On a Mission

Mummy_bear

Well I'll start with the negatives as it's certainly ending on a bad note


1) Firstly DH had an issue with his car which added £617 to the debt. However, we're hopeful that this has resolved the issue


2) Secondly.....ummm...our bedroom ceiling fell down today :eek:


To expand. Last year our bedroom ceiling fell down following heavy rain. It transpired that moss growing on the roof and nudged a tile and allowed water to leak through. This had been happening for YEARS!


I was on maternity leave. We had no money spare. I cried lots.


A friend of the family sorted out the roof for £120


My Uncle, who has done lots of plastering, told me to calm down and he'd sort the ceiling.
The day before he was due to come round he broke his wrist.


We had no money spare to get anyone else in to do the job.


DH and BIL placed the plaster board up on the ceiling and that was how it remained for almost a year!


My Uncle's wrist has gained strength again (it was an horrific injury) and he offered to finish off what he had started. He was round yesterday but found that the plaster that had sat around in the bag for a year was not fit for purpose. So he was to continue today.


Whilst at work he calls me to say that because the plaster board was not secured sufficiently to the joists the weight of the plaster pulled them down.


So.... we have to buy all new plaster board and the rest for him to do the job anew. This he can't do until next Sunday.


A quick look around suggests this will cost in the region of £80 for all items needed.


It also means that we do not have a bedroom to sleep in for a week.


All I can say is thank goodness we've started saving in the EF, it's only about £123 in there but my goodness we'll need it. If ever there was proof we needed an EF there it is.




Now for the positives


1) DH had his LBM :j


2) Although debt was added onto the MBNA CC due DH car issue. We actually still paid off more overall and therefore have less debt than in June.


3) My mindset has changed whenever I make a saving e.g with parking. It goes straight onto a debt or EF.


4) We started an EF - and boy is it going to help us already


5) I'm finally getting survey's through for PA and so far have earned £13.50 to cash out and £4 pending.


6) I got a £10 Amazon voucher for giving my opinion on a series I watched


7) I managed to get £10 for VA surveys converted into a voucher


8) I acquired 2 large indoor growing beds and an outdoor growing bed at the local community gardens .... for free.






Final figures for July


New balance's as of 31st July 2017

Lloyds CC £1393.20
Next £237.95
MBNA CC £4230.58
Barclaycard CC £2655
My overdraft £108.50 - £4.60 paid off
Tesco Loan £10,225.92
Santander Loan £5565.11
DH overdraft £700
TV -DH purchase £670.90
M&S Loan £8065.76*
Bicycle finance £187.5*
Other £571.89*

*(not strictly accurate, will update once I have accurate figures)

Total Debt as of July 9th - £35055.74

Total debt as of July 31st - £34611.85

Total cleared since 9th July - £443.89


MB

Ammeretto

Hi Mummy_bear

sorry to hear about your ceiling.
we are going through the same thing with the ceiling in DS2 room.
its been sagging and getting worse.
OH investigated on saturday and the ceiling pretty much gave way.

We think the people before us had put in the blown in insulation from above (attic conversion) and had only nailed the plasterboard rather than screwing it. The weight of the insulation eventually lead to the sagging.

DS2 is sleeping on his mattress on the floor of our room for now.
We have had to borrow money from OH parents to cover it so its really good news that you have a EF in place.

oh and Yay :j to the debt reduction.

Mummy_bear

Ammeretto wrote: »

Hi Mummy_bear

sorry to hear about your ceiling.
we are going through the same thing with the ceiling in DS2 room.
its been sagging and getting worse.
OH investigated on saturday and the ceiling pretty much gave way.

We think the people before us had put in the blown in insulation from above (attic conversion) and had only nailed the plasterboard rather than screwing it. The weight of the insulation eventually lead to the sagging.

DS2 is sleeping on his mattress on the floor of our room for now.
We have had to borrow money from OH parents to cover it so its really good news that you have a EF in place.

oh and Yay :j to the debt reduction.

