My SOA

Debtfreewannabme

*** update - my DHs phone bill was just £35 this month. He stayed within his limit yipee! Since my last post we have saved saved saved and now down to owing £450. We have a credit from our energy supplier due to hit the bank account any day. The credit is for £450 so as soon as we get it we will be paying off the last debt and will be DEBT FREE!! We wont stop with the saving as the next goal will be building up emergency fund to 3 months worth of wages. X

onedaysomeday

Congratulations in advance for becoming debt-free! :dance:

enthusiasticsaver

Goodness. You have done so well and great news on the rebate. I would suggest you continue with the budgeting discipline and start to get some savings behind you for the future.

Debtfreewannabme

We are now debt free! Savings goals all set up and money on the EF. Feeling alot lighter. Interestingly we received a low interest loan offer letter through the post...I can safely say the letter has been thrown in the fire...literally. its so so cold today so managed to get the log burner going. Helps keep the heating costs down x

Debtfreewannabme

* I have also found a cheaper hairdresser and managed to save £190 per year. X

Debtfreewannabme

Hello, I can' t believe it is almost 1 year since I last posted.
Quick update - we have continued to stay focused on saving although I must admit I'm needing to pull on the purse strings, old habits trying to creep back in!
After we became debt free we felt as though everything that could break, did! For 4 months we were hit with car repairs and having to purchase replacement large appliances. After lots of debate we then decided to book our first family holiday abroad, came back and struggled to get back on tge frugal band wagon, christmas came and went..and that takes us to where we are now.

Savings - we now have £3000 in our emergency fund and seperate savings in lots of seperate instant savings accounts for car repairs, tyres, mot, service birthdays, christmas, hair cuts glasses etc. We would like to top this up to £3500 next month then finally move on to house saving.
For the most part we are still debt free - we owe £250 on a finance deal 0% interest for 12 months and £190 to our energy supplier - both will be paid off in full next month. Since thinking frugally I have managed to pay off £95 using money from surveys, cashback, refunds and not paying water bill this month.

We have deliberately been using credit to help with our rating. We have 3 credit cards - they gave us a £10,000 credit limit (£5k each) and I reduced it to £500 on each!! We also have a finance plan with currys £5000 limit. I am considering reducing this as we don't want it to go against us when the time comes to buy our first home.

Is it ok to have 4 credit cards? Will this be seen as a negative to morgage lender?

Husband has picked up two overtime shifts this month and I joined an agency - I have done one shift this month so far. We have agreed to use the extra towards debts, EF and house.

It's amazing how motivated I have become since starting to think frugally again - in the course of a week we have switched bank accounts ( HSBC Advance with £175 switching bonus) and energy supplier with a planned saving of £200 per year.

I am slowly doing the maths but as of next yr we will have approx an extra £350 per month due to both children being in receipt of funded hours. A few months later the eldest will be in school so that will bump up the excess. We are very hopeful that this will enable us to reach our house deposit goal within two years.

Phew, feels good to have got it all out!
Will keep updating this as and when xx

enthusiasticsaver

I don't think having 4 credit cards will go against you but why do you need 4? Surely 2 is more than enough?

[Deleted User]

Debtfreewannabme wrote: »

We have 3 credit cards - they gave us a £10,000 credit limit (£5k each)

:huh:

£5k on each of 3 cards, is £15k, not £10k.

Debtfreewannabme

We signed up to different cards to get rewards such as amazon vouchers .
It was more about whether having so much avaliable credit would be seen as high risk.
Thanks

Debtfreewannabme

Haha yes it is - I wrote it then realised we had 3, amended the total cards but not the £ - yes so originally we had 15k limit but it now stands at £1500 in total.
I will keep the cashback credit card and close the rest.
Cheers