Scrimping behind the scenes - with debt of £31,000!

Mysteek

Yes I second that, hope everything is ok

catriona79

Third! Let us know you're ok

dawnybabes

And fourth ....

Chrysalis1976

Hope you're well x

Seasidegal58

Hi everyone – long time no post! Thanks to all of you for dropping in to ask how I was - it's lovely to read your good wishes.:A

A rather nasty combination of chest infection, strep throat (with the associated sick leave from work) plus fighting fires when I returned to work (owing to a bit of a build up of things to do that hadn’t been handled whilst I was away), has kept me from posting as I’ve felt absolutely awful! As I’m feeling back to normal now I thought I’d jump back into diary-land this weekend!

I’ve updated my signature as as from the 17th my debt is now down to £27,414.17 which is 12.21% paid off since I started in April – four months and a whole third of a year ago!:j I’ve added the Halifax and M&S card to the signature, but I’ve just put the amounts that I’ve actually paid off on these cards, not the whole total amounts to finish off the cards as these came from transfers which are now on other cards. Still I’m still very pleased to see them recorded on my signature. I’ve also finished off the small transfer amount of £432 on Barclaycard 4 that I took out the other month.

My NatWest card, which is the card I am concentrating on now, is down to £2,820.39 .This month I’ve paid off £787.33 from this card, made up from minimum payment, the surplus credit from the Halifax card, the usual monthly amount from the credit card allocation surplus (£500) and £124 which was the first minimum payment allocated for the new Post Office card, but as the first payment date doesn’t actually fall until next week in the new month, I was able to use August’s payment to NatWest instead.

I’ve had a letter from Barclaycard to say they are upping my credit limit by £1,200 on 9th September so I can then see if I can use this extra money for a balance transfer. Unfortunately 0% balances on two lines on my MBNA card are finishing on 3rd September and these will then go up to 16.7% and 20.9% respectively so another balance transfer will come in handy!:eek:

It’s the final day of Week 4 of Scrimp Month 4 and after totting up the figures I’ve come in overbudget on ad hoc spends by £94.11 and food/household by £1.67 so I will wing £95.78 over to the NatWest card today. Been a bit of an up and down month as I’ve had days when I’ve not been well and I’ve not spent anything and then had a few large outgoings: theatre tickets for later on in the year for my sister’s birthday, birthday presents for friends, anniversary present for sister and OH and a couple of evenings out/lunches with friends, taxis, sister’ BBQ etc.

My fixed rate electric deal finishes at the end of this month so I have changed supplier to Ovo which will bring my monthly electric payment down by £9.

Hi Catriona :wave: - we don’t pay overtime at our firm unfortunately, but the pay tends to be good! But next year I think the firm will begin to pay annual discretionary bonuses or so the rumour goes – it is quite a young start-up company so the profits have tended to be ploughed back into the firm, but fingers crossed for next year! You asked about my mortgage – I’m really lucky in that I only have under £2,500 to pay off on my mortgage and this will end in two years’ time (before my debt free date!) – it’s very low so even if interest rates rise I could always use the monthly credit card surplus money to pay it down. However, when the debt is finished I do want to build up more of an emergency fund – want to try for a few months’ salary at least so will hopefully put the extra I have been paying on the cards into this.

I had an email the other week from Greenredeem to say that they were ending their partnership with M&S at the end of September, which is a great shame as the vouchers came in handy. I wonder if it was all the MSE Forumites that flooded the site! They certainly were very popular on here!

I’ve got my friend’s 70th birthday afternoon tea today so will be out for that, but will catch up on some diaries when I get back later.

Ciao for now!

Seasidegal58

....and I've got another little gold star! I'm a "stalwart" now!

in_need_of_direction

good to hear from you before the search party was called up. bad that you weren't off doing something wonderful. i know how you feel re green redeem I will really miss those wee boosts. you've made brilliant in roads to the debt since you started. well done and enjoy the birthday tea.

Chrysalis1976

Great to have you back, sorry you've been unwell during that time. Take care of yourself to get back to full strength.

Fantastic news on your debt payments that's brilliant going, I hope you are rewarded in the future with a bonus.

I can't believe how little you have left on your mortgage, how fabulous I'm not sure that there's many people who will be mortgage free before debt free.

Well done, C x

satchmo1

Glad you're feeling better, and wow to your 12.21% debt reduction.

Eager_Elephant

Sorry you have not been well seasidegal.


Can I just ask what everyone will be doing with Greenredeem now? I have a £5 off £35 spend for M & S which I thought would come in handy for school uniform but they had nothing suitable.


I will get the food vouchers and get some bits in for Xmas but after September what vouchers will you be getting? None of the available ones look like things I would use?!!?