Small Steps Out Of Massive Debt!

GeorgianaCavendish

astrocytic_kitten said:

As a permanently cold person who has spent her share of time in old buildings, my advice is to keep your neck, wrists and feet warm - really thick cosy insulated socks (my favourite ones have an actual tog rating!) and cashmere wristwarmers go very far in making me happy. I also have a big wool scarf / cape thing that I am surgically attached to whenever I’m outside (and sometimes when I’m inside too) from October - May. Also, sounds daft but I find wearing my hair down in the winter helps to trap warm air next to my neck and makes a big difference!

Thank you so much, these are great tips! I can't stand having a cold neck or shoulders, so a scarf was top of my list. Also excitedly waiting for a delivery of very thick socks and fleece lined slipper boots  

GeorgianaCavendish

All my layering clothes have arrived, I'm so happy and warm! Weirdly it is much warmer outside the house than indoors (no central heating on yet), so I take layers off to go outside! 

Not much else on the MSE front to report this week, just plodding on with work. I've got a few surveys on Prolific with rewards pending so hopefully I'll be able to cash out a bit next week. I'm also 20% of my way to another YouGov reward (not getting too excited about this as it took me 3 years to get the first reward!) 

GeorgianaCavendish

October Debt & Savings Totals 

Savings 
Emergency Fund : 100% funded    
Moving Fund : 100% funded
Debt-Buster Savings : 2% funded (making a start!)
Pre-LISA Savings :  1% funded (making another start!)   
LISA : £325 

Debt : £9,750

TESCO - £1,050.00
0% until April 2021 
(set payment of £100 per month) 

MBNA - £5,800.00
0% until April 2021 
(set payment of £75 per month, going up to £100 per month from end of October) 

Virgin - £2900
0% until March 2022 
(set payment of £50 per month) 

I'm paying £25 a week into my LISA and saving the rest into a Monzo pot called Pre-LISA Savings. I'll transfer it over ahead of the deadline for this tax year. I'm doing the same thing with my extra debt-repayment money into another Monzo pot. I'll pay that off the Tesco and MBNA cards before the 0% rates expire in April next year; all of these plans are contingent on not needing the money for something else. I feel that this is a good compromise between maintaining my debt repayment and long-term savings goals, and keeping cash on hand in case of an emergency such as job loss etc. I don't think we're at risk of losing our jobs in the short-term but everything is so uncertain at the moment that I would feel safer having cash available rather than paying it off a credit card or locking it away in the LISA.
There is also the possibility that if I can get an advantageous balance transfer offer next year with a low transfer fee, I might transfer half of the remaining MBNA debt and pay it off over another 12 months so I can keep the cash lump sum available. I'm not decided yet as there are way too many factors in flux with COVID and everything. 

GeorgianaCavendish

I am so sick of packing boxes! I was hoping to have a chance to sort through some of the stuff and either sell or donate things before packing but I just haven't had the time - we've had limited time here and packing up the boxes has filled it all! 
So apart from the most obvious stuff like unused kitchen gadgets (spiralizer - anyone remember those?!) it is all coming with us and we'll sort it out gradually over the next couple of months. It probably makes sense doing it all from one location too, instead of trying to sell stuff while we are spending half the week in London and the other half in Somerset.

The financial stuff has all been sorted out, just got to do the final meter readings and close the utility accounts, and pay the final invoice for the removal company. I'm really pleased that we were able to cover all these moving expenses from our regular budget, so the "Moving Fund" is untouched and can be used next time we move (and that I can move on to concentrating on the debtbuster and pre-LISA pots). 

I've been thinking about doing a new temporary SOA to cover the next 3-6 months, or setting up some new pots for expenses like hair & beauty stuff etc, but I will wait until the move is out of the way and then spend a few hours going through my transaction history from the last 6 weeks first. 

