10 years later yikes

1stTimer

Merry Christmas Everyone, hope you all have a fantastic day

Cara_

Good news about the extra money for the car.

Merry Christmas - have a great day

1stTimer

And just like that it is over, same as every year I build up the pressure in my head and and work myself up into such a state only for it to go surprisingly well and be over in the blink of an eye.
I really am my own worse enemy.

Anyway got home yesterday and now have 2 days to have a bit of a tidy up and get my spreadsheets 2026 ready.

1stTimer

I don’t know why I do it but every year without fail the days after Xmas are an online spend frenzy and for absolutely no reason!
I am always asked what I want for Christmas and the response is always the same..nothing I have everything I need. Then I become a different person once I am home and have a few days to chill 🤦‍♀️ 
Was just updating my spreadsheets and for once it was there right in front of me. Tut tut 

I’m also not enjoying the fact that I have no idea what day any of my bills are coming out this month, Some came out yesterday but not all and it’s throwing me out mentally so I will be happy next week when everything becomes ‘normal’ again.

1stTimer

To save me from Amazon browsing/purchases today i figured i would start a Car Loan spreadsheet so i can track my progress and try to get that clear ASAP.

I have to say Co-pilot is becoming my new best friend, i love love love it!
I am throwing numbers at it and it is summarising how much progress i can make. The below is what i achieve just by paying the money i got from the old car towards it

Summary of Impact

• Original loan term: 60 months
• New loan term with £2,500 initial overpayment: 44 months
• Months saved: 16 months (you finish over a year early!)
• Original total interest paid: £3,620.91
• New total interest paid: £1,937.30
• Interest saved: £1,683.61

So i am going to do this on Friday (So its a cheeky win/start for the New year lol) Then i think i will overpay £50 a month initially.

1stTimer

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a great one. I was in bed by 10 as it’s not really my thing. The fireworks did wake us up though so me and the dog spent 10 minutes watching them from the bedroom window.

Glad it is all over and normality can return. I do like a routine and the past couple of weeks have taken its toll.

1stTimer

Loan overpayment made so now I can’t be tempted to blow it on rubbish 😆

1stTimer

It’s snowing! 

I love fresh snow in the morning (before it goes all icy and dirty) so I am just having my coffee watching it fall. It’ll be gone tonight I expect.

Normality has returned and all my bills have now been paid but it still feels like it should be a weekend and I have to keep reminding myself I am working today. Still one step closer to knowing what day of the week it is.
I think and I could be wrong here but even my bins may be getting picked up today! Will have to check that online

I still have what feels like 100 days of Jan to go and now my bills have come out I’ve realised just how much I have spent over the last week 🤦‍♀️ it’s going to be very tight unless I touch my savings but I am really not wanting to do that so I’m going to crack on with some surveys etc to see if I can recoup some of that back

1stTimer

Had a few small wins already this week thankfully. First my old car tax was refunded so £260 back to make up for all those Amazon purchases last week 😂
I also just saw £190 drop into my account from the car dealership for my 2nd key refund. This means I am now not going to have to shuffle any money around at the end of the month so that’s a result.

Other than that nothing else to report really, I am just enjoying how normal and less chaotic life is again 🥳

SpireCaptain

1stTimer said:

Had a few small wins already this week thankfully. First my old car tax was refunded so £260 back to make up for all those Amazon purchases last week 😂
I also just saw £190 drop into my account from the car dealership for my 2nd key refund. This means I am now not going to have to shuffle any money around at the end of the month so that’s a result.

Other than that nothing else to report really, I am just enjoying how normal and less chaotic life is again 🥳

Happy New Year and bonus wins with the refunds. All the best from 2026. I'll be following with interest 🤞👍