Feeling positive - Budgeted properly for the first time!

debtfreesomeday

Morning all DFW's

We are in a lot of credit card and loan debt for various reasons. We are not struggling to repay the debts every month but it is holding us back from doing things we'd like to do and can't really save any money either. I also discovered the snowball calculator through this site which has probably saved us literally hundreds, maybe a thousand, in interest charges on our credit card repayments.

At the weekend, I actually sat down and typed out a proper monthly budget. We always tried to stick to a budget beforehand but nothing was written down and it never worked! We have decided to take £300 out of our Isa this month just to get the bank account back to zero at the end of the month so we can start the month with all our wages.

I've now decided that budgeting's great! I'm feeling much more positive with a proper 'plan' now to pay off my credit cards within the next 18 months and stay out of our overdraft every month. (We have 2 loans too but these won't be paid off any earlier than the fixed date so just plodding on with the payments every month on those).

I've also budgeted to put aside money every month into a separate account to cover payments on home insurance, car insurance and road tax throughout the year so we don't get stung by one-off payments of those.

Now if this budget works, we should have about £200 left in the joint account to cover non-essentials: clothes, gifts, a takeaway or meal out etc etc. and then if we have any of this left at the end of the month, it shall all go on the credit cards! Woo hoo - I feel like I have a plan!

It's amazing how much better you feel when you have something clear in your head isn't it. This site has really helped to get our finances in order - even if we will still be paying things off in 7 years!

empy

Hi, well done with the budget. I am using a book and writing down everything I buy and reducing my budget figure. It really makes me think about how much I am spending and makes me more determined to reduce my spends even more.
Have you thought about the payment a day challange?

empy

debtfreesomeday

Hiya - yes, that's a great challenge! I have done it a few days with odd amounts left in my account, but as we have been overdrawn for a couple of weeks I didn't want to pay debt with debt if you know what I mean. Shall be doing it again as soon as I get paid :j

It all started when we kept a log of how much money we spent on food a month - it was extortionate! We weren't really buying a proper monthly / weekly grocery shop but just buying stuff as we needed it and it was a real shock when we worked out how much we were spending. Now we get an online asda shop every two weeks and now spend about a third of what we did before!

LilacPixie

Its scary how grocery shopping seems to just multiply and take over if you are not careful isn't it.

Junglydaz

Hi

How did you use the snowball calculator to save you interest? I had a look at it and couldn't figure out how to use it to my benefit. Maybe thats because I'm a biff with money!

debtfreesomeday

Just enter how many debts you have (3 CC's in my case), enter the amounts left on them, APR etc and how much you can afford to repay a month and it will calculate the order you should pay the balances off to reduce the amount of interest you end up paying and to clear the cards as quickly as possible.

eco

i'm using a book, i'm trying to save for a car, i have no debts now but when I don't have any spare cash I say I'll be better when I do have some,guess what I'm not