the cash? OH bought me a 'very cheap' (his words) iPod Shuffle for my birthday. Bless him!

calcinite

Hi Silverbird,

Didn't want to read and run.

Congratulations on doing so well on reducing the debt and hope all goes well for the future.

Silverbird

calcinite wrote: »

Hi Silverbird,

Didn't want to read and run.

Congratulations on doing so well on reducing the debt and hope all goes well for the future.

Thank you ever so much, calcinite. How kind of you. Your comment and well wishes are much appreciated. Thanks so much for posting.

Silverbird

I'm very pleased to say that OH has been told the job he's doing that he will have to formally apply for is 'in the bag' and that it will be at a higher pay band, which is absolutely fantastic news and will mean an extra £150 in the bank each month.

Furthermore, he's gotten 3 new credit cards at 0% interest for 12 months with 0% on balance transfers and this will save him a further £600 this year alone on interest.

He's had a look at his figures and at the end of December this year if he continues paying his usual payments then he will owe about £10,700. It would be so wonderful if it could be below £10K, but there's not much more he can do to get it down that much. Fingers crossed for a lovely cash win!

I'm still selling lots of DVDs and selling them for OH too and making quite a bit this way. Competition wins are a bit scarce at the moment, but we'll keep battling on and hoping for a biggie.

I have re-done my snowballs on the calculator and since December last year I have shaved a whole 10 months off my debt-free date (now September 2011 rather than March 2012). I still want to be debt-free by 30, so March 2011 is the goal, but I'm really chuffed at having cut it down so much so quickly.

At the moment things are looking very bright.

Silverbird

Well, OH has applied for his job and there should be interviews in mid-June (his manager is on leave until then). Again, he's been told not to worry about the job, but you can't help but do so until it's in black and white.

OH did a balance transfer last night and has saved himself about £300 by doing this apparently.

The DVDs are still selling well and we've had some decent wins this month, so that's helped. I had a dream last night that I won £10,000 with one of those women's magazines (the comps from which I do enter) and I was shaking and crying in my dream. If only! I did win £25 with Premium Bonds this month though and every penny helps!

OH recalculated his debts last night and his debt-free date appears to be September 2011, which is absolutely amazing and far better than I could have hoped for. He should have cleared all credit cards by the end of next year. The debt-free date is for 1 single loan. However, he's pretty sure he'll be able to clear the credit cards sooner, as his calculations don't include 0% interest if he is lucky enough to continue getting deals with credit cards and transferring balances.

I managed to pay quite a bit off one of my debts last month due to selling competition items and DVDs and my £25 win and I have managed to shave another 2 months off my debt-free date! It's now July 2011. Getting debt-free by 30 is now looking easily possible and I'm absolutely delighted and really rather tearful about it all.

It hit me last night that OH and I could be totally debt-free by the end of next year (well, OH will still have a small amount on 1 loan, but I'm sure with both of us chipping away we could save and pay that off earlier). We will finally be able to relax (only a little, mind you - my MSE ways are well and truly rooted now!) and enjoy life a little more and not feel so terribly guilty about buying a takeaway once a month or buying an item of clothing. Then we can start saving madly for a baby and start trying and find a place and try to get a mortgage or find a place to rent (we'd need a bigger place).

I'm so pleased with how well we've done so far with regards to our debts and I feel glad that we've managed to sort it all out by ourselves. Life is looking very good financially at the moment. Now if only my health would improve!

Silverbird

I'm overjoyed to report that OH had his interview this morning and got 'his' job. The relief I feel is immense. I don't think it's sunk in for OH yet, bless him. The extra money will be amazing and will certainly bring our debt-free date forwards a bit, but the job stability is the key and means we can relax a bit.

I'm ever so pleased and happy

Silverbird

Things are going well and OH thinks he will owe under £10K by the end of the year. Fingers crossed!

Next month I may possibly manage to owe below £4K, which will be fab and will also mean I have paid off half of the debt I owed 2 years ago, which is a milestone.

I feel we're doing really well and OH's promotion has really helped put him in a more positive frame of mind about our debt situation.

Going on holiday on Saturday, so looking forward to that and the break will do us both some good. Lots of walking and photo-taking, so very MSE!

Silverbird

I was forced into taking PPI on my loan in November 2006. I vividly remember telling the lady on the phone that I did not want this insurance, but she said that I had to have it. I managed to get it reduced at the time, but not dropped.

I wrote to A&L in October last year, after having read about PPI reclaiming on here. A&L continued to tell me they were still looking into it and weren't sure how long it would be before I got an answer. I decided to put my claim in with the FOS and sent it off on New Year's Eve.

I got a letter from the FOS yesterday to say that A&L have reviewed my case and have offered me £173.54, which includes interest. This is the amount they have charged me on PPI to date. They did say that they hadn't personally investigated it in depth yet and that this was just through negotiation with A&L and if I wanted to reject it then I had to give my reasons and it would take longer for them to investigate it fully.

I'm absolutely overjoyed and have obviously accepted and sent my confirmation letter off today.

It may not seem like a lot of money to some, but it certainly is to me (see my signature!) and it is money that was always rightfully mine that I didn't want taken from me. Another one up against the banks. Thanks, Martin!