Changing for good...a new start!

Baldybear

Good morning

Good weekend, friend picked up my old washing machine friday evening, its not great had it for ages in my outhouse, she is going to use for her new yard, she is grateful as free, I am grateful as one less thing for me to have to take to the tip, win win all round Nephew rang me up and wanted a takeaway, cant say no he is only 5, so £12 I could have done without spending but hey ho not very often.

Saturday tidied wee bit of my garden then went to a friends BBQ, free food Good to catch up too! Not a NSD as got tank of fuel ready for monday.

Sunday was a NSD, did some trailer training with the hoss, borrowing Yard owners trailer, just getting her in and out, she was very good with carrot bribery Now just to take her out in it some time. Spent rest of the day having a lazy one relaxing and reading in the garden, couldnt go out anywhere if I wanted to as village gets cut of due to bike race so fully taking advantage.

Back down in southampton yesterday, think of the pennies!! Last months expenses submitted so hopefully they wont take too long to pay.

Still havent managed to order my oven handle, website keeps crashing may ring up later but demand a discount as wont be getting my 5% cashback Worth a try.

Ex paid his share of the life insurance policy today, have transferred my half from the savings ready for the payment due out tomorrow. So all insurance savings now empty but nothing now till next year. Already sorting out some details of how much need to save.

Earnt some interest over all my savings accounts, 35p in total Not fantastic but dont have huge amounts there but all helps. Earnt 2p on my rental deposit which is great. The amounts will soon add up. Also last ebayer paid so another £3 odd sent to emergency fund savings.

Small spends today need to get cash for hoss trainer this week and ibuprofen for the time of the month

Big spends yesterday booked London Zoo tickets, of on saturday with sister and nephew so that wipes out my misc fund this month but its not an everyday occurrence.

Had 18 NSD in July so overall not a bad month

Baldybear

Good afternoon

Manic few days, work is manic, home is mad, need to try and get control of it all somehow.

So had hoss trainer yesterday, she was ok but very snorty and fresh and being a bit of madam. My trainer is on holiday for a few weeks so wont see her for 3 weeks so I really need to get of my butt and start working her more.

My trainer has found a saddle, rode in it last night, seemed ok, have booked saddler to come down to check out properly, she is away on hols but coming 11 September so a while to wait but better to get professionally checked out. So this saddle if it fits will set me back £250 odd, but I do still have my old saddle that I keep meaning to sell and should get around the same price for this so that will cancel each other out, fingers crossed.

Have been very spendy recently, spent £61 on London Zoo tickets for this weekend, £62 on new oven door handle and just spent £20 at amazon buying a car charger and cradle for my phone. It was slightly more but had some amazon vouchers already saved so saved me a few pennies. All of the above went on my Sains CC, total £144.40 :eek: All in theory unplanned spends.

Luckily my expenses have landed today £131 so have used this and few pennies from my current a/c to pay this of so back to 0. Would like to have used the expenses to go to savings but at least they have been spent on something useful.

My sister does owe me £39 from her share of the London Zoo tickets but I will get her to pay for the train at the weekend and possibly lunch, if we dont take pack ups, and then means no extra spending for me there.

I have also got £3 odd cashback tracked from my oven door handle transaction so that, once paid, can go towards my savings.

Baldybear

Good morning

Good weekend, lovely day at London Zoo with nephew and sister, very hot but ok, sister paid for train and ice cream so evens out what she owed me

Sunday my new lodger moved in, he is lovely young guy, loves to cook and clean, my kitchen is immaculate, he can stay Very intelligent guy and seems friendly, hopefully I come across ok, been a few days now and seems pretty relaxed, just need to get into a routine but I believe I have made the right decision for a lodger.

Re-listed ebay items last night taking advantage of 100 free listings. My friend hasnt sorted the laptop yet, may need to take the plunge and get a new one, bah, will possibly see if I can get a screen first, will be cheaper and hopefully its that that has broken and not my pc, maybe investigate over the weekend.

£5 received from survey site so sent to emergency savings now at £530 going to still aim for my £1k target. My overdraft reduction looks ok and hopefully should be able to knock off £100 or so this month, slowly slowly.

