Snowscreamer's debt reduction efforts

snowscreamer

So, after a quick browse on MSE's credit card pages during lunchtime today out of curiosity, I took the plunge and applied for a 0% balance transfer card (13 months, 0% fee). I asked for credit limit of £5750 (estimated total credit card debt at the end of this month) assuming that it was cheeky and I'd be rejected or offered less. Rather suspect my credit rating is not what it was when we got our mortgage last year (squeeky clean).

Anyway, I was ACCEPTED! And offered a credit limit of £8500 :eek:
So I've applied to transfer £2600 from CC1 and £3150 from CC2. So at the end of this month if we stick to the budget we will have cleared both our normal credit cards and can reinstate our monthly full balance direct debits and start using them like sensible people again
As to my new 0% card, let's call it CC3, well it won't be leaving the house and we will just work to clear it as fast as possible. I have been forecasting in YNAB and we should make the final payment in January 2016 but that's quite a conservative estimate as it's based on OH's low basic pay (he is a company director and shareholder so often gets paid extra on top and the company is doing quite well so hopefully there will be an increase in the basic pay before the year is out too).

New credit card will save us £350 in interest which was what I calculated we'd pay if we stuck with the balances on our usual credit cards and paid back according to current forecast. Today has been a good day! Not too spendy either as it happens although I did splash out £25 on another gym outfit for OH (Sports Pursuit, more than 50% off) as he only had one pair of sports shorts and tshirt and I was getting fed up of having to do extra washes and dries between gym sessions. It was within the clothing budget so not a bad spend and will save electricity on all the extra washes and dries just for his gym kit! Now all his gym clothes can be saved for the weekend and bunged in with the rest of the washing.

snowscreamer

Have set myself some goals (see signature). These are all a little ahead of my current YNAB forecast, so something to aim for
So hopefully our net debt ie. money in bank - credit card debt will be wiped out by October, and by the end of the year all credit cards will be back onto full repayment every month.

After that we aim to complete the YNAB method ie. live on last month's income and not rely on the credit cards to get through to end of month, i.e. our net balance never dips below 0 whilst waiting for payday! I am hoping we will be in this position by the end of March 2016.

Full steam ahead - and HAPPY FRIDAY everyone :beer:

snowscreamer

hummingbird

Hi snow,

Just seen your very helpful post on CC's diary! Looking forward to catching up with yours and finding out how YNAB will help me!

Hummingbird x

snowscreamer

Small victory today! It was time for home insurance renewal and this year, unlike in the past we had planned ahead and 'put money aside' (well at least virtually ) to fund it. We forecasted it would go up by around 20% as we had a house disaster we had to claim for in December (just after we started budgeting - just our luck!). So last year's premium was £260; we had saved £320 for this year. Our renewal quote was £360 but I did an online comparison and removed a couple of things (personal possessions cover and bike cover); renewed for £193.44!! So I had £125 put aside that we didn't need

So I have redistributed £100 to debt repayment and £25 to spending money

Happy Saturday!! Now I'm off to start work on my DIY project - 3 drawers for my built in wardrobe rather than the 2 very deep and very high shelves which are currently there... such an inefficient use of space and I have a lot of clothes!

snowscreamer

Well, that didn't last long... Today we moved £50 of the house insurance saving out of debt repayment so we could buy some new light fittings for our hallway. We had horrible translucent paper globes when we moved in, and my grandparents gave us some "bespoke Italian" ceramic and brass (read, ugly as...) ceiling lights which we thought could be a temporary replacement until our debt situation was sorted. So we put them up last weekend, and well it's been a total disaster. Two of the "arms" coming out from the centre needed residing so didn't work and also they hang so low that we kept bashing into one of them with the cloakroom door.
Today was the final straw: bashed into one of them again with the door; some wires must have been dislodged and plunged the whole house into darkness... They have got to go!
Ordered some John Lewis "basic" brass ceiling lights; very reasonably priced £25 each (ordered 3 as we also have the hideous paper globe in the landing) but we had a £50 JL voucher which was a housewarming gift we were able to cash in so only cost £25 and the other £25 will go on LED bulbs. Not feeling too bad about it as the lights look to be exceptionally good value and we used our voucher finally. Grandma's lights have got to go - nothing but trouble!!

In better MSE news here is some food !!!!!! from the freezer lunches I batch cooked earlier. Saving tons of money by setting aside an hour on Sunday evenings to prepare lunches rather than buy lunch at work. Especially when I have expensive taste and my favourite lunch is £5.50 a pop! :eek:

snowscreamer

Not the best start to today - well it could have been a lot worse though. Went down to the kitchen after getting up and normally we have two eager kitties waiting right behind the door in anticipation of being fed, well our baby girl this morning was still in her bed and it's very unlike her not to be up and mewing at breakfast time. She did jump down gingerly when we put the full food bowl down but she was obviously in a lot of pain and limping quite badly.

OH took her straight down to the vet and thankfully (could be so much worse) it was an infected paw. When I was a teenager we had a cat - actually said cat is still going! - who was limping in a similar way and had had some sort of accident and split her kneecap. Had to have an expensive operation on her leg. I was fearing this!!

We managed to see my sister so didn't have to pay for the consultation but the drugs (painkillers and antibiotics) were £65. We did have £45 in the Vet category building up at £15/month so only had to find £20 from other pots. I'm going to increase this pot to £25/month from now for peace of mind.

Budgeting makes me so much less anxious over situations like this and feel so much more in control. Previously it would have gone on the credit card and the debt would have carried on spiralling whilst in the back of my mind I worried where it would all end...

hummingbird

ohh poor little kitty - glad it wasn't too serious though. That looks like great YNAB-ing to me from what I've learned so far!!

BTW those lunches in those pics look scrummy!

snowscreamer

Thanks hummingbird! Well I am pleased to report she is a little tired but otherwise back to normal this evening. We do have a week's worth of twice-a-day pills and liquid meds to deal with though starting tomorrow... That'll be an experience I'm sure with a squirmy cat.

My lunch was pretty good (and certainly nutritionally balanced - both going to the gym lots so making sure we get our protein in and eat heathily) but I think I thickened the sauce on mine (paneer rogan josh) a little too much as it was somewhat dehydrated after the microwave. OH's (chicken korma) worked well though apparently so he was happy

It's the only way we can avoid lunch out as we are no good in the mornings or evenings really so have to have a solution we can fix at the weekend and grab n' go on week days. Trying to change the flavours each week to keep it fresh... Will see how long it lasts!!

snowscreamer

Well the first cat pill popping seemed to go OK! My sister gave us a cat pill popper instrument which is a long tube which you stick to the back of their month and then push down to release the pill. Saved fingers / multiple attempts. She didn't much like being restrained so we could do it though Going to be a fun week!! Main thing is otherwise she's back to her usual self and not limping or cowering from us anymore.

In MSE news I think today will be a NSD as both OH and I took lunch to work, both down the gym after work and then dinner from the freezer alongside first episode of the new series of MasterChef

The 2 balance transfers I requested to my new 0% BT card failed yesterday but I have spoken to Halifax - they didn't tick enough boxes to go through automatically but now that I have passed the security checks and can re-request them tomorrow and they should go through. Fingers crossed. It's going to save so much in interest!

Moneysaurus

Found your diary and wishing you well with your endeavour!!

Free lunch sounds good.

Lunch bought in from home from me, not free, but a lot less expensive that my lunches used to be!!