F I V E

Wow the year is really racing now - blink and you miss it!
I can't believe I have only one more payment for my taxes and then then next four weeks are all savings towards my two month trip home. I will not make the tax payment until the end of next week (the first week of December)..... gosh so much to do and so little time. I need to sort out my summer wardrobe and also get rid of some of the stuff I have collected in the last twelve months, books, DVD's, CD's and lots of papers.
Can't wait to get home - it's been two years since my last trip and my younger brother has got sleeper all set up for me on his new property (10m or so from the house so my music want both anyone). He's now got about six acres of land with a large house, a barn and out houses so I can't wait to see what my little pad is like. He also has eight boxes that I posted over from the UK two years ago and up the road from him my sister has a whole bunch of my stuff too. So I have lots of sorting out once I get home. Can't wait!!
My plan is to come back to the UK in March to work but I have an invitation to a Bar Mitzvah in Israel in March too so I need to find out when in March that is (hopefully at the beginning of the month) or I may not be starting work till about April.
I have my cash in my purse and have hardly used my debt card at all this month all - my £5 a day spending plan is on track and I have money in my current account (even if I know that it's going to pay my tax bill). I just love all the little "cr's" that appear next to all my account balances.
While I am away I need to make sure that there is money in my account to cover all my direct debts which amount to about £140 a month, so that will be about £400 I will need to set aside. I have finally come to the end of my Orange phone contract (never again!!) and I think that another payment of £10 monthly for a saving plan is maturing shortly too. So that will bring down my direct debt monthly total.

Life is good!

S E V E N

Winter has arrived and the weather is filthy - along with the end of daylight saving, it is enough to drive anyone to online shopping right? So... okay I haven't gone out of control but I have clocked up some debt on my (one and only) credit card. I will clear it this coming week when my pay check clears but that means a little less to go towards my up and coming income tax bill due at the end of January.
Can you believe it, I have gotten to the top of the mountain and with the weather as bad as it is in the current economic climate the view is not so great today, but regardless I have reach the peak which is the goal I have been working towards with this blog. My current finances are all taken up with paying my current tax bill and rates bill both however are not yet due for payment. Has the simple truth really got to me that I don't have any debt? My credit card is not a problem and I will clear it again on Thursday and still put a few hundred towards my tax bill but other than that I don't owe anyone anything. I have bucked the trend and the average figures for personal debt no longer apply to me.

I AM DEBT FREE!!

So the game plan all changes and I have to set out my new goals (I shall have to read back on some of my old blogs as to what I was thinking of then and review what is happening now). I have a two month holiday planned for the first two months of 2010 and after that I don't really know what is happening with either work or even where I will be. I have said I will come back to work in March 2010 but the job may no longer exist by then.

Between now and then I have only seven pay days left till the end of the year and because of my spending online have less to take home with me for spending. Still even if I only have 75% of my tax bill paid in advance it will be not so bad as the interest rate is very low and I will only be changed no more than three months interest on the 25%.

My challenge now is to stay out of debt.

N I N E

Don't know what the problem is, maybe it is just the fact that autumn has suddenly arrived and is making me feel very down. I've not been reading any blogs and it is half way though the month and I haven't blogged once myself.

With the sharp change in the weather I have had to go shopping for some winter clothes. I have been living in jeans and t-shirts all summer long and having had a major clear out of my winter wardrobe I have had to go shopping. I headed for Primark but I really don't like that store, too many people and they always leave the shop looking like a jumble sale. So I ended up at TK Max - not that different in some ways from Primark but there were less people there and okay the prices are way higher than Primark but I felt I got some bargains. I budgeted £150 and brought two long sleeve t-shirts, a knit print top, nightshirt, 3/4 woolen coat, two shirts, a knitted short sleeve vest and some ankle boots. I didn't buy every thing at TK Max (one of the shirts and the boots I brought else where) but nor have I spent all of the £150 budget.

Well with only nine weeks to go, how is the budget going? Not so bad, I will only be able to pay off about £300 on my taxes for 2008/09. That means I will have paid off all that is currently due and will have about £400 left which is payable by January 31st next year. So that will be paid off by the first week of November after which time I will need to save another £2000 plus to bring my taxes up to date. That should take me through to the first week of December. Only nine weeks to go folks.

T H I R T E E N

I have banked my pay cheque and it will not clear till Thursday morning but I have decided to update my charts today. I pay off the last of the debt I own on my credit card with this cheque, and that debt relates to the flight tickets I brought this year for my trip home. So it is not old debt that I have been paying off for years.

Next Monday I have an appointment with the nice folk at Her Majesties Revenues and Customs (HMRC), to check my 2008/09 Tax return. I have until the end of October to have the HMRC to assist me, after that I am on my own. Hopefully they will be okay with me to clear my arrears by the end of the month. If not then I can used my Flexi account as it is only for a few weeks.

It is weird how my Tax arrears arn't listed on my Credit Report - seeing how it was due by the 31st of July. The interest charge on the arrears is only 8% which is why I have left it till last.

So it is now all about taxes now - the arrears I own and what I owe for the current year. Still with the Labour government printing money like there is no tomorrow - I guess they need all the help they can get.

F O U R T E E N

Oops did I say weekly report???

