Crunchy's Final Debt Free Diary!

crunch_time

Morning all

Its the first of the month so I have ticked off the bills that have come out.

I've been doing a lot of spreadsheet staring recently. Trying to figure out a plan of action regarding the credit cards. And the morning I applied for a 0% balance transfer credit card for the husband with a 0.6% fee. It's been accepted and they have given him a credit limit of £10k!!! Madness. But we might take advantage of this. One of our 0% deals come to an end in March so including this we currently owe £8854 that is accruing interest and costing £100 a month in interest

With fees this will be around £8900 so if we pay £250 a month off it will take 35 months to pay off. This seems so much bigger than what we are already paying though although it really is not.

Bottom line is I need to earn some money and soon to help sort us out again.

We had a no spend day yesterday. Our plan for today is to weed the front garden and make playdough. But it won't be another NSD as having haircut later and then will aim to do some work this evening. No sniff of any clients yet but I've only approached 2 potentials. I shall be signing up for supply though and aim for two days a week. That should get this debt shifted and I will work hard to organise client work around it.

Crunchy xx

Homegrown0

crunch_time wrote: »

Sounds like a good plan! A lot of the time what he buys we do actually need but they are of small value and soon add up. And I don't think he quite grasps the concept of pacing ourselves. I do think his attitude is - we do alright and a lot of people are in debt so it doesn't really matter. There is no point getting stressed about it! It's hard.

This is exactly the attitude of my husband... he's generally not a big spender but because we earn well, and he doesn't take a lot to do with the finances, i think he just thinks all is ok! But when I'm trying to get the costs down so that we can overpay and get rid of cards, it's frustrating! He works really hard (as do i, of course) so I always think he deserves it but iI need to get myself out of that attitude until we're in a position to have more treat money.

crunch_time

Homegrown0 wrote: »

This is exactly the attitude of my husband... he's generally not a big spender but because we earn well, and he doesn't take a lot to do with the finances, i think he just thinks all is ok! But when I'm trying to get the costs down so that we can overpay and get rid of cards, it's frustrating! He works really hard (as do i, of course) so I always think he deserves it but iI need to get myself out of that attitude until we're in a position to have more treat money.

Absolutely feel the same - its a constant battle.

crunch_time

Morning all

I sadly had to have my beloved cat put down yesterday. It's so weird without him. Still waiting for the final bill from vets/insurers but at last estimate, it was around £180.

I've also done two rather large food shops from Morrisons and Sainsburys this month including pet food and toiletries meaning I am over my monthly budget already. It doesn't help that its a 5 week month which I hadn't considered when I budgeted unfortunately so the emergency fund is going to well and will truly be eaten into this month.

We went to the zoo the other day for the ear watering cost of £56 for just me and the two kiddies! A huge chunk of my £200 budget for summer holiday activities with 4 weeks left to go until payday. Eek!

I've been working out what autumn clothing is needed including new uniform and again I'm horrified at the cost and amount. DD is nearly 4 and outgrown most of her clothes from last year. Its just relentless isn't it. I bought DS a coat when he was in reception which should have lasted him another winter but the stitching has come undone making it not very waterproof and I don't think I can repair it. Cross. Frustrated. I'm going to need to replace my own wellies and DD's wellies as they both have holes in. I'm going to do some research for the best ones to buy.

In credit card news both of husbands credit cards have been balance transferred onto the new Virgin card for 32 months. I just need to sort out adding the £2060 of his which is currently 0% but runs out in March. Husband will then have about £5500 on credit card at 0% and the £1000 overdraft. I did want to transfer some of my debt onto it too but I'm reluctant as husband will need to apply for a loan to pay from our car in the new year which is coming to the end of its PCP and will be £12k but will reduce the monthly payments to £275 from £350. I'm planning to use the extra £75 to chuck at the 0% and get that cleared after the loan is sorted out.

The £5500 credit card will take 28 ish months to clear then.

Although I would love to be debt free sooner and have that badge of honour it is more realistic to say we will be debt free in 3 ish years. We need all our spare cash now to live our lives, create savings and pension plans and do the bits to the house that we need to do.

