Adventure wanted, but first we must rid ourselves of debt

AdventureWanted · 17 November 2017 at 5:49PM

48p pad made to CC1 today.

Debts at 17/11/17
CC1 - £3,583.95
CC2 - £7,150.00
CC3 - £11,060.00
CC4 - £13,000.00

Total debt at 17/11/17 - £34,793.95
Total debt at 1/11/17 - £35,163.00
Paid this month - £369.05

Today hasn’t been a NSD. I put £10.01 fuel in the car so I had enough fuel to get to the kids tennis lesson. Need to fill up properly tomorrow at Tesco so I can use the fuel voucher before it runs out on Sunday. The pay at pump machine took 4 attempts to accept my card, so need to keep an eye on my account, just in case the card machine had been tampered with. Also bought a takeaway hot drink at tennis, as it was freezing watching the kids playing. Next week I need to be more organised and bring a thermos with me.

AdventureWanted · 18 November 2017 at 5:29PM

Paid £3.95 off CC1 first thing this morning, then went out shopping with the family. Our carbon monoxide detector stopped working yesterday, so we spent £24.99 on a new one from Argos today. Then popped into Smyths toy store and spent £28 on two presents. Tesco was horrendously busy and we spent £40.28 (shouldn’t have spent this much but DH spent extra on lots of cereals), which pretty much takes us up to our £300 grocery budget total. Luckily we had savings for the gifts and the unexpected carbon monoxide detector has been paid out of the emergency fund.

Really hoping that we can get through until the end of the month without buying any more groceries. The freezer is pretty full, so fingers crossed.

Checked DH’s tax account today and his tax return has been processed. DHs income was a lot less than I had anticipated this year, so I had set aside more money (from CC4 money transfer) than required for his tax payments in Jan. So I have just made a further payment to CC1 of £1,783.34 :j

Debt at 18/12/17
CC1 - £1,796.66
CC2 - £7,150.00
CC3 - £11,060.00
CC4 - £13,000.00

Total debt - £33,006.66
Debt at 1/11 - £35,163.00

Paid £2,156.34 this month.

So relieved that the January 0% balance has been paid, so the next challenge is to pay CC1 & CC2’s balance before the 0% deal ends in July.

jwil · 20 November 2017 at 5:49PM

Wow, well done on clearing that first 0% :T :T :T

I'd be looking down the back of the sofa for £6.67 to get me into the £32ks

AdventureWanted · 20 November 2017 at 11:43PM

Thanks Jwil - I can’t believe I hadn’t noticed that I was almost in the 32s.

Today’s dd for CC3 has come out (£120), and I made a small pad of £1.66 to CC1 yesterday so debt is now £32,885 :j:j. It really does feel amazing to be in the 32s. Will have a look at my payments coming up and try and set a time goal for reaching £29,999. Cannot wait!

jwil · 21 November 2017 at 12:22PM

Yes, getting into the £20ks will be a massive milestone :T :T

Well done for getting into the £32ks :j :j

AdventureWanted · 22 November 2017 at 9:38AM

Forgot to post on Monday that it was a NSD (6th this month).

Yesterday my mum asked if we’d like to meet her for a drink at a local garden centre. I haven’t seen her for a bit, so we went. Our timing was completely wrong. We ended up arriving at lunchtime, so ended up spending £8.95 (although this isn’t too bad for lunch for me & the DC - my coffee was free as had loyalty points).

Had a pretty rubbish day yesterday. Meeting my mum was nice, but the place was absolutely heaving, so not as relaxing as it usually is. I felt pretty stressed and completely overwhelmed with everything. That mixed with lack of sleep made me feel pretty cr*ppy. I really need to try and list out a few things each day/week to get done. At the moment I feel like a rubbish mum, as I’m struggling to keep on top of the masses of housework, trying to clear some of the clutter everywhere, doing the learning I want the DC to attempt, playing with the kids, making dinner, etc.

I’m sure all I do in this diary is whinge, but I need to offload somewhere. I’ve got a friend coming over Friday, so my stress levels have increased, as i really hate everyone to see how ‘lived in’ the house is!

Think we’re going to have a day at home today. Hoping that DC3 will have a nap in the cot today, so I can do a bit of work with the other DC.

List for today:
* Put washing on (hopefully 2 loads)
* Hoover living room
* Clean cloakroom + bathroom
* Help DC 1&2 with their workbooks
* If I get a chance I may try and sort through the paperwork mountain in the dining room.

AdventureWanted · 22 November 2017 at 9:46AM

Looking at my list it looks pretty pathetic. On paper I should easily be able to achieve this, but it doesn’t always work this way, especially if DC3 is being very clingy and wants to be carried everywhere.

Paid £3.61 off CC1 today to round the figure down.

Debt at 22/11
CC1 - £1,790.00
CC2 - £7,150.00
CC3 - £10,940.00
CC4 - £13,000.00

Total debt - £32,880.00
Debt at 1/11 - £35,163.00 (£2,283 paid!)

Need to check what date CC4’s dd is coming out, as although I’ve set it up I don’t want to miss a payment and have the 0% deal revoked.

jwil · 27 November 2017 at 6:49PM

I do nothing but whinge on my diary

It's flipping hard to get stuff done sometimes with little ones!

AdventureWanted · 28 November 2017 at 8:18AM

Blimey it’s been a while since I’ve been on here (*slaps wrist*). I have managed one NSD since I last posted, taking it to 7!

Since my last post things have been very expensive. We weighed DC 2 & 3 and realised that DC3 needed a new car seat and DC2 could move from the 5 point harness to a seatbelt very soon. I paid for the £1 which! trial and chose DC3’s new car seat (extended rear facing - £360 :eek:), then I decided to look at dc 1&2’s car seats to remind myself what they said and check they hadn’t changed. DC1 = which! Best Buy

. DC2 - harness =

With seatbelt - not so great

. Sooo to cut a long story short I bought DC2 the same car seat as DC1. Annoyed that I spent money, but am very happy that I know the kids will be in the safest seats I could get.

Food shopping has been atrocious this month, although hoping that next months won’t be too bad as have stocked up on lots of cupboard bits this month.

Money wise - have had to use all the £410 I had saved in EF towards spending this month, also had to transfer money from business account to balance the books. Not very happy about this, as had planned to use that money for debt payments.

Debt at 27/11
CC1 - £1500 (no pad payments made since 22/11)
CC2 - £7,150
CC3 - £10,940
CC4 - £13,000 (dd still not been taken - need to check this).

Total debt - £32,590

AdventureWanted · 28 November 2017 at 5:01PM

£5 payment made to CC1 today. Balance is now £1495.

Goal for December -
* Get CC1 balance below £1,000.

Will be mulling over my goals for 2018 in the next few weeks. Top of the list will be an emergency fund, although I will need to reduce/get rid of CC1 & CC2 before the 0% ends in July.

Adventure wanted, but first we must rid ourselves of debt

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