Our Journey to a Debt Free 2016

hazeldreams

Hi pinkpoppies!

I've just read your diary from start to finish over the last few days! Soo motivational and soo inspiring well done on your amazing achievement! :T

So thrilled for you but so totally annoyed with myself as our journeys started at the same time roughly and whilst you've stuck with your diary I lost my way and have only cleared 17% since September 14 compared to your nearly 60%!! I could kick myself!!

Oh well I am where I am so I will stop feeling sorry for myself and start focussing on using some of your fab ideas to propel us to my DFD of Feb 2018. Love your frugal cooking meals and the monthly updates on your first page so if it's ok with you I'll start doing the same! I'll also religiously post even if there is nothing to post about!

Got to get this debt gone!!

Happy Sunday!

PinkPoppies

Hi hazeldreams!

Glad you enjoyed my diary! Hard to believe a whole year has passed since I started, the time has flown! Don't be too hard on yourself- nearly £13k cleared is still an awful lot of money!

This month hasn't been the most focused here. School holidays combined with bad weather seem to have thrown a spanner in the works as I'm finding it hard to be as organised with food shopping and meals, and have ended up spending money on trips out and toys/games to help amuse the children. Not to mention rewarding myself with wine in the evening to unwind after long exhausting days!

Where is our summer? We need some sunshine!!!

On the subject of frugal meals I can't believe I completely forgot to mention that we finally got our hens a while back- I love them! They are all laying now and the eggs are out of this world! Been making quiches with veg from the garden and eating lots of scrambled egg on toast. They make pancakes a beautiful golden colour and make yorkshire puddings rise so much higher!

I made a spaghetti carbonara last week using a Jamie Oliver recipe which was super cheap and probably the nicest carbonara I have ever tasted. Used left over bacon fried with a clove of garlic and then added spaghetti, some water that the spaghetti was cooked in, and then egg yolks. Instead of scrambling the eggs the spaghetti went all glossy and creamy- yum! Topped with Parmesan cheese. Might make that again this week.

Not much else to report here. DH has been paid now so I have updated my signature for the beginning of August.

DebtFree2012

Almost sub 15k Pink - fabulous

I am so pleased you got your chucks - they are brilliant aren't they?

I might have to try that recipe myself!

crunch_time

Well done! It will be paid off in no time!!


I also fully identify with the 'rewarding myself with wine' in the evenings....


Crunch xx

PinkPoppies

Sooooo as you can see from my signature, August was a rather disastrous month money wise!!! We are back over the £20k mark :eek:

Yep, a whopping £6.8k back on the credit card. Heartbreaking really!

I shan't pretend that we haven't overspent over the summer- trips out, childcare, new riding boots, too many meals out and other treats while away on holiday etc- however we have had £3.5ks worth of rotten luck too, and £2k of the 'new' debt is actually our overdrafts which we have always had but I haven't factored into my figures on here before.

Our boiler packed up and we had to replace it, and my husband needed medical treatment that we went privately for. We have private cover but the was an excess to pay, and not all of the costs were covered.

Our general summer overspending brought the rogue CC up to £1.3k (scary how easy it is to rack it up!), so we decided to do a 0% balance transfer and stick it all back on the CC that I finally paid off back in June, along with the overdrafts.

All a bit crap really but at least we will be saving about £60 a month on overdraft fees, and we are all organised again.

The kids finally went back to school this morning so I have sat down with a coffee and updated my spreadsheet and got to grips with everything.

For some reason we seem to find it so much easier to stick to the debt busting in the colder months so I reckon we will have no trouble knuckling down and blitzing the CC. I actually think we have perhaps been cutting things a bit too close to the bone, which is why the rogue CC kept creeping up, so we are aiming to pay a bit less off each month on the condition that we don't ever use the rogue CC. That said, I am really keen to get back under £20k before the end of the month!!

Igamogam

Wondered where you where PP. Back on track now Hope OH is fully recovered.

hazeldreams

Hi Pink

Good to see you're back! :wave: I've missed your posts!

Sorry to hear hubby has been unwell and boiler packed up etc...

Don't worry re extra CC balance, you've smashed that in no time before and I'm sure you will do again!

Looking forward to more debt busting lessons from the pinkpoppy household!

Hazel x

DebtFree2012

Welcome back Hope you're ok and you will soon be back in to the swing of things.

crunch_time

Welcome back!! Hope hubby is feeling better!

It is so easy to rack it up again isn't it. Slow and steady wins the race!

Crunchy xx

PinkPoppies

Thanks for the welcome back!

Not been on much as I have been SO busy since the children went back to school! Feel as though my feet haven't touched the floor!

Still haven't quite found the focus I had pre-everything-going-wrong, but getting there. I was very motivated by seeing everything come down each month, and our set back seems to have taken a hit on my enthusiasm. Transferred £540 onto the CC today, leaving about £300 to last us the rest of the month- plenty.

Did a weekly Lidl shop today (something that has slipped in recent months!) so nice to feel in control of the food spending again.

The rogue CC that DH previously used for spending hasn't been used which is good, instead he is using a spare current account which we have a standing order set up to cover each month.

I really MUST get back into the habit of checking in here every morning, it really does help!

Hope everyone is well! I'm off to catch up on other diaries...