The long and winding road to debtfreeness

Ammeretto

It's been quite a while since i last posted on this forum. I quite often pop in to read posts i'm subscribed to though

Warning - i will be rambling quite a bit below but i just need to get my thoughts down

I was looking at my total debt this month and when i compared it to the total i had as my starting debt i though !!!!. i haven't been doing very well at all.
Now i have re calculated some of the amounts it is looking a little better.

At LBM in March 2014 i had a total of £29,981.66 on various credit cards and a loan. What i also forgot to consider was that we also owed £6,261.84 on a car loan (hp). So in Mar 14 our total debt was £36,243.50.

When the loan finished in July 15 and we owed £18,429 on the cards and £3,385 on the car = £21,814

so in 16 months we cleared £14,429 (£901 per month) not too bad.

At this point I thought fab we can now pay what we were paying on the loan onto the cards. That worked for a few months until OH had the opportunity to enter into a share save scheme with work.
We can buy the shares at 2p a share and at the end of the 3 years we can either get all our money back if the share value is less or we can keep the shares and then sell them and make a profit if they are higher.
So we basically looked at it like a savings plan with no risk and a potential nice payout at the end. If we are struggling at any time we can stop the scheme and get back everything we have paid into it.
We are now paying £362 per month into this instead of paying onto the cards.
At the end of the three years we will have at least £13k back (total contributions) We should have payed of the cards by then so we will have a nice lump sum. We hope to pay a chunk off the mortgage. If the shares double to just 4p we are looking at £26k (less tax)

In Oct 15 i did a balance transfer to clear the remaining car loan so the credit card increased but the car loan was paid off.
Debt at Dec 15 was £20,811 so in the 5 months from the loan ending we only cleared £1k

Debt at May 16 is now £18,629 so total cleared since LBM is £17,794.50 which is 48.6%
So almost half in just over two years. Im quite pleased with that.


So going forward - The plan is to carry on paying £700 per month to the debts plus any overtime the OH gets. We are hoping to be clear in Sep 18 with the shares due to mature in Nov 18 so if there is a small balance left we can clear it then.

Now OH has a bike on pcp that is due to end in Aug and the payment due is £2,360 - I did have this saved up to pay it off but then last month OH saw the bike of his dreams so he used the money to buy it

So come Aug we had two options - hand the bike back so no money to pay.
or pay the £2360 to clear the finance and then sell the bike privately as its worth about £3k

now we were going to just hand the bike back as we couldn't raise over £2k in just a few months but my barc card has offered a
cash balance transfer 0% for 15 months
so we are going to get £3.5k on the 0% use some towards the bike and then some to pay onto another c/c that has just started charging interest.
then when we sell the bike the £3k will just go straight onto the c/c so we should be in profit by £500 at the end (after the BT fee)

so although debt will increase this month it should go right back down in aug/sep time when we sell the bike.

phew
that was a huge post.
Well done if you read through it all.

Ammeretto

Plans for the month

Stick to Fuel budget of £300
Stick to Food budget of £300 - this is hard :mad:

There are three birthdays this month - a niece (4) a nephew (13) and OH goddaughter (6) - i currently have £65 in the gifts account so that will be more than enough to cover it.
I need to pay for some school trips (budgeted) - DS1 -a part payment of £100 owing this month and another trip for £3.50 and DS2 has a trip to be paid for £6.

Me and OH are doing a half marathon at the end of this month and my training has been really really bad at the moment. Seriously need to get some more training in. i'm not worried about pace just distance
So my target this week is to do 5 miles tomorrow and 7 on sunday.

Also to do this week
Chase BT for refund of £43.26 as we have now left them and are in credit
Shop around for house insurance as the renewal from direct line is shocking.
I think my car insurance is due next month so need to shop around for that too.

