What Not to do When You Move House

CL21

Definitely recommend an emergency fund. It’ll save you getting into more debt if the washing machine breaks etc. Best of luck on your debt payoff. Those dark clouds lift the more you reduce it. 

Try printing off a debt tracker - sometimes a visual reminder of your journey can be helpful! There’s plenty of free ones online (I like The Budget Mom website - loads of free resources) 

meerkatpie

LittleMonkey1985 said:

Friends will still be there whether rich or poor. In my girl-friend circle over the last ten years we have been through multiple breakups, divorces, births, deaths, house purchases, redundancies blah blah blah the list goes on because life does. One friend, when she lost her husband was struggling so much due to the huge rent prices round here she was struggling to put food on the table for her daughter - did she push us away, no, but was she ashamed and embarrassed - of course. But once we worked out what was going on, without making a fuss, we changed how we saw her - we would go round with a bottle of wine and watch a movie, we would cook a course each and hold mix and match dinner parties, we would use 2 for 1 cinema deals, made the most of free activities and the National Trust, we spent weekends helping her sand down furniture (and once got so drunk re-painting her daughters bedroom after her ex had trashed it that 5 of us slept on the floor under towels lol). Your true friends will still love you and wont judge you. They will probably surprise you with their resourcefulness, encouragement and an uncanny ability to make you laugh whilst keeping you on the straight and narrow. 

(also - where do you get your pet insurance for that price as its amazing!! My hound sets me back £80!!) 

Much love and the best of luck x

That's so true and very heart warming the support you gave her! That's so kind and exactly how I would hope my friends to be... I think I am making it something in my head which it won't be once I have ripped off that bandage! I'm hoping if anything it may bring us closer because they will know why I am being how I am... 

And life does happen, you're too right. My true friends will stay there and the ones that don't probably didn't have my best intentions anyways! 

I love the idea of a drunk redecorating evening, that is right up my street!

Thank you so much for your kind words and support! 

The pet insurance is actually from Tesco Bank with an amazing level of cover! I was unbelievably impressed with the price and I think I found them on a comparison site? :O 

meerkatpie

CL21 said:

Definitely recommend an emergency fund. It’ll save you getting into more debt if the washing machine breaks etc. Best of luck on your debt payoff. Those dark clouds lift the more you reduce it. 

Try printing off a debt tracker - sometimes a visual reminder of your journey can be helpful! There’s plenty of free ones online (I like The Budget Mom website - loads of free resources) 

That's my thought, as a just in case. Even if it isn't much it just saves whipping out that Barclaycard again if I were in dire straits... plus the 0% offers have all now expired so interest would loom if I couldn't afford it in one fell swoop. 

Ohh I will check that out, thank you! I fully agree I need to see where things are and how they are heading as it motivates me massively. When I paid off my debt the first time I deleted all my spreadsheets and trackers.. I wish I never had now, they were such great tools! 

meerkatpie

Hi Everyone!

Sorry it has taken me such a while to update, it has been a very hectic January but I have also been away! I had a pre-planned (and pre-paid, thank goodness) trip to Belfast around a week ago which was absolutely fantastic. My first time to Northern Ireland and I loved every moment. The people were fantastic and I can't rate it enough! 

Luckily the only thing I had to pay for was food and drinks so I managed to just stick within my budget for it. I had a little reserve pot ready for it so it didn't sting too much. Although my current account looks a little bare. 

I've done my click & collect order at Tesco this week for £40 which I am happy with, I've included a few fresh protein options but I have plenty of frozen fish and chicken in the freezer, but I have really focused on lots of veggies and food I can cook from scratch. It has kept the cost down and will certainly be healthier than processed food! 

After this I will have around £30 until payday on Friday. My car has half a tank so this is okay, but I do have a haircut booked in for tomorrow which is £20. 

As far as I am aware, there should be nothing else to go after that so that's £10 spare! May not be much, but at least I am ending this month in credit rather than the other side! 

I have spoken to a couple of my friends about my situation and they fully support me which is wonderful, we have a group of around 8 of us so of course I don't want to turn them down all the time if it's things that cost, but I find the biggest financial burden is not what we plan to do together, but the food we get while we do it. 

Often, we will go for a browse around the shops or a nice walk somewhere, but we always end up nipping to a restaurant for food. I don't want to have to eat out every time, nor do I want to sit there with nothing to eat with them in case they/I feel uncomfortable so I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on taking packed lunch to restaurants?

I don't mean high-end places for a treat, but generally taking food from home rather than relying on eating while we are out and about I think may help? I have a lot of dietary requirements anyways, so trying to find somewhere that accommodates me is sometimes an arduous task and it usually means we resort to sit-down meals rather than getting cheaper fast food, but this may also alleviate this issue and give them more freedom so I think it could be the best of both worlds? Is this a good idea or am I being a bit too intense there? :O 

I've also restarted my debt tracker which is great! Slowly but surely I am going to get everything down and I will be able to keep an eye on things!  

Not long now until payday, but I hope everyone is having a great January so far!  

lantanna

We have similar debt totals and I also bought a house in Sept. Glad to hear you enjoyed Belfast and the positive review you gave, I live there .

meerkatpie

lantanna said:

We have similar debt totals and I also bought a house in Sept. Glad to hear you enjoyed Belfast and the positive review you gave, I live there .

