From Debit to Credit

tori.k

The whole refinancing thing is a bit of a pain, first loan is now settled but they took this months DD so now waiting for them to bounce the £230 they owe back. so I can make the first overpayment to the new loan.

Credit to Debit stage 2 is paying off the loan and putting together a 1k emergency fund. I did start working on the EF but raided it to help pay off the remaining credit card so that is down to £40. so next target is £4500. im going to try and stick to my original planned DFD of May 17 so will need to service this a £643PM but due to my now variable income I can manage £500 so the extra will be a push, but I lose nothing in trying. I will continue my penny saver towards my annual household bills.

tori.k

Anyone ever have the feeling it would just be easier to run away.

Work is turning into a PITA, I only have 24hrs this week and know that often this is the case down here over the winter,so applied for a couple of small cleaning jobs so have have a guaranteed little extra each week, work have now just changed my rota for next week from 24hrs to 40hrs but so far have no shifts booked in for the week after. im not sure if I can make this work I would rather have less money with 3 days work and another 8hrs cleaning and a settled income then not knowing if I will be able to meet my obligations if I overpay the loan. so will have a chat and see if I can come to some arrangement with the company. im hoping they will as the actual working hours and location work well for me.

With so much time off spent a lot of time in the kitchen making use of odd's and ends so still have £96 left of my grocery budget this month with 9 days to go, I will need some fresh stuff but hoping to save £60 of this add to the emergency fund and get the ball rolling.

I need to address my stress levels it's playing a bit of havoc with my muscles (devils grip) and the glytrin spray give's some wicked headaches I think once im back into a routine with work and sorting the last loan things will settle down.

tori.k

I seemed messed up with the cashbackcard it's set to pay in full each month but I had been paying it off everytime it was used, there is a bit of a drag between payment registering so I overlapped somehow and ended up in credit by £40 as it's not been missed with my fuel cost going down so decided to treat myself and book into the hairdressers as it's well overdue

Made the big mistake of allowing Dod's to come shopping with me over the weekend he worse than shopping with kids, so ended up spending £50 of remaining grocery budget when I was aiming for no more than £37 still there is another £40 across to the emergency fund better than nothing.

Brothers birthday on Monday this is my closest sibling we decided against gifts and opt to spend some time together so im picking him up and taking him to breakfast then spending the morning over his allotment. bit of a treat for both of us

tori.k

Been a while since I updated on here, simply due to the lack of anything interesting going on with the debt, as we will pick that up again in January so no risk of adding over the Yule period. Christmas is wrapped up (literally) and thanks to dods cholesterol coming back as a little high at his diabetes check, wont need much in shopping as im cutting him back on the treats this year

I've been experimenting and managed to drop the shopping from £60 to £50 each week for the last 6 weeks we've opted into to a local farmers fruit and veg & and meat box scheme it cost us £16 a week and it's keeping me out the supermarket. hopefully over the next few weeks this will reduce again now my store cupboard is a bit more stocked. we will evaluate in the new year.

tori.k

Haven't updated in a while purely because absolutely nothing is going on, everything has pretty much ran out of steam and we are crawling forward at a pace that a tortoise would be embarrassed by.

Im going to be out of work by the end of August, we can manage our outgoings fine on DH wages if need be so it's isn't a worry but doesn't leave any extra, so my wages that have been overpaying the debt is now being saved as a just in case.If/when I find permanent work again I will use it to overpay the loan.

Not all bad the SOA is still balanced and working well, we budgeted over last year for Dods to get his Seven back on the road for Easter it's been SORN for the last two years so he's one very happy bunny. I did work out that if if we kept the car SORN for another year and put the money towards the loan we be £75 better off. so wasn't a significant amount and he'd benefit more by using it (get his backside off the sofa) then sitting another year in the garage.

To entertain myself i've been taking the house in a more zero waste direction (well I don't really shop anyway) i've always been pretty frugal but have been seeing savings in the household budget which has balanced out the cost of opting for more environmentally friendly products, but I am struggling with the rut i've found myself in I think once the weather improves and I can get out in the garden I will cheer up a bit, im such a boring norma at the moment im getting on my own nerves never mind anyone else's

angelpye

Hi, popping in to say i think you have done really well and wanted to congratulate you on progress so far. I imagine once everything is in place for me that it will seem slow as no more improvements to make but you are not adding to your debt, you have paid off loads and coped with change in job etc. Keep on doing what you are doing because you are certainly getting closer to where you want to be

tori.k

Sad day as we watch our original planned DFD pass, we are still crawling along not added to the debt but with no room for overpayments it's a long old slog, I've managed to get 2 days permanent work so effectively working full time until August when my first job finishes, would have been great but HRMC managed to mess up once again so last month they took more than half my wages in income tax, I will get this back but it just such a pain to deal with. everything pretty much sucks at the moment. saving grace is we are still managing our outgoings despite everything going up in April.

I've not had the time to do so much cooking from scratch so shopping cost have been slowly rising I need to get back on top of this hopefully the warmer weather will make this easier. On a lighter note the soft fruit bushes I planted are thriving well so hopefully will make a big dent in the long term on the shopping bill as I spend £13 a month on frozen berries alone, I have the feeling im going to be walking in this rut for quite a while.

Poor_Single_lady

Welcome back Tori. Sorry you aren't where you expected but it's just going to take time.
You will get there and it is coming. Sending you hugs. xxx

Tahlullah

Hello Tori, sorry you missed your df date, but just take a moment to look back and see the road you have travelled. You have taken huge steps forward and we all know things come in waves.

Keep going, you will get your mojo back and be back on top of the debt busting in good time.

Tx

tori.k

Thanks im just a bit frustrated at the moment, we now have near enough in savings to pretty much help clear the bulk of the loan, but would be up the creak without a paddle if we decided to clear it if something happens, with my drop in wages looming common sense says to stay clear of the credit card risk and keep the loan going as the interest is so low, reality I need to find another 16hrs permanent work before im happy to risk it or save another 2k. just feels the closer I am to the end of it the harder it's getting, I don't know if now the urgency has gone of having dates set in stone when 0% deals were finishing It felt more productive.