Mopping up the mess - my final debt free journey!

clearmydebts

Afternoon all,

All grand here. We had DD's birthday party yesterday and it went really well. We had 20 kids in the local community centre with 2 bouncy castle and a Frozen theme. DD had a ball but I can't believe my baby is 5!

Last week myself and OH celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary and went to what I can only describe as 'heaven on earth'. It was a 5 star spa and we never left for the weekend. Being honest it was just what we needed as we rarely get away just the 2 of us on our own. In fact the last time we were away just the 2 of us was about 3 years ago.

Moneywise - we applied for a debt consolidation loan and got it! It will cover all the credit cards except one and my debt is going to go up unfortunately as I wasn't counting the overdrafts but I've paid them off with part of the loan. But this new figure is a proper reflection of everything so from this payday on I am going to be able to make serious dents in it.

So drumroll. New figure is an eye watering:

£21,808

clearmydebts

So not great really but on a positive note we are paying way less interest with the loan. We were paying about £450 interest every month because we don't get the great balance transfer credit card deals in Ireland. So now we will be paying about £100 per month and that will hopefully we going down quickly.

We've also deferred the loan for 3 months so we can pay as much off the credit card as possible. We are still paying the odds and ends of interest from our cards and trying to close them down so from this payday onwards we should be able to knuckle down.

I must say I feel a weight has been lifted with regards getting rid of all the cards, Now we only have 2 debts we need to focus on, which is great.

In other money news, I did some shopping around on our car insurance and managed to get a very competitive quote, meaning we save about £300. So a good money day here today

little_miss_spendtoomuch

Great news on saving on the car insurance and reducing the monthly interest.
I know it's a pain about the balance transfer cards but it looks like you've worked out the best alternative.
You'll get there xx

little_miss_spendtoomuch

Oh and congratulations on the ten year anniversary! The spa trip sounds perfect x

clearmydebts

little_miss_spendtoomuch wrote: »

Oh and congratulations on the ten year anniversary! The spa trip sounds perfect x

Thanks Little Miss!

We had the perfect break away.

With regards debt it does feel like we've gone backwards a bit but we can really start paying stuff off now so I'm confident it will start to show up.

clearmydebts

clearmydebts wrote: »

Thanks Little Miss!

We had the perfect break away.

With regards debt it does feel like we've gone backwards a bit but we can really start paying stuff off now so I'm confident it will start to show up.

Payday for OH in 2 days thank goodness. We've friends coming to stay tomorrow night so that's always more expense. My new curtains arrived from Next yesterday and I saved €60 by shopping from my UK account. Shocking how the exchange rate differs.

October is an expensive month:
* Car insurance is up
* Car tax needs to be paid
* Need to pay for sideboard and unit
* Need to pay some money off Disneyland Paris

I am off to Spain for a friends 40th next weekend. Can't wait! Flights are paid for and accommodation is super cheap. Am still mopping up the extra interest from the overdrafts, credit cards so won't be paying too much this month extra I don't think.

I'll aim to be under £21k by end of Oct and under 20k by end of Dec (hopefully more if I put my head down)

clearmydebts

So long since I updated on here and on paper it looks like I've done nothing. I've been chipping away at the Disneyland Paris holiday though and looks like that will be paid off before payday this month. Then I can finally concentrate on paying down the credit card debts.

Looking above I was definitely over-ambitious with regards payments. I've never been so busy in my life. No weekend free now until Christmas and I have 5 40th parties and presents to buy since September, alongside Santa. I'm not even finished with my Christmas presents yet. I'm not going to say the usual 'Oh I'll wait until after Xmas though' as that gives me carte blanche to overspend. Instead I will try and pay off as much as I can and thank my lucky stars that the holiday is nearly paid off!

clearmydebts

Am finally off the starting blocks and have paid €400 off the credit card. Not sure if I'll be able to pay anymore as we have Xmas to get through and then my 40th birthday in January! Think I am more or less all sorted for Christmas, just need to finish the house deep clean and we will be ready to go!

clearmydebts

Happy New Year!

Had a really lovely Christmas even though OH, DS and DD were all sick. We got to go to the panto on the 29th and it was just fab. Very MSE as my parents paid and then we used the Tesco clubcard for our pizza afterwards!

Even though we haven't been on any nights out over Xmas the car broke down on Xmas Eve and cost €180, and still needs to be fixed. It's so frustrating, just when I think we are making a bit of headway something else comes along. The loan will go out this month so will make a bit of a dent but I doubt I'll be able to pay anything else off my credit card as I've my 40th next week and will have to pay for decorations, food platters etc. Am very hopeful that I won't have to dip into my credit card for any expenses though so that will be a huge positive.

OH is due to get a bonus in his Feb pay cheque. It was €1700 last year so hoping for something similar, or more. Some of it will go on paying for flights for BIL's wedding in Spain in Oct and the remainder will go off the credit card. Also got off the starting blocks with my emergency fund as well. Aiming to pay €100 a month into it until it gets to €1000 to cover stuff like car breakdowns etc.

23 days to payday. It will be a long month!

clearmydebts

Morning all,

My loan is gone out now, so I've amended my signature. I'll definitely get under 26k by the end of Jan, which is a good feeling as I love breaking into the next number (on a downward trend). I've done the food shop for the week and I've nothing planned for the first half of the weekend. My 2 friends are taking me away for my birthday from Sun-Tue so that shouldn't cost much as they are paying, will have to pay towards one meal and that's it!