AimeeMum's Debt-free challenge

aimeemum

I'm officially done....I have a little bit of food to get still but that can wait until 23rd/24th as it's all fresh stuff that I need. Annoyed because the goose I ordered through Tesco has been taken off my order?! I'm unsure why, but it does mean I'm going to have to go on a literal goose chase on Mon/Tues lol. I'm waiting on the said Tesco order and that's bringing a lot of sweets and boxes of chocs for family and the kids stockings. Smyths order is in...paid £4 for express delivery but that's still cheaper than the fuel to get to the shop and the inconvenience of hubby having to go and collect so I'm happy. Added a jigsaw as a last minute addition as youngest's pile is looking a little small.....eldest is getting cash instead of a main pressie for the first time too. Bit sad but he has still got a stocking full of stuff and a few bits to open......still sad as the toy he asked for and I bought isn't right and I'm going to have to send it back and give him the cash instead I may still go to the shops on the 23rd/24th and pick him up something as an alternative but I'm really unsure what.

aimeemum

Update:

Organised a return for the gift I bought for eldest....have requested an exchange for a book for DH and a PS3 game for eldest as I was feeling bad about him not having much to open. He will still be getting some cash but this actually works out cheaper - I'l give him the value of the original asked for gift in cash but as it was out of stock everywhere I've paid more than originally planned....the exhange actually sees me get £9 over and above back so I'm technically in 'profit' lol. Happy to get the book for DH too as he deserves a little bit extra.

Just waiting for my tesco man.....and hoping and praying for the next 5 days that everything arrives, I have enough money to cover all that I need, and I manage to find a goose substitute lol

ETA: Tesco man has arrived and brought everything. I was expecting to have a couple of subs but nothing! Let the wrapping commence!!

aimeemum

And Bump, we're back down to Earth! I had a letter from the council saying my 'outstanding balance is too high to continue into the New Year'. I checked my balance and it's still over £1000! Turns out that the old statements I had were wrong and not council tax allowance has been taken off as we're no longer eligible since hubby's pay rise in April but the statements haven't been updated....that's £300 difference! Anyway, I've worked out our payment scheme to get the whole lot gone by the end of March and it's not going to cause any hardship...just means I wont be able to save up my EF of 2 months' wages quite so quickly, but it will be nice to no longer have anything owed to the council! First time in nearly a decade I'll enter the new fiscal year with nothing carried over!!

Also had a letter from a new debt the other day......I don't recognise it at all (it's in hubby's name) so I think it may pre-date us being together/married....which means it's nearly 15 years old!! I'll send a provit in the new year.

Anyway, i'm off to go and make some more progress with my wrapping. I consider this my grown up stuff for the day!

aimeemum

Spent some time yesterday afternoon procrastinating on my wrappng by examining my budgets for the next 3 months and sorting out my debts paid/remaining. I have my new total for this year....£2,544! So much better than the nearly £8k I entered 2019 with and only £400 of that is 'new' debt too, it's hubby's CC which I have used for a couple of car repairs and a pair of concert tickets for hubby's birthday....I will be paying that off as quickly as I can! Anyhoo....I think I can have everything 'credit' paid off by June leaving only the elec arrears ticking over so I'm very optimistic it will all be gone by the end of October

I've also had some time to consider my goals for this year and I think I know what they are. I like to have 5 and I acheived 4 of them in 2019 (only one I didn't was to be debt free so not bad really!). 2020's goals will be:

1. Debt Free
2. EF of £1k full
3. Pay cash for all expected outlays in 2020 - Holidays, Christmas and Birthday presents for example
4. Finish the first draft of a book - probably my fiction but also have a NF in the works.
5. Get my health sorted - Ear, teeth and eyes all 'fixed'.

Little things I've got an idea about doing/getting into the pipeline:
- Organise a trip to London next christmas holidays to go and skate at the tower of London!
- Legoland trip for the kids
- Visit 6 historical places in 2020

I'm so excited about it being the holidays from tonight.....got so much food in, lots of fun planned, and so many good presents. I really hope the kids like what they've got.

aimeemum

Back to reality after 4 wonderful days of fun and food! I feel so fat right now! lol

Hubby has gone back to work today so we are going to spend the day tidying up, catching up on some odd jobs and the boys have some homework to get done too - as well as a whole host of lego, meccano and other toys to construct Planning a slow day to get us back into the swing of things.

Next things on the agenda - shopping on Sunday to spend Christmas money, and then NYE we're having friends over as per usual. NYD we're just keeping it to us and we'll have our usual steak pie dinner (with extra trimmings!) which I'm REALLY looking forward to!

aimeemum

I've sorted my new debt totals etc in my signature, and made my first payment of £45 to the CT and my regular £5 to Vanquis debt.......that's £50 or 2% down and it's not even January! :T

In other news hubby and I took the plunge and applied for IFC to get ourselves a new bed and shockingly we were approved. We had hoped to save up instead of taking out credit but the offer was amazing - £679 for a king size ottoman divan with mattress and headboard, all delivered and assembled. It's over 10 months so will be done by November and we may actually risk a good night's sleep!! We;re going to spend the £250 of money we have been given for Xmas on all new bedding as we're going up a size in bedding....we'll need all new....what a shame! lol

In other news I'm all prepped for NYE bar a couple of bits for NYD from the farm shop, and a Black Forest Gateau as I forgot that yesterday lol. Also going to pick up a bottle of schloer or similar as the kids are going to stay up for the first time this year and they'll need some fizz for midnight.

Pup is doing well too....going off-lead for parts of his walks and toilet-training we're down to just the occasional accident. Looking at training classes for the New Year but there's so few around here and to be honest, I never feel like they're worth the money when I know I can do a good job myself.

