Time to face up.

tunnelandlight

Hi Diary,

It's been a while..! Here's the latest...The tenant in Spain eventually paid some rent but some repairs need to be carried out to the house. Feeling rather frustrated as not a month seems to go by without the septic tank/ pool or tiling requiring maintenance. But hey ho.

Work is limping towards the end of term and it can't come soon enough for me! Can't wait for a great summer and a bit of R&R, although plenty of work will need to be done to get ready for next term, too...

Had a great -not cheap- weekend with BF, we cooked together, all healthy stuff and he did some ironing - his clothes (but still!!) whilst I went to the opticians on Saturday - £99. In the afternoon we went to the local village fete which was less dull than feared! I love my village for the sense of community and the fact there are lots of generous people who give up so much of their time and energy to making it a better place.

When we were back from the fete, I phoned up the nicer of the 2 village pubs to reserve a table so we could finally celebrate BF's Birthday. They were not doing food as there was a cider/ real ale/ music and sausage festival going on. BF was more than a little keen on this. We went. And stayed from 3 p.m. til midnight. Oops. On the plus side we had a great time and met some interesting people. On the not so plus side I spent £45 on going out that day. Not good!

BF headed off to Newcastle on Tuesday, so we went out for a cheap meal before he left. He paid for this and his card was declined, he had cash but believed he had about £500 in his account. He didn't. This was a great way in to finally discussing money properly!!

He is quite calm about his finances, but they are awful... Here's the bad news..

£2000 overdraft - and he'd gone over that.....
£15000 loan over 5 years (but he has paid that for a year so about £12,000??)
Credit card about £7,000 AND he was paying 19.9% on that. Ouch.

On the way to the station I tentatively discussed cutting back with not a huge amount of success. :mad:. He says the payments are comfortable. I pointed out that if he is made redundant and gets £30K as he hopes most of it will go on repaying that lot...

The good news is he has not spent on the credit card for ages and does understand that that the interest was crazy. He told me that he couldn't do anything because his credit score would be rubbish, but I suggested logging on to one of the free credit reference sites and.... his credit is not rubbish at all. He saw another card and immediately got a £3000 offer with 0% for 3 years and a 2% transfer fee. £1000s saved there.:j


He also has had a good offer to lower the loan. :j

We are off to a festival this weekend. Another freebe! We're arriving on Saturday and leaving Sunday so it will just be the petrol - I'll do this as he will be writing the review - and Saturday spends. I am taking £50 for drinks and food. That'll have to do.

I'm finding it hard to balance going out and budgeting. But I am making progress and won't give up, although I think things will slide a little over the summer especially as our Euro exit means the holiday spending money will be quite a bit more.

Sorry for another long post - wishing everyone an excellent weekend a smidgeon early!

Xx

milasavesmoney

It's just wonderful that you were able to get him to look at his finances and help him sort some of it to better rates. Way to go you!!!

Summer is to be enjoyed. The fete and the pub sound just wonderful to me. I'm glad you both enjoyed it!

tunnelandlight

Thank you! Agree, completely agree summer is to be enjoyed.

Back late last night - 2a.m. - from the festival, so getting up this morning was an unpleasant struggle! Monday morning is tough at the best of times. Such a good couple of days: Fantastic music and met some good people. And it only rained once!! Even better, Sunday was sunny and very warm so we both caught the sun and have satisfying watch marks. Happy days! I took 400 photos and started sorting them tonight for BF's review, they weren't too bad at all. Quite proud.

In financial news: BF has secured 0% financing for ALL his cards and to pay off his overdraft and got a 1% reduction on the loan. He casually mentioned that he has set up a DD so that everything will be paid off in the 40 months and has cut up the card.:T:beer:. I'm highly impressed! I hope he can stick to it.


The weekend wasn't as costly as feared. I spent £30 in petrol and took out £40, I spent that and £10 BF owed me so stuck to the budget quite well, pretty easy when you're driving! I tend to buy more than my share as I am conscious that BF gets us these tickets for free and spends quite a number of hours writing everything up, but I still managed to buy more than my share of drinks and not feel like I was penny pinching. That's it for fun days out this month, but have quite a few end of term events to go to and so many people are leaving so will have to make provision for that. Next big event is the festival in Cornwall and that is at the end of the month. And then Budapest. Feeling highly spoilt at the moment, but also determined to not completely blow this and will aim to keep the totals going in the right direction.


My only goal for July is to get the debt to less than £10K, savings up to £750 and cross fingers very hard that the MOT is passed. My car lasting me another year would be very helpful right now...


Time for bed. And lots and lots of lovely sleep. Night all. Xx

milasavesmoney

Wow, just head him in the right direction and he does impressive things!!

Your better pictures will be used? That's quality work!
I'm crap at taking pictures and that's something I've always wanted to be good at doing. I just don't have the eye for composition.

