NST: September: the Turtles go Wombling

misstara

dolly I agree, I would rather take slightly longer to pay off the debt and still spend some money on luxeries instead of paying off quicker and doing without. It's hard enough without being miserable too.

12 months from now, I would like to be almost debt free (my goal is to be debt free by christmas 2016) and to be starting to think about saving a deposit for our own place. All the things you mentioned apple, NSDs, grocery budget, etc will help get me there. I also need to make a decision about whether I want to go to uni to do mental health nursing and when. Me and OH would also like to have children and probably sooner rather than later - so lots to think about over the next 12 months

I've paid £13.43 to the debt today - not long now until cc2 is paid off and it should be a NSD too.

Fmess

Thank you the only girl for the aldee recommendation. I've had a look at them but have decided to go with a cheap blender and Panini press from Tescimos direct, using my vouchers on their boost scheme it has cost me £1.50! :j

Today has been SFD number 8 :j I was supposed to go for a drink with colleagues but they also invited me out tomorrow and tomorrow is already going to be a spendy day, so it was a no brainer

Thanks apple muncher for this weekend's ponderation In 12 months, I want to have less than £2000 of debt, so that I can be debt free by January 2017. That means that I need to pay off over £4700 in the next 12 months. The plan is to stay in my house and my job, which I currently feel very settled in due to some very supportive colleagues.

It means I need to find nearly £500 a month to pay towards my debt. My minimum payments come to just under £300 so that is £200 from elsewhere, which is a tall order from my normal pay packet. If I have extra work, then it becomes much more do-able. Over the holidays I do PA work, in the summer term I work as a examiner and throughout the year I tutor students in the evenings or at weekends. At the moment however I am in between the extra works as students usually want a tutor from November/December onwards (I have had one request but it might not be possible due to tricky circumstances).

Things that can derail me will be;
1.) lack of extra work
2.) household repairs and replacements
3.) if my car fails its MOT - has anyone taken their car to a council run test centre? I've heard they are more likely to pass your car as they don't do repairs
4.) if I overspend on my budgets

apple_muncher

Fmess - wow! to your canny voucher usage! May you have lots of happy Panini and smoothie times! Your 12 month plan is a good one. Are you able not to worry about the £200 pcm extra for now? How much does your examiner and PA work bring in? If you subtract that from your total 'extra' required, will it makes the leaner months easier to bear?

misstara - a plan that may get totally derailed by a sproglet! Motivation to clear the debt!

dolly - you are giving your children many and varied activities AND paying down the debt. Awesome work!

Moonbeam - happy decluttering!

crazy_cat_lady

This has really given me something to think about apple muncher. I have spent so much of the past 6 years worrying about debts and getting debt free, that I don't actually know what I'm going to do once I am debt free. And I will be debt free way before next September - my dfd is before Christmas.
The house really needs some work. It needs new windows and doors, decorating right through, and one of our sofas is on its last legs. But I don't want to go insane and start spending left, right and centre as soon as I have a bit more disposable income.
I want to take the kids on holiday abroad before they grow up... We get away in the UK, but I would love to take them to the USA.
Should I be overpaying the mortgage? Or should I be looking towards a 3 month saving pot?
Hmmm - better start prioritising.

Fmess

apple_muncher wrote: »

Fmess - wow! to your canny voucher usage! May you have lots of happy Panini and smoothie times! Your 12 month plan is a good one. Are you able not to worry about the £200 pcm extra for now? How much does your examiner and PA work bring in? If you subtract that from your total 'extra' required, will it makes the leaner months easier to bear?

!

Yes, at the moment my approach is that I'll pay what I can extra but I realise it won't be £200 extra unless I have extra work. If I got the same examining and PA work next year as I did this year, it would pay for the additional £200 a month for the whole year But the work is not guaranteed., fingers crossed I get the same opportunities as this year.

dolly84

Morning guys.

We had a crazy time here yesterday from picking up DD and her friend from school to dropping her off at camp. We all breathed a sigh of relief when she was safely off.

It is raining here at the moment but will hopefully dry up soon. I have to call at Tesco and collect my grocery order, it's my first time doing it click and collect but I'm not prepared to pay Saturday delivery prices. I had vouchers from them for £8 off a £60 shop and £1.63 price guarantee coupon so it was worth shopping with them.

DS has asked if we can have pizza for tea tonight and I have said yes but from the supermarket rather than a takeaway.

Bobarella

Morning Turtles

Hope everyone is well and looking forward to their weekends.

Will be searching for a source of PAD income this weekend.
Packing a few snacks just in case. Have son's piano lesson at 10 but he can be hungry at any time so good to be prepared.

Looking highly likely we'll have to dip into the EF to pay for some work at the flat. We have two choices on spend level. Emergency what needs sorting now and best job for the future. I think as we are splitting the cost with the upstairs flat owners we'll go for the more expensive choice. I don't want to be left with reprocussions for down the line. Looking at about £300 each. Ouch. But as we all say often enough, that is what these funds are for. Shouldn't be too hard to top it back up.

Right well I'd better get my skates on.

See you later

Bob

Bobarella

Well Im home again. Managed to pick up a pack of peppers (try saying that quickly) for 86p in Mr T when I popped in to get some wombled reciepts added on (17 points) that will go towards a lovely meal of stuffed peppers at some point this weekend. I dont know how others do them but I like to split the peppers, usually 3 large ones will do 2 adults. Roast them with some oil first. Then fill them with pasta shells, bacon, onion, or whatever combo of that you like, and top with cheese. Wack them back in the oven. So nice!
Serve with a salad & bread of some kind.

Have been checking over the accounts but nothing jumps out for a PAD yet. I am waiting on £5 back from Shoptize & £1 from Quidco, but might have to wait till those come in next week. Plus CB £82 is due at some point over the next 6 or so days.
Still, combined that total would put me to £128 overpaid for the month or 43% so not a bad effort at all!

Bob

498louise

Well Thursday should have been a NSD for me but I went and forgot my water bottle for the gym again so had to buy a 50p bottle of water, I cannot go without water at the gym!

Managed to have a NSD on Friday though which takes me up to 5 out of 15, I'll need to work harder to get another 10 in.

A spendy day today as needed groceries. I took some DVDs/games to the Disc exchange though and made £18.22, £7.20 went to my son and £11.02 put away to go towards credit card.

I am actually beginning to enjoy trying not to spend money, it's nice to feel more in control of my spending.

apple_muncher

498louise wrote: »

I am actually beginning to enjoy trying not to spend money, it's nice to feel more in control of my spending.

I love this phrase! :T