GeorgianaCavendish

Late check in after a day of packing and transporting boxes (wanted to get a bunch of the boxes out of the flat, it’s really too small to work around a stack of boxes and do any more packing). I found a stash of beauty masks I received for Christmas last year then put away and forgot about - face masks, hair masks, even collagen hand and feet masks - so I’m going to have a DIY spa day when we’ve finally moved 😄 

I am amazed at how much stuff we have in such a small place, and what a small percentage of that we actually use day-to-day. Maybe part of it is lack of space, if something gets stored away in an awkward cupboard it probably isn’t coming out again for about a year, but there is also so much that I don’t end up using and honestly it made me feel a bit embarrassed bringing in another storage bag of dresses or stack of shoe boxes. Not sure I’ll ever be a minimalist but it would be nice to feel like I’m really enjoying all my stuff - not that I’ve got piles of things hidden away. Maybe I’ll get back on track with taking photos of all my clothes etc and doing my own version Cher’s Wardrobe from Clueless 😄

GeorgianaCavendish

We've officially moved! Feels like the end of an era and also very uncertain about what changes are coming in the next 6 months, but I'm doing ok with the uncertainty for the moment. Normally it would have be climbing the walls and probably going on a spending binge but I suppose because it isn't just uncertain for me, literally everyone in the country (even the world?) is unsure how the next 6 - 12 months is going to unfold so I don't feel that I'm wrong for being uncertain. 
I have put myself of a news diet though, I can't cope with hearing 800 opinions on every new statistic or development. I'm going to keep focusing on my own projects - moving was a big project that kept my attention almost fully occupied (and I still have about a million boxes to either unpack or sort through so it isn't over yet!) and there are lots of other things that I can focus on now that the stressful part of moving is done and dusted. 

Naomim

So pleased you've done it and enjoy the peace and quiet of a rural life! Good luck GC. 😁

LottyWatty

GeorgianaCavendish said:

We've officially moved! Feels like the end of an era and also very uncertain about what changes are coming in the next 6 months, but I'm doing ok with the uncertainty for the moment. Normally it would have be climbing the walls and probably going on a spending binge but I suppose because it isn't just uncertain for me, literally everyone in the country (even the world?) is unsure how the next 6 - 12 months is going to unfold so I don't feel that I'm wrong for being uncertain. 
I have put myself of a news diet though, I can't cope with hearing 800 opinions on every new statistic or development. I'm going to keep focusing on my own projects - moving was a big project that kept my attention almost fully occupied (and I still have about a million boxes to either unpack or sort through so it isn't over yet!) and there are lots of other things that I can focus on now that the stressful part of moving is done and dusted. 

Congratulations on the move and good luck with all the projects 😊 definitely much more worthy of your time and attention than the absolute gloom and bitterness of the current news/Twitter cycle at the moment. 

another_casualty

GeorgianaCavendish said:

We've officially moved! Feels like the end of an era and also very uncertain about what changes are coming in the next 6 months, but I'm doing ok with the uncertainty for the moment. Normally it would have be climbing the walls and probably going on a spending binge but I suppose because it isn't just uncertain for me, literally everyone in the country (even the world?) is unsure how the next 6 - 12 months is going to unfold so I don't feel that I'm wrong for being uncertain. 
I have put myself of a news diet though, I can't cope with hearing 800 opinions on every new statistic or development. I'm going to keep focusing on my own projects - moving was a big project that kept my attention almost fully occupied (and I still have about a million boxes to either unpack or sort through so it isn't over yet!) and there are lots of other things that I can focus on now that the stressful part of moving is done and dusted. 

Thought I'd catchup ..( well a shortcut as I've missed this diary since January 🙀😸.sorry)
Wow , you've moved !  Congratulations . Hope everything is improving for you .
where did you move to? 

Hope it all works out well for you ..😼

GeorgianaCavendish

Hi AC! Thanks for popping by! We've moved in with relatives in Somerset for a few months, deciding when and where the next move will be but waiting to see if anything changes with work due to COVID. 
But I'm doing really well, thank you for asking