Mini meltdown and light bulb moment

AleMrsT · 16 February 2018 at 7:23PM

AleMrsT wrote: »

Oh, there are also a few things that I want to get done around the house in February, particularly decluttering and sorting

- [STRIKE]Declutter and sort wardrobe/drawers. Anything I didn't wear in 2017 should be sold or sent to charity. Put everything away properly so that its easier to find things![/STRIKE]- DONE!

- Declutter and clean all of the kitchen cupboards, fridge and freezer. Write an inventory of what we have and plan lists accordingly. Order shelves by use by date.

- Find a cheap storage box/make up case and have a good sort out of make up and toiletries. Throw out stuff that is old and donate/sell stuff I won't use, clean all make up brushes.

- [STRIKE]Sort through books, games, DVD's and blu rays. Sell/trade in anything we no longer use.[/STRIKE] DONE! (BY HUSBAND, WITHOUT PROMPTING OR ASKING)

Hopefully the house will be more organised once that is all done, and it should keep me busy for February! Hoping to do one task per week, starting with the wardrobe which I will start today when I have done all of the ironing.

I spent the whole of Wednesday last week sorting out the wardrobe, drawers and bedside cabinets, its so much better! I can now get to everything properly and everything in the wardrobe is on its own hanger. I've put jeans and t shirts into a drawer to save space, and I've discovered a whole load of clothes that I had forgotten about. I'm no longer rushing in the mornings as its easy to grab workwear, and I donated two bags of items to the charity shop and textile bank.

There are a few items I need to sell so will list those in a week or so nearer to payday.

OH had a sort out of his games and blu rays and sold some already, so next on the list is sorting the kitchen cupboards.

I did a brief sort out of my make up but I need to buy some additional storage, I'm hoping to pay for this by selling the various dresses etc from the wardrobe sort out.

The event last week was incredible. I can't believe it was nearly a week ago!

I've decided to help out with the organising of next years event, which I am enjoying so far, we'll see whether I still enjoy it a few months down the line!

OH is on a late shift tonight and tomorrow is a hospital day, so tonight I'm going to get some ironing done (no surprise there!) and get an early night.

Tomorrow after the hospital we're going to use the restaurant vouchers that I got from clubcard ages ago and still havent used, then we'll go to the cinema to see Black Panther.

Still got around £55 in the bank and nothing else to really buy apart from a birthday card and small extra gift for niece 1, but hoping to put some of the money aside for holiday spending money.

AleMrsT · 3 March 2018 at 12:18PM

Not much to update since last post, need to update my signature and add up the survey money totals. There must be an easier way for me to keep track, as I have to go back to the beginning and add up each time as I can never remember when I last totalled it up! Maybe I need to get into the habit of updating this each week or something.

Have started looking at things we need to get for holiday, its been so long I have absolutely NO idea how much we need to take with us and how much I need to get! Any ideas what we need to take for 11 nights in Italy? How much sun cream etc?!

Its my nieces 4th birthday party this afternoon, OH is at work so I need to get moving and get ready to go shortly as I'll have to get the bus into town. Going to put chicken casserole in the slow cooker before I leave so that will be done ready for tea when we're both home.

Had a naughty takeaway last night as I was supposed to be meeting friends for dinner but it got cancelled last minute so I hadnt sorted anything out for dinner at home, we spent just over £20, which is what I would have spent on the meal out anyway.

I've upped my exercise game this week, trying to exercise every day between now and going on holiday (60 days from starting it). On day 5 today, so going to have a walk through town to the party then do 20 minutes when I get home. We've put the spare TV in the spare bedroom and OH bought a firestick so I've just been using body coach on you tube and I really enjoy it actually, mondays is still zumba at the gym which I havent missed one of as I love it so much!

Monday I am at the hospital, I've swapped my day off so I'm working wednesday as my colleague is off so it worked quite well that I can have Monday off without losing pay.

Will try and update signature with totals etc later on but need to prep the casserole and get ready for the party so I'll be back later.

AleMrsT · 5 March 2018 at 4:49PM

I've now added up the survey money totals and updated my signature with the emergency fund and christmas savings totals. Neither have a lot in but its a start!

Off work today as I've swapped my day off so that I could go to the hospital today. I've done an at home work out this morning as didn't know whether I would be back from the hospital in time to go to zumba, but I will have time so that will be two work outs done today!

I went for a 2 mile walk with my friend yesterday morning then did another at home work out yesterday afternoon. I'm really enjoying myself and have cracked the motivation, it is much easier to exercise every day than it is to stick to a diet, so I'll see how I get on with it. I am tracking my calories again but I'm not being too hard on myself with my food choices.