I know you can keep up both enjoying your life and repaying your debt. It's something that takes planning and thought but you seem to have that down pat!

tunnelandlight

Thanks, Mila. You are lovely to keep commenting and I do appreciate it very much. Great to see YOUR totals going up - well done!:j

Just back from a weekend with BF, his fridge has broken down and as it is at least 11 years old and suffered many repair attempts, he's going to have to get a new one. So we went shopping. And neither of us are very good at "sensible" shopping. And because the fridge wasn't working there was no food so we went out for a meal and then stayed out all Saturday. We had a great time. I'll spare you full details but.. BF got: Pub meal, several drinks, cinema tickets (he agreed to go and watch the Ab Fab movie as I used to love the series! And he didn't complain!! No vouchers were involved, so £22 plus snacks...), a camera (for me! - second hand but in excellent condition. I love it and have wanted that type for ages, it was an early Birthday present), shoes for me (stupidly high but quite beautiful, also a Birthday gift, feeling very, very lucky ), sunglasses for himself x 2..
I got: Brunch today, some pub drinks, coffee shop smoothies (a shocking £4 each), a camera case, batteries and a memory card for my fantastic camera, a hotel room for before the festival we are going to at the end of the month...
We didn't get: The fridge we went out for.

I am not seeing him for the next 2 weekends - I will stay at home and catch up on jobs next weekend and be very frugal indeed! This was always going to be a tough month and this week will be expensive as I have end of term meals out and gifts to put in for. I have decided to enjoy these events as much as possible, I may not be on my target for debt repayment but I will be sensible and will get back on track in September - August is the holiday so no chance there! I will still spend nothing on credit cards and have transferred my current account and will get £125 from that which will be used to repay debts, so I am not a total disaster!

Really hope everyone enjoyed the tennis and the sunshine?
Xx

tunnelandlight

Hi dairy,

Stayed home as planned this weekend, didn't mange to be all that frugal though..:o
I transferred my current account and got £125 (!!YAY!!) :beer: so went on a but of a spree, should have spent it on the debt but there are things I need, so decided to spend half of that on me and half on the debt! I got a load of food shopping to be delivered tonight - £2 delivery and it would cost me more in petrol plus I am more sensible when choosing online and keep the costs down more . As BF is over this week, this will actually save money (she justifies..) as I will have food in and not be tempted to book a meal out which would end up costing more than the shopping.. Spent just over £40 including wine. Then went proper (not online..) shopping saw some lovely stuff in W@llis, will buy when I am paid, it's only a couple of tops but they looked good and will be fine for the hols, they were about £44 together. Popped into the Nexxt sale and got some sale tees and cropped linen trousers only £16 all together and they look fine.

Only a couple of days til pay day, it's going to be tight as I need clothes, spending money for the holiday and festival, my car tax is due - £77, I have meals out to pay for (goodbyes to colleagues) and 2 leaving gifts to buy, plus end of term drinks, quotes for bathroom retiling...but I am still aiming for the debt to be under £10K. That's pretty exciting !! I love pay day...

Hope to be confirming the new figures soon...Off to cut the grass and do some marking.
Happy Sunday, everyone.
Xx

milasavesmoney

How prudent to use your wind fall like you have done. Looking at your totals from when you started, you are knocking debt out at an amazing pace! Great great job! Go you!! :T:T:T:T

AntoMac

Well done. You're making great progress. You seem to have a good balance between saving and spending which allows you to bring your debt down steadily. Under £10K will be a great feeling.

tunnelandlight

Thanks Mila and AM. Your comments and support are very much appreciated.:) And Mila - go YOU!! those savings are looking mighty impressive and all your numbers are heading in satisfying directions, well done!

Happy, happy day today!! The school holidays have started and the debt is now (drum roll please..) under 10K!!!!! Yes.... 4 not 5 figures - WOOO HOOOOO! OK, so it may only be a few pennies under 10K... but it starts with a lovely 9.... £9999.23!! :T:j:beer:


I am beyond thrilled with this, although I am sure there are plenty of people that would be horrified to owe so much.


More good news was that the car passed its MoT! This was cause for more than a little relief, they did warn me that the radiator was furring up a little but a replacement will be way over £300 and I am NOT spending that on my car, I'd rather put it towards a replacement. Anyway, they say it could still last years or may go tomorrow, so fingers crossed for option 1. This joyous news means more money to be split between the debt and our summer hols.:D


Final piece of good news is that a friend of BF's is also heading to the same festival as us and has offered to pay for ALL petrol if we give him a lift, since it will cost a lot less than the train he was going to go on so a win all round.


Hope everyone is well? I'm away for quite some time over the hols so will only post sporadically, so wish you all a wonderful summer. Enjoy, for it is always over so soon (if you're UK based..).


Xx

tunnelandlight

Hello again, Diary. Long time no see.


I have a confession... I haven't been very good at all. I have just had pay day and my debt has gone down by less than £4 (but savings are up to £875 so I am pleased with that small crumb of comfort). I'm now way off track for debt clearing by October next year....Hit the credit card bigtime on holiday (Hungary was AMAZING)...now back to reality with a bump. Yes, I did shred my credit card. Then I got a new one as there was a great balance transfer deal. With my spends and the balance transfer I now owe £1200, I have shredded the card again and for the final time now. I will save for holidays in future.


I am rather cross with myself, I spent too much on holiday clothes and meals out. Now I'll do the only thing I can do: Get back on track! I'll come up with my September goals soon - and make sure I stick to them.


I'll be popping into school tomorrow to meet a friend, then we're off for lunch. It'll be a cheap one. And the rest of this summer will be at home getting ready for next term - apart from the festival I am going to at the end of the month..That's a last shout for the summer and I'm definitely not going to deny myself that!


Sorry, Diary. There will be better news next month.


Xx