Taking Care of My Pennies

MrsNotAPenny · 26 March 2013 at 10:25PM

Very very happy to be starting the second chapter of my journey to debt freedom

My original diary began in August 2010, pregnant with my second child, about to start my gardening leave and a great big wad of debt. At the time, I counted it to be approximately £18,800 ish. Looking back it was probably closer to £19,500. My debt at highest was £21k.

So I began the journey, I've had ups and downs, I obtained more debt, struggled on, left my Husband and then had another good hard look at my life. Single, unemployed with two very small children. My Pennies. I needed to do this more than ever now. I want to support these kids, I want to make sure they get holidays and I never want them to miss out on anything. If I only ever have one income, I don't want any of it to go to debts. Luckily, they are still very young, so this is the ideal time to do it, They are happy to paint pasta and run around the park, happy to eat whatever I've thrown together out of the cupboards. They are very cheap to keep, for now!

At the beginning, I did all the usual big stuff, sold things, returned my finance car, set up plans with HMRC for overpayments, increased my direct debits to pay off my utility arrears, sorted out all my online banking accounts, shifted debts to 0%, dropped a few stone and generally got a grip.

I really feel it has taken me all this time to learn how to budget, find out what I'm happy to do without (ahem, takeways, trips to the hair dressers, a car etc) and what I'm not (sky, slimming club, kids football classes)

I've learnt to batch cook, make minimum bus journeys (i grudge paying for the bus!) dropped brands, I keep a spending diary. I know every single penny that leaves my account. I have my monthly direct debits down as low as I possibly can. I have a weekly spending budget, I put money away for Christmas. This all happened gradually and it was only recently I have noticed a difference in myself. We still have treats, but they are occasional treats rather than daily treats!

It hasn't been easy, I spent most of 2011 getting myself sorted out, finding myself and rekindling friendships that had been lost. Mourning the life I thought I had planned, accepting how my life was and sorting out what I really wanted for myself.

Then, I had a slight blip in August 2012, where I gained a couple of thousand of pounds of debt, most of which I can justifty, about £500 I wasted on junk

I thought I was treating myself, thought I deserved to spend money on myself. I was wrong, I will be deserving when I clear this debt! However, It was just a bump in the road and another learning curve

Since then, I've now got all my debt back onto 0%. I started 2013 with £11,500, owing to 7 creditors. I'm now down to £9,980 to 3 creditors :j The best progress since I beginning. My ex owes me just over £2k which he is repaying monthly ~(so technically I am only £7k in debt, but I'm not looking at it like that!)

So I feel I am in control. Sometimes, I get quite fed up with having noone to share the burgen with, noone to tell when I drop a debt or get my cc below a certain amount. Noone in real life knows I'm in debt, well they do know I have debt, just not how much I have! They would probably be horrified! Hence, my diary. It's never eloquent, there will be typo's and a lot of rambling, but I enjoy keeping it

I'm going to get together my new targets and put them into the next couple of posts.

Happy Tuesday

MrsNotAPenny · 26 March 2013 at 10:25PM

This has been my Debt Record

Debt Record

August 2009 : £21k
August 2010 : £18,917
August 2011 : £18,801

6/9/11: £16,221
4/10/11: £15,981

18/1/12: £16,828
31/1/12: £11,206
2/4/12: £10,789
25/8/12: £11,861
22/11/12: £12,109
28/12/12: £11,674

1/1/13: £11,578
10/1/13: £11,383
17/1/13: £11,274

1/3/2013: £10,487.49
26/3/2013: £9,980
31/3/2013: £9,932.38

3/4/2013: £9,737.48
12/4/2013: £9,689
30/04/2013: £9,485

18/5/2013: £10,742

29/6/2013 : £11,030.46

11/7/2013: £10,830

2/9/2013: £11,060

18/2/2014: £10,137

4/7/2014: £9,699

_______________________________________________________________

These are some targets I have been thinking about

Short term (6 month)

Re-paper my feature wall
Replace two vases
Replace towels and mugs
Buy kids 'grown up' drinking cups
Pay the remainer of our holiday (£50)
Some new T Shirts for kids

Medium term (2-5 years)

Have a £1,200 buffer, this would cover 1 month of bills, rent, food and minimum payments
Get my CC debt cleared before my 30th, 15 months.
Make a start on saving for a car (including paying insurance upfront and having a little money aside for repairs/tax/MOT) £2,500/£3000 ?
Replace my kitchen table (£300 max)
Have a few hundered pounds saved for each little one
Have a holiday abroad!

