Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Wishingthemortgageaway - Yes, you're exactly right......when the amounts owed come right down, you really do feel galvanised into action. We always knew we'd need to borrow some money to replace our old car, so we haven't been beating ourselves up about the bank loan. Monthly repayments were £140 for 5 years. Saving up & overpaying a lump sum of £2k in last year really shortened the term of the loan & showed us what's possible. I just see that £140 going out each month & look forward to day when we can up what we pay to our emergency fund by an additional £50 a month & save the rest towards some essential repairs to our house......as well as starting a deposit fund for next time we need to replace the car (hopefully not for years yet). One of the reasons we didn't need a very big loan was that we saved a good sum towards the cost ourselves, which we'd never done before.
I have quite a few survey sites near to cash out so that will mean some nice chunks of cash can be added to the Loan Pay Fown Fund.
We do have a mortgage but I don't think of that as the same sort of debt....though I look forward to it being paid off x

Lol, I wish! Although to be fair, our mortgage is noticeably on the downward trend now.
Regarding our Loan Pay-down Fund, I'm taking the view that 'Every little helps'....every little payment from something I've sold, or a skim of an odd £3 or £4 from our bank account, it's all important & it's all contributing.
What I'm really noticing is the useful difference made by paying in £40 or £50 chunks.......I cashed out £35 on Toluna recently, today I cashed out of Yougov for £50. I have £29 built up again on Onepoll & £39 on Prolific Academic. I also have a few quid still to collect from selling my home made preserves. It does all add up. I've done quite well selling stuff to Ziffit too, in recent months. They've just sent me a code for an extra 15% over Easter weekend......I wonder if I could scrape together another boxful......
In the meantime, my best wishes to everyone for a Happy Easter. Remember that money can't jump out of your purse on its own. I really do stop & ask myself these days 'Do I want to buy this item more than I want to keep my money for something else?' And the answer is very often a great big 'No'!
F x

Wow! That bit of furniture moving & just re-thinking the 'look' of the room, has really improved the conservatory. I've moved the butcher's trolley & wine rack out altogether & put them in the kitchen. I've tried the wine rack in the kitchen so many times & nothing's ever worked as it's quite tall. Today I suddenly saw somewhere different I could try & it looks fine there. Moved a small vintage armchair from kitchen to conservatory, swapped the cushions & chucked a crocheted throw over it & that will be a nice spot to sit in the warmer months. Filled its previous space with a lovely wooden stool I was given recently. I can sit at the kitchen worktop on that while I do my bullet journal, meal plans, etc.
Managed to declutter a few items to the shed & bin too.
Then played around with ornaments, plants, candles etc, & the whole room looks much fresher. A free facelift!! I will replace those fairy lights, but I have a rough price in mind & I won't buy any if it involves spending more than that.
Jobs finished now. Defo time for a cafetiere & some free Thornton's Easter egg, courtesy of O2 Priorities x

Onebrokelady - I know what you mean about 'looking at your house with critical eyes'. Last year was terrible for us....my Dad died in the autumn, we also lost a dear friend, had more serious family illness, it looked like I was going to need a big surgery, it felt like everything was going so wrong......consequently, a lot of the more kind of maintenance-type jobs we needed to do on our house just didn't get done. We did re-decorate the lounge last Spring, but that was cosmetic, really. We are in a 1930s house, so age is getting the better of it in many respects, also the fact that at some point, some total numpty lived here probably in the 1980s, who thought he (I don't want to sound sexist, but I reckon it'll have been a 'he') was God's gift to DIY. We have found so many things that have been done badly, incorrectly, or are just plain unsafe. We've put many of them right by putting in a new kitchen, new bathroom & getting rid of a strange asbestos monstrosity room over the years, but we need some big stuff doing now. First on the list is a re-wire & some serious electrical work to the back of the house. Then, when that is done, we need to sort out some new (& additional) heating. It'll be a nice project for some local electrician as we'd be happy to pay someone to do the whole lot. We don't have the money now unless we either use ALL our emergency fund (not willing to do this as the economic situation feels too dicey) or we borrow it. Not keen on that either, so we have had a long chat about it today & we think our best course of action at the moment is to do all the maintenance jobs that need doing that we know we can do ourselves & generally brighten the place up without spending anything - I have plenty of stuff I can swap around for a new look like I've done this morning in the conservatory. In the meantime, we prioritise getting rid of that annoying loan by freeing up money from elsewhere in the budget which will then in turn give us £140 a month back for saving towards other projects. When I'm confident that we have a decent sum to put towards the remedial electrical/heating project, then we can look at getting quotes. When we first moved in here, it was well before our LBM & we over-stretched ourselves not with the mortgage, but with subsequent borrowing to get work done. I don't want to go that way again.
I reckon you'll feel much more like finishing your bathroom off now that Spring is here & the evenings are lighter. I've had a lingering lergy this year (the one with the horrendous cough that seemed to last for ever!) & it is energy sapping on top of the dark cold days too. I can feel myself getting into the mood for getting lots of stuff done though, & I bet you'll be the same.
Great you have made a start on the garden - well done for that!
F

Hi diary readers,
Not intending to go anywhere today. We'd have liked to go somewhere for a walk, but so far it hasn't stopped raining, so we've stayed home.
Intending to relax later & continue my knitting (a real thrift project, this one), but have done a few small jobs this morning with a view to increasing the Loan Pay Down Fund.
Have sold a small hand-knitted item, have wrapped 2 ebay sales, re-listed a few items & have managed to sell another £9 box of items for Ziffit. I have quite a lot more items for listing on ebay, but it's so tedious to do, I'm going to photograph & list around 6 to 10 at a time. The initial listing is the slowest, as once items are on there, it's quick & easy to re-list them. I'll aim to get going with that this week.
Lots of lovely roast lamb shoulder left from yesterday, so my next task today is making lamb curry & freezing any additional meat for another meal. Mr f is currently using the slow cooker for a big batch of bombay potatoes, so I shall save the lamb bones to make stock another day.
So not a wildly exciting day, but I'm still on the 'right page' re loan-busting.
Oh & must synchronise my diary with mr f's for the new month ahead - being very organised always saves us money.
Enjoy your BH Monday,
F x