Tales from the city

ani*fan

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

You survived without upping the debt, well done. Now start issuing letters of complaint and see if there's anything you can claw back.

Thanks INOD. This is brilliant, you're absolutely right, surely someone somewhere has to take some responsibility?

I just kept imagining how this would be if we had a child or two in tow. It doesn't bear thinking about, bad enough for me and OH.

hiddenshadow

Sorry to hear your holiday was rubbish! I hope you can get some compensation from someone.

ani*fan

Thanks, hidden shadow. I hope we do too.

We're now home safe and sound, and have just figured out a budget for the rest of the month. Everything we had planned looks entirely manageable, as long as we stick rigidly to the budget and don't overspend even one wee bit. I enjoy a challenge.

ani*fan

Just checking in to say that not much has changed since I last posted. The post-holiday budget seems to be working out ok. Everything is getting paid and there is cash in the food pot so we're all good until the next payday.

Next month we have a wedding to go to. Just the evening do, but I'm really looking forward to it. The couple have requested a cash present to help fund their honeymoon. Anybody have any idea how much is appropriate? It's OH's work colleague and they've only really become friends in the last few months. OH wants us to do this for our wedding too but I'm not quite sure. Is it ok to ask for cash? Apparently it's not uncommon now. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

I'm back to work tomorrow.

ani*fan

All the bills and credit cards have now been paid and I've updated my signature. My total is inching towards 10k; I can't wait to be under that.

• I've been perusing some diaries this weekend and plan to copy a few ideas to keep me motivated and help the debt reduction. These are:
  
• Open a rewards account in my name. I love the monthly fiver from me and OH's joint account, I didn't realise you could get another one too.
  
• Open a 5% saver for the wedding fund and move the (tiny) savings to there.
  
• Create a present fund in next budget to cover birthdays and Christmas. At the minute this comes out of our monthly allowance and this isn't really working.
  
• Sell my expensive thing. It's already advertised as of yesterday, just waiting on a buyer.
  
  Also in the spirit of being better organised financially, I'm going to move my two tiny pension pots from years ago into my current one so that it's all in one place.
  
  And I will NOT spend any money on coffees today. Nothing.

Happy debt busting everyone.

Igamogam

ani*fan wrote: »

The couple have requested a cash present to help fund their honeymoon. Anybody have any idea how much is appropriate? It's OH's work colleague and they've only really become friends in the last few months. OH wants us to do this for our wedding too but I'm not quite sure. Is it ok to ask for cash? Apparently it's not uncommon now. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Similar situation : recently celebrated with friends their 25th wedding anniversary - they didn't want cards or presents but asked for money to be donated to a charity close to their heart - so I put in £25 which was a n east number to come to but I reckon £25 for your friends is a reasonable amount - if they have 100 guests each giving that then the honeymoon should be fine!

ani*fan

Igamogam wrote: »

Similar situation : recently celebrated with friends their 25th wedding anniversary - they didn't want cards or presents but asked for money to be donated to a charity close to their heart - so I put in £25 which was a n east number to come to but I reckon £25 for your friends is a reasonable amount - if they have 100 guests each giving that then the honeymoon should be fine!

Thanks for that, Igamogam. £25 sounds reasonable enough to me.

I managed to get through yesterday without spending anything on coffee. :T I did overspend slightly on my dad's birthday present but he'll love it and we have an extra couple of quid to spend so I'm not too worried. I'm waiting for the car hire payment to go out of my account, which I'd forgotten about, so then everything will be paid.

I had a look over on the MFW boards last night. It seems that once the debt is gone, lots of people keep going using the same tricks and MSE tactics to try and pay off their mortgage. I don't even have a mortgage yet. Getting ahead of myself much?

Happy moneysaving everyone.

misstara

ani*fan wrote: »

I had a look over on the MFW boards last night. It seems that once the debt is gone, lots of people keep going using the same tricks and MSE tactics to try and pay off their mortgage. I don't even have a mortgage yet. Getting ahead of myself much?

:rotfl: I do this a lot, however, good to look ahead. My general plan once the debt is gone is to continue as usual but put the money into savings for a deposit then MFW here I come

in_need_of_direction

I try to do it but having remortgaged several times to consolidate debt, I consider myself to be a dfw rather than mfw!

ThatKiss

ani*fan wrote: »

I had a look over on the MFW boards last night. It seems that once the debt is gone, lots of people keep going using the same tricks and MSE tactics to try and pay off their mortgage. I don't even have a mortgage yet. Getting ahead of myself much?

Ha, I'm in the same boat and do exactly the same thing. no harm in being prepared for continuing the dfw into mfw I guess!