On a Mission

Rachel24

You are doing amazing lovely. So close and you'll have cleared that Barclaycard CC. :-)

Mummy_bear

Thanks Rachel. Determined to get that cleared by end of November I'm hoping to get a good balance transfer deal by Jan on there. If I don't then I'll close it altogether and see where else it can get a good BT deal for the Lloyds balance.

19 days into October and I've still not put the heating on, it is chilly but nothing a few layers can't fix for now. However, if the news reports are to be believed :rotfl: we're to expect a very cold snap soon. But for now I've actually put my washing out :rotfl::rotfl:

Still cracking on with surveys. Small amounts, but it's all helping.

Totals as of 19th October

Lloyds CC £5063 £70.09 paid off. Rounded it up to get rid of the pennies owed.
MBNA CC £3823 £50.17 paid off. Rounded it up to get rid of the pennies
Barclaycard CC £238 £2 paid off
Tesco Loan £7030.32
Santander Loan £4352.55
M&S Loan £5738.96


Total debt as of 1st October £27113.44
Total debt as of 2nd October £27110.44
Total debt as of 4th October £27108.94
Total debt as of 8th October £26953.82 below 27k :j
Total debt as of 10th October £26950.82
Total debt as of 13th October £26947.82
Total debt as of 15th October £26369.33
Total debt as of 18th October £26367.33
Total debt as of 19th October £26245.07

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monthly Challenge


Earn £30 payable from survey sites

£32.88/£30:T
New target is £37.38/£50

VO is now up to £6.10
PA currently has £3.95 payable and £1.80 pending. getting studies for teeny amounts at the moment
Onepoll currently has £26 in there. getting through a few of these. Inching closer to the £40 cashout threshold
Yougov currently has 2780 points in there.
E.Rewards currently has 4675 points in there.
Qmee has £0.05 in there . another £1.50 earned and off the BC.



Reduce debt by £850 £868.37/ £850 :j




MB

[Deleted User]

You're doing really well.

It is well worth once you've hit the initial £40 threashold with OnePoll that they move it down to £25, I'm very nearly at payout with them in a matter of months x

Mummy_bear

Morning diary,

Today I've got one of those financial headaches. One that happens when you think about the need to spend money

DHs car, my old run around, is literally dying. It keeps cutting out and struggles to start. I was warned at the last MOT in May that this was likely its last year of existence. For the last 2 years I've spent around £500 on the MOT.
This is the last thing we need.

DH and I have been talking about our options. We need transport each. We can't afford, at the moment, to get another car. So DH has suggested a new motorbike. There are 0% finance deals out there and he probably can afford the monthly payment for them. However, I don't really want to be comitting to another big financial product. We've discussed every feasible option .

1. Public transport. Theres no direct route to his place of work. With trains you'd have to go further out to come back in on another train if that makes sense. With buses it's 2 bus rides...and never on time. Also not as cheap as you'd think any more.

2. Cycling. With DHs back condition this is not a viable long term option. Although he is keen to do a few days cycling.

3. Use my car until back at work. My car is the only one to fit all the kids in. Admittedly I don't use it often at the moment. I walk to and from local shops and the school run. However, I do have a medical condition myself which requires regular hospital visits with a consultant. That's 3 bus rides away and due to the twins being exclusively breastfed they'd need to come with me...not so practical getting a double pram on buses

4. Another car. This is the most expensive option. Often can't get one on 0% finance. Then factor in tax and insurance etc.

5. Get a company car with a wage deduction. We like this option but the wage deduction may be around £200 a month. It is therefore something we will seriously look at in May time when DH has completed probation and has a possible wage rise .

6. Get a motorbike on 0% finance. Over how many years is undecided but between 2-4 years depending on deals. Tax is around £20 or less a year and insurance shouldn't be too much either. The bikes he's looked at are less then 3k. They're also cheaper to fuel.

I can't express how much I detest that we rely on vehicles.

Such a headache. :(

DH was also told yesterday that everyone will be getting bonuses because they'd worked so hard this month. Alot down to him starting and doing so much OT to help clear backlog. Unfortunately he gets none of it due to being on his probation period for 6 months.
But I never realised they had bonus schemes so that's good to know for future at least.

