Drawing a line under the debt. Take two.

Drawingaline

Yes Bekonscot, which is about 35 miles away but a complete pain to get to and took over an hour and a half!!!

Drawingaline

Been so slack at updating!!! Gettig back to routine with work and school has been hard. The smallest went back OK, some hiccups but generally doing OK. The weird one went into year 5 so have been looking at secondary options for him. I am quite concerned tbh, he slipped back massively last year, is so anxious all the time and cries every day at school over something. Luckily his classmates are awesome with him (mostly) and he tends to live in his own bubble so any negative comments tend to wash over him. But secondary is a different ball game. Went to see the secondary special needs school last night, would love him to go there, but he has no ehcp in place (never needed it) so am going to save to set more meetings up both with his school and the special needs secondary to see if we can swing it. If I can't get him in there, then he will go to the one my oldest son is at as he will be yr11 a my neice will be Yr9, so will be someone to watch out for him at least. They also have good facilities for sen kids, they have an open eve in a couple of weeks. Was less impressed with my daughters secondary school, its a good school but definitely not the right fit for him.

Financially the tax credits went up (due to the dla award) so this month I have paid a grand total of £1050 of the loan :j also cleared credit card AND managed to find the money to get the back brakes done (£200). All non bill categories are looking bare in ynab (not Xmas though) but am hoping that it will be cleared by the end of December!

Have also booked theatre tickets to bat out of hell for my sister and dad's birthdays. Going in November, quite excited, but will have to budget the train and meal out of my £100 a month entertainment fund.

Also started weight watchers online as my diet was just getting worse and worse. First month free then £13 for three months. I have three stone to lose, managed 3Ib on my own (me a my sister are having a little competition ) but aultra focused this week fingers crossed :j

Anyway best get the kids up, really am planning on posting more from now on :rotfl:

Drawingaline

Lost 6Ib last week :eek: amazing what sticking to a diet will do :rotfl:

Hubby has been ill for two weeks, he has a bad chest, and now it's all in his sinuses too. We were supposed to be going out drinking tonight but our friends cancelled as one of them is ill too. Taxi fare saved.

I am feeling so poor atm, I know its for the best but just want the debt clear now. Annoyingly I think we need to do some bits to the house sooner than hoped too (gutters, drains and sofits) due to some damage and possibly a small leak too. I will have to tap into the emergency fund for this I think.

And I am annoyed as I can no longer figure out how to subscribe to threads. I have always used my phone, gone to desktop mode and a subscribe button would be at the top of the thread. There doesn't appear to be one anymore. I don't see how firing up the laptop to look at the same site would make a difference, and I don't use the laptop ever as I is so slow.

So if anyone has any insight into how to this let me know I am wanting to follow a couple more diaries and keep losing them :mad:

Drawingaline

OK, fired up the laptop, reset the password as of course I had forgotten it and my phone just prefills it! A lot of swearing later, new password, a the subscribe button is back. No idea why it had gone in the first place though. So hopefully I will be back into my money saving mojo now.

Drawingaline

Feeling poor atm! Have someone coming around to look at our gutters roof tomorrow afternoon, I have 1k in our emergency fund and around 1k free a month that is currently going onto debt so hopefully the quote will be reasonable.

Ha

Drawingaline

Had a lovely (and rare) day off today. Went into London to the national gallery. Child free. With another adult :eek: a wonderful five hours wandering around looking at all the paintings I adore. Such fun. Somewhat tempered when dd calls while I am on the train home to say that my mother hadn't turned up to pick the kids up from school. Although dd is 14 (I ja

Drawingaline

(I had asked her to meet mum at the school incase she needed help) she couldn't take the kids as my neice is under 5 as in Yr R. I had to call mum and she had forgotten. Has really made me realise that I can't rely on her like I used to. Her health is getting steadily worse and it is worrying.

I am planning on paying less off the loan this month, I have a few things coming up and need to make sure I plan for them properly. I have bought a few Xmas presents, but I do need to plan some more. I need some lists, am late this year!

Drawingaline

A productive day today. Painted some boxing in I had done in the kithen back in july, spent two hours in the boys room cleaning and sorting. Dd went to school for the weekend for her DofE. She was in a foul temper this morning about the whole thing so she left on a bad note, not ideal! She also broke one of the kitchen cabinet doors, but I managed to fix it.

Tomorrow it is harvest at church, went trough cupboards and have a bag of things for the local food bank. Organised for me! Also booked my December supermarket delivery slot. I get shopping delivered every month, and every year I forget that loads more people get delivery of Xmas food and end up having to do a full monthly food shop in store. :eek: drives me mad. I actually like getting our Xmas food in person, I just want my normal food shopping delivered :rotfl: so this year for the first time ever I have the slot and most of the normal shop ordered forte week before Xmas. This is when I get the money for food shopping. :T

Sat down with kids to discuss Xmas lists as I got a few stocking things this afternoon. Now have a clear idea of main presents for all except the eldest boy, any shopping list in amazon is all set up. Will wait until next month to price check and if I use amazon will sign up for tee free trial for prime and then cancel.

Tomorrow afternoon I am planning on finishing painting the conservatory and then tidying before the stress of homework :rotfl:

I got paid on Friday, but didn't pay anything off the loan. Looking in my diary I realised that I had quite a few things lined up and I needed to put some money aside. I am also concerned about the quote for the gutters, I may actually have to increase the loan:eek: I need a bit more money set aside alongside paying of the loan. I have the option of a money transfer from my MBNA card so could do that if need be. I think I am going to set up a s/o to the loan for one overpayment a month. I still want it gone before next August, it should be OK.

Just frustrated by it all!

Drawingaline

So the quote for the gutters/roof/drains is in 4k :eek: it will be £600 less if the back drain doesn't need digging out. But I want to get all done at once. This company may not be the cheapest, but the communication has been fantastic, and reviews on checkatrade are good, going back years so have booked it all in. I have 1k in an emergency fund, and can save another 1.5k by the end of November. I think I will do a cash advance from my credit card which will be around a £70 fee, but is 0% for a year. I have requested to increase the credit limit slightly too. I could borrow the money off my dad, he has some money put aside from his inheritance from his dad, (we got a huge chunk given to us last year) but my sister has just asked for some due to a car accident, and because we have half available I think I would rather do it myself.

Once it's all done and the drain is sorted I am saving to get the rest of the back garden paved.

Annoyingly I paid £230 of the loan only yesterday! Fridays payment won't go to it now, I will save it instead.

Feel frustrated taking on more debt, but the gable ends are rotten and I wanted it sorted before winter. Was always planning on saving once the loan was gone, so next spring/summer, but the risk is iwe get a very wet winter we may actually end up with a leaking roof, not worth it in the log run just to save maybe £150 in fees and interest.

Drawingaline

Been trying to figure out the best way of funding this work today.

I could add onto the loan, but this seems to be a step backwards to me. Even though I know I could clear it in 12 months I want to avoid it if possible.

I have 1k in my emergency fund, can cah advance just shy of £1700 and have £340 free tomorrow. Then I can save another 1k by the end of November. But I will need to pay for it at the beginning of November. And I can't leave invoices, I have to pay right away! So for the first time since 2015 I have a £1000 overdraft! It will cost £50 for the month but will be cleared and cancelled by the beginning of December. The fee for the cash advance will be around £60 so total cost £110. Interest on a loan would be around £300, maybe a little less than that if I cleared it sooner, but I think this is the best way to go.