Desperately seeking freedom :)

I've had a lovely weekend. Not spent much money & done lots of walking ( 8 miles yesterday).

Friday night after work went round to a friend's for a girl's night in! she made us all a lovely curry & we all got merry. It only cost me £7 on a nice bottle NZ Sauvignon Blanc & £10 taxi home. Much cheaper than a night out in town & much more enjoyable. I got invited out Saturday night but declined as I don't want to spend £50 + on cocktails etc anymore. So I stayed in and watched some great TV instead, Liar & Strike!! And I had no hangover today either!!

And I now have a total of 5 NSD's this month! My bank balance is looking so much healthier! I am actually starting to see some positive effects after only 2 months of scrimping

This week I'm on nights, so I'm literally at work or asleep, So I'm hoping to get my NSD's to 8. I can't wait for payday, to pay some more debts off but dreading my car MOT. Fingers crossed it will be good news. I did look at PCP today on a Peugeot 208. They have an offer for ?£160ish a month including car tax, insurance, roadside assistance. It does sound quite tempting..

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

Well done on turning down an expensive night out, fun doesn't have to cost a fortune. It's amazing how quickly you can see results, it's a cumulative effect.

Not sure what you mean by PCP on a Peugeot? (I'm probably being thick )

Hi,

Thanks for your support!

PCP is a kind of HP I think where you buy part of a new car over a term, for example 3 years and at the end return the car or pay a balloon payment to buy the car or use the car as deposit for the next PCP. But I have decided to stick with my beloved 11 plate Beetle . I love my car!

I am 2 down of 4 nights. Nights are horrible and make me feel physically sick, having a permanent fuzzy headache. On the upside I have had 2 NSD's so a total of 7 for this months so far!

I also received an email with the good news that I am a winner on the Postcode lottery! £10! Whoo hoo!

Better get back to bed....I should be sleeping

I never made it t the gym this morning, so I thought that I would get some up to date balances on my cc's & loan instead. Here goes- This is my progress since my LBM mid July 2017.

CC1 was £4335.75 now £4035.77
CC2 was £1055 now 1657.42 (balance transfer £700 0% to pay off overdraft)
CC3 was 7273.58 now 6912.13
Loan - £10042 now £8607.30
Overdraft was £1100 now £100

So my new total debt is - £21,305.85. At the start I owed £23,806.33
I have paid off £2500 in 3 months = 10% of my debt gone forever !!

I hope that I can keep it up! October is going to be really tough! Fingers crossed my Beetle passes it's MOT on Thursday! And I have loads of Birthdays & stuff to pay for. Hopefully, my wages on Wednesday will be a good one..!

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

You're doing really well, that's a big reduction in your debt :T

Good evening! Thank you! I'm well chuffed!

It's important for me not to get too carried away though.I need to keep my feet on the ground.
The test will be October though, lots to pay out! Car stuff , birthdays, got a few gigs & nights out. I'm going to try & plan ahead so I get no nasty surprises.
I am also very apprehensive about the big switch to my new First Direct account on the 4th, fingers crossed it will be ok.

Budget is my new middle name!

Mummy_bear wrote: »

Just catching up. You've done amazingly so far.:T

Thanks Mummy _bear for your support. :j It is tough going but I'm seeing it as short term pain, long term gain.

I've been dreading taking my Beetle for it MOT, but it passed. It did end up costing me £250 for the MOT, a service and brake fluid change and I will need to save up for 2 tyres & cam belt but overall not a bad outcome.

I have been shopping around for my car insurance on compare the market, LV had quoted me £399. I've managed to get the same cover plus breakdown home & recovery for £337! I paid £90 last year for RAC breakdown separately, so it's a total saving of about £160! which is amazing. It would have been cheaper if I could have paid upfront but I had to pay monthly this time.

I'm trying to keep a close eye on my bank accounts during the switch to fro RBS to FD. It's very scary!! I have opened 2 savings accounts and hopefully after the switch I may be able to save a bit towards my emergency fund that currently stands at £1

I have got a couple of nice days to look forward to- Today, I'm going to the gym (body pump), shopping at ALDI and meeting a friend tonight. Tomorrow night , DH are meeting friends to see an ACDC tribute band. Can't drink a lot, cos I'm at work at 7.30 Saturday morning!