Palema's staying Debt Free Diary!

[Deleted User] · 7 February 2009 at 5:41PM

I have decided to take a leaf out of Mariagti's book and start my own staying debt free diary. Its a great way of keeping track of how I am getting on. I am also not abandoning DFW as although I have not been posting for long I have been reading these forums for a year or so and are a good way to stay motivated.
I payed my last payment to my Trust Deed on Monday. On Wedensday I recieved a letter from my IP stating they no longer have any interest in my car which is great news and After speaking to them I am now free to open savings accounts and start saving for the house of my own that I have been wanting for the last 4-5 years or so!! :j

I work in a Nursery (on an ok salary) I also do quite a bit of babysitting for kids at work and with a agency. Its extra money and will hopefully help me to reach my house deposit goal that little bit quicker than just relying on my salary!

So far I have managed to open:-
~ 1. A savings account for my car fund
~ 2. A savings account for holiday fund
~ 3. A savings account for POD (Prescription, Optical, Dental)
~ 4. A savings account for social fund
~ 5. Savings account as an online piggy bank (Virtual sealed pot challenge)

~ Started to put 1/4 of babysitting money into car fund, 1/4 into holiday fund and 1/2 into house savings fund

Still to Open:-
A cash ISA and put away the maximum amount each month going to wait until April to do this and use a fixed term, fixed rate ISA.
~ A savings account for rest of house money to go into - Still looking into this not found a savings account yet.

So there you have it - how I intend to start my life over!
P

TurnaroundSue · 7 February 2009 at 6:16PM

Hi Palema - good to see you are debt free. I became DF last August and I must say that it is just as hard to stay debt free as it is to become it. Only just in the last month have I become accustomed to not being in debt. I try and save as much as I can and ensure that I use my credit card (to get my tesco points) if I can afford to pay it off.

It might help if you post your SOA so that the brilliant peeps on here can see if there is anything else that can be trimmed off.

Good luck and well done once again for becoming debt free.

[Deleted User] · 7 February 2009 at 6:54PM

I've gotten pretty good at budgetting over the past 3 years due to living on a pretty strict budget so all my money pretty much works out.

My SOA!

Monthly income after tax................ 1219.16

Monthly Expense Details

Rent.................................... 200
Mobile phone............................ 50 (Am moving to a sim only tariff when my contract is up in April)
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 14.39
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 7.10
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 40
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 10
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 50
WeightWatchers.......................17.95
Cinema Card.............................11.99
Groceries...............................100
Entertainment.......................100
Savings.................................400

Total..................................1211.43

I still live at home with my parents, and they have been great with me and take very little from me as rent and this included my food exept for lunches for work. In with my groceries I also include toiletries.
I know some things are quite high but any extra I don't spend I'll be putting away in savings each month

TurnaroundSue · 7 February 2009 at 9:59PM

Hi Palema - SOA looks pretty good, however, I still think you could trim your grocery budget. Hop over to Moneysaving oldstyle as there are some really fantastic people there who can do amazing things for very little money. I think there is a section on there specifically for packed lunches.

Also £40 seems alot for your medical bill. What does this cover?

Once again, well done on getting debt free.

[Deleted User] · 8 February 2009 at 12:12AM

I dont use all my grocery budget I'm hoping to save most of it as I only really buy lunch things for myself, am going to put excess into savings account.
My Medical money is for pre paid prescription, new glasses/sunglasses ( pretty much every year

) and any dental work I need done. I prefer to have extra in that account just in case. Same with the car account just in case as you never know when you will need it.
All the money I have written down is what I am putting towards things as I've just become debt free I'm not totally sure what the actual figures wil be. I am going to do a spending diary in March to see exactly where every penny is going!
Will post a more accurate SOA on here in April after I have done my spending diary.
P

bountiful · 8 February 2009 at 12:38AM

Hi Pamela - and well done. I have just started a 'staying debt free' diary as well - because it would be really easy to get back into debt again. I am on a cash budget system which is working well for me. All the best - looks like you are on track! Well done!

mariagti · 9 February 2009 at 9:00PM

Hi Palema:wave:

Good to see you have started your own diary,:T im sure it will help you stay on track. Your SOA looks pretty good to me, apart from the mobiel that you've already said your changing when contract ends.:)

Just wondering do you do all the online survey sites? You can earn a good amount from them every year and you could get boots vouchers to cut down your toiletries cost.

maria x

[Deleted User] · 9 February 2009 at 9:44PM

Hi Maria!
Thanks for popping into my diary to say hi

I have not done any surveys. I have seen them mentioned on other threads but wouldn't know where to look to join one.

mariagti · 9 February 2009 at 9:56PM

http://uk.lightspeedpanel.com/index.html you can claim paypal money or vouchers

www.valuedopinions.co.uk you can claim £10 vouchers

These 2 are the best ones at sending out regular surveys.:)

Do you already use cashback sites like quidco?

[Deleted User] · 12 February 2009 at 10:41AM

Well I have joined the two survey sites that Maria recommended not had any surveys through yet though.
Thanks for the recommendations Maria!

Not having a very good week so far. Jerked my back on Monday night at work when I was sitting down on a seat that was lower than I thought and yesterday cracked my tooth, this morning the dentist (not my usual one cause it was an emergency appointment) pulled my tooth out and its already pretty sore, even although my mouth is still numb.

[Deleted User] · 22 February 2009 at 6:47PM

Next week is my first payday being debt free. :j

I have a meeting at the bank friday morning to open a savings account to put my £400 a month into. I am thinking about the Halifax monthly saver at 5% fixed rate, then in a years time transfering £3600 into an ISA for 09/10 and the rest into my A&L esaver that I opened a week ago for my house savings ( this is the account my babysitting money is going into)

I am not going to take any money out of either of these accounts until the day comes when I go to buy a house.

Palema's staying Debt Free Diary!

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free