My HSBC card offered me a balance transfer so I transferred £1000 off the sains card for 18 months. So we are now only paying interest on around £2500 of debt and this is the first one to be tackled by me actually earning some money. Ha ha!

I have so many things to do to actually achieve this but not much time due to summer holidays and hardly getting any peace and quiet.

So lots of plodding along at the moment. Hopefully a no spend day today and isn't it nice that it's a bit cooler!!

Crunch xx

helsbell

Sorry to hear about your cat. Hope you're ok xx

crunch_time

helsbell wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your cat. Hope you're ok xx

Thank you for your kind words. I balled my eyes out on the day but Stratton to feel better but there is a huge cat shaped hole in my life x

Linz4383

Subscribed x

crunch_time

Hello everyone,

Its been soooo long since I last updated my diary. I'm planning to get back on it now so we can start getting some order in our finances.

We have managed to survive the school holidays without too much overspending and also been on holiday. Now its back to school on Monday and I.AM.SO.READY.FOR.IT.

A few things to update you on...

- I've paid off the £1000 overdraft with my savings leaving around £1800 left (of savings that is)
- I have a huge vets bill of £876 to pay by February. Long story short - I thought I was insured but I was not and it's my vault. Felt absolutely awful. Husband said that the cat was worth it and I agree so have agreed with the vets to pay the bill by the end of February.
- Husband has a 0% credit card currently standing at £5492 for 32 months!!!! The min payment is about £50 a month.
- One of my CC's is 0% for about 2 years and stands at £3130.
- The other one has £2060 at 0% and about £2500 paying interest. The min payment is about £100 and the amount of interest of that is about £30 so I have managed to reduce the interest we are paying from £100 a month to £30 a month was is great!
- We plan to keep a float/buffer/slush fund of £100 and then save £100 a month into my savings account which will become our emergency fund.
- We also plan to go abroad next year for the first time in 7 years because life is too short to wait around until the debt has been paid off and the house is decorated. I've stopped beating myself up about it now.
- I've launched my business but am yet to have any paying clients! Ha ha! It's hard to do anything during the school holidays so I'm ready to hustle come Monday.
- I've also registered for supply teaching to bring in some money towards our holiday.

There are lots of big things coming up. Three out of the 4 of our birthdays for starters and then, of course, Christmas and we are hosting this year. We also want to finish off painting the kitchen and start on the sitting room.

The aim is to not get into any more debt and slowly watch it go down. I'm planning to balance token payments of the vet bill with Christmas and birthday spending and save what I can towards it to smash it in the new year. if we don't manage that for some reason, the husband's credit card is always available and then our attention will turn to pay that off instead.

So here goes. I promise to update more regularly from now on! And actually comment on other people's diaries.

Grand debt total currently stands at £14,058

Crunchy xx

Thistlewhistle

Hi Crunchy,


Great to see you back with us again.

I've been lurking for a bit and just started my own diary so I've subscribed to yours for some inspiration.


Happy Saturday


Thistle

crunch_time

Thistlewhistle wrote: »

Hi Crunchy,


Great to see you back with us again.

I've been lurking for a bit and just started my own diary so I've subscribed to yours for some inspiration.


Happy Saturday


Thistle

Thanks Thistle. It’s great too be back. I used to update very regularly but life just seems to get busier and busier. Short posts are the way forward I think.

We were on holiday last week so had an absolute mountain of washing to do and I’ve sorted out some summer bits to be packed away until next year and some others to go to charity. My children don’t seem to stop growing (ha ha) so will need to buy some new bits mainly for daughter. I’ve already done one spree but it isn’t enough and also need to do one for me and the husband.

I was thinking of putting bits on eBay but tbh I can’t be doing with the hassle and since I’m not doing charity contributions at the moment, giving it all to the charity shops is the best solution. I’d rather use my time on other things and let them benefit from it.

We are having a ‘relaxing’ day at home with a roast and a dog walk and lots of tidying ready for back to school tomorrow. I need to nip to the butcher for chicken and eggs.

Oh in other news I have had an enquiry about my business which looks like it will develop into a coffee and then hopefully into my first client!! Must get organised as there is lots that I need to do still to set myself up so I look as professional as I am!

Crunch x