Finding a future after debt

ceremony

Still plugging away.

Made a payment to the council tax today, it's now under £4,000 which is a nice milestone! No overpayments this week since we booked another rubbish collection with the little extra cash we have. I reckon one more collection after this and we'll be "tidy" for now. There is still a lot to do really but it can wait until the new year when we've paid off more of the debt and can start doing something with the place.

Still browsing for sofas @moneyonmymindsam! There are some lovely (really lovely) ones on ebay in the local area but they're huge! Our living room is a shoebox so we're limited in what we can fit in there. We'll keep looking on there for a few more days before we make a decision.

My credit rating on Credit Karma is up to 506. I know credit scores don't actually mean anything, but I've been watching it out of curiosity and it's nice to break above 500 even if it is meaningless, it shows that at least they think things are being managed sensibly.

moneyonmymindsam

Amazing on the rubbish clearance so good to get it out the way really does make a difference to how you feel. I did the same mine was collected today. 
Wow about the council tax you are smashing this 
Re your credit rating well done - the only way is up from here on in
Sam x

ceremony

The council picked up the rubbish on Friday. The bonus I was expecting from work hasn't shown up yet (that was supposed to get paid on Friday too). I'll give it a couple of days and if nothing gets said chase it. I trust they'll pay it eventually and don't want to push my luck because it is a bonus, but I could use it sooner rather than later!

Just a small overpayment on one of the debts this weekend, I bought some storage boxes from Wilko to continue with the grand tidy out. We'll have to do one more big rubbish collection too, but after that any extra cash can get thrown at the debts.

Frustratingly, I got an isolation notice in the COVID-19 app. I work from home so it won't impact things too much, but it means I'll have to miss my exercise classes this week. I live in an area where the government's highly likely to implement heavy restrictions as of Monday and was looking forward to one last class before everything gets cancelled!

moneyonmymindsam

Amazing on the tidying. It seems never ending at times but I found the more i clear often the better I feel. 
Fingers crossed and see what happens Monday 
Sam x

ceremony

Thanks. The bonus came through! I should have known not to stress about it, they've always been good so far, just slow sometimes but I tend to worry too much.

We've found a 'basic' sofa that costs about the same as the bonus so no need to raid the emergency fund after all. I'll be booking another rubbish collection tomorrow, still figuring out what can go into it, then after that we have that spare cash every week to push towards debts. I want to get below £7,500 before the end of the month before we start thinking about Christmas. We don't spend a LOT, but it would be nice to actually have the gift buying/treats planned and budgeted for this year.

moneyonmymindsam

Wow congratulations on the bonus and a good swap for a sofa as you'll need a sit down after all that work
Just my usual thumbs up  on your diary.
Look how far you've come from page 1
  

ceremony

Thanks! Deep down I know it's going to take years, but I sometimes wish it could get hurried along a little bit.

I waited too long to book a rubbish collection, so they're not coming until next week So now we have a broken sofa shoved up in the corner of the kitchen and the new sofa in the living room, plus bags of rubbish stacked up in the corner. At least it's only for a week.

The sofa's better than I expected it to be for the price, so that's made my week!

Just the regular council tax and business loan payments this week, bringing the debt down to £7,619. I'm exhausted after moving stuff around today, so just going to relax for the night then get back to work over the weekend deciding what to tackle next...

moneyonmymindsam

Wow that's fantastic down to £7,619
  

t2rry

just caught up with your diary, Ceremony, I love your approach chipping away at things, and it's clearly effective!!  Subscribed to keep following you down!!

mark55man

its a great idea to find a few people who have the same sort of journey as you - keeps me grounded