KellsBells and buckets of cash - debt free diary

painted_lady

HI Kel and welcome to posting on the boards.
One thing I noticed on your SOA is the dentist and optical bill, I joined a hospital fund, this is where I pay £13 a month and get up to £90 cover for optical and £90 for dentist, as well as other benefits. This could work out cheaper for you and the children are covered for free. It pays for my contact lenses each year and I use some of the other benefits (such as if you go into hospital, half of the cost for physio, chiropody etc). Its not a private health scheme, but helps you with the cost if you need anything.

KellsBells

Hi all,
finished work at a normal time tonight, so have some time to do a bit of posting! Hi neverdespairgirl, the overtime does come in handy, though to be honest it's more of a necessary action this week rather than choice. I work for an asset management company, (work on behalf of banks and building societies in the whole repossessions process) and have recently been promoted to team leader - NICE pay rise! It is a fantastic job, in a not so nice industry. Anyways, the reason I've been snowed under is because we have to collate weekly and monthly reports for our clients (the banks) on every single property they have with us. Not sound bad so far? We're talking over a thousand reports a month, and I had a matter of days to do it as they all need hand typing and need to be current and relevant info. 'twas a nightmare! Got them all done in the end though:D
Hi Sue, thanks, I will try to look after myself more, tbh I'm kinda at the bottom of my own list of priorities - I know though that I'll be no good to the kids or work if I'm too worn out to do anything!
Hi Spendless (love the name!) Owen is already at school - he will be 5 in May. I will look at the website you mentioned - always good to check out the options, thanks.
Hi paintedlady, could you give me some more information about this scheme? £13 a month sounds too good to be true - that's less than my contact lenses cost at the moment!

Spendless

Gosh your childcare bill is high then. I assummed it was for a nursery place for a pre-schooler. From the info on your last post, it might just be that you've recently had a payrise and that's why your tax credit amount looked out to me.

painted_lady

Hi Kel, the plan I am in is Leeds hospital fund www.lhfhealthplan.co.uk although dont be put off by the name, you dont have to be in leeds and can get treatment anywhere. Click "individuals" and then on find out more.
Its worth checking the different benefits, some of the more expensive products actually pay out more for optical or dentist. I think you have to pay into them for 3 months before you can start claiming, but if you have regular optical and dentistry bills, its usually worth it. I see a chiropodist and it pays half the cost, half the cost for my private consultations and I go for hospital treatment twice a year and they pay me £30 if I stay in overnight and £25 if I am a day patient. They also gave me a £150 baby grant when my baby was born. Well worth the money.

neverdespairgirl

Congratulations on your promotion!

Sue-UU

Many congratulations on that promotion and pay rise! Make the most of it as I'm sure you will. Great news!

Sue.

Spendless

Spendless wrote: »

Gosh your childcare bill is high then. I assummed it was for a nursery place for a pre-schooler. From the info on your last post, it might just be that you've recently had a payrise and that's why your tax credit amount looked out to me.

Ignore me, it's a monthly figure for 2 kids isn't it. I also forgot to say Congrats on your promotion. Well done. :beer:

MissEyre

Think there is an article on the main site about health cash plans-mine is with HSA and is £8.66 a month, which pays out £90 for optical and dental treatment each year, and also really helps with any little extras (I had to see a consultant last year and got back £120 of the £160 cost) - really worth looking into, and if you work for a big company, they might have negotiated some special deal with one of the providers (which is what I think mine did). Good luck! x

KellsBells

Hi everyone, thanks very much for your posts, and for wishing me well in my job. I was thinking about how the healthcare thing works - I'll admit, I have no idea! I really have to look into this - does it mean I make my set payment each month and everytime I go to the dentist or get lenses, they pay? How do they make any money? lol!
Have to send a very important letter off tomorrow - a letter to advise my Dad's pension fund that they can release the lump sum payment to me and my brother as my mum is dead. They were divorced anyway, but they wanted to see proof of the divorce and we couldn't get it, so we are hoping that the death certificate will do. They are paying out just over £8,000, and out of that we have to pay the funeral costs. The we are taking out £1,000 for my boys - £500 each and I'm not too sure what to do with it. Savings fund? Trust fund? Premium bonds? the rest we are sharing equally between me and my brother. Haven't decided what to do with my amount yet.....
anyway, hope you are all well, and looking after yourselves.xxx

MiniLaura

Re haircuts - at £65 every 3 months? should be £21 per month in your budget?

Would also advise to get rid of laptop insurance - it should be covered under your contents insurance in house if declared? check policy - mine was, and when I dropped the laptop at home, causing malfunction i got it replaced paying £50 excess. (this was £800 worth)

Maybe pay that amount of money into your own emergency fund for anything unexpected like that? means ur getting some value for money. Could use a savings account that has a few days access limit?

Hopefully the inheritance could ease things a bit or maybe think about putting it towards something you could enjoy as a family? I know its a tough decision for those in debt, repay it towards debt or use it for something that means something?

Good Luck!