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

Seasidegal58

Hi inod :hello: – I like the image of your smaller clothes glaring at you! Fortunately (or should that be unfortunately?!) I can’t see my “slim” clothes under the bed so the rays they emanate tend to miss the mark!

Thanks Chrysalis –:wave: I do walk to and from the stations for work, but the idea of walking up stairs is a good idea – I’m on the third floor at work with two flights of stairs between each floor so I might try that next week even if I just do it at lunch time .I also received a text from Lloyds yesterday to confirm they I have been accepted for the 0% card! :jAt my LBM moment I couldn’t envisage getting a 0% card for months and months, but as soon as the debt began to go down it seems that the card providers have had a change of heart so hopefully it won’t be too long before you start getting accepted again.

Also, re Barclaycard upping my credit limit, they originally wrote and said it was increasing on 9th September but on checking online this week they had already up it and were offering a 0% transfer for 7 months with a 2.9% fee. It’s not a very long period but I ‘ve accepted it as the MBNA CC1 has just come off 10.9% and shot up to 20.9%! :eek: So the £1,782 I have been offered by Barclaycard has been pinged over to MBNA which means that there is only £2.97 left on MBNA CC1 and that will disappear when the monthly payment goes over later this month. MBNA CC2 has also ended its 10.9% rate and has increased to 16.7% (£3,113.94 to go there!).:(

Once I receive my Lloyds card I will put the transfer over to the NatWest card as this is on 17.9% - BUT as I’ve been on a bit of a roll, I picked up courage to apply for a Sainsbury 0% card. They are going to get back to me in the next ten days with an answer so I’m hoping I’ve not blown it by applying for too many cards too soon!

Other positive this week – I’ve received notice of the last minimum payment for this month on my various cards so now that I know how much extra of my monthly credit card budget I can pay, I have just transferred over £535.58 over to the Natwest card so that is another wedge off the balance! :j

Re the week’s events, nothing much happening except some late nights at work, APART FROM: afraid the diet took a bashing on Wednesday night as after working late a few of us were ravenous and decided to treat ourselves at a Thai restaurant before going home! After a lovely meal with some tasty bottles of Thai Tiger beer I was £36.15 worse off! Still at least I didn’t fall asleep on the train home this time and miss my stop!:beer:
Was at the hairdressers on Thursday evening for highlights and cut, but that's budgeted for. Also, It’s a friend’s birthday next week so bought her a £10 M&S voucher – also bought some birthday/sympathy cards - am in debit on the Birthday/|Gifts budget but hopefully will be back in credit next month. In addition, £10 went to a work colleague who is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro for charity.

YNAB still invaluable!

Anyway this weekend looks quiet – eight day weeks for the rest of the month so this this week is ending on Monday in Seasideville.

Dobbibill

Great news on the new card, :j 0% is so much more motivating to decrease the balance than when there is a nasty 16% or worse in the mix. Finger's crossed with the Sainsbury card, hopefully it will come through for you

you are still doing fantastically well with the balance between hitting the cards and having the occasional treat like a meal after work. :T

DB

Seasidegal58

Hi everyone :hello:

Thanks Dobbi :wave:’ I've heard back from Sainsbury’s re the 0% card and before they ok the card I’ve got to post them identification so this went off to them on Thursday. They’ve offered 0% over 31 months, but haven’t confirmed what amount of credit they will offer so will have to wait to hear from them on this.

I also received my new Lloyd’s 0% card. They’ve actually allowed me a balance transfer amount of £3,100 so I’ve arranged to clear the NatWest card and will close this once the funds have gone across. I’ve used the rest to partially clear MBNA 2 so this has left a balance there of £1,891.38 at 16.7%. Hopefully the Sainsbury card transfer will bring this down.

Week 2 of Scrimp Month 5 ended last Monday night and I ended up £22.50 underbudget on ad hoc spends and £1.23 under on food!:j

Scrimp Week 3 has gone a bit awry – going on one of our theatre day trips in November so paid my sister £72 for ticket. My daughter was in London on Wednesday so caught up with her for a quick bite at lunchtime which was lovely. I insisted that this time it was my treat so £30 here. Also had to buy some diy bits today which rolled in at £23.95! So I’m now £18.31 over budget already this week and it doesn’t end till Tuesday! :eek: Apart from papers, NSDs till then!

Seasidegal58

Quiet day today - ironing and a bit of housework and paperwork on the cards. Popped to shop to get my Sunday paper and two bottles of Perrier. Perrier is my equivalent of fizzy drinks - I don't like coke or the orangey fizzy stuff. I'm also weird in that I have to drink Perrier - I can taste the difference if it's other fizzy brands of water! So £2.60 laid out here from the food budget!

Seasidegal58

Hi all:hello:

Week 3 of Scrimp Month 5 ended on Tuesday night and I ended up £22.01 overbudget on ad hoc spends , but pulled myself back a bit on the weekly food budget where I was left with £9.79 .

Week 4 started yesterday - £18.40 for tickets to a V&A exhibition in a couple of weeks that I’m going to with DD. She’s bought the dearer tickets for the evening so I’ve bought the tickets for the exhibition. Also £9.10 laid out yesterday for lunch with friend I haven’t seen for a while.£6.35 on food so far. Had my nails and pedicure last night but this has its own budget category.

I’ve updated my signature tonight to reflect that my debt now stands at £26,038.49 which is 16.31% paid off since 17th April !It’s all going the right way! :j The NatWest card is being closed and I’m still waiting on the Sainsbury 0% card so that I can then throw something across to the MBNA 2 card.

Other things – non-sewage part of monthly water bill gone up to £8.69 from £6.80 as from 1st October. Also first monthly payment taken out by new electricity provider, Ovo, this week which was £30 . I had already paid £39 to Scottish Power at the beginning of this month but should get a rebate from them once the account is closed. And I can move the Ovo payments to the 1st of the month once I receive my first monthly bill from them.

And finally - well I’ve logged in tonight and found that the MSE Badger has awarded me a badge! It’s the “PPI Party Pooper” badge which relates to my successful PPI claim earlier on in the year from the CPP debacle! Very chuffed about this!:j

Dobbibill

wow you are doing fantastically

16.31% is amazing!!!!!!

loving the updates

keep up the good work

DB

Seasidegal58

Thanks Dobbi. I received a letter from Sainsburys when I got home this evening. They returned my id and said I'd hear from them in the next four to ten working days! So still hanging on in there!

Just bought paper today and birthday card for £2. Quiet day at work but noisy storm outside at the moment!

Seasidegal58

Went to dress agency earlier and received a final payment of £3.65! This was for two items; a necklace that sold for the full price of £2 and sandals that were originally priced at £6.50 but had been reduced in the summer sale to £1.65! Still someone out there got a bargain as I'd never worn them! I wonder if it is any of money savers on here and they've already posted about their great purchase! Lol!

Once this month ends I'll be getting out my winter clothes and shoes/boots and putting away the summer stuff. Will be able to see then if there is anything to go to the dress agency as they are taking in the winter clothes now.

Still every little helps and £3.65 has been pinged over to MBNA CC 2. Plus a NSD in Seasideville today!

GunWharf

Just had a browse through your diary Seaside', Be great when you hit the 20 % paid off! So close!!
You have done very well and I have taken a good morale boost reading your posts

All the best from the South Coast

Seasidegal58

Thanks very much GunWharf 😄

Well today I just went out earlier and bought my paper - £2.50 -so that's it for spends today.

My sister telephoned and is popping over tomorrow evening. I've got chili in the freezer and enough salad, but will have to get some wine in so will see what's on offer tomorrow.

Have also downloaded the YNAB app for the iPad which was free. So can now update transactions on here now as well as on my iPhone.

Going to order my monthly shop from Tesco later after I worked out my meal plan. My new month doesn't start until Thursday but I can order it today for delivery on Thursday evening and then it's done and dusted.

After I've done that I've got a couple of things to catch up with on the TV so a nice relaxing time ahead for the rest of the day. 😴