Ah congratulations! I hope you’re very happy in your new house!!

It’s a lot when you’ve just moved but certainly always a place to turn to here which I like! Best of luck with your debt-free journey!

And absolutely, never have I met friendlier people in such a large city! I’m already so excited to go back as I have so much more to see!

Sarahwithlove

Well done for telling your friends hopefully they can support you in this journey

meerkatpie

Sarahwithlove said:

Well done for telling your friends hopefully they can support you in this journey

Thank you! 

I am hoping so too! They have been so understanding so far and still including me and doing different/cheaper plans which has made me very happy  

meerkatpie

Good Morning Everyone!

I am sorry for the delay with this month's update! As promised, I have been working to the bone and today is really the only free moment I have had!

My payments have been taken this month, £310 on my Barclaycard and £176 on my Loan. 

Overall I now have:

Barclaycard - £8,191.94

Santander Loan - £8,646.53

Total in February 2023: £16,838.47

I am happy it is going in the right direction and it is so nice to celebrate the small wins! Seeing those digits drop from the £17k to the £16k mark is step in the right direction and I am grateful for that. 

So for the bad news, my grandparents had a plumbing emergency and needed some help with their payments. I haven't had to use my credit which is good, but it has about cleared out my car fund all but £50. However, these things happen! They will repay me when they are able and in the mean time, all this overtime I am doing can help contribute towards the car. 

I have already made a saving for my car bills in March. It's service and MOT are booked in at Kwik Fit (they have good local reviews, I am happy with the choice) for a combined of £170 taking advantage of a 10% discount code that appeared on their website and this is paid for. This is much less than what the main dealer used to charge where I religiously took it. They were looking for around £300 for the same work. Some people have criticised me for this quoting things such as resale value and main-dealer servicing... but realistically I am planning to drive this car until the wheels fall off so it really doesn't bother me. As long as it is safe to drive that is the main thing. 

I am anticipating new brake pads and discs will be needed, we also have its insurance and tax due on the 1st April. Overall I am anticipating this to be a combined total of around £600. 

This month I have really put in some effort with overtime and I have so far made £500 pre-tax in O/T. This should go a significant way of helping towards that and if I can keep that up in March, I should be able to pay all of this in cash rather than monthly instalments. I have said though, everything for the car is due at the same time. To help spread the cost, I am just going to pay for 6 months' tax this year to stagger it out a little. The remainder can then be paid in full in October and will just alleviate things a little for me. 

Work has been tough, but very fun! The overtime hasn't felt too much like it as I must say I do love my career and I have had some opportunity to work from home which is wonderful. 

For the next couple of months it does mean I may not be able to overpay on the debt, but I should be able to coast along without using any more debt to facilitate those necessities, which is the aim! To be cash-reliant will be a dream come true. 

I cannot tell you the amount of money show podcasts and YouTube videos I have been watching. When I went through this previously, it was almost like hypnosis in that I had to re-train my brain about the value of money. I found when I was accruing the debt, I felt as though £1,000 'wasn't much'. Or '£500 here' was nothing... that's so grossly wrong! But very easy to fall into the trap due to how things are marketed to us. Especially with monthly payments! 

Really, I am starting to see more and more the power of ever pound I have. One trick I have started to do is give myself a weekly budget rather than monthly. I put all my spending money to another card, away from my main accounts and I would just spend from here each month. But as that figure was high on the first, I would fill my car to the top with fuel, maybe go for a more extravagant grocery shop etc. Now, I put that money over and sent it straight to a savings account. I then put a weekly spend on the card instead and it is working so well for me! I buy only what I need, when I need it and I am finding it much easier to say no to things. Plus as I know it is only a week until another top-up gets added, it doesn't make payday seem so far away. 

My friends have been really supportive with this and have started coming to my house with dinner and cakes. We all spend a little on something to make a big spread and we share everything together. Much cheaper than £30 per person eating out! Especially when you view how much power your pounds have. 

It was funny really, we went into costa, I had some money spare and wanted to treat myself. I usually go for a mocha with whipped cream and marshmallows. I was literally about to place my order when something clicked in my head and I thought... 'Am I really going to drink away £5 in 15 minutes?'. £5 to drink! I couldn't actually believe that I used to think that was okay to do maybe multiple times a week, you literally will never see that £5 again and it just liquid. Safe to say I still wanted a treat, but the £1 white coffee was much more appealing. I still enjoyed it just as much and small treats like that I think are still essential to make sure you don't get in a rut. And I am not saying never have go to a coffee shop... no, no, no. But I am saying that maybe a mindset shift from a near-daily necessity to a treat may help! Plus I find you enjoy it more as a treat too. 

Goodness I have written a lot today! But nevertheless I hope everyone is doing as well as they can. I'll keep sending some further updates as thing go on but I'm happy I have definitely turned a corner this year. We have got this!

Take care.  

CL21

Great news on going down to the next £k bracket - so satisfying! 

Looks like you’re making great ‘mental’ progress with the debt too 🙌🏻