Deliciously Dreaming of Being Debt Free by 40

kittycashcake

Thank you kitten! My OH and were talking and agreed the same thing! I know it's my own fault though so I can't complain too much.

The other reason I want to take on half of the mortgage is because half of it is with his ex, she's happy to hand it off to me, I'm happy, he's happy, I can afford it.... It's just the small matter of the bank! Oh well, it may have to wait 4 years!

I'm tentatively excited but I know they can make you jump through hoops to get it, I'm already assuming I will need to challenge each one with the FOS. Once my back statements come I'll have another check in case I'm missing anything, as I can't remember all of my small debts, then I'll approach one of those claim companies who want one of your testicles to find any dregs I have missed. But finding a decent one is an adventure for another day! Bleeding parasites!

kittycashcake

Had a pretty good week debt wise.... drumroll...


I paid off in full a "immediate" woohhoooooo!!! I also added to my emergency fund and paid some more towards my holiday. AND this weekend shop was OH's turn which mean by next week I should (pending a surprise) be able to pay off another one, this one is actually on my credit file so I would love to get that gone to start bouncing up my credit rating. I am happy to see it crawl up 25 points a month!

OK - I do have a confession; all the girls in the office have been to see the same psychic, I finally gave in and went yesterday, it was a tenner so I thought that can be my entertainment budget for the month as we haven't been out in about 10 weeks? Anywho, it was all positive, my nan came through, some very vague stuff, some very specific stuff and then she did a card reading which said my financials will slowly get better if I keep at it. Its of course very vague and generic but it made me smile. Lots of other stuff came through as well but nothing radical, but thats fine too.

I did get back a few forms for my claims... they all want evidence of me so its gonna be a ballache as I don't get bills to my house as most stuff is in my partners name. So I am trying to pull together what I can for that.

I also went to my first trampoline class yesterday! It was fun apart from wrenching my knee on the first bounce. It was the first ever class at the centre and I was lucky enough to get the teacher to myself, which was great in light of my injury, that I am obese and was very disorientated it being my first time on a trampoline for 20 years. It is a little expensive - £8 for an hour session, but I have decided to only do this once a month / fortnight at most. This will be my reward for staying on track with the budgeting and weight loss.

My weight loss is slow and steady.... still sad that I back peddled on hitting my 100lbs total weight loss, but I am now sitting at 63lbs down. I am hoping to get to 70lbs down by Valentines day and to 100lbs down again by the end of July for my birthday




Thats all for me this weekend, gonna update my signature... excited as I have paid off 5% in 4 weeks, so I am right on track! Sending happy thoughts some of these PPI's will be in my favour and I will be able to throw bigger sums at my debts very soon.

kittycashcake

Yay came home to a nice small surprise. Last week when I was unwell I contacted as many organisations as I could to see if I was due any refunds.

Today I had my first (hopefully of many) refunds.... Another drumroll.... £19 from British Gas. Apparently there was an error with my meter at my previous property and that is what I was owed. You shouldn't have to ask for these things to get them, they had my next address. Sigh. But at least I now have it, £19 is better than nothing, I'm glad I asked #fighttheman #eventhegasman #freecakeforeveryone

kittycashcake

Phew!! What a week! Had what I hope will be my final full week of doing the late shift, which I hate because it totally screws me up trying to hit the gym after work. Going forward it should be one day every other week which suits me great!

Also had a busy weekend doing my weekend to shop (boo, £60!) and then setting up the joint account with my OH which was something I have been wanting to do for ages. We also deposited our Christmas cheque from the MIL to kick things off.

I also filled in all my PPI claim forms.... I told the complete truth, but still get that feeling like when a police car goes by and you have that mini panic about "what did I do wrong OMG?!?". I am still waiting for 1 more form from Aviva and a refund cheque to be reissued by GMAC and another one for £2.80 ha ha. Its my money so I want it!

Things I still haven't done:

Got quote for the house or pet insurance renewal
Done any ebaying
Done any studying
Done any competitions

But I am pretty pleased with my progress over the last month, got a lot of things straight and I feel really in control again. When I feel in control of my finances it tends to spread to other areas of my life and I feel generally more positive. I have also made some progress with my weight loss in the last month too, despite being grounded for the last 8 days due to hurting my knee.

Next week is looking OK - I am hoping to add again to my savings / holiday fund and if things go well make a top up payment on one of my immediates to get me near the end of paying another one off. That would be ace!

Alas tomorrow is Monday again... another day, another dollar!

kittycashcake

Not a great week with my finances. Sigh.

Although I did put some moneys in my emergency fund – now up to £100 whoop whoop and money towards my holiday toot toot! – I spent around £50 unplanned, which I shoulda coulda put onto my debt. I bought some bits in Boots, I ate dinner out and spent £15 (but by God it was yummy). It was actually the first time eating out for a month; I used to eat out at least once a week. I also paid for a just eat takeaway one night too. I could have had beans on toast, but I didn’t.

The other thing I bought was a Chromecast. I have been wanting one of these for a while, they normally go for £30 but there was a deal on a new unit with a Tom Cruise movie thrown in for £22.99 delivered. I can’t see the price dropping more so I just bought it.

I also bought my Valentines gifts for the OH, a watch box for his little collection and an engagement ring! We have been engaged for nearly a year and I have the most beautiful diamond ring, but we never got him one, although he has mentioned it a few times. As this year is a leap year and its traditional for a woman to propose on a leap year I thought it would be sweet. It wasn’t expensive, a cheap and cheerful plain titanium band from ebay, not that he cares about the cost at all. We are planning on going out for Valentines (his treat) so I will go down on one knee and hopefully he will say yes!

