Our Journey from Debtdom to Freedom

hazeldreams

Spendy, spendy day today..new breadmaker paddle, work shoes, oven...but all second hand so I think I paid as low as I possibly could've done and none on the credit card..so gotta see the positives when you can!

Had a lush dinner tonight, white bean and broccoli soup homemade delicious and cheap as chips.

Meal planning for the week also completed now, still eating out of the freezer so it shouldn't be a majorly expensive shop.

Still thinking about buying a slow cooker to batch cook even more - eBay are converting whatever I sell this work into vouchers and doubling my sales - I have DDs birthday gifts to buy but may put the rest to an ex demo 6 litre model I've seen on there...we'll see how well my stuff sells first!

Still no news from new CC on when first DD will go out so haven't hit 20% or under 60k yet but hopefully I'll know more by the weekend...dying to see outstanding balance start with a 5 and only 80 squares left on the 100 square!!:rotfl:

hazeldreams

Well what time of the day do you call this?! :rotfl:

I don't think I've ever been up so early on a Saturday morning!!!! Thanks hubster!!! (the eejit elbowed me in the face about an hour ago in his sleep and I haven't been able to drop off again :mad:)

Although this is an earlier start than usual I am RARING to go! This weekend its the start of my daughters birthday celebrations - she'll be double digits this month and we're taking a friend swimming tomorrow to celebrate (earlier than her actual birthday but it was through a wowcher deal which ends tomorrow), so I really only have today to get cracking and accomplish everything on my weekend list....(deep breath)...here goes!!

-School Prep Kids are back Monday, so I need to pack PE kits, check everything is ironed and labelled, check I've not forgotten something desperate for day one!

Tonights Tea Prep tonights tea accommodating said friend of DDs eating requirements

Ebay v Facebay Still have a living room packed to the rafters of stuff to sell. I love the anonymity of ebay but its a complete pain packing everything up and trekking to the post office when you work full time. Facebay on the other hand is quick, they come and collect but I'm utterly embarrassed about everyone seeing my stuff being sold - I'm actually ashamed of myself for being so ashamed...maybe I just need to get over myself and get it sold?! I've even gone to the lengths of checking my facebook settings to see if I can block my friends from seeing my posts on the facebay site with no joy...so very sad....:o!!! Any advice from you lovely peeps would be most welcome to help with my dilemma.:D

I really want rid of all the stuff - the clearout has been so therapeutic, I actually feel calmer now that the cupboards, drawers etc are nice and tidy and minimalist. It's started a little addiction though...I now have a list (don't worry fellow list lovers I will post soon:rotfl:) of what part of the house next needs clearing out for selling. DH keeps chuckling as I walk round looking for more items to sell.

New Credit Card sort balance transfers have all taken place and all seems in order but I don't know the amount of or when my first minimum payment will come out. This is crucial before I start making overpayments so must call them this morning to work that out....desperate to see the 50's on my signature!!!!:T

Happy Saturday everyone!!

stoplurking

Hi Hazel
Just saying you are doing really well with your debt reduction activities. Well done on all the de cluttering and ebaying. i hope you find out your min payment on that new card, you must be itching to get that £22.23 paid to take you into the 50's. Not bad at all seeing as you started in the mid-70's! good luck on your journey. X

hazeldreams

stoplurking wrote: »

Hi Hazel
Just saying you are doing really well with your debt reduction activities. Well done on all the de cluttering and ebaying. i hope you find out your min payment on that new card, you must be itching to get that £22.23 paid to take you into the 50's. Not bad at all seeing as you started in the mid-70's! good luck on your journey. X

Awwww thanks so much stoplurking! That's so sweet of you to stop by and offer words of encouragement!

Great news, sorted out the min payments for new card etc... made an over payment now we're in the 50's!!!!!:T I know, I know the figure is still horrifically large but you know what? It's another milestone and I'm celebrating that! 20% also hit we're 1/5 of the way there and another square on the 100 square coloured in ...yippee!

We're on track to pay off £1481 this month, and ebay/facebay will hopefully get us a little nearer to the £1700 we paid off last month...one day I will meet that magic £2k pay off that's the goal!!

Yay us!!! :T:T:T:T:T

hazeldreams

Cor blimey, I'm cream crackered!

Kids all ready for school - check!
Approx £50 made on facebay/ebay - check!
4 batches of tomato chilli pasta sauce made - check!
Batch of courgette, potato, cheese soup made -check!

Really eventful, busy weekend again...I'm looking forward to going back to work for a rest!:rotfl:

Hope everyone else's weekend has gone well!

Nighty nighty!

hazeldreams

Hello everyone!:wave:

More sales flowed through today from ebay/facebay...more batch cooking (base for cottage pie/spag bol) all frozen ready for another day.