I have been busy - sort of... but I am back and doing okay as far as my finances. I'm still on track with my £5 a day spending and am slowly whitling away at my debt. As far as my monthly goals go - I have cleared my Flexiloan (again) and will clear the final payment on my credit card with my last pay cheque of the month. So all is going very well!!

Other news which I am very pleased about is my credit rating, which I have updated as of the 8th of September, now stands at 999. Which is amazing - as I started this journey with a credit rating of 696 which is "poor" and am now "excellent". According to Creditexpert.co.uk, "my score is above average - 71% of people have a score lower than excellent".

At the end of this month I will be paying only my tax bill and no debt. I will be technically debt free by by the end of September (and would have paid off my trip back home in December).

Oh well folks only fourteen weeks to go till the end of the year.

S E V E N T E E N

That's it, all there is, only seventeen pay cheques left till the end of the year.
Wow that is so scary!
Having written out my spread sheets for the rest of the year, I find that to achieve every thing needed, I will have to follow my payoff plan to the letter. My £5 a day will have to cover all my personal expenses and all spending. It's all going to be very tight from now till the end of the year.
Weekly updates from now on to track my progress.
Goals for the month are:

• Pay off my Flexiloan (17/09)
• Clear my credit card (30/09)
• Totally keep to my £5 a day rule (totally)

After that I will only have my taxes to clear and then what is left will got towards my trip home. Where does the time go because this year has really flown by!

Almost Gone

Just when I had cleared all my cards I have to put my travel expenses onto it, all £1,146.92. Still I am glad I have confirmed my trip home and can now give dates of arrival to my friends and family instead of just vague statements of "the end of December" or "just after Christmas".

But I have a balance on my credit card again which I need to clear - I also have a new balance on my Flexiloan account which also needs clearing. And I haven't even started on my tax bill yet!

I use to read other peoples blogs and when they would add to their debt just as they were clearing it, I used to think "nooooo, you're almost there". But stuff happens, like life - so it is my turn to add to the balance. Still as I have said before, this is all new debt - as I have cleared just over £20k of debt.

My current spending plan is still in place and will not be changed until there is nothing left to pay.

Closest Thing To Closure

Okay, this is partly a date thing - it is the seventh of the eighth of the ninth today - surely a reason in it's self to make an entry on your blog?
The other reason to make this posting is that I have just closed my Halifax credit card, having been put through to their "special" closure department. I think all banks have them, as this is the second one I have dealt with of late. And they really tried hard to keep my business - offering me interest free payment transfers for the life of the balance and also a reduction on the interest charged on the credit card, etc. But I stood firm and said no thanks - as the balance on my only remaining card will be paid off by the end of the month.
"Why do I want to close my account?" I told them I was down sizing my finances, then I was told that I was "a very good customer and they didn't like to lose good customers". Gee, if I'm such a good customer why do you charge me such high interest rates, especially when the base rate is so low.
Anyway I am down to one card now - I am keeping it open for the time being as I have two direct credit's coming off it each month and am too lazy at the moment to sort out moving the direct debts to my bank account. I have one bank account which has all my other direct payments and standing orders. So really I should sort that out.
In December I want to go home for a visit and have been told in no uncertern terms by my travel agent, that I must book now or miss out getting a seat altogether. The other other piece of not so good news was that the ticket was going to set me back about £1,300 (gulp). I should have been making my plans at the beginning of the year apparently and I could have saved myself a few hundred pounds. I usually only pay about £750-£850 but with some new "C02" related taxes on long distance flights (thank you Mr Brown!) the prices are really taking a hike. So I am waiting for a call from my travel agent to see if she can find me any seats in the last week of December. I will have to just grin and bear the price I guess. Once my tax is paid off my air fare will be the next bill to clear. It's never ending isn't it!
My Mums is going to kill me, as I have been telling her for months that when I come over I will be staying for about six months or so, and now I am going to have to break it to her that I am only planning to stay for two. Not looking forward to that phone call.
Can't wait till that last £722 is cleared off my account - not quite debt free but boy! I will feel debt free - it's funny but now that I am so close to my goal I sort of feel like I did when I started my blog. Is that just me?

Wagers Day

Okay - I am a little ahead of myself, I have paid in my paycheck along with some extra income from the last few weeks, onto my last credit card (with my snowballing debt). The cheque will not clear until Friday, as I didn't get to the bank till after 3pm. Never mind!

I have also transfer the last £82.18 from my Emergency Account to clear the card but that will not be taken from the account until Wednesday. Don't ask me why.

So come Friday I will be making a phone call to cancel that credit card for good!

I still have a balance of £722 on my only remaining card which I will clear by the end of the month. (I'm still debating what to do with that one - keep it or cancel it?)

Once that is all paid I will be left with only my tax bill to pay.

Lets hope these guys would be proud of what I have achieved!

No Spending Week

Well it is the end of my No Spending Week which I have completed with very little problem. My usual £5 a day spending plan was budgeted for and so I paid the monies for the week onto my final credit card. A little step closer to my closing that last credit card.

I did have to ration my chewing gum, as I hadn't thought about getting more until last Monday afternoon when the challenge had already started and I was down to almost half a bag (I like the value pack bags). Can any one tell me why they pack chewing gum in odd amounts? The value pack had 39 pieces and I think the plastic container has about 59 pieces.

So when is your No Spend Week? You know you want to.....go on.......