Small Steps Out Of Massive Debt!

GeorgianaCavendish

Seasidegal58 wrote: »

Well done on the spring clean! As I have a small flat too I know how too much 'stuff' can make you feel claustrophobic.

We discussed on here some weeks ago that a good fan would be essential as our small flats can get so hot and stuffy during a heatwave. Well I did some research on tower fans and the Dimplex Mont Blanc tower cooling fan garnered some good reviews. So I ordered one from Argos - £59.99 plus £3.95 delivery charge. It arrived this morning. I thought I'd better buy it now before we have the next heatwave and they all sell out!

You are so right about the clutter making me feel claustrophobic! The problem with spring cleaning in such a small flat is that the initial phase of decluttering (where I drag everything out to look at) creates even more mess in the short term. The idea of minimal living is getting more and more appealing!

Let me know how your fan works out. After the mini heatwave we had a couple of weeks ago, we decided to get our cooling situation sorted too and have ordered an air conditioner. It was expensive (£300 but reduced from £540) but I'm hoping that it will make the flat tolerable in the summer months. We may also need to sort out fans (we have a couple of ok ones but they need to be taken apart and cleaned before using them again). I want to see how cool the air con unit will make the flat before investing in better fans, hopefully as our space is so tiny it will chill the whole of it!
Also on the list is a black out blind/ screen for the bedroom window. Hoping that a family member will be able to make these for us (waiting for them to think about it and decide!) but if not, I will get on People Per Hour to look for a seamstress to do it.

PositiveBalance wrote: »

You must be reading my mind, Georgina - I need one hell of a declutter as well.

I've even got the Marie Kondo book out of the library. It must be bad! :rotfl:

Tis the season to declutter! Let me know how you get on with the Marie Kondo book

GeorgianaCavendish

Having a mini celebration today ... only 6 Student Loan payments and 7 Personal Loan payments left to go :T :T :T

I will probably do this every month, it is so good to have the end of these two debts in sight

Working_Mum

A good de-clutter is great for the soul! Sounds like you have a plan and are working towards that minimalist goal Georgiana!!

I am of a "certain age" and overheat terribly and the hot weather was purgatory for me last year. I googled "frugal ways of staying cool" and some of the remedies were amazing:-

* Keeping the curtains and windows closed in the south side of my house
* creating a through draft on the north side of my home (kitchen window open and lounge window open)
* bowl of ice in front of my fan (fab impact)
* running my wrists under cold water a few times a day
* blackout blind in my son's South facing bedroom (I just pinned an old, dark blanket up at first to test the theory!!).
* I hardly ate any hot food so didn't warm up the kitchen via the oven's heat
* I wear lots of linen and natural fibres

I am in the throes of (hopefully) selling my home so have got used to to having a bit of clutter making its way out ff my home! I tend to sort it rounds, each time getting more and more ruthless!

I feel so much lighter as I walk back in and my house feels spacious and organised!!

You're doing brilliantly, not long now and you'll be debt free!!

Seasidegal58

GeorgianaCavendish wrote: »

You are so right about the clutter making me feel claustrophobic! The problem with spring cleaning in such a small flat is that the initial phase of decluttering (where I drag everything out to look at) creates even more mess in the short term. The idea of minimal living is getting more and more appealing!

Let me know how your fan works out. After the mini heatwave we had a couple of weeks ago, we decided to get our cooling situation sorted too and have ordered an air conditioner. It was expensive (£300 but reduced from £540) but I'm hoping that it will make the flat tolerable in the summer months. We may also need to sort out fans (we have a couple of ok ones but they need to be taken apart and cleaned before using them again). I want to see how cool the air con unit will make the flat before investing in better fans, hopefully as our space is so tiny it will chill the whole of it!

I hear you on pulling everything out and then getting overwhelmed! I like Marie Kondo, but I'm afraid I never went down her suggested route of putting every single piece of clothing or book you possess on the floor to sort out! I think I would have just left them there! When I periodically have a sort out of books, I do a shelf at a time!

Your air conditioner sounds interesting. Does it take up a lot of room?