I can't tell you how proud I am of DH. He's received so much praise at work. Its really helped his self esteem.

Anyway must get on with making money. 3bay today, got a max £1 fees offer to make use of.

MB

abba1772

Would a new battery not help your old car ........there's nothing worse than needing to replace your car

Shame about the bonus but just think in six months time you'll be able to enjoy a wee treat with the bonus xx

Mummy_bear

It's not the battery that's the main cause. It's something to do with the accelerator sensor and the knock effect from that. So not matter how many times we fix the little problems, unless that sensor is replaced we'll always have issues.

Seems that you fix one thing with that car and another thing goes. It is 13 years old though!

We're still no nearer a decision about a bike either

enthusiasticsaver

As you are not using the car much would you not be able to manage with one until you get back to work or your DH has been working for a few more months? For your hospital appointments is it feasible to drop your DH off at work and then go on to appointment if you made it the beginning of the day or he use a bike on those days? I suppose it depends on how often you have the medical appointments. I cannot remember how old your twins are but my DGD2 is now being weaned so I would have thought yours would be coming up to 6 months as I thought they were born around the same time. You might be able to leave them with GPs which makes public transport a bit easier.

Mummy_bear

Afternoon

Last night I had a dream which confirmed I'm obsessed with trying to do surveys to pay off my CCs :rotfl: I'd got so excited that I got a £5 survey from Qme3 and I wasn't screened out. Anyone else doing Qme3 knows that you pretty won't ever get a survey for that kinda money :rotfl::rotfl: to say I was disappointed when I woke is an understatement. Oh my days that's so bad :rotfl:

Be that as it may I earned another £1 on Qme3 which has come off the BC. IT WILL BE CLEARED BY END OF NOVEMBER.
It's become my mantra.

DH and I spoke more last night about the car/bike situation.
The not so final but likely decision is that he gets a motorbike. Keep the old car going until May when the MOT will be due ( and will likely fail), only driving it occasionally. By May he'll have completed his probationary period and get to have a company car which is likely what he'll do.

As for the mortorbike, the one he's looking at is the cheapest overall cost but doesn't look like it's the 0% finance as he'd hoped. Despite that any interest is likely less than another bike with 0% deals. He's looking at bikes for around £2200. He's asked for a call from the company to discuss finance deals. I'm glad he's not rushing any decisions.

I might look into whether he could get a 0% money transfer CC instead, better than paying interest.


Totals as of 21st October

Lloyds CC £5063
MBNA CC £3823
Barclaycard CC £237 £1 paid off
Tesco Loan £7030.32
Santander Loan £4352.55
M&S Loan £5738.96


Total debt as of 1st October £27113.44
Total debt as of 2nd October £27110.44
Total debt as of 4th October £27108.94
Total debt as of 8th October £26953.82 below 27k :j
Total debt as of 10th October £26950.82
Total debt as of 13th October £26947.82
Total debt as of 15th October £26369.33
Total debt as of 18th October £26367.33
Total debt as of 19th October £26245.07
Total debt as of 21st October £26244.07

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monthly Challenge


Earn £30 payable from survey sites

£32.88/£30:T
New target is £38.38/£50

VO is now up to £6.10
PA currently has £8.25 payable and £0 pending.
Onepoll currently has £26.75 in there. getting through a few of these. Inching closer to the £40 cashout threshold
Yougov currently has 2780 points in there.
E.Rewards currently has 5000 points in there.
Qmee has £0.01 in there . another £1 earned and off the BC.



Reduce debt by £850 £869.37/ £850 :j




MB

Mummy_bear

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

As you are not using the car much would you not be able to manage with one until you get back to work or your DH has been working for a few more months? For your hospital appointments is it feasible to drop your DH off at work and then go on to appointment if you made it the beginning of the day or he use a bike on those days? I suppose it depends on how often you have the medical appointments. I cannot remember how old your twins are but my DGD2 is now being weaned so I would have thought yours would be coming up to 6 months as I thought they were born around the same time. You might be able to leave them with GPs which makes public transport a bit easier.

