Ready to be debt free

DD265

Today's MSE news: 3x items sold on eBay.

In other news, I think the courier firms are uniting to do me in. It's a nightmare, honestly and we're now on a very tight deadline and it's stressing me out. I did go over the edge momentarily, when I saw that OH had merely put the wet clothes on the clothes horse; no attempt to smooth them out so they don't crease. One of my t-shirts was actually half inside out. I haven't said anything (yet, but I need to because I'd honestly rather he didn't touch my clothes if they aren't going to come out of it wearable!) but I confess that the clothes were duly slammed on the floor in frustration. Take that, clothes.

They're now hung up neatly, and I'm hoping that they are still damp enough for the creases to drop out.

Somebody save me. :rotfl:

DD265

It's a bit frustrating having money in the bank (or PayPal, as it happens) and not making any additional payments off the credit cards.

However, I have more than enough "cash" for my half of the venue deposit which is good, and then enough on top for the adoption fee for Madame Mog (that name may stick). Sold two more items on eBay today although I still need to post one, as I didn't have it with me. Will do that tomorrow.

What it means is that my expenses and salary inc bonus are fair game, once the bills are paid, although I will need some cat-stuff. Unsure whether to make cat tree but hoping to find one second hand in mean time. I'm thinking:

Food
Insurance
Cat carrier
Food bowls
Water bowls
Litter trays & scoops
Litter
Cat beds - probably worth a go although there are plenty of alternatives in here!
Scratching posts (in addition to humongous cat tree)
Toys (must confess already got a couple)

Will definitely be getting moglet microchipped if that isn't done by the rescue. Am not certain on collars though - one to research.

DD265

Ahem so. I feel a little like I'm emptying my accounts right now...

The venue haven't yet sent the contract/asked for their deposit - s'fine.

I've just paid the adoption fee for two kittens (not the originally intended one, we're rehoming two brothers instead) to pick them up at the weekend = a bit of a dash on the other stuff.

I've also just requested £108 worth of photo book/print from the photoshoot at the start of the month. There were a couple of prints and a handful of social media copies included, but the range of emotion/vibe in the shoot is so broad that I had to have more, and the photobook gives me a copy of every edited photo. I ranged from bawling to laughing out loud as we were going through the photos, and chose the prints based on the strongest emotions.

So between all of that, I've written IOUs to my emergency fund and PayPal accounts. Expenses come in this week, salary next week. I'm sure I'll regret the spending at some point but hey ho.

DD265

Just realised I got caught up in a cycle of spending again. Last weekend with the event I wasn't keeping track of food spends and frequent trips to the shop on the corner added up. Wish I'd thought of taking packed lunches!

I got my expenses in this week but I owe my emergency fund £250. I'm leaning towards not repaying my PayPal account (I owe it just under £150), but we'll see how my budget looks; ultimately the money will be used regardless so it maybe doesn't make that much difference. OH gave me some of the cash he owed at the weekend, but that was used on the weekend as well.

I'm not moving any more money around until I've been paid on Monday, then I can see what's what. As well as two bonuses at work (monthly and quarterly - assuming targets are met) I'm getting cash back from two of the healthcare schemes. One of them is £32 for a chiro appointment, the other is £30 for being a non-smoker. Not to be sniffed at! Have also submitted my final expenses claim.

We pick the kittens up on Saturday morning and will be more or less housebound for the rest of the weekend. We have a movie to watch (Warcraft; it's been here for a few weeks!) but I need to sort my car insurance out. Also got a couple of committee things to wrap up. I have a lot more things to list on eBay too. I'm not coming to the end of listing (there's a big pile for that!), but finding things to list is slowing down, if that makes sense.

DD265

I so hate shopping for insurance.

That said, I've been able to cut a couple of hundred off my current renewal (same company, via Moneysupermarket.com) so I'll need to sort that out tomorrow. To make such a big saving I will need to put it on a 0% credit card though and whilst I know it'd save me interest, the thought stings. If I do it, I must make sure that I put some money aside for my next renewal.

