Ready to be debt free

DD265

Thanks Bob I shall have a nosy. I'm starting to lean towards doing a full set of save the dates but need to review the guest list and see what that's going to cost us. It may be better to just send the invites out early. Or maybe an email save the date....

I just got a text from MBNA confirming the credit limit increase meaning it must be a recent thing and it's not proof that I'm going crazy. :rotfl:

I've bought a couple more bits for my holiday from eBay; topping up my suitcase without breaking the bank. If it were me and OH going away then we don't usually leave the hotel so it's really easy to pack for. Whereas in Dubai be doing day trips and nights out and meeting people so I feel like I need to cater for every scenario and will end up taking far more than I'll actually wear.

DD265

I've reduced the cards down to £2500 and £1000. That means repayments averaging £350 a month will see them clear in December - assuming nothing else gets added!

I decided I was more worried about burning through the money than I was about reducing my bank balance. :rotfl:

Luckily the cat's vet visits have come to an end, but I've started getting the bills for the horse's vets bills. Up to £200 so far and that only includes the medication and blood tests. There's still the emergency visit/treatment and subsequent visit to draw the bloods to come! Ultimately this will all come out of the horse's bank account, but I may need to pay out of my account and replenish later.

DD265

I got back from Dubai last night, and spent a bit of time updating the budgets this morning.

Everything was very kindly paid for over the past week, so I'm actually ending the month in a very good (for me!) financial position. This is where I don't like variable pay because I can't plan next month's budget properly until Tuesday.

Still not received the remaining vets bills. That makes me twitchy despite having the money to cover them. Over the years I've found that sometimes they take a couple of months to invoice and other times you'll get the bill the next day. I guess they could have several invoicing runs a month, and also it's reliant on the vets updating the records with the treatments etc.

Bobarella

Hope you had a good trip!

DD265

Thanks Bob! The weather was naff (must go back ) but it was great to see my Dad and we had a chilled out week.

I was invoiced for the outstanding vet bills this week, and had to get a repeat of the meds. Standing total - £527.73. Part of me thinks that as he's doing so well we needn't bother repeating the blood tests this month (£200) but I'll speak to the yard owner and vet before making a decision. His health comes before finances every time.

It seems that I will find out what my basic salary amounts to at the end of March - taking a week off means I haven't achieved the numbers required to hit my target. In a way this is good because I've always been reliant on receiving a higher salary and I'd like to be able to cover everything comfortably from within my basic. At the moment because my credit card repayments, car and horse bills (vet aside) amount to £1000 a month, I would struggle if I only received my basic. I will have expenses payments which will cover the credit card repayments in April.

A couple of weeks ago I put a post up asking what to do about my car, which is on PCP and the contract is up at the end of the summer. I thought about refinancing on a 0% credit card, but I am more likely to go back down the PCP route. Ultimately I'd prefer to pay for peace of mind particularly as I have a motorway commute and do 500 miles a week.

Didn't win the Euro Millions last night. :rotfl:

Bobarella

Glad your trip was good, even if the weather wasn't. The vets bills sound so expensive. Really hope you can get those down soon.

DD265

We've been quite lucky really Bob; not had bills like this for a long time and in the past they were predominantly covered by insurance. I'm telling myself that at least we had the money in his account, as otherwise I'd have either wiped out my savings or needed to put it on a credit card. My plan had been to use what was needed for the end when it came to that, and then to pay the rest off the credit card.

Mom has gifted us the money to pay for the next part of the venue deposit, so I'm going to do that this morning. As I paid the first deposit on credit card, I am paying this one via debit card. OH was looking to get a rewards credit card (and we'd have paid it on that then paid off in full) but he has very little credit history so we're struggling to find him one. I decided that we'd get wedding insurance but I'm waiting for Quidco to fix a referral link so I can get the cashback. We've not paid anything other than the deposit and my dress (which is upstairs anyway) so far so I'm not worried.

This weekend was fairly quiet on the spending front; we did the food shop and I filled my car up. Also booked flights - £140 - to see family in Ireland as we're long overdue a visit. I've found our airport parking for £16 - it's offsite which I hate as you have to wait for the transfers but we've used them in the past and they're really reliable. At the moment though I can't really justify the £50 for onsite parking!

It's OH's birthday next month so I need to be creative. Every year I try to top the previous present and I may have finally run out of ideas. He's not a want-y person (unlike me) so he can be very difficult to shop for.

DD265

Ha Lloyds declined the venue deposit because they thought it might be fraudulent. I got some messages from Lloyds seconds before I got a phone call from the venue. :rotfl: It's all sorted now though!

I spoke to the vet today and confirmed that we don't need to do the additional blood tests. If something happens we'll do them then, but otherwise we can keep on as we are. I'm glad really, because whilst I'd have paid if we needed them, the account would've been almost empty.

Bobarella

Well, I'm glad you were ok for the bills. Horrible to have to scratch around for it otherwise.

How nice of your Mum to help out like that

Wedding insurance must be an underwriters dream. How many of us actually have any trouble with our weddings? I took it too because of THE FEAR but can remember thinking what a rip off it is for one day!

DD265

I know what you mean about the insurance Bob! I'm working on the principle of Murphy's law however; much like buying a new raincoat causes a drought, if we buy wedding insurance it means that everything will go perfectly. :rotfl:

I spent £530 on a course and put it on my MBNA card. The opportunity came up in October and I spent ages agonising over it and decided I couldn't afford it. This time, I decided that if I booked it and changed my mind I'd take advantage of the money back guarantee - it's been a couple of weeks and I've not changed my mind yet. I decided that the perceived benefits of the course would outweigh having to find some extra cash to pay a bit more off the credit card. I did make an extra £100 payment although I'm now a bit skint for the remainder of the month.

I also had to put a hotel booking on the card. Work booked the hotel for me, but the hotel refused to charge the company card as it wasn't present, so I've paid it and will claim it back. With my expenses payment, I'll only be "out" by £102 on the MBNA card from where I would've been, so I'm hoping I can make that up next month although it's a case of how far I can stretch my basic salary.

Dentist today - need a filling replacing. Luckily I can claim the costs of that back so I'll print out a claim form ready to pop straight in the post. I have a chiropractor visit to claim for as well, and I'm almost out of cover for that. I have considered paying the additional premium to upgrade the level of cover. I estimated that it'd pay for itself on the chiropractor visits alone so I ought to look into it properly.