Back again

shellslife

One of the credit cards have replied to my message and have asked for bank details so I’ve forwarded that. 

The other card haven’t replied to the message. Will have to get DH to phone them if they don’t reply. 

So looking forward to updating our figures. 

August is an expensive month for us anyway as we have both DDs birthdays as well as DH and school uniforms to buy so won’t be able to make much in the way of overpayments.
We do still have a few months mortgage holiday so that will help.

shellslife

I’ve heard back from both credit cards who have confirmed they will refund back to our bank account so now all’s I have to do is wait. Getting impatient though as I want to just have 3 credit card debts and know how much I’m paying each month to just those 3. 

enthusiasticsaver

How awesome will that be to just have the 3 cards and £14k instead of £25k. Sorry your DD is having an anxious time at the moment.  Exam results day is always stressful even if this is not a normal year. Just remind her that whatever the results she will have options. 

shellslife

Thanks ES. She has suffered with anxiety for a couple of years but has actually dealt with lockdown etc much better than we thought she would. Exam results day will be hard for her especially as she is torn between going to college and staying on in 6th form. Both me and DH are off work so will be able to wait in the car for her to come out of school. She has already said that she will fail as she knows that she has messed about in school. It was only after she got her mock results that she started buckling down as she failed them. 

She is also applying for part time jobs as she is desperate to start earning her own money. She even wants to take over her mobile phone payments.

As soon as I can I’m going to post a new list with the debts. I was thinking of splitting the amount we currently pay on all the debts between the 3 cards but I think I might just do 2 at just above minimum and make the over payments on the 3rd. They are all 0% until 2022. I just think it will give us an added boost to go from 3 cards to 2 and then to 1. 

The car payment (which I haven’t included) Is also due to finish in 2022 when I can send the car back. It’s scary how much better off we would be without the debt and car payments. We pay out just short of £1,000 on credit each month  That is a horrible amount. We could have built up a lovely savings nest. 

kerron7

You are doing amazing paying down this debt, well done.
Sorry to hear your daughter is struggling with MH. 
K x

shellslife

I’ve been skimming through some diaries and people talk about “pots” and Monzo, Plum etc. What are these? What is the best way to do pots? 

I would like to have them for birthdays especially as they all seem to be July and August, insurances (renewals all done last month and paid in full). Maybe even council tax. Christmas is always sorted with DH paying into a tontine in work, as the money comes straight out of his wages we don’t miss the £100 a month. We don’t spend that much on presents but the money helps out.

enthusiasticsaver

I think it is a good idea to  focus on one card at a time as it will motivate you to knock those debts off.  As you say once the debts are gone you will be in a much better position.  Sorry about your daughters mental health at the moment and I remember both my girls round exam results day being apprehensive.  Even if she fails though she will have the choice of going for a college course or resits if she really wants to do sixth form.  It is not for everyone though. 

Monzo and Plum are online accounts which have pots included within them. They have apps I think which you can use on your phone to move money around.   I have never used them so cannot comment on how easy they are to maintain but I do use a savings pot, albeit I just have one rather than the several many people have.  Have a look at The Frugal Cottage Blog and the author of that is on MSE as slowlyfading. She uses pots a lot.  It is just a savings account which is earmarked for certain things so they could be car maintenance, school uniform, presents, holiday, insurances etc etc. I have just the one online saver as I said and years ago when money was tight I would allocate it on a spreadsheet for various things.  I do not bother now as the saving account is quite large but if you are only just starting out saving for things in pots it is a good idea to actually ringfence it for certain purposes. 

shellslife

Well I’m in the middle of attempting to make my 1st ever birthday cake for my daughters 16th tomorrow. Fingers crossed that it all goes ok. 

Just checked bank and my loan payment has come out but the settlement figure is higher than what it was yesterday. I’m assuming that’s because they haven’t taken the payment off the account just yet. 

I keep checking the 2 credit card accounts to see where we are up to with the refunds. 

I have also locked myself out of one of my credit card accounts yet again lol. Keep forgetting the passwords. Will have to get it sorted if I get a spare minute today or tomorrow.
 DD1 wants to be cabin crew, I don’t have the heart to tell her she may struggle getting a job in that industry. Although she will probably struggle getting a job anywhere the way things are at the minute. So many people being made redundant so they are all applying for the same few jobs. I really hope things improve for everyone.

shellslife

Birthday cake looks good so I’m quite proud of myself 😀

One of the credit card company’s is being weird about the refund. They wanted DH to phone them and when he did they wanted to know where the refund came from, when we made the original payment and also wants DH to post a copy of a statement for the current account we want the Monet going back to. Looks like it’s going to take a while for that.

shellslife

Whoop refund came through to my bank from one of the cards. This was the higher amount so has cleared overdraft (for now) and I’ve just phoned up for a settlement figure on loan and cleared that. 

We are left with just 3 credit cards now. Will update the figures later 😀