GeorgianaCavendish

Those are great tips WorkingMum , unfortunately our flat is south facing so we get all the sun (and heat!) which doesn't help and it is so true that having the oven on heats the entire flat!
I totally agree about feeling lighter when walking into a clutter free space, it is really wonderful

Seasidegal , I couldn't lay everything out at once either - the clutter would be shocking! :eek:

The air con uni hasn't arrived yet (apparently it's coming from Germany which I didn't realise when ordering!) but it is 47 x 35.5 x 87cm so pretty sizeable! The tracking info says it should arrive tomorrow so hopefully we can install it over the weekend :T

GeorgianaCavendish

April 2019 Debt Total £26,924.56

STUDENT LOAN
£2,171.49 (6 repayments left) (so excited to get into the 1000s with this next month :T )

PERSONAL LOAN
£3,408.81 (9 repayments left) (miscalculated how many payments were left during my preemptive celebration earlier this week ... boo!)

MBNA £5,357.33
£599.08 ~ 6.9% (expiring 1 Jul 2019 regular rate 23.9%)
£4,482.27 ~ 6.9% (expiring 2 Dec 2019 regular rate 23.9%)

PAYPAL £1,350.31
£1,350.31 ~ 17.9%

BARCLAYCARD £6,164.01
£6,164.01 ~ 6.9%

LLOYDS £3,543.14
£1,098.00 ~ 0% (expiring 16 Nov 2019 / regular rate 28.2%)
£1,415.14 ~ 0% (expiring 27 Dec 2019 / regular rate 28.2%)
£1,030.00 ~ 0% (expiring 29 Dec 2019 / regular rate 28.2%)

TESCO £825
£825.00 ~ 0% (expiring March 2020 / regular rate 34.9%)

HSBC £4,380.59
£2,116.79 ~ 0% (expiring 31 Apr 2021 / regular rate 22.9%)
£2,263.80 ~ 0% (expiring 29 Sep 2021 / regular rate 22.9%)

I've reordered my priorities yet again! I'm focusing on the MBNA debt that is expiring in July 2019 because even though PayPal is a higher interest rate, the minimum payments are much lower than MBNA. Also I have an emotional investment in getting rid of MBNA (it is the credit card that I've had the longest and I just want to tell it to shove off now!) I hope that I can clear that expiring balance by July so that I don't have to look for a balance transfer offer for that rate.

So now I've updated the totals, I'm going to stick to my resolution to put the spreadsheet away. I can feel myself getting stressed out already and making unsustainable overpayment plans. I'm going to be repeating the "teaspoon not lake" mantra over and over, and keep in mind that in 7 - 9 months time the loans will be done and I will be able to make much faster progress with the credit card debts. And in the meantime, I am learning some good MSE habits and getting great budgeting experience.

[Deleted User]

You're making such good progress! Have you tried YNAB? I've been using it for 3 months now and it has totally transformed how I approach everything financial! It's £40 a year or so, but I've easily saved that a week since having it so well worth it for me. I've even stopped using my spreadsheet (gasp)! I can't stress enough how helpful I've found it.

WannabeFree

You're doing amazing GC

Love the countdowns

x

GeorgianaCavendish

Moguline wrote: »

You're making such good progress! Have you tried YNAB? I've been using it for 3 months now and it has totally transformed how I approach everything financial! It's £40 a year or so, but I've easily saved that a week since having it so well worth it for me. I've even stopped using my spreadsheet (gasp)! I can't stress enough how helpful I've found it.

Thank you Moguline! I have tried YNAB (I had an extended free trial recently and got 3 months free). It was really helpful in changing my way of thinking about a lot of things but I find other aspects of it quite clunky so at the moment I'm doing a kind of hodge podge DIY version. I might go back to it in the future but in the meantime I'm enjoying their YouTube videos

WannabeFree wrote: »

You're doing amazing GC

Love the countdowns

x

Thank you Wannabe! Hope you are doing well too x

[Deleted User]

Yeah, I'm on a 3 month trial as well. The mobile app really helps. It did feel clunky at first but now it's suddenly clicked for me.