AimeeMum's Debt-free challenge

aimeemum · 17 January 2019 at 1:29PM

Hi all,
I'm an oldie but really a newbie. I was first here in 2014 trying to get our situation back on an even keel. A lot has happened since then, we've not gotten any worse debt-wise, but things haven't improved either and I'm determined that that is going to change this year. I want to enter the new decade debt-free, and I think we can do it.

I added up all of my debts, there are arrears, credit cards and a CCJ. I've been paying off all I can every week since the beginning of October, and since then have seen my amounts come down slowly but surely.

Things that have us over a barrel - we're on the dreaded Universal Credit, which means that making extra money etc is made difficult. We tried for a couple of weeks, having my husband work some OT to top us up, and with UC taper, student loans, tax and other deductions we were actually worse off than him not doing it! Not going to do down that route. I'm a SAHM, with 3 small boys, all at school now. I've just finished a MA in Early Modern History (graduation ceremony is tomorrow) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm currently writing as much as I can and trying to build up a base ready for writing/publishing my first book. Probably going to take at least a year though, so it's a long game. In the mean time, I'm doing all I can to increase our cash flow to try to get rid of the debts.

I'm currently paying out circa £130 a week (hubby is paid weekly so handy to budget weekly payments and make regular payments to see if going down quickly!) on these debts. Once my arrears are all gone and debts paid in full, we'll only be paying out £60 a week! That's a lot of money a week to be better off and really is the equivalent of me getting a 16 hour a week job!

All my current balances etc are in my signature. I'm so determined to have all this gone as soon as possible...let's see how quickly we can do it!!

aimeemum · 19 January 2019 at 2:18PM

Busy week for me since I posted last. Yesterday was my graduation ceremony - I am now recognised as holding a MA in Early Modern history and I could not be happier that it's all over!

Money wise we spent a little to celebrate the occasion, had lunch out and bought pizzas to take home for an easy tea. We had planned chippy tea but pizzas were easier (and a little cheaper when there's 5 of you). All in I think we spent £23 which isn't really bad I suppose. I also managed to pay £117 off my balances taking me to £4,280 remaining. As I'm planning/hoping to pay off at least £300 next week, that's a good balance as next week I'll be below £4k!!!!

I currently have 4 items on ebay which finish on Tuesday, and I'm planning on putting my unused and unloved sewing machine up for sale this week too....to hopefully cover hubby's birthday and some new trousers for me. I'm down to one pair and even they have holes in! Anything over and above I will pay off one of the debts......hoping to put an extra £30-£40 to the CC if the sewing machine goes for what I would like for it.

Spent this morning going through my younger boys' room, decluttering and tidying. So much has come out of there and I think a good portion of it will be going to the car boot - proceeds will go to pay for the balance of our booked camping trip in May (have £72 left for pay) and spending money contribution for the boys - hoping to get £85 all in so the boys can have £5 each.

In other things, I'm hoping to start the research for my first book(s) this week. I have equally good ideas for a novel and a non-fic book, and they're loosely on the same subjects so hoping that the research I do can be multi-use. Never written a book before so it's a steep learning curve. Need to get a new blog post up this week too, although I don't have anything in the works yet....not sure what to do about that.

aimeemum · 21 January 2019 at 11:26AM

Happy Monday!

Weekend was good, NSD's both days (and hopefully today too!)

So far today I have:
- put my sewing machine on FB Marketplace.
- Checked the balances on the Credit card, the other debts and arrears.
- Done my morning jobs (washing, made beds, sorted dishes etc)

Checked my UC, and the money this month is enough to cover the rent....not a lot else but it was a 5 week month so that's to be expected. I would really love to get through the next 4 weeks with no missed bills, no dropped balls and no extra bank/supplier charges. This is my aim for February.

Not a lot else to report today - Monday's are always a slow day catching up after the weekend. Love my peaceful breakfast though.....5 minutes silence is good for the soul.

aimeemum · 21 January 2019 at 2:58PM

Setback....got a letter from the council...my bill is £100 higher than I had accounted for. I do get a little bit of help but I can't rely on it as it's assessed monthly, so I have said I will raise the payments a little bit to make sure we stay on track and it's paid off by the end of March. Annoying but at least I'm getting it all sorted. I've updated my signature to reflect all of this. I cannot wait to get below £4k but it seems to be taking forever. Going to try to put some extras to our debts to get there a little quicker :wall:

aimeemum · 22 January 2019 at 1:52PM

Right, just need to be honest with myself about my debts. Here they are: Opening Balance in RED, Current Balance in BLUE

Hubby's Aqua CC - £650 - £340.50

My CC Vanquis - £952 - £811

CCJ (28/1/2016) - £580 - £477.50

Council Tax (including Arrears) 2018-19 - £1300 - £1200

OVO Energy (Arrears) £1336 - £1319

Yorkshire Water (Arrears) - £220 - £210

I'm concentrating on getting rid of the AQUA card first for 2 reasons. 1. it's a small one and 2. it's the only one gaining interest charges.

I'm hoping that soon I'm going to be able to start writing in some GREEN paid off information

Thinking positive

aimeemum · 25 January 2019 at 4:01PM

Paid £315 off my debts today!

:T:T:T

I am now up to £718 off my totals and so close to the below £4k.

I've also made a bit of money this week - £25.03 on ebay, £9.75 on ziffit, and I may have someone coming to pick my sewing machine up for £70 tomorrow too!

Feel like I'm finally making some progress!....my only be a small amount but still!

efes_shareholder · 25 January 2019 at 4:42PM

As long as the totals are going down you are on the right track

Well done on the extra cash

good luck with your journey

aimeemum · 25 January 2019 at 11:10PM

Just got a little bit of good news... Reading about the UC changes from April and the pre taper allowance is going up from 198 to 281...that's a 'raise' in our award of roughly £50.

Not much I know, but but it all helps!!

Mum_and_Wife · 25 January 2019 at 11:32PM

Your doing great so far

aimeemum · 27 January 2019 at 10:29AM

Thanks for the replies both - it's nice to know I'm going in the right direction. Hope that you're both having a good weekend. I'm having a nice restful one. Yesterday we took the boys to Flamingoland (we have passes so get free entry) and treated ourselves to a costa while in there - £6 for the two of us to have a drink but we've done so much recently, a little treat was needed. Today we have nothing planned AT ALL! I put some other bits onto ebay on Friday so they will finish next weekend. All adds up. The person who was interested in the sewing machine pulled out. I'm going to leave it on FB until mid-week then try it on Gumtree.

Making a minced beef pie with roast potatoes, carrots and peas for tea

Love a lazy sunday.

Hubby's birthday on Wednesday so need to decide on his birthday present and order it today. I have about £15 left to spend......already got him a book he's been after for ages, so just need 1 more thing.

Happy Sunday everyone x

aimeemum · 27 January 2019 at 6:42PM

Nipped to the shop as I needed some stuff for tea and put fuel in the car while I was there....we'd also run out of sugar and I can't have my weetabix in a morning without sugar! lol - ended up going to the co-op as they stock more and I needed grocery items - spent on my halifax card to get 5% cashback. May only have been £5 but that's 25p back at the end of the month. Just checked and it finishes today so just got that in in time!

AimeeMum's Debt-free challenge

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