New tunnel - no light yet

DawnW

Good luck with paying off your loan early GAP

Your elderly relative obviously wanted to help you out, and may have been upset / offended had you not accepted it, so your mum was right imho.

dawnybabes

Shiny new diary - woo hoo !

girlatplay

Hi DawnW and dawnybabes thank you for posting.

DawnW she mentioned about the money ages ago. She knew how I felt but insisted that she wanted me to have it. I completely forgot all about it. When we were up visiting she gave me it. All in £1 coins! Bless her. She saves them up (just generally, not particularly for me) and had counted them all out and bagged them.

£2.80 off the loan today from CB. The rest has been put in the various budget pots (Christmas/Birthday/LMG's rainy day fund).

Still got £5 in purse.

beanielou

You are plodding on nicely

girlatplay

Thanks Lou

£1.57 off the loan today (odds from tax credit).

Need to do a meal plan and shopping list for later. The salads last week were that good that LMG has asked for one again this week! The ingredients do us two meals each so that's two nights sorted already

Got the dreaded D word this afternoon (dentist, eek!) Just a checkup and clean so should all be fine but I still hate it.

girlatplay

I went over the grocery budget by £1.60 I had the £5 in my purse though so didn't need to use the card. Got everything apart from mozzarella so will need to pick that up later.

I have a Mr M's match & more card. Yesterday my receipt told me that I could have saved £2.44 elsewhere. If that had been taken off my shopping instead of given to me in points, I would have been under budget. Anyway, 2440 points is almost half way to another £5 voucher, added to the 2000 points I got for spending over £30 and the 2000 odd I had on the card already, I will be collecting another voucher next time I am in. I have collected £40 worth of vouchers since January and with the points I have, I should have £50 by mid July. I discussed what to do with them with LMG when we first started getting them. Her suggestion was; save them for Christmas but if it turns out we are really skint one week we can just use them. Works for me!

£3.40 to sealed pot. I promised that the £5 would go in if I still had it by Thursday so that's the balance in now.

Got a text from CSA to say we are getting some money. I don't rely on that money as I never know when, or even if, it is going to arrive but to be honest, it has come at a good time this month.

Off to make a coffee and catch up on some diaries

sassychick2014

Hiya

Just caught up on your thread and hats off to you for the determination to get your loan paid off quicker. It's bonkers as I have a car on hp and never thought to try and pay that off quicker, just thought "oh that's 60 months to pay". When I've cleared the rest of the debt I think that will be my next aim.

I also think the sealed pot challenge is a great idea for Christmas. Again, why didn't I think of it!? I had an unsealed pot challenge for a big spend I had this year which worked well - plus the pot was one of those nice fancy coffee jars they advertise. Bit expensive but was given to me by my dad so didn't even have to buy the pot! I've got one of those tin can boxes that I've not used so am going to get that out just as soon as I finish writing this!

Have subscribed so can't wait to see how well you do with your challenge.

Have a nice day

girlatplay

Hi sassychick thank you for posting. When I had my old £12k loan and bad debt I just plodded along paying it, feeling grateful that I was able to get it (the loan) and drag myself out of the hole I was in. It wasn't until I started looking around the diaries here that it became obvious to me to clear the debt early. I have never looked back! Well, only to remind myself that I am not going there again. I know my current debt is more than my old debt but we no longer live off 8p noodles (which are now about 20p!) and freeze in the winter.

The sealed pot challenge really works for me. Like I said in an earlier post, it is pocket change that would just dribble away, so I don't notice it. In February I had a night out. It was a big one and I budgeted £50. I only spent £30 so I popped the £20 in the pot when I got home. I wouldn't normally put that much in but in my budget it was already spent, if you know what I mean, so I'm still not missing it.

The thread that helped me the most when paying off the last debt (and I am using that principle as much as possible this time round too) was the PAD thread (Payment a Day). I haven't visited that thread in a long time as all payments at the moment are going to either the loan or the sealed pot (which, by the way, once Christmas is over, if there is any left, will go to the loan). Good luck with your journey too


Paella for tea tonight. A mixture of Jack Monroe's and Frugal Queen's recipes. LMG and I don't like anything smoked so the smoked paprika is out but we do like courgettes and red peppers so I mix things up a bit to create a recipe we both like. Admittedly, LMG doesn't really like courgette but she will eat it if there are lots of different flavours.

No financial news today. 1 week to payday

It's Friday, nearly the weekend :j:D:j:D:j

beanielou

Good news on CSA.~hope all comes good.
You are doing very well with Mr M
Have a happy weekend

girlatplay

Thank you for posting Lou. I hope you had a good weekend


I paid £16.34 off the loan today. It was odds (plus £10) of the CSA money. I have balanced all the accounts this morning and everything is looking steady.

Current loan balance: £19,393.58.

Just waiting for everything to be finalised with the equity transfer.

Somehow I have managed to not cover tonight's tea How did I miss that on the meal plan?? Twit. Anyway, luckily LMG is going to Granny & Grandad's after school so she will eat there. I have chopped tomatoes, onions, some basil and probably other bits so I will make up some kind of soup and have that. I think there are endy bits of bread in the freezer so I won't starve

Need to pop into town at lunchtime today for a present for my sis's birthday tomorrow. I know what I am getting, I just forgot it was this week! I already have a card - written too!! I have a voucher for coffee & cake in John Lewis so will have that while I'm up there.

Think that's it for today. Hope Monday is not too bad for everyone. My bestie is starting a new job today so hoping to hear it all went well when I see her at the weekend