AimeeMum's Debt-free challenge

aimeemum

Another workout done - I think I broke my arms!!  

Not a lot else to report other than I am waiting for payday tomorrow and wishing I could just lose this weight already!! 

Whatlifeis

Wow, I have a way to go before I hit "Insanity" workout levels. Kudos to your hubby though - he must be incredibly fit.
I do Joe Wicks in the morning, and if I have time, a walk or a 10 min abs workout in the afternoon. I always take weekends off (basically because my body has had it by Friday and needs a couple of days to recover!) Unfortunately I just can't face Chloe Ting yet, plus I know a couple of friends who have injured themselves doing her workouts, so it's kind of put me off a bit. Joe was super-tough for the first couple of months, but I got used to it eventualy, and yep, I occasionally injured myself doing those too. Gradually I learned to avoid a few of his exercises and substituted others.
Slow and steady - just keep going and the weight will drop off over time. I've been doing it a year and lost 20kg. The only diet mod I did was to give up alcohol, but the rest was just consistency. Nothing exciting I'm afraid

aimeemum

The insanity ones are just that....insane!!! I watch him and I feel tired just sitting there!  

Still, I'm now up to 35 days (a whole week further down the road) and I've not missed one and I'm about to step up to 20 minutes at a time!! I'm really enjoying it and bizarrely I am finding I have more energy rather than less which is bizarre for me! Weight wise I've gone down a bit more but as my weight fluctuates a lot I'm not willing to actually look directly at it until I do my fit test, weigh in and measurements again at the end of the month. 

aimeemum

I actually have some money news. I sent off for an F&F for my Arrow/Vanquis payments the other day. I've offered them 50% of what's left (about £200 left) but I've not heard anything back. I sent it Tuesday, so if I haven't heard back by this coming Tuesday I'll ring them and sort it over the phone. Hoping to get that paid and gone then.  

abba1772

Good luck with your settlement offer xx

aimeemum

No luck with the settlement offer. They only gave me a 15% discount (which I am tempted to take) but considering that would only be £20 off what was originally an £800 debt that has been sold on twice, I'm willing to wait a bit longer and negotiate it out. I did get into a bit of a debate with a man at the call centre as he refused to give me turnaround times for a response with a new offer/refusal.....but I eventually spoke to someone with common sense lol. 

In other news, I've ,managed to keep with with workouts every day, and I'm down a little bit more weight so that's good. Hubby on the other hand is banned from shops (I jest of course) after going to the fishing tackle shop and spending £40 more than he went with, so I've had to pay that off, on top of the other stuff he's just put on the CC the last couple of weeks. Adds up to nearly £200 altogether which is making me 'debt free by the end of April' journey even more tense. Still.....even if we still have a tiny bit left, it's better than the £1500+ we currently have!!! I just want it gone!!!! 

Car has decided it needs yet more brake pads, so will order those tonight from the car sinking fund. 

Bring on payday tomorrow so I can feel like we're still making progress instead of going backwards! 

aimeemum

Pay day Yay day!! 

Made some payments to the CC's - basically made the decision to empty all the little bits of change loitering in my SF's and pay it all over to the CC - totalled nearly £50!!!!!! I haven't touched the big ones that are destined for bigger things but it felt good to make a big payment again. Today's payment total is therefore £120.70. 

I've re-arranged my payments for the arrow. I had a payment structure set up with them for £6 a month but I was paying £5 a week. I thought seeing as the payments are currently in negotiation I would lower it so I've set up a new SO for £10.05 a month (would pay off in 20 months if I carried on at that as there is £201 left - more than I thought but my phone calls this week have enlightened me). To be honest I'm tempted to let that carry on and just forget about it as I've set it up to end on the 20th payment. 

Anyway - current CC totals are £1,311, interest is due on this week, and I've worked out that with that I am £90 shy of getting it all paid off next week. I have some of that I think but I'm going to ask hubby if I can use some of his ebay money to put the last nail in the CC coffin and also have a little bit left in this week's kitty so may throw that in there too provided we don't go spending any more. Hubby mentioned something about needed a bit of cash for a ticket for something, but not sure how much. 

So close....I genuinely can't wait to be FREEEEE!!!! We're then going to have to work extra hard to build up something of a buffer, our holiday spending money and we need new tyres on the car - but without the CC's on our minds that should all be a little bit easier!!  

aimeemum

So excited today - yesterday I took the plunge and withdrew the money (it takes 3 working days) to pay off the CC's. It will clear on Tuesday (maybe Monday but probably Tuesday) and then I can start to make payments etc.Tuesday is also UC pay day so we will (very briefly) by incredibly rich but obviously it's only fake rich.......for now!! Worked out I will need to borrow £20 from hubby's ebay sales to make it work, and he's said to take what I need It's going to mean next week is a bit lean but it'll be worth it as we'll be debt free aside from the arrow payments for the first time in our married lives!!! 15 years together and we've never owed less than what we currently do, so to only owe £200 (which as hubby pointed out, we could pay off a lot quicker if we wanted to) is a major turning point. 5 more sleeps!!!  

Anyway, best go and get my workout gear on and get moving.....lots to do today! 

ETA: Just did my first proper 20 minute workout - didn't feel any longer or different to a 15 at the time but now I've finished I feel great!!!  

aimeemum

The money came through this morning!!! I don't know why it's come through so quickly...it's always taken the full 3 days in the past but hey, I'm not complaining. It's now sat in my stash account waiting for Monday night when I can go through the balances and make the payments with hubby. Always nice to see a balance of over £1k in any account!!!

aimeemum

WE PAID THEM OFF!!! Last night I sent £1,302 across to the CC's to clear the entire balances plus this month's interest charges. 

Our new debt balance is £201 for Arrow, £198 for hubby's amp (has 3 payments of £66 to go) and £95 of winter arrears on the elec that should clear off in the next 2-3 months of summer usage!

So our new balance is £494 owed. Current the DFD on this is December 2022 as that's when the arrow will naturally come to an end. Hubby's amp will finish at the end of the June (and he gives me the money for this from his personal savings - he has a credit union savings plan through work) and the elec should be gone by August. I think I will give myself the target of having it all gone by my birthday in September, but as none of it is costing is anything in interest, I'm calling us done!!