Oh no. Glad it didn't come down whilst DS2 was in there. This scenario plays on my mind a lot. When ours first came down it was in the the day. It fell on DH side of the bed, I'm always thinking 'what if'. The previous owners of this house also messed a few things up thinking they were good at DIY but this ceiling issue can't be blamed on them :rotfl:

Mummy_bear

New balance's as of 1st August 2017

Lloyds CC £1393.20
Next £233.35 £4.60 paid off
MBNA CC £4230.58
Barclaycard CC £2655
My overdraft £108.50
Tesco Loan £10,225.92
Santander Loan £5565.11
DH overdraft £700
TV -DH purchase £670.90
M&S Loan £8065.76*
Bicycle finance £187.5*
Other £571.89*

*(not strictly accurate, will update once I have accurate figures)

Total Debt as of August 1st - £34611.

Total debt as of July 31st - £34607.25

Total cleared since 1st August - £4.60

Entered a few DFW challenge threads. PAD, I sort of do this anyway so thought I'd join in. Also earn £10 a day in August. I've opted to try and earn £3 a day to start with just to see what I can achieve.

Started August off well with a £1.25 PA survey :T And I've already saved on my usual £4.60 parking as 8m working from a different site today ..that came off the Next account :j:j

MB

misstara

Fab start to August . I also seem to be doing better with PA surveys after weeks of nothing

IWILLgetthere

Stumbled across your diary whilst on payment a day thread... can't stop reading it and feeling inspired :T - excuse my ignorance but what is PA survey?

paid off £469.59 since PADing started 17/07/17

Pismo

Have just read through your diary.

I LOVE your lists. I thought I was a list person but you are far better at it than me.

Although our debt stands at around 27k we have roughly the same DFD (mid 2020) which I see as an exciting challenge but also worried we'd loose momentum.

Sorry to hear about your car and ceiling. But you've had a fab debt busting month regardless.

Fingers crossed the rest of august is free of any nasty surprises

Mummy_bear

IWILLgetthere wrote: »

Stumbled across your diary whilst on payment a day thread... can't stop reading it and feeling inspired :T - excuse my ignorance but what is PA survey?

paid off £469.59 since PADing started 17/07/17

Thanks for reading, love having visitors. Glad you're inspired, it's weird to think I can inspire though. I don't know why. Maybe because I /we've made so many stupid decisions that have led to this debt that I worry that I don't deserve to inspire Not sure if that even makes sense.

PA is prolific academy. A survey site. They're academic surveys in the main so they're often from Universities. They pay reasonably well for the time you out into them. However I joined weeks ago, completed the lengthy presceening questions but got no surveys. Then less than a week ago I got one and had a steady stream since. Hoping this continues

Mummy_bear

Pismo wrote: »

Have just read through your diary.

I LOVE your lists. I thought I was a list person but you are far better at it than me.

Although our debt stands at around 27k we have roughly the same DFD (mid 2020) which I see as an exciting challenge but also worried we'd loose momentum.

Sorry to hear about your car and ceiling. But you've had a fab debt busting month regardless.

Fingers crossed the rest of august is free of any nasty surprises

Thanks for popping over Pismo

I love my lists. I've always written lists. It keeps me organised and focused at work. Its allowed me to manage finances (obviously not to stop debt) to ensure that payments were always made etc. I was further inspired by Bullet Journelling and although I don't go the whole hog with Bullet Journalling I've taken a lot from giving it a go.

I really like to see visually how I'm doing with this debt busting.

I absolutely get what you mean when you say you worry about losing momentum. That's a worry of for me too. This diary has absolutely helped me keep focus. I'm obsessed with reading other people's diaries too and I hope that keeps me going. Same for the challenges.

Good luck on your debt busting journey. Let's see who gets to the finish line first!

I'm really hoping August proves to be a better month for luck.

wishingthemortgaheaway

Mummy bear, I only signed up to pa a couple of weeks ago, maybe less and I'm up to £14 already.