Having said all that I can’t see me wanting / needing anything big for the foreseeable, except a card to go with my gifts, maybe some chocolates too so other than my usual running costs I plan to be as frugal as possible. No more paying for meals out or in for a least a month. My OH will be having an operation in the next month so there might be some taxi costs with that but that’s it.


I did post off all my PPI claims paperwork – I have 4 that are going through the motions. I don’t think I will get 2 of them (due to their age), another that I am sceptical about but one I feel confident. Looking at other peoples case discussions it seems a 1 month turnaround is common now that most of the dust has settled on PPI claims. Trying to stay chill though as these things rarely turn out good for me!

Some good things… my overall debt busting is at 7.16%, which isn’t too bad for a month. If I can continue at that rate I could achieve my goal by Easter 2017! That would be insane! That can’t be right? I have decided to not to worry about the wedding fund until after my emergency fund hits £500 and my holiday is paid off and enjoyed in the summer and my immediates are paid which I am aiming to do my Halloween. By then that will leave me with my Wedding and CCJ’s to clear. I am assuming I won’t get any of my PPI’s paid out, but if I do, bonus!




Things I still haven't done:

Got quote for the house or pet insurance renewal
Done any ebaying
Done any studying
Done any competitions

NEED TO DO THIS!!!! I am terrible!

Emergency Fund £100 Immediates Paid: £381/ £1198 (1/5 accounts PAID!) CCJs Unpaid Total: £5103 Free Christmas 2016 Fund £64/£200 Holiday £125/ £550 Wedding Fund Goal: £2500 Total Remaining: £9380 / £10,051 (£671 - 7.16%Paid)
Check out My Debt Diary - Weight loss 64lbs down, 147lbs to go

Thats it for now!

kittycashcake

I'm so annoyed!! I just had a call from a bailiff telling me they are coming to visit between 6-7!! I called up utterly confused and its just £10 bloody hell! AND it's from a debt that I paid in full 2 weeks ago, I was given a balance by the operator and paid exactly what they told me. Sigh. So I've ended up paying this unplanned today.

Mild heart attack time!

kittycashcake

Feeling pretty proud of myself - I have done some competitions and I started a Ebay challenge to list 29 things in February and I'm already up to 10 in 2 days... getting my shiiitttteee together!

Kitten868

Well done on making the eBay challenge and motivating yourself to do it! Once you start you don't know what you ever did before. Everything's been slim lined in my house lol.
I agree with you on focusing on what you can for now. Getting rid of the immediates is going to feel great.
Even I'm getting impatient on your ppis now! Lol xxx

kittycashcake

What a week!

First I got some great news.... I got a letter from one of my PPI's agreeing to pay out. It was dated a couple of days after they would have recieved it so I am guessing they have some kind of threshold in place where if its below a certain value that pay out automatically because its not cost effective. Either that or they already went through all the cases and have a massive file of people to just pay out of they ever bother to claim. Who cares... I got a cheque coming my way for £219 next week!



Then karma decided to boot me between the legs and I got a bespoke letter from the council of where I used to live saying I owe £900 from 2012/2013 and 2014/2015. Not breakdown of what for and which years just "can you pay umkay?" I actually moved out half way through the year to a new city so they must be trying to at least partially bill me for that? But 2012/13.... I mean what?!? I will write to the to get clarity but if I owe something else I will add it to the list. The good thing at least is as I am no longer a resident there and I can prove my debt and my available income I think I could agree a very low weekly payment plan, plus its not on my credit file.

But it did get me thinking last night about all the organisations that I KNOW I had accounts with who when I did my calling everyone day back in January told me they couldnt find me. Why did I take no for an answer, when I know for sure I had accounts with them? So last night I did more more searching and managed to find old account numbers for a few!!! So I sat and wrote an email and sent it off to all the people that "had no record of an account" - JD Williams, Very, Freemans, Ambrose Wilson and Littlewoods. I found account numbers for 4 out of 5 so screw it.

So thats 13 Organisations that I sent requests for PPI forms or to check if I had overpaid my balance in any way, I think I am gonna call them my GSM's... Gimme Some Money! - I have had payouts for 1, promises of cheques for another 2 and forms filled for another 3. I am gonna fight for my money and thats fine. Its probable that I had no PPI, its possible I will stir up a hornets nest of debt thats been written off, but if I owe money I will pay it, its all part of the way things roll.

Aside from that I added some more to my emergency fund and towards my holiday toot toot can't wait. As I hopefully shall get my cheques in the next week or so (around £300!) I will be able to pay off at least 2 immediates! If I keep my spends in check this week I may be able to squeak a third one too! That would leave me with just one left, my biggest at £350. They did offer to settle at a reduced amount but I am not sure if it would be better for my credit file to do that as it would appear as settled rather than paid.

Also happy I sold some stuff on ebay, I did a few competitions and I plan to do a little studying today plus adding a few more bits onto ebay tonight. I am hoping to get £100 ebaying which I will throw at my debts.

I updated my signature... now paid 8% of my goal... hoping I don't have to increase my goals with more debts!

Emergency Fund £125 Immediates Paid: £398/ £1198 (1/5 accounts PAID!) CCJs Unpaid Total: £5103
Free Christmas 2016 Fund £72/£200 Holiday £125/ £550 Wedding Fund Goal: £2500
Total Remaining: £9305 / £10,051 (£746 - 8.02%Paid)

Kittenkirst

Good work so far! Not much advice to give you kitty other than stick at it, you've done so well :-)