At the end of next month my debt balance will be under £4000. I'm so excited! Its taken forever but it seems like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with it.

lucielle · 5 March 2018 at 7:00PM

Well done keep going. Please can you pass the motivation here?
L

AleMrsT · 5 March 2018 at 7:05PM

lucielle wrote: »

Well done keep going. Please can you pass the motivation here?
L

I sure can, but I missed zumba because I fell asleep on the sofa and woke up too late for the bus :rotfl: i guess my body is telling me this evening is rest time.

lucielle · 6 March 2018 at 8:22PM

Yeah my body does that a lot
L

AleMrsT · 23 May 2018 at 10:08AM

Its been so long since I last posted here! The day after my last post I ended up in hospital for a week with an infection.

We've had our holiday, we've been back for nearly 2 weeks and it feels like we never went! It was so lovely though, we're definitely going to try hard to clear some of OH's CC's so that we can put money aside for another holiday in a couple of years time.

I need to update my signature as haven't updated my debt balances in so long, I'm so so close to clearing the loan part of my DMP, I only have £171 of it left to pay off!

There isnt really much else to update as OH's CC balance is higher now because we ended up using it for various things before the holiday, but the balance transfer card is still being paid off so we're looking at another 0% transfer, on the understanding that he CLOSES his existing CC once the balance has transferred.

Other than that, nothing else to report, and I'm hoping to check in more regularly now I've managed to log back in!

AleMrsT · 11 July 2018 at 11:37AM

Its been a long time since I've posted here, again! Sorry for being so neglectful.

I've just logged into my DMP online to see what the balances look like, and I'm so happy! They're all now below £2000, one of them only in double figures. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel in the long term.

N CC £1693.86
H CC (Now Lowell) £1372.72
Overdraft £518.22
Loan £77.80 !!

The loan will be completely PAID in two months time, finally after 8 years!! Then the other balances will come down quicker as the £46 that was allocated to the loan will be split between the other 3.

I wish I had the money to just pay off the £77.80 right now, but I don't. My monthly budget is so tight since increasing my DMP payment, I pretty much use any bonus I get to last me the month, and if I don't get a bonus, then I just can't buy anything other than a bus ticket for the month. Theres even more bills coming out of the bills account now as the car insurance renewal was due, last year OH paid it in one lump sum as the CC interest was lower than the insurance premium interest, but that isnt the case this year and there isnt enough left on the CC to cover it, so we've had to opt for monthly payments. I can't increase my payment to the bills account, I already pay nearly 80% of my wages (!) to the bills account as it is.

Day to day we get by, we still have the odd treat/cinema trip (recently all paid for with clubcard vouchers which have now ran out). We have 0 savings (apart from the small amount I've put aside towards christmas) and the CC is maxed out.

The balance of the 0% card is coming down nicely, we have 13 months left before the 0% expires so hopefully this will be cleared by then, or swapped to another 0% card, along with the balance of the other if we can.

I saw an article on here about loans. As we have discovered that the car finance is not actually 0% interest, I have looked into a sainsbobs loan which is 2.3% interest, a lot cheaper than the car finance and CC interest. The monthly loan payment is £209 per month, we currently pay £187 per month just for the car. At the rate we're going, the CC will take 10 years or more to pay off, with OH paying at least 60-70 a month, with only 40 odd paying off the balance. The loan will save us around £50 per month, which we could split between 0% card and the bills account, and we'd be no worse off than we are now.

Going to try and talk to OH about it again to see what he thinks, I think the loan is the way forward. OH uses the CC to top up his spending, and its doing my head in. He'll pay the monthly payment at the start of the month, then use the CC it at the petrol station to fill up the car, £50 later he's back to where he was at the start of the month, paying more interest than he's paid off.

I don't know how to break the cycle, other than to get the loan, pay off the card and get rid of it completely. If we have an absolute dire emergency, we have the 0% card which has enough credit on it to use if we absolutely have to.

I dont know. Its a never ending cycle of me wanting to get out of the rut but happily continuing along as we are all at the same time. Its frustrating.

What are your thoughts on the loan?

AleMrsT · 11 July 2018 at 11:45AM

I also got my 4 year anniversary badge. 4 years has gone fast, I feel like I've come a long way, but at the same time nothing has really changed. My own personal account is well-managed, but our joint finances are the same as always really, and I've kind of accepted that I can't do it alone, unless OH wants to sort his own accounts out, then we are where we are. In another 4 years I should be debt free (my personal debt anyway) and the defaults will be gone from my account. Who knows what else will have happened by then.

enthusiasticsaver · 11 July 2018 at 2:45PM

Taking out borrowing to clear existing borrowing rarely works. It is a debt cycle in that you will still have to make loan payments and also be tempted to put further borrowing on the cleared credit card. Also very few people get the base rate for these loans so you might find you are not offered 2.3% but much higher than this.

If you have a DMP you should not have other borrowing either unless the DMP is in your name and the CC, car finance etc in your OHs name? The only way forward is to stop using the CC and live totally within your income and save an emergency fund so you are not tempted to borrow at all.

Mini meltdown and light bulb moment

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