I heart NY - Our journey to and across the Pond

tigzem

Hi - just read thro from the start - well done with your achievements so far... and congratulations on getting married ...

It's a hard slog getting debt free but we'll all get there.... will keep reading xx

postingalwaysposting

tigzem wrote: »

Hi - just read thro from the start - well done with your achievements so far... and congratulations on getting married ...

It's a hard slog getting debt free but we'll all get there.... will keep reading xx

hi nycb, I have just done the same as tig and wow you seem to be moving in the right direction. I think all you need is some motorvation and hopefully this thread will help you with that. Congratulations on the maragige and fingers crossed you will get to new york sooner than you think

newyorkcitybride

Thankyou to Tig and Posting',

The support and kind words are often a great help.
I think most of the direct debits toward the debts have be paid out now, so we should have an ever lower debt total now... it's one of the best feelings in the world to be watching the number fall, sometimes without the greatest amount of effort, just pure organisation!

My long awaited weekend off is finally here and I still woke up pre 9am... maybe tomorrow will be a longer lie in...
I've got jobs to do in the house today, and want to have a go at making some fairy cakes for Hubby. Have our food delivery coming this evening as well so we'll be stocked with some food....

Fantastic weather outside and the lawns are being mown, the smell always reminds me of summe .......

newyorkcitybride

Well had a lovely bank holiday weekend and even caught a bit of sun!

Small-ish triumph today... managed to persuade OH not to buy an indian take away and instead I would cook him an indian at home.. did mean I spent £5 on some chicken and poppadoms etc but thats nothing compared to the £25+ that would have been spent.. so I feel like its starting to sink in...

I'm also gna need some advice about balance transfers if anyone is reading LOL... I've been offered a 0% till March 09 (if I remember it correctly) on my Abbey MBNA card... but I cant quite figure out what would be best to transfer etc. I would have transferred OH Homebase card, but thats run by MBNA too and you cant transfer apparently... pants eh?!

newyorkcitybride

Well a happy day today... i think the sunshine definitely helps the mood...

Spent £5 on lunch today... not good! I really need to reign this in and get myself organised in the mornings.
We get free milk at work, so I think what I really need to start doing is taking in a box of cereal and a bowl to have that for lunch, rather than dallying about trying to decide what to have and then ending up spending more whilst I mooch for food!

Really must do better!
Paid off £60 on OH's credit card today too, and his car finance DD has gone through as well...
So it's nice to see where we started in april and where we are at now... Looking forward to the coming milestones like sub 20k, sub 15k etc...

I've got an offer with my credit card for 2.9% on purchases till October 08, on all purchases before 14th August, and then 0% on BT before June 18th... I've got about £1,200 left on that card... but I cant see where this would make the biggest impact.....

Any suggestions anyone?

IWantToBeFree_2

newyorkcitybride wrote: »

Well had a lovely bank holiday weekend and even caught a bit of sun!

Small-ish triumph today... managed to persuade OH not to buy an indian take away and instead I would cook him an indian at home.. did mean I spent £5 on some chicken and poppadoms etc but thats nothing compared to the £25+ that would have been spent.. so I feel like its starting to sink in...

I'm also gna need some advice about balance transfers if anyone is reading LOL... I've been offered a 0% till March 09 (if I remember it correctly) on my Abbey MBNA card... but I cant quite figure out what would be best to transfer etc. I would have transferred OH Homebase card, but thats run by MBNA too and you cant transfer apparently... pants eh?!

Hey

Just read the whole thread and sympathise you re the OH, mine was difficult re cutting down at first and getting debts paaid off, but now he is worse than me, so stick at it and i'm sure he will totally come round to it soon!

re the balance transfer, usually MBNA let you transfer to your current account so you could do BT to current account and then use it to pay the other MBNA card off, that is what I have done in the past.

newyorkcitybride

Wow!
I would never have thought of doing that... that would make things (in my mind) a lot simpler to have larger debts but in fewer places. So I know where its all going then!

Got to hop off and investigate how to do it right now...
Do you get the same deal if youre not transferring a balance of a card?

newyorkcitybride

Woohoo!

So I got 0% BT till March 09 on £950 to my current account.
When this has cleared I'm going to use it to pay off OH's MBNA card which has £938 remaining on it at 19.9%!

Crikey thats going to save a tidy little bundle!
Then I've set up a standing order to pay £100 off the card and then will use online to pay off any overpayments.
I always like to know that the minimum is being paid no matter what!

On a slight downside though, after the xcitement of clearing a card and taking OH and his parents out to dinner, I currently only have £199 left to alst the month...
This needs to include food, Sky bill and my phone bill.... the last two come to around £59 altogether, so thats £149 to last me completely... no spending money for me then!

Shucks! Thats a bit of a shame really for things to be pretty tight! We've also got our wedding reception party on the 24th May, and have some food left to buy. However OH's parents have offered us some money toward it, when their remortgage comes through (altho Im not holding out on that)... So a very cheap buffet required for 100 people then!
The rest of the evening is all paid for, by my mum and my best friend is supplying the dj, there will be money behind the bar and we have asked for money toward a honeymoon as wedding gifts from people, but I dont think we'll get much...

So thats me about up to date I think...
Have the day off work tomorrow so will spend it at home. I need to post something though so may have to pop out to do that... And then I shall be doing housework and lounging in the sun with a work project I need to complete....and not spending any money!!!

newyorkcitybride

Right so I've been lazing in the sun, enjoying a full day off with minimal calls from my store :T

So I spent it number crunching to keep my mind occupied, and not spending any money!:T

Here's what I've come up with...

On the Bride's side
Rent/Bills £450
Debt Repayments £350
Sky/Internet £26
Mobile Phone £25
Interest on overdraft £5
Food Budget £150

Holiday Savings £80
Personal Spends £55

Thats out of my take home of £1143

On the Groom's side
Rent/Bills £500
Debt Repayments £700
Cinema Subscription £12
Gym Membership £28
Mobile Phone £30
Interest on overdraft £3
Petrol Budget £200

Holiday Savings £60
Personal Spends £67

Thats out of his take home of £1600

Now I'm really hoping my maths are correct there, did most of it in my head, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong....

The Debt Actions

• Transferred £950 from my Abbey c/c to my current a/c on a BT of 0% till March 09. This is to be used to pay off OH's MBNA card which is at 29.9% APR.
• Figure out how to pay off outstanding finance on OH's computer. It has £412 remaining at 21.3% - May have credit still available on my Abbey c/c to transfer the balance with on the above rate...
• Need to increase my standing order from current account (where wages get paid into) into my A&L account which we are now using as our debt repayment account.

According to the snowball calculator with everything staying as it at the moment (not inc the above actions) we should be debt free in 26 months with payments totalling £1050 :rolleyes:

We've got a holiday coming up at the end of July, and with the budgets above, our spending money is all taken care of, and the holiday is being paid off within the debt repayment amount...:A

Now I just need to get more organised with my food spending, since I'm in charge of the food....:eek:

tigzem

newyorkcitybride wrote: »

Now I just need to get more organised with my food spending, since I'm in charge of the food....:eek:

Let me know when you do..... I need some tips!! x