We spoke about the possibility of me dropping him off etc on days I need the car. However, we wouldn't be able to get him to work and get back in time to then do school run.
Twins are only just 17 weeks and coming up to the infamous 4 month fussy phase. I can leave them for about 90 mins with DH without issue at the moment so could be possible with my mum. However, I would be out the house longer than 90 mins doing public transport to the hospital and back. Been trying the girls with bottles of expressed milk but so far they're refusing them :mad:

Uh it's so frustrating.

Mummy_bear

So I think a decision has been made re transport.

DH is getting a new motorbike. The best one for him based on his height etc. will cost more than the £2200 originally thought. It's been decided that he will get a money transfer deal on a new CC. He has no other CCs - the others are in my name. This being because for what he wants (a cheap brand new bike) they aren't offering 0% deals
I will have control of this new CC - only in that he won't get access to it.

He's been offered one from the MBNA with a 28 month interest free money transfer deal. I think there was a 2.75% handling fee or something. In all it's likely he'll be getting around £3900 ish out on it to cover the cost of the bike, insurance and tax for the year and the money transfer handling fee. He'll be setting up a £150 DD payment a month to clear it in around 26 months. Then come May coupled with a possible pay rise he will also get a company car to assist with the kids. This will be needed as in my job I don't always get to finish on time...sometimes finishing in the early hours of the morning. Therefore, he would need to collect the kids from my mum in the evenings instead of me. The only fly in the ointment I can foresee is if he doesn't get the pay rise after the probationary period/training course. We'll have to cross that bridge when it comes to it. Otherwise he'll have to walk from my mums to mine ... not that bad of an idea really.

Therefore, once the card is here and the necessary money transfer is done I'll have to amend the totals. It'll go up. It'll make me sad.

I've also had a think, and yet to talk to DH about this, about what he does with his OT earnings. I think it needs splitting 3 ways.
1. 1/3 into a house improvement saving pot. (more on this later)
2. 1/3 into personal savings - to cover things he would like for himself to scratch the itch he always has. But this pot will also include him saving up to pay off the tax and insurance on his bike in full next year. Also possible new car insurance if he gets a company car in May time.
3. 1/3 debt over payment.

The percentages may be different in reality and there may be other pots to consider so this could change.

Onto the house improvement side of things.
Our house needs A LOT of work. If we want to get the maximum profit when we come to sell then we MUST sort out some things.

Things we need to do

1) Need new back fencing and gate. It's a biggish garden. I have no idea how much this will be though.
We also need to sort out the main garden as the kids have ruined it this year. I'm going to say we need to save £1000 for all the work.

2) New bathroom suite. This is really needed actually. The bathroom leaks into the kitchen on occasion, particularly when DH showers. DHs cousin is a bathroom fitter. I might get a quote from him to see how much we need to save. I want to pay for this work outright. Going to look at saving £2000 (??)

3) The kitchen. Ugh it's horrid. The previous owners did such a botch job of it. The cupboards are falling off etc. It's not a big kitchen either. Again I don't know the costs but I'm going to guess we need to save £6000 and hope it's less.

I've put them in order that I'd like to get it sorted. The fencing is needed as the panels have fallen in some sections and isn't withholding strong winds much anymore.

Once I'm back at work I hope to also save £150 a month towards the house improvement funds.

DH struggles with long term planning and goals. He's always been an immediate gratification kind of person. Partly the reason we have this debt. But I'm hoping I can keep him on track and focused with this.

I've also been thinking about house moves. I think realistically we have to stay put for another 4 years . This is partly to ensure all debt is paid and house improvements done but more importantly it's about school catchment. In 4 years the twins will hopefully have got into the same school as DS and I'm hoping in 2 years tornado toddler is accepted there. Seeing as my mum is my childcare and can't drive I need them in the school closest walking distance to her, which is also the closest to me right now. It's not ideal but I think this will have to be the plan for now.

Still going to pay down debt as if we have 2 years to go because at least once that's gone we can start saving for a new house - fees, general moving costs, new furniture for new home etc.

MB