Washing Away My Debts By 2024

Squirrelz92

Morning folks! Sun is shining which always puts you in a better mood rolling out of bed doesn't it?

PAY DAY! Hurrah! I'm rich for a whole day before all my pots suck the life out of it tomorrow. My overall bills have decreased since loaning out the ponio so I have a little extra disposable income at the start of the month which is always nice. Definitely will help aid me in smashing the life out of these debts that's for sure.

Made a PAD this morning of £1.48 to round down my current account to the nearest £5. My CC1 online balance hasn' changed yet ... I am probably too eager as I only made the bulk payment late last night. How long does it take to show does anyone know? When I overpay on my mortgage each month I know it doesn't show up until the following day. 

Work as per normal today in the office. Very busy and loud (much to my dismay as I do love a bit of silence)! 

No kids clubs tonight so an evening to try and get another room cleaned. It's a never ending cycle. Hoping to empty and sort my ottoman as it has been stuffed with all sorts of bedding for years, more than half of which we don't use so hopefully I can donate to a local dog kennel? I am sure I read somewhere that they love folks donating old bedding to use for the dogs blankets. 

My youngest attended her new club being Brownies again last night. Brings back so many memories of when I attended as a child! I dropped my eldest off at the train station at 7.30am for his Y6 class trip to London today! A visit to the Natural History Museum, a musical production viewing called Six and a 3 course Italian tea before heading home. Lucky devil! Me, my partner, my daughter and my partner's Dad are attending the Man United v Chelsea game straight after work. Kick off isn't until 8 so we will be racing the clock attempting to get back to the train station in time to pick my son up at 11pm!

Gemma x

LittleMissDetermined

Happy pay day to you!

Squirrelz92 said:

PAY DAY! Hurrah! I'm rich for a whole day before all my pots suck the life out of it tomorrow. My overall bills have decreased since loaning out the ponio so I have a little extra disposable income at the start of the month which is always nice. Definitely will help aid me in smashing the life out of these debts that's for sure.

Not sure why, but I read this as PIANO and was scratching my head about how that's reduced your bills... It's probably time for more caffeine  

Have a lovely day!
LMD x

Squirrelz92

LittleMissDetermined said:

Happy pay day to you!

Squirrelz92 said:

PAY DAY! Hurrah! I'm rich for a whole day before all my pots suck the life out of it tomorrow. My overall bills have decreased since loaning out the ponio so I have a little extra disposable income at the start of the month which is always nice. Definitely will help aid me in smashing the life out of these debts that's for sure.

Not sure why, but I read this as PIANO and was scratching my head about how that's reduced your bills... It's probably time for more caffeine  

Have a lovely day!
LMD x

@LittleMissDetermined Well this made me chuckle! I am with you there on the caffeine front! Congratulations by the way on making it past the finish line with your debt!! Soooo pleased for you, especially considering I have read your diary from the start What are your new financial goals now? x

LittleMissDetermined

Squirrelz92 said:

LittleMissDetermined said:

Happy pay day to you!

Squirrelz92 said:

PAY DAY! Hurrah! I'm rich for a whole day before all my pots suck the life out of it tomorrow. My overall bills have decreased since loaning out the ponio so I have a little extra disposable income at the start of the month which is always nice. Definitely will help aid me in smashing the life out of these debts that's for sure.

Not sure why, but I read this as PIANO and was scratching my head about how that's reduced your bills... It's probably time for more caffeine  

Have a lovely day!
LMD x

@LittleMissDetermined Well this made me chuckle! I am with you there on the caffeine front! Congratulations by the way on making it past the finish line with your debt!! Soooo pleased for you, especially considering I have read your diary from the start What are your new financial goals now? x

Glad I can provide amusement 😂 I need to crack on with the savings now, as well as paying for 2 holidays I have coming up.

Not going to start overpaying the mortgage until hubby’s credit cards are also clear 

Squirrelz92

Afternoon all  

Work finally reimbursed me for the £154 exam fee I paid using CC2 so I have paid that straight back bringing the total Tesco CC balance owed to £4,243.74

Made a PAD to my mortgage overpayment pot of £0.26 to round my current account down to the £1.

My son loved his school trip to London yesterday! The musical was his favourite part and apparently the Natural History Museum is huuuggeeee! Their return train home was cancelled so we ended up lingering on the platform at 11.55pm to pick him up! We were exhausted! Luckily none of us had to actively roll out of bed to collect him as we went to watch the Man U v Chelsea game in Manchester with an 8pm kick off. My daughter went from not wanting to watch, to actively standing on the seats, laughing and chanting with all the supporters. I have converted her!!! 

So plans for this evening really other than to perhaps cook sausage, mash and peas, bring the laundry in and sort out another small part of the house to declutter. Probably should turn my nose to studying at some point as with my exam booked for Sept, once I am back from holiday it will be the official study starting period.