Julie67

Hi Ammeretto,

Well done on what you've paid off so far, sounds like you have a good plan in place.
I've just started a diary myself in the hopes it will keep us on track.
We have so many birthdays in June:eek: I managed to have two of my kids within two days of each other then my husbands birthday on 16th June which is normally fathers day, MIL, Best friend and DIL also this month:eek: I'm trying my best to be creative with pressies without breaking the bank.
Good luck with your debt free journey, I've subscribed

Ammeretto

Hi Julie67
wow thats a lot of birthdays this month.
Most of mine occur in Feb - 4 plus valentines day, May - 3 plus anniversary, June - 3 and August - 4
the rest of months are not so bad.

Work was ok today. I had a spend of 68p on some toast at breakfast.
I do like fridays as i finish early and was hoping to make the most of the sun after work.
However i had a not so pleasent experiance with Kwikfit

Now last Friday we decided to get the Air con recharged (£49) as it had run out and we were due to go to london / brighton for the weekend (OH took part in the 100km walk from London to brighton)

So Friday, saturday and Sunday was lovely sat in the car with the air con on occasionally to cool us down.
Monday morning go to put it on and nothing
It was back into kwik fit today and they have told me that there is a pipe that that has a leak and will cost £187:eek: to repair.

When they filled the aircon they said we will do a leak test and if there is a leak we cant fill it as its against the law and if they do fill it they don't guarantee the gas. Fine i said.

Today when i asked for a refund as clearly there was a leak there when they filled it on friday they refused.:mad: Said i had signed to say that i was happy that they couldn't guarantee the gas but two days is just ridiculous
I asked how the leak test had missed the leak and he said that the test only detected major leaks. I said well this leak is major seeing as it was empty within two days and was told no and that the pressure from having the gas in the system must have made the leak worse :eek: Wasn't that what the leak test is supposed to find out.

I am so angry. I never argue anything but i did today. I was shaking when i left the place. OH is going to make a complaint and possibly speak to DEFRA or FGAS. Their leak test is clearly not acceptable.

So i finished work at 1:45 was in kwik fit for 2:30 and did not get home until 4:15 so no chance to enjoy sitting in the sun in the garden :mad:

It will be a better day tomorrow.

Ammeretto

just logged onto OH barc card and they are offering him a money transfer too.

We currently have £4.7k on that card that is charging interest at 15.9% and some at 0%.
the money transfer they are offering is 2.9% fee and 0% to sep 17 and i can do £3970.

so im going to transfer the money into the bank with a fee of £115 and then pay it straight back onto the card :rotfl: (the other cards are at 0% so no point paying it to them)

so essentially b/card is shifting 4k of my debt to 0% for £115.4
interest is prob around £55 ish per month so better off after two months.

Ammeretto

Wow i'm loving the sunshine this weekend :j lets just hope it stays for a nice long while.

Saturday me and DS 2 went into town and i did the monthly transfer from the kids lloyds accounts to their halifax account.
Spent £1 in wilko on a drink for DS2.
We then went to aldi £88.30 and asda £11.29 - we got a lot this week as the fridge was bare.

Then DS1 had his climbing lesson and me OH and DS2 did some climbing too. Had to pay £40 for the next lot of lessons for DS1.

Dinner was a SW tikka curry and rice- Yum.

Not a NSD day today as we took the boys to Penllergare woods and had a nice walk and a picnic.
It is so pretty there. DS2 got a wet foot while climbing on the rocks at the waterfall. We found a few geocaches and then stopped in the cafe.
Spent £6.30 - the boys had a hot choc and an ice cream each. I resisted the ice cream and the milkshakes so me and OH just had a drink.

I've been so good this week so far so i'm really hoping for a loss on the scales on Tuesday.

Ammeretto

God its been ages since i last posted.
i quite often come onto the site and read other peoples diaries but spend so much time doing that that i end up not having the time to do my own.