Small refund from electricity due, have a small credit on gas but will affect direct debit so just leaving for now.

More expenses due at the end of the month too, few trips to southampton and sites, boring but nice to have the extra pennies

Baldybear

Now have a lodger going to work out my budget:-

Incomings
Salary £1578
Lodger £350
Total: £1928

Outgoings:
Mortgage £788
Council Tax £124 (will prob go up if lodger stays so would be £162, will look at next month then call and amend accordingly)
Electricity £35
Gas £16
Water £35
Virgin (TV, phone, broadband) £40
TV Licence £13
Sofa £31 (2 months left)
Current A/C interest £5
Current A/C charges £15
Fuel £60
Mobile phone £35
Hoss rent £182
Bcard min £105
Hoss food/bedding £75
Groceries £100
Hoss trainer £50
Total £1710 (1748 with increase in C Tax)

Total spare: £218 (180 after increase in C Tax)

This needs to cover misc spending through the month, £25 for farrier (every 6 weeks), insurance, tax, mot, etc, savings etc.

Much better position than I was in. Once I pay of the debts too that will free up another £135 a month Still cant afford to live by myself at the moment with current expenditure but at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Once pay of the debts and if I stick to the above it should happen, especially with extras I make on top will be able to reach my savings targets and then make a big inroad into getting the mortgage into my name.

A plan that will come together eventually

Baldybear

Good morning

Small overpayment made on the mortgage yesterday, checked to see if gone through today and it has so £200 sent as an overpayment, this is from my parents, there still want to help me out, overpaying will get the total down quicker

Some survey money has landed so another £25 sent to the emergency fund, now at £555

Baldybear

Good morning

Good news first! Electric refund has landed so another £3 sent to emergency fund now at £559 Its Friday

Ok news - took lodger shopping last night, ended up spending £16 on rubbish, carrots for hoss, choc, cake etc, probably taking me over budget, never mind moving on, still have a full freezer and store cupboard so will make do and try and stretch again.

Bah news, ex has raised his head again and wants some cash. So speaking to parents last night and then speaking to ex this morning I have offered £5K lump sum then possibly £100 a month on top, but he has to guarantee to keep his name on the mortgage for minimum 1 year. Just waiting to hear back confirmation. In theory this is still too short for me to take on the mortgage but gives me some time to work something out.

So the £5k, 2 options, first is can take a 0% cash transfer from bcard cc, small fee but not too bad overall, currently offer this, or second option is parents lend me the money and I pay back interest free. Obviously the second option is the best but it is a loan and need to pay back asap. If my parents do need the money urgently later down the line I still have the 0% cash offer to fall back on.

Either way am going to end up another £5k in debt

I ideally would need to pay that £5k back within a year, means I need to find £416 a month for repayments :eek: No idea on this yet, thats a work in progress.

On top of that may need to give ex £100 a month, in theory my budget does allow for this, is tight, but doable, or my parents could give him the money but means my mortgage overpayments will be less.

All things to think about and awaiting confirmation back from ex.

So I am going to keep doing what I am at the moment and save every penny in my ISA, least earning a few pence interest for now.

I still do owe £4.5K on Bcard which is 0% till february next year so need to get some pennies to pay that off too. And I do need to get that mortgage down to £120K. Argh too much money to find

But if life has taught me some things recently is that I am stubborn and I do not give up without a fight.

Holiday is definitely on hold this year, my only big expenditure will be a saddle for the hoss, but if I can sell my old one, will try and advertise this weekend, hopefully even that will be cash neutral.

I do need to spend some pennies this weekend, I am going to buy a PC monitor, I cant ebay without it so off to see if I can do now, via cashback and click and collect and pick up tomorrow so I can start my weekend as I mean to go on.

Off we start, stubborn determined head on......

Baldybear

Good afternoon

So catch up of the weekend, saturday did a tip run, got rid of third of rubbish, still lots to go but a car load gone Got my pc monitor and a few top up bits in tesco. Came home and with lodgers help set up monitor, all seems to be working ok. Sunday didnt spend a penny, cleaned my car and napped. Monday up stupidly early (3.30am!!) to take sister to the airport, still tired now, need an early night tonight.

