My debt busting diary 2015

ScattySkewbald

Right quick scores on the doors as of end of June (warning it's not good!)

Total cc was £2439.49 now £2844.75
Od was £715.10 now £725.72

Total was £3154.59 now £3570.47
Total increase £415.88

I suppose it could have been worse given the huge car bill (and another almost £370 - been thrown at it this week grrr!) but it's not where I wanted to be bringing a little one into the world. Got 2-3 pay days to get cracking.

So plan of action prior to the arrival of mini scatty......
1. Ebay, ebay, ebay
2. Swag and get Xmas / birthday pressies sorted for everyone except immediate family
3. Ensure the freezer is well stocked.
4. Prepare plenty of slow cooked ready meals.
5. Pony rugs to wash

I'm sure there's plenty more to add- will sit down and have a proper think later.

mfmaybe

Glad to hear from you Scatty, was worried when it had gone a bit quiet. Your LO will not know about the debt, don't worry . Sounds like you have a plan anyway. Once you get the big stuff bought, I don't think babies themselves need to cost that much, so hopefully you can keep on track.

It's once mini-Skewbald wants a skewbald of its own that it gets expensive

I am due in less than 2 weeks, which is all very scary. But looking forward to hopefully being able to ride my horse again soon-ish :T

ScattySkewbald

2 weeks!!!! That's come round so quickly (I bet it doesn't feel like it for you tho lol!). I've got 8 weeks left at work and 11 until LO arrives. Part of me wants to fast forward those 11 weeks - the other part is screaming "Help I'm sooooo not ready for this!!!"

ScattySkewbald

Creeping back in thoroughly ashamed... can't believe I've been AWOL for 6 weeks. Really must get back on track especially given I finish work in two weeks!

Not a massive amount to report debt busting wise. Have transferred the balance of the smaller credit card to another of the cards I'd cleared as I'd started paying interest on it. Could only get 6 months @ 0% but given that there was only £800 to transfer I'm hoping that should give me plenty of time to pay it off.

Need to look at ways at getting spends under control if I'm going to be able to take the full year off work. Food spend is where we really fall down so need to get this sorted. Couldn't ask for a greater incentive, so have really got to make this work!

Will be back tomorrow withe the scores on the door........

ScattySkewbald

Time for a quick scores on the doors.....

Total cc was £2844.75 now £2283
Od was £725.72 now £681.81

Total decrease =£632.66

Not bad but it is a couple of months work!


Managed to $wag a £5 Gc yesterday. Almost have Christmas sorted other than immediate family (sad I know but I really didn't fancy doing it all while looking after a newborn!). On track to have spent less than last year, so that's all good. Also awaiting a £25 voucher from my insurance for renewing, so when that comes through it'll be used for more Christmas purchases.

Got a few bits and pieces to get on eBay over the coming weeks to try and have a final push at the debt before little one arrives. After that it's looking like it'll be a flat £100 a month, which isn't great but it will enable me to have longer off with him - time is more precious.

Have a good day :beer:

ScattySkewbald

Got a couple of little'admin' tasks sorted yesterday which will save a little bit of money. Entered my meter readings and as a result my dd has been reduced by £16 per month. Insurance for the woofs had also auto renewed ( how did I let that happen grrrr!) so have phoned and cancelled as the dd had gone up by £12 per month!!!! Have managed to get cheaper else where - monthly dd £17 per month less and (hopefully!) bag £47.50 cash back into the bargain. They're also refunding the dd they've already taken. Not bad for less than an hours work

Hoping for a nice relaxing weekend now :T

Cwtchie

Hope you got your relaxing weekend x

ScattySkewbald

Hi Cwtchie - good to see you :hello:

Well I'm now on a couple of weeks annual leave before the mat leave kicks in :j Feels so strange not to be at work.

Trying to use the time to get a few things sorted. Still have bits and pieces to do ahead of the little ones arrival so trying to get them done ASAP in case he puts in an early appearance.

Made £135 payment between the cc yesterday. Don't want to talk too soon but given that we had a long weekend away (the calm before the storm lol!) we've not done too bad this month. Still a week to go but the end is in site.

Have made sure that I've got all horse meds and animal feeds ordered so it's one less thing to worry about. Also, I've barely spent any of my 'pocket' money this month so have used this to purchase next years horse wormers in bulk.

The cash back tracked for the pet insurance :j so nearly £50 waiting to be payable. Have also had notification that our fixed deal energy tariff is coming to an end. Have had a look and sainsburys is coming out around £100 a year cheaper plus you earn £50 a year in nectar points (be good for next Christmas ) so going to have a better look into that and try and get a cashback deal for switching.

Amazon voucher finally arrived for the house insurance, so have used this to purchase a couple more Christmas pressies :j only really immediate family left to sort now so almost there for very little spend :j - swag$ however seemed to have really dried up lately :mad:

Still need to sort my eBay pile - got loads to get on, will try and list a couple of items later.

Happy Friday everyone!

ScattySkewbald

AWOL again lol!

Think it's safe to say the nesting instinct has well and truly kicked in! Spent the last week decluttering the house and feel soooooo much better for it.

Managed to switch energy provider and earnt almost £40 in cashback which is great - have over £80 waiting to become payable which will be paid off the cc.

Have also been making good use of the slow cooker to prepare a variety of quick meals for the freezer. Hopefully should have enough food and supplies to see us through a week or so in case we struggle to get out and about once little one arrives.

Debt payments are slowing down now I'm on mat leave. Will be aiming for a minimum of £100 per month which I'll be hoping to top up via eBay. For the moment making sure we have enough money (without adding to the debt) for me to take as much mat leave as possible is priority.

Hope everyone's enjoying the sunshine X

ScattySkewbald

Sneaking in again.....

So the little man is now 7 weeks old - where has the time gone??? He's an absolute poppet and we're both totally besotted

In terms of debt busting things need to get better! We're currently living off approx half my wages so that all being well I can take the full year off. Since going on Mat leave I've been chucking £100 a month at the debt which isn't great but every little helps and it's heading in the right direction. However, just for a change my cars thrown a spanner in the works :mad: and as a result we decided to cut our losses and replace it. Not ideal but the new car is cheaper to run and road tax is £0 a year! As a result the debts gone up :mad:

I've not had chance to do the scores on the door yet as I've not yet borrowed the money for the car. We paid out mat leave savings, but obviously is money needs to go back in the account to fund mat leave. I've had a quick look and the cheapest option is to do a money transfer off the cc. Will do a bit more research and get it sorted.

Soooo time to pull my socks up and make some extra pennies and generally be as frugal as possible!

Things to do.....
List on eBay
Post things on local fb selling pages
Get swagging and surveying again
Meal plan

Wish me luck!