Once upon a time

There was a very, very daft woman! She succumbed to an almost new car, with extremely low milage (about 200 miles from it being a demonstrator) and she signed on the dotted line..........without reading the small print. She'd been previously seduced by the main dealers after previously having an economical little town car on a very reasonable 7.5% finance deal. She fell for the coffee, the comfy chairs and smooth banter and the shiny, 1.9 multijet sporting, sexy little Italian va va voom machine!!!! (car below is not my car, but mine is filthy!) But it's identical to the one below including the shiny alloys!!!!

However, when I'd got over my own stupidity and checked the paperwork, the bleepin' interest rate was 14.9% and they'd slipped me a new credit deal, with a reasonable monthly payment but with a hugely increased amount of interest to pay. I made a payment every month, then I doubled that payment and put it into a savings account and when I got the balance down to the 'set' amount. I transferred the money and paid for the bleepin' thing!

You have to 'click' the photo to read what it says. I managed to pay the £199 a month to Fiat Finance and then put aside another £100 a month into a savings account as I couldn't over pay the 'fixed' loan and could only pay off a lump sum.............which I did! I never saw it as money I could dip into or use for anything but paying off the car, 19 months sooner than the finance deal was due to end!

It's taught me that I can save up for anything. I'm aware that the car I have will not last forever and I have to be realistic about saving up for another. I really love getting the 'you've made the last payment' letters. I've had some achievements in my life and now I can add, almost getting myself out of debt completely! I can now transfer what's left in the savings account, plus the month amount I will deposit, to bringing my house loan to a close this year. It's been very very hard but if I achieve that, then I will have brought the final, final payment of all the payments forward by eight months!

If a silly, not reading the small print nitwit like me can get a huge amount of interest paid in a whip of time, then it proves anyone can.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxx

What would I change? What would I keep the same?

 Another month and another round of debt snowball repayments. We often sit down and talk about what we'd change. You know the conversation......'when we are debt free....'. There are things I wouldn't change. I would never go back to wasting energy or money on energy. I would not own a tumble drier and I would still dry laundry on racks. I would still use Tesco Value cleaning products and toiletries. I would still buy clothes in Matalan and charity shops. I would still grow veg and sell items we don't need on ebay.

I would still not heat the water and use shower water to flush the loo, I would continue to use washing machine water to water the garden. I would still go to bed early and use the electric blanket as my main source of winter heating. I would still batch cook, make homemade and reuse and recycle.

I would however be able to sell up, get a better mortgage deal and downsize. I would then be able to over the pay the already smaller mortgage and pay off my mortgage earlier. I would have a bigger ISA fund, a bigger savings fund,a bigger emergency fund and would be able to help my children more.

What would you keep the same and what would you change? We've got just under a year to go and we're exploring our options. What would you suggest?

Turn away if you scare easily!

 If you're feeling brave enough: read on! I'm going to share this months (every jeffin' month) budget. Here it is! And remember, I warned you!!

Salary in today at midnight - £2506. Let's all do the.......I'm actually very rich dance! At midnight tonight, on the 1st of the month the following will be paid. £1063 for the mortgage. £199 for the car loan. £373 for the Lloyd's bank loan and £500 for the Virgin 0% card (actual payment is £30 a month.....but I over pay by £470 a month). Money in = £2506 and Money out = £2135 Leaving me £371 a month. (We have DB's salary too and he pays all the domestic DD's and all the other debt repayments.)



 I then spend £100 a month on travel costs to get to work. I put £25 a month into our emergencies savings fund.  I pay £30 a month towards my water costs. £140 a month on groceries and I am left with the huge sum of £76 a month to 'play' with. I'm going to make sure I severely cut back on food costs this month and I won't go to work for a couple of weeks  due to the Easter break and I'm hoping to put £100 away this month towards our holiday. I'm going to be blogging about 'store cupboard' recipes over the next few days as I intend to eat everything in the house, before I buy any thing else.

This month, I'm going 'frugal extreme' and will see exactly how little I can do with, use, spend, buy and how much I can save. You see, to me, having £76 a month spare seems like a lot of money. I clothes shop off the pound rail in the charity shop, buy all toiletries in with my food budget and anything else can be made, bartered or borrowed from the library.

I'm going to use up every little last bit of everything I have. I'm going to need some help!

I'm going to need you guys, at the side of the road, with the banners and hooters; rooting for me. Today is my 500th post and it would be lovely if those of you who are not followers yet could do so, so I could have 500 followers. Tell your friends and get them reading too. This month will be full of recipes, making things over the holidays, decorating the house with what I have, house maintenance without any trips to the DIY store and entertaining friends with what's in the freezer or cupboards. Drop by everyday and make a difference to my month of 'frugal extreme'.

Until tomorrow,

Froogs xxxxx

Climbing the mountain of debt.

Thanks so much for the comments left yesterday; it's always good to get a response. Tonight, when a statement came through, I looked at the odd numbers and went online and evened up every figure (of the individual debts) by paying a little extra of every balance I have. I do this periodically, every month or so, to chip away at the mountain of debt. Debt feels different at different stages of the day,week or month. It's a lean time at the moment as I save for my car and home insurance. I like to pay for it in one go, to get rid of it.

I liken my debt snowballing and repayment to mountaineering, it's just I'm good at it now. I'm stretched, limbered, I know the way and I have the equipment to survive. I have well trodden routes and as I traverse the overhangs, I just remember to enjoy the view.

I've even reached the point where I like to stretch even further, to go without even more, to live on even less. If it means I get to the top sooner, then I will risk the pain. I am precisely half way there and it's no less tiring, challenging or without injuries from time to time. The winter is over and I'm warmer in my own home. It's day light for longer and I can use less electricity. My clothes dry outside, which means that my knickers don't smell of what I've cooked!!! Those few quid here and there reduce the interest, and with every step closer to the summit, I feel, quite literally, on top of the world.

Seventeen months to go; it seems so tantalisingly close. Until tomorrow, Froogs xxxxx