58k in debt to frugal living..

debtfreeoneday

Another week end and I lost 3lb this week and chuffed that I did that over Christmas as well! have spent this morning taking down some decorations and starting to dechristmas-fy the house. I love it when they are up, but also like the house less cluttered.

have managed to avoid most of the sale shopping, so pretty pleased with myself for that, although did pick up a few things online at boots that were on offer.

Looking forward to a few relaxing days now before we go away at the beginning of January for 4 days. have a happy New Year everyone!

debtfreeoneday

I've been juggling with the money in our 'savings' account which is one big lump basically, but I use an app on my phone to split it up into different pots, ie Council tax, utiliities, nursery fees, loan payoff, emergency fund, house fund, holiday fund etc.

Anyhoo.. I've been looking at some of the pots that have built up more than they need to and reallocated to other pots, plus we got the refund of £556 from the bank for interest on the loan that they have given for not telling us we could make partial repayments on the loan. So with all this rejigging, the emergency fund is up to £538.66 and it's not even 2015 yet, so I'm going to increase that target I'm sure. But that means we are over 50% of the way there to our first £1k emergency fund.

I have £252 to pay off the loan when I next log onto the bank (have to go onto full website - can't be done from my mobile)

House fund is to up £518, but I have house insurance to come out of this in January. We are also due a ventilation expert visit in January as we are having horrendous problems with 'damp' and condensation. With a dehumidifier going most of the day, we still have water running down the walls, so I expect that fund to be smashed in 2015.. but it's a good size pot at the moment.

Holiday fund also had a little bit added to it as well. We are not planning a holiday in 2015 to be honest, but we are for 2016 to go to Euro Disney with the kids and would like to be able to pay for it upfront, so plenty of time to save.

Feeling very positive now about reaching some of these targets and getting this debt gone for good!

mummytogirls

Hi DF1D,

I knew I had your diary subscribed but it must have been the old one!!!!

Wow thats fab that you've got quite a bit in your emergency fund already!! Keep going!! xx

debtfreeoneday

Thanks Mummytogirls.

I've blasted the house today and all decs are down except the outside lights. My lounge feels massive!! I do like it when they go up, but love them coming down as well!

I had £5 credit knocking about in my zu-lily account and a world map jigsaw is on there today which would be great for little man as he is really into the world and countries at the moment.. went to pay and couldn't see the credit, so complained as it was credit given after a previous problem and they gave me another £5, so I got two of the jigsaws for £3 postage.. that's a present for a birthday in June sorted and one for little man stashed away until Easter probably!

Plan to occupy the kids as DH tries to do some work, but also clean the rest of the house and start to think about packing for Friday!

debtfreeoneday

ooooh just logged on to check my bank and £15 cashback is there for changing energy suppliers a few months back! I already have £30 for doing this tracking in my t0p cashback, so that was unexpected. Will put £7.50 in the emergency fund and £7.50 towards the present fund, bearing in mind I just spent some of that on the postage for the jigsaws.

Whoop - gotta love unexpected pennies!

mummytogirls

Afternoon DF1D,

I am like you, love the tree going up but love it coming down just as much!!

Yay to the £15 thats fab xx

debtfreeoneday

having a quiet evening, polishing off the remaining few bits of Christmas food.. I can see the bottom of my cupboards again! Last visitor goes home tomorrow, so I'm driving them to the station and then need to pop into the supermarket in the city to get a bit of fruit.

Will have a quick look in the clothing sale for the kids to see if there are any bargains to be had, but otherwise a drive home and a relaxing rest of the day spent with the kids waiting for DH to finish work for the year.. That said we never stay up.. far gone in the land of nod before midnight usually!

debtfreeoneday

Well, I've just bought YNAb for £7.49 on offer at Steam after reading another diary, I did do the free trial for an evening and then decided it wasn't for me, but having just spent an hour putting in some info, I reckon it will and I am DETERMINED to get a handle on the money this year as well as planning forward for all the stuff we want to do.

Guess what I'm spending NYE evening doing! Rather excited by it as well..

sashybo

Hi DFOD, I've stalked you from my diary and found yours.:D I see you went for YNAB as well - Lilt should be on commission!

I think it will be useful for seeing where it all disappears to for us - four-weekly pay which means pay date is always changing but bill dates are always the same plus a bit of silly spending can lead to chaos in a scarily short amount of time. :eek:

You've done amazingly well reducing your debt to where it is now, I'm sure the good work will continue in 2015. I'll be [STRIKE]stalking[/STRIKE] following you along the way. :T

mummytogirls

Happy New Year DF1D xx