Dear Diary - help me be Debt Free

Lucifa73

Hurray:j - one maxed out ISA brewing nicelywith redundancy money:D Roll on April when I can put another chunk in...

Have managed a No Spend WEEK this week too and have managed to feed us from cupboard/freezer for 5 days now without buying anythin more than bread or milk:D

choccyface2006

If your ISA pays the same shocking rate as mine you won't be getting much interest even if you have the maximum invested, I got a pathetic £3.90 last month (monthly interest with Natwest) I expect even less this month As I don't have any loans or mortgage theres nothing to balance it up

Good luck with the baby by the way, how are you feeling today, any signs of anything happening?

Sarah xx

lucielle

That is impressive on both counts the ISA and the no spend week.
L

beanielou

^^^^What lucielle says too.

Lucifa73

Hmm - it would seem that the only place I haven't posted about our new arrival is on my own thread ...:rolleyes:

He's gorgeous - totally worth the wait (16 days over term was starting to push it a bit though:p )

The stay in hospital and the triumphant return home have distracted us somewhat from our money saving efforts, particularly the grocery bill, so this week I want to have a menu plan in place which uses store cupboard ingredients as much as possible. Tonight we're starting with the left over chicken from yesterday's roast in a risotto with peas and asparagus for which we need to buy absolutely nothing. At most this week we'll need bread, milk and some fresh fruit/veg.

On a positive note, my debt is now sub 6k (I think it's actually slightly lower than shows in my siggy, but need to double check it today) and, assuming I get a job that starts in September, I personally should be debt free by Xmas 2010 at the latest - a full 2 years earlier than my snowball date:j

lucielle

Congratulations on your new arrival. How heavy was he?
L

Lucifa73

lucielle wrote: »

Congratulations on your new arrival. How heavy was he?
L

He was 7lb 15oz (3.6kg) - a long narrow baby:D - my mind still can't get itself around the fact he was on the inside...

Lucifa73

So much for posting more regularly:o:rolleyes:

My personal spending has been kept on a tight leash and I now have a healthy 5k sitting in an ISA. Hopefully I'll get a job which starts when i was due back from maternity leave anyway and then I can decide whether to leave it where it is as an emergency fund/use it as part of a deposit for a house/use it to clear some/all my personal debts. I have to admit its kind of nice to know that safety net is there, especially in the current climate, and its possibly worth the interest cost on my loan to have that feeling of a buffer...

I need to phone A&L to check the balance of my loans as I think I have lost track of repayments made. I think I have made one more payment than is included in my signature but I don't want to take credit for it until I can be sure. I wish you could see loan balances as well as account balances when checking online... If I have paid one more my debt will be below 5k!

The grocery spending is still a little out of control. I go for a walk with Nathan pretty much every day and pop into the supermarket just across the road to get bread/milk/fresh veg when needed. Unfortunately I seem to have fallen into the habit of dropping a few extras in the basket at the same time:o. My May mission is to bring the grocery budget in under £200 and get a grip on this unnecessary spending! Especially as Hubbles is bearing the burden of household bills on his own at the moment:o Also am back at the gym now so less inclined to buy choc/juice/crisps and other 'treats' because I am now trying to meet weight loss targets (would like to be about 2 stone lighter by the end of the year).

Well that was a bit of a ramble but I do feel more like I'm i n control when I have to think about it for my diary...

lucielle

Glad to hear things are ticking along.
L

Lucifa73

Whoop Whoop! - Debt below £5k for the first time in about 3 years:j

Still need to check A&L loan balance to see if I've made a payment more than I've tracked though. The way my memory is at the moment though I probably won't get around to it before the annual statement comes through in December:p

On the fitness goal front - ran 5k in 32mins the otherday - hope to whittle that down to about 30mins over the next month or so then will look at piling on a few more kms!