Onwards and downwards...

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  • jwil wrote: »
    My end of year summary:

    When I started this diary in March, my debt total was £34,229. A couple of complaints later and a little luck with a large debt write-off of almost £7k, my debt total is now £21,296 meaning I have reduced my debt by £12,933 this year :j :T :j :T :j :T

    I have also decluttered over 3000 items from my house, which although still a clutter fest, is finally starting to look better.

    I managed to earn over £500 from surveys and cashback etc this year.

    This time last year my maternity leave was about to come to an end and DH was out of work. He is back in permanent employment and our finances are looking better. I had just started my DMP and had no savings. Now I have an emergency fund.

    What a huge turnaround this has been :T :T

    What a massive improvement in your life, you must feel so much happier this January than last year :T.
    Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally
    Debt in July 2017 = £58,766 😱 DEBT FREE 31 OCTOBER 2017 :T 🎉
    EMERGENCY FUND 1 = £50/£5,000. EMERGENCY FUND 2 = £10/£5,000.
    CHRISTMAS SAVINGS = £0/£500. SEF = £1,400/£12,000 PREMIUM BONDS ME = £350. PREMIUM BONDS DH = £300.
    HOLIDAY MONEY = £0 TIME LEFT TO PAY OFF MORTGAGE = 5 YEARS 1 MONTHS
  • jwil wrote: »
    It's such flipping hard work trying to do anything here :mad:

    I've had to move the toy pile to get to the unit behind it. Move all the books from there to the new bookcase. Put back the toy pile (We did sort through some of it and have some to go now). Move another pile of boxes to get to the bookcase behind it. Empty that and box up the nick nacks on top to go through another time. Pile 'overflow' books onto the dining table :o Put all boxes back. I now have an empty bookcase to remove at a later point.

    To get the books on the dining table into a bookcase, I have to move a chair and another pile of stuff. Empty that bookcase of all the bits and pieces, and then reorganise that and the new bookcase, at which point, I hope that the books will all go into the two of them.

    I haven't got time to do that now today as I need to go and get little miss soon and need to tidy up first. However frustrating it is, I am pleased with how much I've got sorted today. I have discovered however, that although I thought I was just about done with my 'to be read' pile, I am not anywhere near done :eek: I also have a huge number of larger books that I need to look through and get rid of.

    I have also rediscovered a load of joy sparking books which have not seen the light of day for years and am really looking forward to putting them out where I can see them and enjoy them :happylove :happylove

    Life will be much easier when the clutter is gone but it does take time to go through it all.
    Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally
    Debt in July 2017 = £58,766 😱 DEBT FREE 31 OCTOBER 2017 :T 🎉
    EMERGENCY FUND 1 = £50/£5,000. EMERGENCY FUND 2 = £10/£5,000.
    CHRISTMAS SAVINGS = £0/£500. SEF = £1,400/£12,000 PREMIUM BONDS ME = £350. PREMIUM BONDS DH = £300.
    HOLIDAY MONEY = £0 TIME LEFT TO PAY OFF MORTGAGE = 5 YEARS 1 MONTHS
  • jwil
    jwil Posts: 18,828
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    What a massive improvement in your life, you must feel so much happier this January than last year :T.
    Life will be much easier when the clutter is gone but it does take time to go through it all.

    Thank you, yes it's a nice feeling, and it will be much easier when it's all decluttered!
    "If you can dream it, you can do it". Walt Disney
  • jwil
    jwil Posts: 18,828
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    Feeling a bit low today. Went to see my friend who has terminal cancer and it's obviously progressing :(

    It's making me think. I don't want this debt hanging over me, I also don't want to waste my life by doing nothing other than focus on the debt.

    I want my debt cleared in 5 years. Then I should have a nice shiny new credit report to go with it as my defaults will all have dropped off by then. That's £350 a month. It's not going to happen this year as I don't have that spare. However, when my childcare bill goes down next year, it probably won't be that much but I'll have a bit more spare. If I can do F&F on one or two this year that will help.

    I'm going to work my a*se off to clear this house this year and hopefully gain some F&F funds.
    "If you can dream it, you can do it". Walt Disney
  • abba1772
    abba1772 Posts: 7,746
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    Sorry to hear about your friend jwil xx
    NEXT TARGET: Halifax credit card DEC 22 £0 / £4499.12
    POAMAYC 2011 £6378.35 POAMAYC 2012 £5000.78
    POAMAYC 2013 £3480.04 POAMAYC 2014 £4085.14
    POAMAYC 2015 £7565.24 POAMAYC 2016 £8000.90 POAMAYC 2017 £7278.80 POAMAYC 2018 £13208.18POAMAYC 2019 £13309.28 POAMAYC 2020 £15026.05
  • jwil
    jwil Posts: 18,828
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    abba1772 wrote: »
    Sorry to hear about your friend jwil xx

    Thanks abba x
    "If you can dream it, you can do it". Walt Disney
  • jwil
    jwil Posts: 18,828
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    Todays pads:

    £1.96 to Mortgage
    £5.00 to debt savings
    £1.11 to joint od


    Debt savings - [STRIKE]£19,320[/STRIKE]/£18,373 - £947 paid :T
    "If you can dream it, you can do it". Walt Disney
  • jwil
    jwil Posts: 18,828
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    I'm being very spendy at the moment, but am spending to save. I've renewed our home insurance and switched - saving £60 :T :T (also getting £30 cashback but I don't count that until I get it). I've also paid upfront for the first time in years, saving a few ££ that way as well.

    I've just paid upfront for BT line rental as well, which will save a bit of cash over the year too.

    Both of those have come out of my emergency savings, so I must put that back asap.

    I went into town yesterday to get my new glasses, and bought a jumper and two tops. All badly needed as I don't buy clothes very often and tend to wear them until they are threadbare.

    I've also bought two glass reusable drinking bottles for work. One for my water bottle, and one for taking orange juice. I'm trying to reduce the amount of disposable packaging I use and it should also save me money compared to buying the little bottles as I can fill from a bigger carton instead. I've bought a breakfast bowl which has separate compartments for my yoghurt and cereal, meaning I can buy a big bucket of yoghurt rather than the individual pots.

    I did use a gift voucher towards one of the bottles, and the payback should be relatively short for the others, so I'm happy with that :)

    Apart from that I had a good wander around the shops and didn't feel tempted to buy anything so behaved myself.

    I've got a few things selling on ebay this weekend, so hoping to start putting all the money back now. Hoping to have a few quiet weeks so I can build up the savings again. Although January/February are our busiest months birthday-wise (including my 40th :eek: ) so there will be some spends needed.
    "If you can dream it, you can do it". Walt Disney
  • Sorry this year about your friend jwil. I also had devastating news yesterday, my friend passed away. Sometimes life stinks.
  • jwil
    jwil Posts: 18,828
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    Sorry this year about your friend jwil. I also had devastating news yesterday, my friend passed away. Sometimes life stinks.

    Oh sorry to hear that retired, it really does stink sometimes :( xxx
    "If you can dream it, you can do it". Walt Disney
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