Had a little moment of inspiration today (although cant put the plan into action for a while yet!) It's suddenly occurred to me that once I know I'm on track to clear all the debt on the interest free credit cards (before feb 2017 when it ends) I could look at transferring further balances to my loans (one is 6.8% and one at 5.1%) onto another 0% balance transfer card which (if it's even possible to do this) should save me tons of interest and then clear down the balance more quickly! Fingers crossed we'll be in a position to do this within the next 8 months (I'm planning on paying off debts with annual bonus in April as well as trying to clear a min of £1700pm).

Not sure if I can work out how much quicker I'll pay this off if I do it this way as snowball calculators are hard to take account of these variances and I'm not clever enough to work it out on a spreadsheet!:rotfl:

For now focus is on the next 1%...£548.82 to hit 21% ...I'm making sure every single penny counts this month!:T

hazeldreams

Hey everyone!

Long time no speak! Where has this week gone?!

It's been an extremely busy one here on the work and home front..I've literally been in bed by 9 every night!

On the DFW front, all is going well...up to £85 sold on eBay, around £25 on facebay and the house is so neat and organised as a result!

I've invested in a slow cooker with some of the funds and have chucked all our veg that's about to turn and some sainsburys scilian sausages that were knocked down to £1.50. I chucked in some tinned tomatoes and lentils ....lets hope it turns out ok as I've never used one before!

I've also swapped our gas and electric, taken lunch everyday to work, I'm still walking instead of getting the bus and I'm charging my phone at work everyday still! Tumble dryer has been on a few times but 9 times out of 10 washing is drying on the line/clothes horse.

I'm also in the process of finally launching my own business as a second income steam. I've had a hobby for a few years now, it's a creative role which I absolutely adore! Over the last year I've gotten so many comments from friends and family that I ought to use it to earn some income that over the last few months I've started to take the comments on board and look to capitalise on something I really love doing. Im nearly there on the setup front, I've been building myself a website (free of course!) and I've set up a Facebook page ..I just need to save up a little more for some insurance and then I'm good to go. Not sure how much I'll earn, but no guesses for where it'll go!

Grocery shopping is continuing to go ok, still on track to meet this months target. I've also shelled out £30 to Costco. I ventured there on Saturday but in all honesty I'm not entirely sure that they are that much cheaper than Aldi? The good news is I can have my money back at anytime within the first 12 months if I want to, so nothing lost. I'm thinking that toilet roll, washing up liquid, washing powder maybe cheaper if I I bulk buy but need to start comparing with Aldi first! I've taken photos as I went round Costco and I've set up a spreadsheet using my last Aldi receipt. I just now need to find the time and energy to compare them!!!

I've also been research repacing our spotlights with LEDs to cut the electric bill. Again it's another job we will have to save for but its on my list of to do's nonetheless!

I've also bought a second hand pair of work shoes from ebay (never ever done that before!) paid just £12 instead of the usual £40!

Finally we're hell bent on starting our allotment in the garden next spring. We have so much work to do to clear it all out before the winter sets in (which I've heard nicknamed "freezageddon" as it's going to be horrendous!!!) I'm just hoping we can break the back of it before it gets too cold!!

Wow that was a humongous post! But testament to how hard I've been working on realising our DFW dream!

Hopefully I'll be back to posting more regularly this week as things calm down!

Have a nice evening everyone!

Hazel x

Digging_2

Wow! You sound super organised with everything. It feels good when little bits come together, tidy house, new business, slow cooker. Good luck with your allotment garden.

hazeldreams

Digging wrote: »

Wow! You sound super organised with everything. It feels good when little bits come together, tidy house, new business, slow cooker. Good luck with your allotment garden.

Thanks digging! Yes there is a certain amount of peace that comes from being so organised, the downside is it's absolutely draining!!! I think my drive has meant I've been a little under the weather this week from burning the candle at both ends so to speak! I'm not ill,ill but got a headache I can't shift and can't stay awake last 8.30 most evenings!!!

DDs birthday this weekend so another busy one, but I'm fairly pleased that I've managed to deliver a lovely birthday weekend for her without blowing the bank! Another huge step forward.

Grocery shopping is going ok, funds are looking a little low with one week to go and stocks are almost out...nothing is wasted here anymore and with the bulk buying of meat and batch cooking I'm coming to the conclusion we're about as low as we can go on groceries (I maybe proven wrong when I get round to doing the Aldi v Costco analysis!)

Off to have a much deserved glass of vino and get an early night!

Have a lovely weekend all!

Hazel x

brizzledfw

Hi Hazel!

Hope all OK with you. Know that cream crackered feeling..first night in weeks have been home early and not thinking of when I can sleep already!! Yay!

Glad to hear SC is going well. I think they are a life saver for when you come in from a days work and everyone is hungry and tired. Think meat works best tho. A particular quite frugal SC meal we often have is sausage and lentil stew. Works well and the lentils definitely bulk it out.

Pork belly is another and also cheap lamb cuts with potatoes, peas and lemons....luscious.

Have a great evening. Trying hard not to drink for 2 weeks...tempted..but am pushing on.

Might have to go make a cup of tea instead!