I love bills!

Well, not all the time. But today I do!

I got the council tax demand today...and I've already paid £250 of next years bill! I'd been overpaying very slightly, rounding it up from £91 to £100 and adding in the fact that I automatically pay in Feb and March (when I don't need to), I am nicely ahead for next year. This will help lots with next years bills! I'm ahead on the water bill slightly too, so reduced payments there as well. The only one that I'm not is on the gas bill, but that evens itself out over the year so nothing to worry about there!

It's so nice to feel in control of my money for once.

It was helped by getting my student loan statement too. I don't have to start paying them back until my gross monthly income is over £2700 and since it's not even £1000 at the moment (bookselling is a job you do for the love, not the money) I can defer for yet another year, and probably for quite a while to come. I did get lucky with this, being the first year that got student loans at uni. This means that while people who started just a year after me are paying theirs back already, I don't have to worry about mine.
I do spare a thought for Yorkshire Lass who will have hers to pay back from next year or so. Then again, if I had finished my degree (Molecular and Cellular Biology) and gone on to get the type of job I always thought I'd do, I'd probably be paying it off already.

At the moment (apart from that student loan which doesn't really count) I am debt free. Sure I'm over my overdraft by about £20 right now, but I have no credit cards, loans, or HP agreements. It's nice.

It's nice to know that once I've paid rent, council tax, utilities, TV license and internet - then the rest of the money is mine. Admittedly it's mine for food, cat food, clothing, toiletries and about £20 for frivolity - but I feel in control of my money for the first time in a long time, in fact, possibly the first time ever.