May/June SitRep

I didn't give you a sitrep of our finances in May and it's kinda late for June too but since this is supposed to be a journey of frugality as much as my bitching, moaning and drama-queening it I decided better late than never. And also, y'know.....I'm pretty proud of what we've achieved. Well, I say we.....if you're a regular reader you'll know that Big Man's input is minimal to say the least. Such is life.

Anyway....(drum roll).....up to the end of June we have reduced our debts by.......

£8,671.71!!

We have gone from owing £45,766 to £37,094. I'm obviously really, really pleased about it, especially when you consider that we both only work part-time and don't earn massive salaries AND it's really been a one-person effort. If I say so myself.

So, one small business credit card was cleared totally in June and that can be snowballed. I got a 0% interest credit card from the Nationwide and balance transferred Big Man's smallest credit card onto it - sadly I couldn't transfer the whole £4.5k because I was only given a £1800 limit (I said I don't earn much, didn't I?) but we'll pay the existing £2k off the credit card in maybe four months whilst paying the minimum on the Nationwide card. Then pay that off. We threw everything we had at the MBNA card but it's going down sooooo slowly because of the very high interest rate. I got a couple pay cheques that were bigger than usual in May and June due to working some overtime but we didn't make any extra income so I've got to knuckle down to my eBaying this month to try and give us a boost.

We spent a bit more than usual last month, mainly from our little emergency fund but I also had to dig into my Lloyds overdraft again. Again if you're a regular reader you'll know that Red has been having trouble with her rent...long story but she and three other housemates paid a fifth housemate their rent for the month and said fifth housemate has taken it, made up a whole load of lies and as guarantor I became liable for £680 in rent which I paid from our 'cushion'. Plus I'd already sent her £340, one month's rent to pay the landlord which I should get back from her since I've now paid it myself. However I have my reasons for thinking Red is in further financial difficulty so I'm not going to ask her for it back. Yep, before anyone says, she should stand on her own feet but I decided long ago that I would never stand by and see any of my kids fail IF I COULD HELP IT. And I can, in this instance. End of.

We also spent £100 or so on our Welsh trip and I have booked a short jaunt to Liverpool in September for Big Man's birthday. Only a cheapie Travelodge but as a base they're really good - I think I've paid £38 for two nights. We also ate out at Frankie and Benny's one night....all three kids were home at the same time and I wanted to do something special so we went there. Oh, and we had a Chinese takeaway delivered. We won't be doing anything like that this month though, we'll be very frugal :)

I hope we will reach the £12,000 paid off by the end of this year but more would be great!!!