2024 - Let's go again

wildheart83

February payments have gone out so debt update first:

Feb 2024:
CC1 6537.66
CC2 7804.45
CC3 4254.69
CC4 2053.68
CC5 1010.80
Loan 1 3686.44
Loan 2 5275.22

Total £30,589.42 

Plus £80 into savings for the accounts I'm not making a payment to at the moment (CC3 and 4, and loan 2)  

CC5 is the next on my list to go, although it's with PRA group who don't tend to offer or accept F&F.

Have been battling the lurgy all week and today's finally reached peak yuckiness. Poor hound is desperate to go out but I really can't face it. I'm on tea with honey and lemon, but could do with paracetamol and bed if I'm honest. 

Road tax, car insurance, house insurance and car service are all due next month so I've decided to pay the road tax for 6 months to reduce the number of renewals due in March. Maybe need to look at the house insurance too and see what can be done 

wildheart83

CC4 has finally gone to Wescot who have very kindly written to me once, texted me every day for a week, and phoned me 2 days out of 3. Have set up a standing order to pay it. 

I have my next lot of exams coming up, the mock is due this weekend which will give me an idea of what I need to revise, and then I'm off on my travels with work next week so that'll bring me in some expenses. 

I've had to buy a new bed as mine is on its last legs. I bought it when I moved into my last house so it doesn't owe me anything and though not very money saving, have paid the extra to get it built for me. No point in paying all that money to then c*ck up building it. But it's so pretty. Now I need to dismantle my old one, that'll be fun. 

wildheart83

Sorted my car and home insurance - so painful it's like being a new driver all over again. Nearly £1k for both but I had the money there to pay for it, albeit there's not much left in the car pot so car service can wait for now. 

Nothing much doing other than a fellow dog walker who became a good friend texted me to say their dog passed very suddenly and unexpectedly. Took flowers and a card round, and brought my dog to say hello/goodbye. Both the owner and dog were the loveliest, kindest friends who were so good to me when my dog was an obnoxious puppy who didn't always listen to other dogs and I'm still sad that we don't see them out at the park.

wildheart83

Had a terrible check up with the new dentist. Last one left the practice and they didn't tell me, just booked me with someone else. I fumed the whole way home. I'm very lucky I'm still with an NHS practice but when the new dentist wanted to redo work only done last year but with the suggestion that white fillings look better (at over £100 a pop) it's a hard no from me. Also told I needed an appt with the hygienist, who just happens to do a scale and polish over 4 times the price of an NHS scale and polish. I've asked to go with another dentist in the practice. 

wildheart83

What a day! I went into the office today for yet another exam, and dropped my bank card down the side/back of the train seat! No chance of getting it back so have cancelled it and now waiting on a new one. That's one way to make sure I don't spend anything! 

Exam went as well as expected. I don't want to say it went well and I find out I failed, but I'm keeping everything crossed that I scraped a pass. 

Now I have a splitting sore head from the early start, the stress of a 3.5 hour exam, no lunch and the train journey home. Heating on and will make some comfort food. I'm thinking beans on toast. Toast of any kind usually makes me feel a bit better. 

I've been doing plenty of surveys (in lieu of studying perhaps) so have over £20 ready to go to a pot, just haven't decided which one. And I have to wait an extra day for payday but I'm doing ok this month. 

  

WinterWarrior

Good luck with the exam. I think hiding your bank card down a random train seat was inspired 😅 I wonder if Amazon prime will fit down there? 😬

wildheart83

WinterWarrior said:

Good luck with the exam. I think hiding your bank card down a random train seat was inspired 😅 I wonder if Amazon prime will fit down there? 😬

I've only 8 weeks to wait for the result so putting it out my head.

Can you imagine every bit of temptation going down the back of a seat or the sofa?! That would be amazing. Although I've seen down the back of train seats in a previous life and it's not pretty!   

wildheart83

March debt payments have gone out, so £761.04 gone in standing orders so far. I'm trying to do as many surveys as I can so I can make extra payments. My total debt is sitting at £29,993.96 so I'm finally under £30k! 

It's still a disgustingly large amount of debt to have but it was over £50k in May 2022 when I started this journey. 

CC4 now has a standing order and I've emailed Wescot, who, despite getting the s/o are still texting and calling incessantly.

New bed has arrived and been built, so now I have to sort the bedding and resist the temptation to climb in! 

wildheart83

Wescot have started sending letters offering a reduced settlement, but only if I phone them. Not happening so I'll pay the amount that I told them and see what they offer later on. 

I've switched my broadband away from BT, which was heading towards £90 per month for bb/tv/landline. I've ditched the landline and gone with basic tv for £42 per month. 

My mortgage is with Clydesdale and with the recent news that they're being bought over by Nationwide has got me worried. Being knee deep in my DMP, and my mortgage fixed rate up next year, I'm hoping I can still go onto a new fix without any new credit/affordability checks. 

I splurged on new bedding and oh holy moly it's amazing. I struggle to find good pillows and so far these are fabulous! It's the simple things in life eh? 

Work laptop is on its last legs so I need to go into the office sometime to get it fixed/replaced. It's such a chore now, to think I used to do it everyday!

wildheart83

April standing orders have gone out, and my total debt stands at £29,329.78 and considering I've had to pay car and home insurance, road tax and car service in February and March I think I've done well paying £664.18 towards debt repayments. 

Tried to switch broadband to talk talk which was a bit of a disaster so although I'm not a fan of virgin media I've switched to them. 

Car service came in at a whopping £292 - a lot more than I was expecting, and I'll need to up the money I'm putting aside for next year's service. 

In the office again tomorrow so need to sort lunch as I hate buying lunch. At least I get free fruit, tea and coffee when I'm there. 

I'm thinking of rejigging my payments I'm making to my debt and trying the snowball method - they've all defaulted so I don't think it'll affect me too much.