Longer term (next 10 years)

Buy a house

MrsNotAPenny · 26 March 2013 at 10:26PM

and this one

beanielou · 26 March 2013 at 10:34PM

Happy shiney new diary

Eager_Elephant · 27 March 2013 at 8:44AM

I have been following you on your old diary and now I have jumped over to the new one.

I think you have done so well considering what you have been through.

I will keep cheering you on from lurkdom!!!

stripes · 27 March 2013 at 11:49AM

Happy shiny diary!

mummytogirls · 27 March 2013 at 12:14PM

Morning MrsNAP,

Just found your diary and really enjoyed reading your first post!

I love the bit about mourning the life you should have had, I can totally relate to this!! Its hard to break through to the other side, but fab when you do isnt it!!!!

Well done on your achievements so far xx

MrsNotAPenny · 27 March 2013 at 11:16PM

Thanks everyone, that was lovely to come on and read those nice replies

(well,once I found the blasted thing, who forgets to subscribe to their own diary?!)

Had to make an unplanned bus trip today, to the Dr. They've only gone and increased the fares. I grudge it even more now! Thought I'd get the most out of it and do my weekly shopping top up a day earlier.

I'm still experiencing 'too much month left at the end of my money's, but it's only by a few days now rather than a few weeks. Slowly slowly and all that. So bit skint until Monday, but we're all stocked up and there is a little stashed away (although it's earmarked for Next month's debt repayments) that I could use for absolute emergencies. Not for the little black bargain dress I just added to my Amazn basket. That will just have to wait, along with the other half dozen things in there

MrsNotAPenny · 28 March 2013 at 9:54PM

Reduced my overdraft by £50 today, it was sitting in a separate account waiting for me to add the remaining £250 to it before I cancelled it completely, but there's going to be too much temptation over this weekend to pick up a couple of bottles of wine or treat ourselves to lunch.

So I spent 20 minutes on the phone to reduce it, won't be doing it over the phone again! Turns out reducing it is the sane process as increasing it! I imagine that'll mean another search on my file ( not that I'm too fussy for credit scores or ratings anyway) Annoying none the less.

Managed to provisionally sell £15 worth of old baby stuff. Hoping it'll be free listing this weekend on eBy, get rid of some more clutter.

Was having a nsd, until I realised we were out of milk (and painkillers - headache mad this week) £2.86 at the local shop. Resisted all the yummy stuff I wanted to buy though!

Think I'm coming down with something, typically at the start of the Easter Holidays!x

beanielou · 28 March 2013 at 10:07PM

Good news on reduction in the OD.

MrsNotAPenny · 31 March 2013 at 9:17PM

Happy Easter

End of the month, can only mean one thing....counting up the old spending diary :eek::eek:

I was feeling pretty good about it, but adding it up I could still be shaving bits off here and there. Should I be giving myself such a hard time about over spending in some areas? I'm making good headway with the debt and I don't feel deprived. I think I have had one urge to buy 'stuff' with my credit card, it obviously wasn't as strong as previous urges, because I didn't buy anything! Progress, right?

So, here's how my spending went this month (I think there may be a few gaps, but I can guess about £15 ish pound - mostly where I've been to the local shop and didn't get a recipt or misplaced a few.)

Groceries (including wine, takeaways and bakery 'treats') £240.68

Nappies/wipes: £16.60

Travel: £26.35

Slimming World: £14.85
Post: £6.48
Make up/toiletries: £34.86
Lotto: £3
Creche: £7.20
Clothes: £4
Kids Classes: £42
Magazines: £1.85
Presents: £45.80
(3 birthdays, 2 mother's day gifts, 1 New Baby)
DVD for kids: £5

Total: £448.57

Not great again this month. I'm ok with it though. My bills came to £297.62

That makes me total outgoings £746.19. I think probably closer to £765.

Debt 1st March: £10,487.49
Debt 31st March: £9,932.38
Debt reductions: £555.11

(need to go back into old diary to find it, I'll be back!)

Taking Care of My Pennies

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