I have time today cause i'm off work ill . DS2 was ill on the weekend and i must have caught his tummy bug.

finances :mad:- unfortunately our debt has gone up and not down since my last post. Partly because the PCP plan on hubbys bike was up and we needed £3k to pay it off so i did a 0% BT, partly because we ended up getting a new car on PCP. We wanted to put the max deposit down so we used some of our savings pots thinking that we could make it back up again and then they put a stop to OH overtime.
Overtime for him was pretty much a given and in the years he has been working there he has rarely just had his basic wage.
We had gotten so used to it that we just considered it his normal income and lived as though it was.:o

Since then we have cancelled our climbing membership £100, several mag subs £20, playstation now sub £12.99, cancelled my contact lenses £40. The fuel budget has reduced by £90 due to the new car being a lot more economical along with the saving of £16 in car tax as the new car doesn't have any.:)

Before we knew about the overtime we also committed to going on a cruise with OH mum, dad, brother, SIL and their two kids. Its for MIL 60th birthday in Sep, so we have to save for that too. We have £3k already and we are expecting a £1k refund from HMRC for OH overpaid tax so that will go towards it too.

After cancelling all that stuff and saving money for the cruise we can afford to put £700 per month to the debt (min pay is £420) and then after Sep we can put the money we are paying for the cruise to the cards. Luckily everything is on 0% at the moment.

Debt totals for the end of Feb (all payments having been made)
MC - £3,150
HJ - £1,850
HC - £1,000
AC - £50
CJ - £4,450
BJ - £6,410
BC - £4,940
NC - £1,200
Total £23,050

Argos will be cleared next month and we are overpaying BC as that is the one that will start interest first.

Ammeretto

Uurrggh. Sat here at the pool while ds2 has his swimming lessons. Much rather be home and curled up on the sofa.:(
On the plus side I had some toast earlier and kept it down.:)

SkintTeacher

Sorry to hear you're poorly. It sounds like you have made some really positive steps towards reducing your outgoings. It also sounds like you have a fair amount you can put towards the debt which is great keep up the good work

Ammeretto

thanks SkintTeacher.

DS2 is now in bed and DS1 is in his usual place - on his computer, where he has been sat all day. I should be back in work tomorrow so hubby will have to entertain them. Im hoping that he will take them out for the day for a nice long walk but unfortunately i think the weather is not going to be nice. I hate it when it rains at half term :mad:

I'm snuggled up on the sofa browsing the diaries when i should really be doing a meal plan but the thought of it is turning my stomach at the mo

We have tickets to see Fantastic Mr Fox on Friday night. When i booked them last year i asked DS1 if he wanted to come (he's not far off 14 now) and he said yes. Now he's now saying that he doesn't want to go. Grrrr. Bleeding kids

I either say tough and make him go or we can take one of DS2 friends instead or i could take my little brother - though he is 12 so might not want to go either.

Ammeretto

Well I went back to work today. I didn't really feel up to it but I had loads to do.
I sent a text to one of DS2 friends mum inviting him to the theatre on Friday. DS2 is really excited about that.
Not a NSD as I got up too late to make breakfast and lunch so I spent 68p on toast and £2.35 on lunch. I should have been more organised especially considering the fact that I didn’t need to worry about sorting the kids out as its half term. I will do better tomorrow.
I have nothing left in my groceries budget for this month, so if I need any further spends it will have to come out of a saves pot. Will have a check of the fridge and freezer and plan some meals.
I think OH is planning on taking the boys to jump jam tomorrow so hes gonna need money for that.

On some really good news – OH parents have had some money and they are now paying for the cruise along with the flights and the hotel. All we need to pay for is our spending money (£2k) and passports (£200).
They have also said that they will give us £3k in April but we must spend it on doing something to the house. There are so many things that we want to do but keep putting off due to the debt so it’s hard to decide.
So from the £3k in the cruise pot now I’m going to sweep the spare £800 into the home improvement fund and find another £200 over the next two months, so along with the £3k from MIL we can have £4k to spend on the house.
Now to decide what to spend it on. We want to put a driveway in because at the moment we have to park on the road. We would also like to replace some windows and get a new front door and some French patio doors. The other option is the bathroom but there is no way we would spend £4k on the bathroom.
We need to have a think and get some quotes and then decide from there. Im leaning towards the driveway but it depends on how much it will cost.