Adventure wanted, but first we must rid ourselves of debt

jwil · 14 May 2018 at 1:19PM

Glad you had a good weekend.

AdventureWanted · 15 May 2018 at 7:03AM

jwil wrote: »

Glad you had a good weekend.

Hope you had a good weekend too Jwil.

AdventureWanted · 15 May 2018 at 7:13AM

Yesterday I was super organised. Managed to leave the house early and drop birthday cards round to my Niece's house 45 mins away, then collect some books I'd ordered from a shop in a nearby town before heading to DC3s swimming lessons. Am pleased I managed to do it before the lesson, as it meant I could go home straight after swimming and tidy the house ready for DH friend arriving.

Had a lovely evening with DH friend. Kids loved having a new adult to tell facts to! Poor man was bombarded with at least 5 of the kids fact books!

DD for CC2 came out yesterday (£180). Today I've sent £10 to CC2 and a giant 8p to debt savings! Getting really close to the next bracket on CC2. Balance is now £2090. Hoping to have it under £2k by the weekend.

Hope everyone has a great day. My parents are looking after the DC for an hour or two today whilst I pop out and get last bits for DC1 birthday. Will be first time I've ever really left DC3, but I'm sure she'll be having so much fun that she won't even realise I've left!

AdventureWanted · 16 May 2018 at 7:59AM

Have paid £95 to CC2 today, which takes the balance down to £1995.

Really pleased to be under £2k. The end of this card is definitely in sight. Can't wait to cancel this one and have one less card. I am definitely looking forward to the day the final credit card balance is cleared and the account cancelled, although that will be quite a while yet.

Today's payment takes the payments this year to £6,255.60, so I'm now at 50% of my £12,500 debt repayment target. :j

Have sold some books this morning, so that's 4 books out of the house and £12 in my pocket. Hoping to look through clothes soon and list some of the dresses I don't wear. Will try and photograph them soon and then list them this weekend. I'm presuming that more people check eBay at weekend evenings rather than during the week.

jwil · 16 May 2018 at 12:29PM

Well done on the payments :T :T

I've found Monday and Thursday evenings good for selling as well as Sundays. Not so much Friday or Saturday.

Storm89 · 16 May 2018 at 12:33PM

50% not even halfway through the year is brilliant, it means your well on target .

AdventureWanted · 21 May 2018 at 4:51PM

The last few days have absolutely flown by. This weekend we've been busy celebrating DC1s birthday. I had a slight wobble Saturday night when we put out all of his presents, worrying that I hadn't bought him enough presents, but I really shouldn't have worried, as he was so pleased with the ones he got. The biggest hits were the secondhand bike and playmobil dragon castle that we managed to get for really good prices. Has really made me think that there really is no need to spend loads. One of the most expensive things we bought was a Nintendo ds game, which to be honest he wouldn't have missed. We had a lovely day out for his birthday at a local zoo. We didn't manage to buy sausage rolls at a shop on the way, so had to buy lunch there, which was horrendous. Really poor quality sausage rolls, cheap kids sandwiches and 2 lattes which cost over £20. Luckily we had money in the birthdays pot for the day out, so the entry fee and lunch out was covered.
So relieved that the birthday went well and that it's now over! June is a busy month for family birthdays (mine included), but luckily they don't require cake decorating and the gift purchases are usually just gift vouchers, so overly taxing!

Today the dd for CC3 has come out and I've rounded down the bank accounts sending £6 to CC2 and 48p to debt savings. Also had to pay for our tickets to Alton Towers for when we go in a few weeks. I haven't got the money in the holiday pot, so will borrow it from the home ed subscriptions pot and repay it next month. Hoping for a few months of relatively little spending so I can rebuild my savings pots. Still need to sort my car insurance renewal and then figure out how much money is a reasonable sum to have in a car savings account. Obviously will need money for car tax, insurance, mot and service, plus any repairs for the year, but most of the expenses I've only just paid out for. No idea how much a set of tyres would cost or a cam belt, so don't know how much is a sensible amount to have saved just in case. Might have a look online and see if there is a percentage of car value or other way to calculate potential costs. Not sure whether others save for potential repairs or just the main tax, mot, insurance and tax...

jwil · 22 May 2018 at 12:20PM

Glad the birthday went well!

Eventually I want to have a £500 repair pot for my car which should cover most things, and then top up with the monthly amount for MOT, Service, Insurance and breakdown. I'm not there yet though and not sure what others do.

Eager_Elephant · 22 May 2018 at 7:05PM

I have a few pots related to car expenses - I pay the tax monthly but last year I saved up for my car insurance over the year as well as paying monthly so when I renewed last year I paid for my car insurance outright.
I save £25pm in to a savings accounts labelled car insurance.

I also save £30pm for repairs - I will just keep saving that amount no matter the amount in the pot.

I also save £30pm ready for when I need a new car - I know my car wont last forever and I guessed by saving this amount as soon as I brought my current car means that when this one breaks I have the funds to replace it without needing credit.

The repairs and the new car savings are all separate pots labelled accordingly.

AdventureWanted · 23 May 2018 at 7:38PM

Thanks Jwil and Eager_Elephant. You've both given me lots to think about. I had been considering transferring the extra money out of the car account, but think I'll leave it there and continue to build the fund. i hadn't even thought about saving for a new car (even though we'd like to swap cars in a couple of years) but it does make sense to try and pull together a deposit of some kind before we need a new car. Usually we just part exchange our car and take finance, which is partly why our debt is high (CC3).

Yesterday I managed to pay £144 to CC2 and 57p to debt savings. Today's pads are £7 to CC2 and 41p to debt savings.

DH is working away at the moment, so I have been very productive and started sorting through our summer house and listing bits to sell on gumtree. Fingers crossed some of it sells.

Hoping tonight will be another productive evening and I can sort through our finances. I'm hoping that we can clear a bit more of CC2 this month using some of DHs additional pay and some extra savings he has transferred across, so that we can finish paying it next month and close the account. Once CC2 is paid I think I may have to slow down on the repayments, as don't want to get too enthusiastic paying the debt and leaving us short later on.

Adventure wanted, but first we must rid ourselves of debt

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