Anyway on to the important bit. The kittens are here and we're in love. On that note I'm off to spend more time with them; they haven't got the run of the place yet.

DD265

Well I couldn't bring myself to put the car insurance on the credit card. I know that means I'll be paying interest but the thought of slapping another £500+ onto the card was just too much.

The next insurance I need to look at is pet insurance. I'm in two minds so going to get a price and go from there. My horse has always been insured and we have claimed on three separate occasions totaling several thousand so it was worth it in his case.

I would've liked to have made higher debt repayments this month than I will be doing but the initial setup costs for the kittens haven't been cheap. I now need to get bigger litter trays (in hindsight we should've skipped the kitten ones) and bulk buy food/litter. It should settle down then as we have everything else barring larger food bowls which they don't need just yet.

I still have the money set aside for the wedding venue deposit, I keep having to remind myself that it's not "free". It will get paid off the credit card but not until the deposit has been paid on said card.

Also my savings have just exceeded £300 so I'm really pleased with that. As well as the Lloyds Save the Change thing, I've got a standing order for £50 a month going in. As my debt is interest free I'm happy to be building up some savings alongside.

DD265

I don't know if I mentioned before (too lazy to go back through and check) but we got a discount at IKEA through my work scheme, and basically got to buy gift vouchers at 5% off. We bought £300 worth of vouchers (£100 increments unfortunately) and paid £285. They were intended for a bed which would cost £340 in total (excluding our discount) - plus delivery if it wouldn't fit in my car.

Well, I went over a week ago and one part of the bed (the central support, generic across several beds) was out of stock so they wouldn't sell me any of it. The second time I checked stock before setting off and after an agonising 30+ minute wait for it to be picked from the warehouse - will it fit? what if it doesn't fit? will I have to do the walk of shame back in to arrange delivery in front of all these people? - the bed was in the car. It's still in it's boxes on the bedroom floor to be assembled as we don't have the mattress yet but I think we'll do it tonight and put the existing mattress on for the time being. Mostly I'm just pleased to avoid the walk of shame and the delivery charge. :j

I drive a Nissan Note so not huge but I'm constantly impressed by how much I can fit inside it. The next challenge for my car will be fitting a king size mattress in. :rotfl:

DD265

I may or may not need new tyre(s) this weekend. If I spot a stone wedged in the tread I always fish it out, but this time I noticed a split in the tyre. I assume the stone had something to do with it. I am a bit annoyed because I've never had it happen before (that I know of anyway) and I didn't exactly scrimp on these tyres plus they're only a year old. Taking the car in tomorrow to get the tyres assessed. If there's any doubt about the integrity then it'll be a new one as I won't take that kind of risk with a motorway commute. Fingers crossed it's just cosmetic.

I had £200 set aside to pay off the MBNA card but I'm hanging on to it until I know what the score is. I need to pay off almost £800 to meet my target of getting my debt down to £4000 by Christmas and it's going to be tough but it is achievable, whether I have to pay for new tyres or not. Need to keep focused.

Getting an unexpected work bonus at the end of the month plus a fairly high expenses claim so those will both help. I do feel a bit like I squandered the large bonus from October - and I did really on the kittens - but they're so worth it.

Huskyrunner

haha you will have too see if you can put up pics of the kittens :-)

DD265

They are cute. I can't believe it's only been three weeks.

I had £200 set aside for the MBNA payment. I don't any more. I have been a bad DD265. I pretty much spent it on jumpers; it's cold.

I think the problem comes when I don't update my budget frequently (ideally as I go along, but at least daily). The new plan is simply to manage for the rest of the month on my existing budget and to do that I'll have to make sure I keep it up to date so I know where I stand.

What usually happens is I get my expenses payment in before my salary and end up using that, then my salary when that turns up. This month I plan to pay the expenses payment straight off the MBNA card, which will take it nicely under the £2500 mark I wanted. I then need to try and get the Barclaycard under £1500 using my salary and any proceeds from sales. Ooh just remembered OH owes me some money too. If I can do that, that's my 2016 target achieved.

In theory I can do it, if I keep myself in check