Second time lucky... debt free diary.

charlies_tribe

Good morning. Another week has flown by!

We haven't really done anything again this week. We have spent quiet a bit on bike carriers for the DC bikes. I had booked DD3 on a bike course on Tuesday for learning to ride as we were struggling to teach her and then this weekend it has clicked and she's off. If i cancel the course i lose my payment so she's going to have to do it anyway as they refund on attending.
This has caused a lot of upset for DS2 and i think our plans of selling everything to put back the money spent on DD1 car has changed to saving for a disability trike for him. £600 just seems so much just to have an extra wheel!

House insurance is due for renewal on the 1st. They have quoted renewal at £260! I think i've got it down to £90 for the year! Just need to check some bits with DH before i buy (in full!!).

0% ends on the Tesco card on the 4th September and MBNA on the 4th October. I have had a money transfer offer from lloyds for 2 years at 0% and 3% fee (only 16 months 0% if i balance transfer). I think i'm going to money transfer as much as it will let me, pay off the Tesco and as much as i can off the MBNA and then transfer the remaining £3100 to the Barclay card leaving us with just 2 cards to pay off! It does mean losing a month or 2 interest free on the cards now but at least then i don't have to worry for another 2 years(for that one anyway, the BC then runs out in April).

First i'm going to have a cup of tea and something to eat.

charlies_tribe

Good morning.
Just a quick update on yesterdays post. I have requested the money transfer with a £328 fee. If it all goes through okay, it will clear the Tesco card and about half the MBNA.

Still not sorted the house insurance, that's a job for today.

Going to look at booking a week away in October today, we still can't decide where though (DH wants to stick to same site, i'd like to try somewhere else, but will definitely be Cornwall/Devon area).

Hoping to move furniture around in the living room today and clean down the fish tank. It's a 5 foot solid wood huge thing and the last fish has just died. Not even sure how much to list it for as the wood top has a lot of water damage but the tank and unit are in great condition.Think we paid almost £1000 for it 8 years ago.

DD1 has just made me a cup of tea so going to declutter that first.

charlies_tribe

Month 17 update..

lloyds: - £11253
mbna2: - £3010
barclay: - £7915
sofa: - £2860

Total - £25038

£8516/£33554 (25.3%) paid

Due to the balance transfers we haven't even took a £100 off the totals this month but at least it hasn't gone up. Need to transfer the rest of the MBNA before October statement.

I have renewed the house insurance for £89.70 instead of the £260 renewal quote! And it has been paid in full!

Looking at YNAB we haven't done too bad this month food and entertainment are under and pets slightly over due to all flea/wormers bought in bulk. A few unbudgeted spends have got their own categories now- School, ready for next years uniforms etc. Driving lessons for DD as that's a chunk every month (hopefully not many more payments) and the storage unit as as can't see DH clearing it any time soon and the payment creeps up on us.

Can't believe the children go back on Tuesday/Wednesday, the tears, tantrums and not sleeping have already started from DD2 as she doesn't want to go back. Need to try and encourage her to try her uniform (she has completely refused to try it on so far) as we are going to get to Wednesday morning and find it doesn't fit and another week and i won't be able to return it.

charlies_tribe

Had a letter for DH PPI on his credit card. Apparently they sent out a letter in 2013 that we had 3 years to reply to so they wont look in to the claim, i can't remember any letter but for a long time i just didn't open any!. They have however honoured the plevin part to repay any commission and profit share above 50%. So should be getting about £170 refunded in the next 28 days if i've read it right.

charlies_tribe

Another busy week has flown by! Children are back at school and counting down until October half term.

Lots of spending this week but mainly on school clothes. £290 for uniform, bags and shoes. I did originally take this from the clothing budget but it completely wiped it out and the children are now in desperate need of trouser, jumpers and underware (DS1 has 1 pair of jeans that fit after sorting through his wardrobe and they have seen better days). So i took the money from savings this year and now school clothes has it's own tab on the budget.

The check has arrived from MBNA ppi so need to put that in the bank.

Need to ring and complain about the internet, I paid for super fibre for the DC games and streaming and it is shocking! We couldn't even watch a film last night.

I would like to try and arrange a night out with DH. We haven't had a night out together since DD3 was 13 weeks old (she's now 9!) and it's just dawned on us that it was our 17th wedding anniversary last week and neither of us even realised. DD1 has the little ones through the day but i have never left them for an evening but I really think we could do with some time (I have been reading other diaries and it has made me realise that the children will soon be grown up and their won't be anything to talk about any more).

May be a challenge for the groceries? If i can come in under budget we can have a few hours out a month, I also have meerkat movies to make it an even cheaper date night.

A few things to sort this week.
-Old Home insurance has taken the DD even though i cancelled it.
-DD swimming lessons took payment last month and were supposed to be refunding,they never did and have then still took this months!
-The slow internet.
-Book October holiday
-Clear a room, top to bottom!

charlies_tribe

I am currently sat here in tears! Been going through the budget and everything is so so tight now with our wage drops. Even fitting in a hair ut is a struggle.
Just opened the post and a letter has arrived for DH PPI, he got an email to say they had made a decision a few days ago without any extra information so wasn't holding much hope. They are repaying the PPI on 3 loans within the next 28 days. the whole £3388!! (minus the £400 tax they've deducted). I'm still shaking!

A few things to sort this week... Updated
-Old Home insurance has taken the DD even though i cancelled it.
-DD swimming lessons took payment last month and were supposed to be refunding,they never did and have then still took this months! - Contacted them, think they are going to cancel DD for next couple of months and use the over payment to pay DD3 for next 2 months
-The slow internet.
-Book October holiday
-Clear a room, top to bottom! - Started, Just.

charlies_tribe

Well the PPI money has hit the account this morning. After a lot of discussion (ok, me pretty much telling him) we have decided to pay of the MBNA part that is due to be BT at the end of the month.
I did agree with DH that there is so much to do to the house (he wanted to keep it for this but i knew a large sum in the account may get spent on odd bits here and there) so until the next BT is due next april, we will now just pay minimum payments and save the rest to work on the house. If there is still any in the account when the BT is due we will pay that off it first.

Right, better go put the washing out.

charlies_tribe

MBNA has been paid before DH changed his mind!

DH is out walking with DS2 so i have been playing with the budget again. It has taken a year but i think we might finally have a more realistic budget.
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Total monthly income.................... 3845.59[/b]

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 518.6
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 89.31000000000006
Council tax............................. 101.67
Electricity and Gas............................. 131
Water rates............................. 40.67
Telephone/Internet................... 25
Mobile phone............................ 70
TV Licence.............................. 12.83
Groceries etc. ......................... 650
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 21
Car Insurance........................... 41.67
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Other travel............................ 55
Other child related expenses............ 120
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 100
Buildings/Contents insurance..................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 14
Other insurance......................... 26.48
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 250
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 100
House decorating fund................... 50
Haircuts............................... 10
subscriptions........................... 12
Driving lessons ........................ 280
Storage unit............................ 100
college lunches......................... 20
netflix................................. 10
pocket money............................ 100
osteo................................... 70
Total monthly expenses.................. 3494.23


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 75000....(518.6)....0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 2858.....(89.31)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 77858.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
card 1.........................7737......180.......0
card 2.........................11253.....120.......0
Total unsecured debts..........18990.....300.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,845.59
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,494.23
Available for debt repayments........... 351.36
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 300
Amount left after debt repayments....... 51.36

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

Some how I have missed off the school uniform budget of £20 a month so amount left is only £30.
Everything has been worked out over 12 months, we get paid 4 weekly(13 payments a year) but worked it to monthly, water rates are over 8 months but worked them over 12 months etc. Hopefully as i'm a month in front with the budget this should be ok.
Now to try and stick to it with just a £30 leeway.

charlies_tribe

Morning. Another quiet week here. Haven't managed as much from my tiny list for the week as i was hoping but i am off this week so going to try my best. I did sort the house insurance and the payment is being refunded.

Thought we had sorted the holiday but the terms and conditions state trailers have to be left in the carpark. DH wasn't keen on this as he leaves all the beach things in it (inflatable kayak, body boards etc) and DS2 disability buggy so don't like the idea of it not being close by. We were looking at 10 days and going straight from school on the Friday but we are now looking at a site that's probably a few hours more away (right at the bottom of Cornwall, we had been looking at Weymouth as had never been before) so might have to make it 7 days as won't make it there in time.

Going to go for a wonder to check on the little 2, they have gone to a park further away for the first time by themselves and i hate the thought of them not being close by, but in less than a year DD2 will be walking way past it on her way to secondary school!

charlies_tribe

First day of my official week off (i'm ignoring the weekend I've just had) and so far I have managed to... Get the children to school on time, Set DS2 up with work on his tablet and decluttered about 5 cups of tea and a bowl of cereal! So off to a flying start.

We booked the holiday last night, We had left it a bit late so it has cost us more than i was hoping but the extra has come from the little bit that was left from the PPI payout after paying off MBNA. I was gutted to so my YNAB days drop 10 days after paying it though.
We have never stayed that far down in Cornwall before so need to look for things to do while there.

Not sure what i've done with the grocery shopping this month but we haven't got much of the budget left with 2 weeks to go. I have got half the chicken left from yesterday to do something quick with today, another 2kg pack of chicken in fridge and a pork joint we were supposed to have yesterday so hopefully can get away with no more shopping this week.

Right, going to make a start as wont get anything done after school as it's gymnastics, cheer leading and swimming for the youngest two (after PE and dance club at school! Think they will sleep well tonight).