Ex came round last night, we have agreed on a £5k lump sum and £100 a month, in return he has to keep his name on the mortgage for 2 years. His wife wasnt too happy but its the best we can offer for now, ex wasnt bothered. I have paid his £5k today and he has signed receipt for it and also signed another agreement about the £100 and keeping his name on the mortgage.

Good things financially first - small ebay sales over the weekend, one has paid so £2.82 sent to ISA, barclaycard min payment gone out so another £102 of that debt. Need to take an item back to tesco tonight for refund, only £3 odd but all helps.

Bad news, so my parents have lent me the £5k as an interest free loan. The £100 a month they are going to pay, but is not a loan as they can afford this. They are still going to try to overpay my mortgage too, again not a loan as this is just early inheritance so to speak.

So I have agreed that I will pay the £100 a month to ex and each month I can afford to do this will be taken of the £5K I owe, saves transferring money between accounts back and forth. In theory if I only pay £100 a month will take me over 4 years :eek: I need to pay this of before as probably need to take on the mortgage in 2 or so years.

So I have changed all my goals etc and have updated signature below. So my debt now stands at £10.2K :eek::eek::(:(:( So a major increase but balancing this out what I owe my ex is now £10K less than I started at.

I have scrapped my holiday fund, its not going to happen this year I have £42 in there, am going to transfer to ISA. I still would like to get to my emergency fund of £1k, just £400 to go. Just transferred this and ISA now at £604.

So debt wise, sofa only 2 months left then will be £30 "spare" so can use that somewhere. Barclaycard is still at a very high figure of over £4k, my 0% deal ends february next year so this is the next one to start throwing money at. Once my ISA reaches £1k will still continue to save in the ISA but will count it towards the Bcard as can get interest on this and then pay of come february. If the worse comes to it, which it probably will, can use more of the emergency fund to pay it all off before interest comes payable.

The £5k to parents will go down by £100 a month so will leave that as it is for now until the barclaycard is cleared and then all extras can go towards that.

So a firm plan to clear debt
1. Sofa paid of
2. Emergency fund to £1K
3. Pay of Bcard
4. Pay of Parents Loan

In theory I can scrape the £100 a month into my budget without having to use "extras", its tight, my salary is £1578 and the budget will be £1545 but its doable if I am careful. The other money needed to pay my bills comes from my lodger so thats covered.

Sorry for the long winded essay but good to write it down and get it straight in my head of my forward plan, also copied signature below to remember where I am now.

Goals - 1) Debt to 0 24-9-2014 - £6511 £10298 , 2) Mortgage to £100K - 24-9-14 £150,485, £146,088 3) Buy ex out 24-9-14 £32.5k £22.5K
Debt Now... Sofa - £390, £60, Bcard - £5706 £4438, Sains CC £415, £0 Parents £5K
Goals 2015 updated 18-8-15 - Overdraft £800, Emergency - £1000 - £561

Baldybear

Good morning

Another small ebay sale so £4 odd sent to the ISA, now at £609, slowly slowly getting there. Sains CC paid of (from weekend spends), have budget for hoss food needed at the weekend and if I dont spend anything else, dont need to in theory, maybe fuel but seeing if I can stretch till next week, then will be about £150 of the overdraft this month, very pleased with this. Just waiting for confirmation of payday, probably next Monday and will work out firm figures then, pleased if I can do the £150 as thats a big decrease in total debt.

In theory, again once the overdraft starts to decrease it wont increase as my spending has been on budget, just need to get it down and then wont need it at all

lucielle

Once you have paid some of the overdraft off, lower the amount you can use then it will stay low.
L

Baldybear

Good morning its friday and sunny

Lucielle good idea re overdraft, will work on decreasing over the next couple of months and then lower it, hopefully get to a point where I dont need one at all

OnePoll payment landed today so £40 sent to ISA, now at £650. Started my expenses yesterday, although wont submit till month end but its at £100 already, once this lands I will be 3/4 of way to emergency fund target, happy with that.

Pay day is monday, will get the hoss food and not spend any other pennies till then.