Work has me a little rattled as my colleague who is still on probation has requested she work three days from home instead of just one. Much to my amazement, the manager has granted this but told her not to tell anyone in any other department. Never thought it would have been granted because we are lucky enough to be allowed one day WFH. There are no extenuating terms for this as I have spoken to her loads in person about it. She doesn't like how loud it is in the office (I hate it too) and she is always cold (like me too). Before I have made a few jokes/suggestions to our manager about WFH more but it was definitely made clear that its not an option. This is why I am more mad! Oh well, what can I do? All I know is that it wont take long for people to clock on and there will be a riot for everyone wanting the same privilege, and rightly so!

Gemma x

Squirrelz92

Afternoon folks. What a glorious day it is!

Not a lot to report on the finance front other than a few rounds up giving me a PAD for the day of £0.98 to the mortgage overpayment pot  

Took my daughter for her weekly swimming lesson this morning before heading into town to buy some holiday clothes for myself. Everyone else is sorted and naturally I leave it until less than a week to go before considering if I need anything! Went very against my normal style of dull and dark and ended up with a lot of rather fluorescent type clothes thanks to my daughter! We shall see if they fit later on. 

Ended up feeling the spirit of summer and decided to tackle the huge 14ft trampoline that we built for the kids on day one of moving to this house. Nobody uses it anymore and decided it was time to say goodbye. My garden looks massive! Its so strange! Now deliberating over whether to whack out the lawn mower and spruce it up a tad!

Hope everyone is enjoying the weather!

Gemma x 

Squirrelz92

Well the countdown from the kids has officially started. 5 days until Egypt! 

Had a lovely weekend with brilliant weather to accompany it Made the most of having an empty garden for the first time after taking the trampoline down the previous day. So much room to have a kick about with my eldest and to have a good natter with my Mum and sister yesterday who arrived back from Australia for 6 weeks to spend time with everyone. She is at the last stage of applying for permanent residency in Aussie-land and we couldn't be happier for her!

After getting quite heavily sunburnt being out all day in the sun yesterday I decided to stay at home to work today instead of going into the office as planned. Not feeling 100% and would rather not have the 30 minute drive there and back when feeling the way I do. Already feeling better thankfully. Can't say the same for the colour of the left hand side of my body though! Hopefully Egypt will even out the tan next week! The kids are in holiday club so I can work for the next three days during the half term which cost an eye watering £141 but needs must This will be my eldest's last time going to club as he is now old and wise enough to stay home during the holidays whilst I work. He is dead chuffed knowing he no longer has to go but I have told him that being able to stay at home now means he is a mini adult which in turn means he must contribute more to the running of the house e.g. Putting a wash on, hoovering, doing the dishes, walking the dog. 

In terms of finances, I have managed to find my way back to my Prolific account. I have had a balance of £4.22 in there for ages and have done a few surveys this morning equating to over £5. Shall wait for those to clear and then I shall use these little bits to also put towards my CC. Was deliberating as to whether to add them to the mortgage overpayment pot with the sums being so small but the goal is to be debt free! Every little helps!

I am due back £71 in refunds for clothes that had no chance fitting me so hopefully that should appear back in my current account this week. Have made a PAD of 31p to my mortgage overpayment pot

Gemma x

Squirrelz92

Oooooh just withdrew my first lot from Prolific being £6.28 and have just sent that across to CC1  

LittleMissDetermined

Well done! It's addictive, be warned  
It's free money so I'm all for that... it's been slow for me lately but I'm not complaining too much. 
LMD x

Squirrelz92

LittleMissDetermined said:

Well done! It's addictive, be warned  
It's free money so I'm all for that... it's been slow for me lately but I'm not complaining too much. 
LMD x

I have been smashing out the Prolific surveys today but then this afternoon they started glitching (everyone seems to have been experiencing it), so will have lost out on a few quid Have managed to work up another £11 roughly, with another £5 ready to cash out ontop of the £6.28 from earlier! Will do a few more surveys at work tomorrow and transfer to CC1 then.

Pizza for the children today after a successful day one of three in holiday club. They have spent nearly all day out playing games on the 3G pitches which is much better than being stuck inside on whatever device they choose! I shall enjoy my pizza out in the garden I think. Soak up a little warmth instead of going for a tan considering I am half lobster half human at present!

Have been trying to work out what is the next best step for me at a glance once I become debt free in December. Part of me thinks I should go for Dave Ramsey's method of saving 3 months worth of bill money which of course is sensible! However I am wondering as to whether it is best to go hard on the mortgage overpayments or perhaps instead not overpay whilst the interest rate is where it is (3.56% until Sept 2027) and instead make voluntary contributions to my pension. I cant make the contributions straight out of my salary at its current level until I get a pay rise. The plan is to keep my take home pay the same as it is now and increase my % contributions to make this happen. Worried come retirement I wont have much of a salary to live off with the current contributions I am making Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Gemma x