I’ve only just realised what a financial mess I’m in.....

Blackcats

Scented candles - oh yes. I love them. The thrill of going to Jo Malone and chosing one of those beautiful candles and the whole experience of it being boxed up, cushioned on scented tissue paper, put in its gorgeous bag - always seemed to outweigh any serious thought about how much money was leaving my account to pay for it.
I still like candles - do t buy those ones though! I light them at about 9pm when I settle down to watch tv with a cuppa. I've made it a bit of a treat ritual. I tried the Aldi candles that have remarkably similar fragrance names to Jo but at a fraction of the cost. I always buy the Yankee candle advent calendar - again I really relish lighting each day's new tea light, a cosy, happy countdown to Christmas.

DebtFreeAliB

twiggy86 wrote: »

Thought I'd comment as in real life I'm AliB as well! Have you added up how much those two changes alone will save you! They've got to make an incredible difference to how much "spare" cash you have. Sounds like you've already made a brilliant start!

Hi Twiggy. Don't know how much I've spent on the candles really but it will be in the high hundreds I imagine. All the spare cash is going to debt repayment at the moment. I'm really feeling the pressure of these ridiculous interest rates. Hope I hear about my consolidation loan soon.

DebtFreeAliB

craftyali wrote: »

I have just started a Diary and slowly reading a few more.

You have made some great changes already. I personally have started on the plastic-free journey with my skin and hair care, so buying shampoo/bodywash/facewash bars, which also save a lot of money (and seem to be improving my skin/hair too - I have Psoriasis). If anyone would like some advice/recommendations for that (and I am also using soapnuts for most of our laundry, and learning about making DIY cleaning products), then get in touch.

Re. car. We have an expensive car on our drive (and I have my own small car, which I would like to sell and use the money to pay off my debt quicker, but hubby wants to keep it as it is so cheap to run, and we use it for all the local journeys). It is a fantastic car (both me and hubby are petrol heads!), but I feel embarrassed owning it when I am paying off debt and hubby is having to adjust to reduced income (due to how we are running our farm business). The already-paid for service plan ends next May, so hubby has agreed to sell it then, or perhaps earlier. I would rather have the debt paid off, savings available for emergencies and the peace of mind with private health in place etc (we plan to spend a fair proportion of the year in Spain). I am sure your car is fabulous too, but the day when you are debt-free will be even more amazing.

Best of luck with it all - and I will follow your Diary.

Hi Crafty - totally get where you are coming with the plastic free thing. I'm getting on board with that and looking at my plastic filled house. Will wean myself off the plastic gradually. I have sourced some refills and bars. Looking at replacing shower gel with soap. Morrisons baby soap is 50p per bar and probably lasts longer. Still comes wrapped in plastic though. Not sure about the soap nuts for laundry. How do you find them - are they as good as laundry liquid?

DebtFreeAliB

Toni'sfriend wrote: »

I love scented candles too but they are so expensive I've stopped buying them as well.

The other thing I used to buy every week was flowers. I've stopped that as well and now have some plants instead. If you work out how much one simple bunch of flowers from a supermarket costs per week over the period of a year it's a lot. And I never stopped at just one.

I used to have a lot of flowers in the house too. Lovely but a massive waste of cash. Now I just buy orchids instead. They flower for ages and look beautiful and most important of all - they are alive. Has left me with a quite a few vases haha.

DebtFreeAliB

Some good news for me today - I can wave goodbye to my 41% APR and 28% APR credit cards. Opened my emails just now to find that I have been able to get a loan (13.9% APR) that will cover them both. I know this is still a high interest rate, especially for a loan, but I expect that in a couple of months at least one of the credit cards will offer me an interest free transfer for the full amount and I can get the whole lot onto 0% - at least that's what I'm hoping. Even if that doesn't happen I'm still in a much better position than I have been for a while. Hopefully will be able to do both transfers early next week and that will be the end of that nightmare.

enthusiasticsaver

DebtFreeAliB wrote: »

Some good news for me today - I can wave goodbye to my 41% APR and 28% APR credit cards. Opened my emails just now to find that I have been able to get a loan (13.9% APR) that will cover them both. I know this is still a high interest rate, especially for a loan, but I expect that in a couple of months at least one of the credit cards will offer me an interest free transfer for the full amount and I can get the whole lot onto 0% - at least that's what I'm hoping. Even if that doesn't happen I'm still in a much better position than I have been for a while. Hopefully will be able to do both transfers early next week and that will be the end of that nightmare.

That will certainly help but I urge you to cut up the credit cards so you are not tempted to borrow on them again after they have been moved to the loan. That is the classic debt consolidation trap.

TravelGirl84

Hi :wave:

Just found your diary and wanted to wish you the best of luck.

I am fascinated by the Molten Brown savings. I don't think I spend enough on something to make that much a saving by switching, but I did start buying a more expensive brand of cleaning products and hand foams which smell divine, but I stopped because I know it's more expensive. The bottles are bigger then cheaper alternatives but I'm sure they must work out more. I still have a rhubarb scented disinfectant left though and will be sad when it's finished :rotfl:

Looking forward to following your journey

TG.

DebtFreeAliB

Hi TG. Thanks for stopping by. Is that the Method antibacterial spray? I use that as well. Smells lovely 😊

DebtFreeAliB

Good afternoon all….
Good news this morning. I opened my bank account to find that my £10,000 loan (13.9 APR) had been deposited in my bank account so I immediately paid off my 41% APR CC (£5, 329.81) and my 28% APR CC (£4,422.43).
I have decided to include the car in the debt total as now I am seeing it as a debt rather than an outgoing. That’s the way the credit scoring agencies see it so I need to view it in the same way.
The outstanding debts, their APRs, minimum payments and remaining terms are as follows:
Loan 1 - £4,494.16, APR = 13.9%, minimum payment = £188.09, remaining term = 24 months
Loan 2 - £10,000, APR = 13.9%, minimum payment - £893.72, remaining term = 12 months
Loan 3 - £10,694.04, APR = 6.9%, min payment - £381.93, remaining term = 28 months
Car Loan - £29,527, APR = 3.9%, minimum payment - £532.00, remaining term = 56 months
Credit Card - £7,141.91, APR = 0%, minimum payment – 1% of balance
The debt shuffle gets rid of the outrageous APRs but means that I need a new plan. So, the new plan is as follows:
I have at least £400.00 per month to put towards my debt avalanche.
If I pay off Loan 1 as quickly as I can by paying £600.00 per month rather than £188.09 then that will be paid off by March 2020. Snowballing the £600.00 into Loan 2 means that it will be paid off by June 2020, Loan 3 by Oct 2020, the Car Loan by Aug 2021 and the CC by Oct 2021.
The only things that can affect this plan are:
The 0% Credit Card offer ends and I have to move that to the top of the priority pile,
I hand back the car and only have to pay the deficit back,
I get a 0% offer from one of the credit cards that I have just paid off and can move Loans 1 & 2 (currently 13.9%) onto this.
I have edited my signature to reflect the new status – starting again at 0% paid off. It's going to be a long hard slog :-/

Chrystal

It sounds as though you're definitely headed in the right direction Ali.

Wishing you Luck. X