Let's try this again then shall we ?

ramorth

Hi,

Long time lurker and had a diary before under another name, sadly someone in RL stalked me so time for a change.

Not going to share any basic info at this stage as I don't want this person finding me again, but I have no doubt that I will " leak" parts of myself through time.

This diary is aimed so far at getting rid of the 0% credit card I currently have, I don't think I will have got rid of it by the time the 0% runs out so will have to transfer again, I hope however to get it as low as possible

Wish me well on this challenge and join me if you fancy

Ramorth

in_need_of_direction

What happened to your last diary is dreadful. Best of luck this time round

ramorth

Hi in need of direction

To be honest I have to take responsibility for it happening, it was a situation I didn't see happening but I should have been more aware, it's a lesson learned and a mistake I won't make again.

Right I'm running late ... Will be back later to get an update done

ramorth

so i have had a look and it appears i owe just over £8,150 on the 0% visa, i am paying £200 a month to it just now but am looking for ways to try and up this to £250 a month. I am intending on doing this with simple things like rounding down bank accounts, also known as Tilly tidies

I am also looking at our food budget, and spending less on diesel etc, every little bit i can pay off is a little bit i dont need to pay interest on when it comes to transferring to the next deal

skint_spice

Good luck ramorth, have you considered paying the minimum and saving the rest seeing the debt is at 0% interest?

ramorth

Hi Skint spice, welcome

I could do that and have done so in the past and it has been quite effective, I think just now I am worried incase I spend it as we have a lot of money going out just now, I think though that maybe when we have stopped spending as much and have started saving again the I will go back to that way of working as it is a much more profitable way of addressing both debt and savings

ramorth

Well today has been a NSD which is something I don't often have, I will however have to spend something tomorrow but again it shouldn't be much

Have managed not to use my car much either this week so I have went nearly three weeks with only £50 in diesel, which considering I spend £30 a week that's good going, I will of course have to fill up on Friday as I am nearly on the red but that's not too bad at all

I have a long way to go but all the wee changes mount up, I also noticed that the tax allowance is going up to £10.5k, if I don't do any overtime I should be tax free next year

Would obviously rather be earning £20k and paying tax but I have to take any good news I can get

ramorth

So I did have a small spend, should have been more but I've managed not to use the car at all so will get diesel tomorrow instead, have Tilly tidied up some money but have been giving some more thought as to what skint spice mentioned, if say I pay just the basic to the visa and save the money I get extra like Tilly tidies, then I could potentially have more to add to the visa before the 0% bit comes to an end, I am a bit concerned about that as we are spending a lot of money just now ( can't be helped) and I don't want the extra that we save to be spent as well, but it is obviously the best course of action, question is, do I trust ourselves not to spend it ... Hmmmm

ramorth

Oops seems life got away with me again, have paid the visa for the month but have been giving more thought to what skint spice has said, I have decided to just pay the £200 every month ( still paying £13 extra per month ) and to put any other monies saved throughout the month elsewhere, this will make our money work harder for us and will ultimately get us out of debt faster.

Have had one more NSD but I think that will be all for a while

Have been reading into various diaries on a few boards ( DFW ,MFW and the savings board) and been picking up a few tips here and there and reading more in depth about other things, it all very interesting.

My gas and electricity are up for renewal next week so I will need to get that sorted as well

Think that's about it for now

ramorth

Nothing much has been happening financially so have not felt the need to update, however this isnt really helping me reach my goal, so i need to come up with something to keep the momentum going.

Have recently sold some of the things that i no longer use, netting me a total so far of £40 after postage and packing, i have some more stuff to go which should bring me a further £50, i have not yet decided what to do with this money, but should really consider putting towards either the visa debt or the other debt i have, or i could put it towards some savings or retirement planning

will need to have a wee think

ramorth

Hi all, been quite quiet in Ramorth burrow, have paid the £200 off of the visa as planned, they have changed the minimum payment I have to make, I am not however going to lower the payments, will stick with the £200 a month.

Have decided to put any extra pennies etc to our mortgage it's currently sitting at £34,000 ish ( don't have exact figures just now)

Our first mortgage is £19,000 ish 4.69%
Our second mortgage is £15,000 ish at 3.29%

(Obviously those figures are not exact but rounded up)

I can over pay £500 on each mortgage but won't be able to manage that so I am going to put all Tilly tidies etc into the mortgage as ultimately I want to be mortgage free and start planning for early retirement