debt free in 1200 months!?

bountiful

I have been home sick today with a flu thing - temperature, cough, shivers and aches - yerk!

beanielou

Hope u feel better soon xx

bountiful

Starting to feel a bit more normal again........ cough, sniff, cough, sniff.........
It has been very nice
VERY NICE:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j

to have some money to spend at Xmas this year.............. thanks Dad! (RIP)

beanielou

Oops Ive had a few glasses of wine.
But yeah thanks to your dad (RIP)

bountiful

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I am still in the process of paying off debts etc with my inheritance......

Am going to be attending a money management course on three friday evenings in January (run by CAP) 9th, 16th and 23rd - I believe it is about living within your budget and in particular using a cash-economy system. Will let you know.

I am quite glad Xmas is over....... back to normal (just a few pounds heavier).
I have completely ignored the sales - I just walk through town looking at all the people who are still spending!!!!!!!:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Hope you all OK? xxx

Seaxwyn

HAPPY NEW YEAR bountiful. I hope you're feeling really optimistic about this year.

How did the CAP course go? Perhaps you could post their tips or hand-outs on here.

bountiful

Hi Seaxwyn - the CAP Money Management Made Simple Course is quite simple, but quite radical. They advocate three accounts: one (current account) for regular payments (all the regular payments go out of this, and your salary/benefits etc go in); one for cash - this account has the amount you need for your cash purchases each month; and one for savings. The idea is that each time your money comes in, you have a standing order to transfer the cash needed for the month to the cash account, and the savings to the savings account. That leaves only the amount needed for all the regular payments in the current account. Any excess from the regular payments or cash accounts go into savings.
The difficult bit is that you have to totally commit to the plan once you have decided on it. Every week, on the same day, you go to the cashpoint and withdraw the cash for the week. YOU CANNOT GO BACK AND GET MORE. So no card purchases are allowed unless you cannot use cash - for example, if you buy groceries on-line with a debit card, you must reduce your cash withdrawal by that amount.
I have been to the first meeting - that introduced us to the scheme - and our homework was to do a budget - actually a bit simpler that MSE one. There are some downloads at https://www.capmoney.org if you are interested.
I feel pretty switched on about budgets because of MSE and also National Debtline - BUT I think the CAP challenge is going to be pretty tough!

beanielou

Hope all is well with you bountiful,& all is well with you 7 your DS.
That sounds interesting from CAP.

bountiful

I am debt-free.

There you are - I said it?! Can I still post on this board?
Maybe I should ask to close the thread - how do I do that?

bountiful

The CAP system is working like this:
I have one current account (Regular Payments) which my salary goes into - and from that I pay out all my regular bills: £768 goes to CAP who then pay my rent and council tax, set aside money for water, dental bills, savings etc. I set up standing order for monthly payments for as much as possible from this regular payments account.
An amount I have budgeted for is transferred to another current account (Cash Account) and from this I withdraw the agreed amount each week on the same day: £95 - this is for food and housekeeping, transport, leisure, mobile phone, electricity meter, laundry. A third account is a Savings Account - and a portion each month is transferred from the Regular Payments account - and any excess from the Cash Account each week, or the Regular Payments account each month, is transferred to the Savings Account.
It is working pretty well for me. But I am aware that it is early days - and I am still feeling relatively well-off from the inheritance which has given me a buffer.
The cash system will help anyone trying to budget on any level of income - thoroughly recommend it!:money: