Sunday 13 March 2011

Goodbye to my flexible friend

Today was quite a lazy day although I did have to work from 9-1pm so no lie in! I have been working extra shifts in recent months in an effort to make financial headway. It has been a successful exercise. I have repaid my credit card. It had a balance of about £1300, not huge but still enough to get me down. Last week was the final direct debit, a princely sum of £1.87 ! That timed nicely with the fact that there is no more overtime and today was my last day of extra shifts. The household as a whole has changed its spending habits in the last year. Once upon a time if I was short of cash I would use my credit card without hesitation. We never spend on it now and don't intend too. Recently I had a family birthday, once I would have picked up a gift and paid for it more often than not on my credit card. This year I sent a nice box of chocolates , I did feel a little bit miserly but the feeling that it was paid for in cash felt good. Next project is to repay my husbands card, which if all goes according to plan , should be clear by summer. At that point we would only have our mortgage remaining which is where we started 15 years ago when we bought our house! Here is the ridiculous thing - all those years ago I got talked into taking the credit card by the salesperson, who offered me a free sports holdall which I had wanted. That stupid bag , which cost about £20 at the time, has probably cost me thousands.. Hindsight is a beautiful thing



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