Pap's forever plodding... the final chapter =)

postingalwaysposting · 8 November 2009 at 3:59PM

Hello all

So here it is the final chapter in Pap's journey. It all started in May 2006 when I finally had my lightbulb moment after being on this site a fair few months. After just a month and a lot of ebaying I was debt free due to my debt just being a small amount (£800)... However as usual being in a p/t job and being young I kept one credit card for 'emergencies' and you can guess the remainder :rolleyes: I then sucessfully cleared that and was once again debt free :j

Now you would have thought ah you have become debt free twice surely you would have learnt by now. Yes I did I started building up savings and I made sure I could save at least 1/3rd of my then full time wage. However sadly dues to my health and things happening at work I decided to drop to p/t hours again for a year to get myself well and then look at slowly increasing that over time. That was 08/2008 and unknown to me we were heading into a recession :rolleyes:

This leads me onto today, I have now completed a year at p/t wages and in my present job I am unable to increase my hours. After talking to my managers it would appear that no more contracted hours will be avalible untill mid next year if at all

During this year although I would of been able to sustain my living style on a part time wage I decided to embark on a radical eating plan to finally get my weight under control. This coupled with christmas/holidays/general spends have left me with more debt. However I have pledge that this will be the last debt I ever have in my life...

So the debt I have at present is Argos ~ £275.38 @ 0% and a Credit Card £206.20 @ 17% (I think as its just coming out of a 0% period) = £481.58. which on the surface dosent appear to be too bad but when you then know some month I barely have £20 spare after incomings is actually a massive amount :rolleyes: The way I will be repaying this is of course the credit card first as its the highest apr. I will be doing Pad's each day and also trying to find myself any extra income from overtime/ebay/cashback etc etc.

Once I am off my eating plan and/or back into full time eployment this debt will be a thing of the past. I will then use this same diary to track my achivements regarding savings. There isnt much I want to do in life but I would love to go to London and also move into my own little rented flat. Both of which I will achive before I turn 30 :T

So thats Pap, now on my older diarys I seem to have picked up the motto of 'plodding'. This is beacuse although I dont seem to be going anywhere fast with regards to my life/debt repayments you just have to keep going and persevere :j

So keep plodding all :beer:

taka · 8 November 2009 at 4:06PM

Happy new diary Pap! Good luck... you will do it!

benbenandme · 8 November 2009 at 4:10PM

Keep going Pap, I'm looking forward to reading of your exploits

babes21 · 8 November 2009 at 4:18PM

Woo, a new shiny diary. Good luck pap xxx

P.S. You'll love London!!

[Deleted User] · 8 November 2009 at 4:22PM

Good Luck PaP
I'm sure you will reach your goal of being debt free in no time

P
X

macgirl · 8 November 2009 at 4:31PM

Hi PaP :hello:
Good luck with the diary I'll look forward to tuning in!
Mac x

skint_spice · 8 November 2009 at 4:38PM

Glad you are feeling well enough to cope with full time hours again PAP, well done on the dieting and you'll be DF again soon - we all have faith in you:money:.

postingalwaysposting · 8 November 2009 at 5:07PM

Aww thanks for all the well wishes all, even from those of you I follow yet to embaressed to post on your own diarys

You are all fab :j

So now my money, or lack of and my Soa. Now as posted above I work p/t, I have 20 contracted hours a week and I take home just shy of £500 a month after tax, ni, union and pension. I work 3.5 miles away and although have passed my driving test I dont drive because I cant aford to keep a car on the road. So instead I purchase pre paid bus tickets, grab lifts from my Mum and lil bro and also walk... I live at home for a reduced rent, as 'thanks' I pay for the house insurance and do 80% of the house chores. So here is my soa for Novemeber, I get payed on the 15th of each month so my 'month' is 15th~14th.

£120.00 ~ Rent (includes all bills minus food, will rise to £150 once off my diet)
£16.00 ~ House ins (3 bed house, missed renewal this year)
£12.50 ~ Line rental (bt line however no calls used, my internet is £63 every three months, after Decembers payment I will be putting aside £22 a month to cover this)
£44.00 ~ Bus ticket (20 journeys although I buy one at a time so sometimes it's only £22 a month)
£10.00 ~ t v (virgin through from my brother package/room, works out as 35p a day and we have no normal working aerial into our house now)
£160.00 ~ meal packs (This is the biggie, my diet calls for £40 food each week. I cant get it cheaper because its only avalible at source. However depending on where the 15th falls some months I need 5 weeks)

Income £500 (approx) - £362.50 = £137.50 left for debt repayments/living.

Now as I posted in my opening post I PaD each day towards my debt. I also have a sealed savings tin here at home that I want to fill with 50p's/£1's/£2's this will be used to purchase and then have savings for my annual holiday. I then also have a pig I throw all my 5p's/1p's/2p's into. Christmas is complete for 2009, I have purchased all my gifts and my Mum is repaying me £80 that she borrowed in May which will cover all the cash gifts I need :T

So thats Pap money wise. Due to the internet payment being taken out next month and an extra week for meals, I will have no disposable income avalible. For that reason I really want the £137 to strech two months. This may mean a £1 PaD instead of my usual £2 PaD, however this is fine. I also kept a running spending diary on my old diary which I plan to continue onto this one :T

Thanks for keeping tabs on me all... Keep plodding :j

LeeSouthEast · 8 November 2009 at 5:29PM

Good luck!! Following with interest.

One comment: Is the diet food a necessity? I appreciate these make it 'easy' but I lost over 10st in just shy of a year just by a bit of light exercise (literally just walking here and there) and sensible eating. Every diet plan is less in and/or more out. No matter how you dress it up or market it, the principle is the same.

If it works for you of course, then keep at it. But just wanted to plant the seed that there might be cheaper ways of doing it.

postingalwaysposting · 8 November 2009 at 5:39PM

Hi Lee, Thanks for your comments. Sadly I have an underlying medical condition that makes it extermely hard to lose weight. I managed a 2stone loss callorie counting and exercising and maintained my weight for 6months however to lose the remaining 8ish stone I needed something that I could sustain. Therefore in May I decided on this plan, this is not an 'easy' plan by far but its something that works for me. It is finacially hard but if I dont complete it now I never will. I have approx 4 months left on the plan before I can go into the maintenance phase. I think its made harder because of the wage I earn however if I was introduced to this diet tomorrow I would still do it

Thanks anyways

penguin83 · 8 November 2009 at 5:43PM

Happy new diary PAP, hope the diet is going well for you - mine is at a sticking point at the min!

Im sure you will be debt free in no time x x x

Pap's forever plodding... the final chapter =)

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