Still got a week of school holidays left....this holiday is going so slowly and I love it! I've done the calendar for next year and I think I know what we're doing for holidays.....8 nights at Norden Farm (same place as last year) in July, plus the May half term as usual somewhere a bit nearer, possibly Suffolk or Northumberland? There's a chance we'll be going over the Ireland in the October HT too (pup will be able to go to kennels then as will be over 1) so I need to start looking at getting passports sorted for all of us soon-as.

aimeemum

Sorry I've not been on in what seems like forever! My laptop decided that it no longer wanted to attach to the internet and I'v only just found a work-around of a USB adapter and no I'm back online. Not sure how long for, but hopefully long enough to save up for a new PC! lol 
Anyhoo, life had been hectic to say the least....puppy has settled in nicely and is not as chaotic now he's getting a little older. His house-training is pretty much complete now and he's brilliant company. I'm working on my WIPs as best I can, and financially we're making *some* progress although we have gone backwards a little bit as the CT bill has once again caused issues. Hopefully we will be able to get it down to zero by the end of March though, which is better than I've managed in the last 10 years!! In other news hubby and I are currently in a quandry about moving, our finances etc. We love being where we are but the house is starting to be a limitation -  size wise it's not perfect, but we love it. It's also a little isolated and we're not happy about secondary school choice here. But....moving is such an ordeal, we just don't know what to do for the best. I've been looking at houses since January and one has come up that on paper looks great, but I am so unsure....hubby is not being particularly forthcoming with his opinion about a possible move so its making it really hard to actually commit either way and it's making me lose sleep! In addition, we've been doing some financial planning and it would appear to be practically impossible for us to improve our little lot as we're currently in the UC trap. I'm very upset by this as I feel like it's my fault and that, until we're no longer looking after children, we're going to be stuck like this.......and thats another 12 years+!! I'm working on my writing but I'm lacking in confidence completely with it all, and to be honest I'm not expecting anything to come from it....and that leads to a complete lack of motivation and therefore I'm feeling completely depressed by it all! 
Not a particularly positive update I am aware....everyone is happy and healthy and in that respect I know I should be happy, and I am, I just wish that the unknowns would resolve themselves. I'm going to give myself a kick up the backside after the half-term and really crack on with decluttering the loft and the garage while I have hubby home to help, and I'm also going to keep going with the writing....not being online for over a month has meant all the work I've done up until now has been slightly neglected, so I know I need to spend some time and effort there...
With the debt/finances I know we're making progress....roll on end of March and I'll have made some real dents in it all. On the plus side regular contributions to the H2S accounts means we now have nearly £400 in savings!! That's the most we're ever had. If we carry on we'll have £1000 by September! 
I'm off to go and play games with the kids now....half term fun-time is a go!!  

aimeemum

Once again it seems like forever since I've been on here. But this time I feel like I have an excuse. 
School closed last week (Tuesday so earlier than most) so we've been home-schooling a-go-go since then. Kids are being great on the whole, although middle is not enjoying the fact that he can't just play all day....I'm only making them do 1 hour of work a day, but you'd think I was making him copy out the dictionary! lol School are being great and have put loads of work up and we're just picking and choosing what looks like fun/doable for them all. 
Hubby's work is a bit up in the air at the moment. He's still in full time until the weekend, then he's dropping to a 'covid rota' where they'll be in 2 weeks/off 2 weeks, working 5 over 7 in the in weeks. Not ideal, but I'm hoping that between that, the government PAYE deal and the UC payments we'll make it work. We're lucky we're already in the system and hubby's job is pretty secure (bus driver) so hopefully our income will still be ok. 
I've been stocking up with food and making sure we have enough for a whole week should we not be able to get to the shops etc. I've managed to pre-book slots with Tesco too which is handy. We're just waiting to see how this new rota pans out as to whether I keep using it or just nip to the supermarket once a week once my pre-booked slots are gone. I have 8 days of food stashed ready for the inevitable illness though.....it's a matter of when, not if. 
In other news, financially today was a big day. I paid the last installment of the Council Tax for this year.....and all my arrears is paid. Nothing is carried forward. Since January I've paid just over £1,100 to clear it. No wonder it's been tight! Anyway, that's done now....total debts are now sitting at £2,500 precisely....it's gone up by about £600 due to hubby using his CC to buy a piano for the kids to learn on while they're off school. It seemed like a worthwhile investment and considering they each spend 30 mins a day on the app we've got (paid up front for 6 months - part of the money on the CC) they're doing fantastically. 
I've re-jigged the budget to reflect hubby's lower wages, but also the lower fuel bills which is a bonus I suppose....plus barely any eating out! Hoping we can continue to make dents in the debt and have virtually all gone by Christmas. We have got to pay for some work to the car in the summer but hubby is due an expenses cheque of nearly £600 so hopefully that will cover it. Electric is coming down slowly too which is great....now sitting at less that £800 arrears compared to over £1200 this time last year! H2S is still ticking over - I did have to use some to pay a little bit of the CT bills but still have £280 in there. Will have £1000 in there if we keep going until December. Sounds ages away but it's April next week. 
So, current totals are: 
Barclaycard - £1,100
Vanquis - £490
Electric/Gas - £910 (will be £770 when DD comes out on 1st)
From Next week will be paying £10 a week to Ovo, £5 a week to Vanquis and £25 a week to BC
Target is to have it ALL gone by 24th December 2020. 

aimeemum

Hubby's cheque cleared today so he's paid £550 off the CC instead of attempting to hold on to it....the CC will have to be used for emergencies/car work....but for now, our debt has come down and I will attempt to put some aside for the car for when we're back to 'normal'. 
Barclaycard balance is now £560  

abba1772

all sounding very positive esp in these unsure times xx