DFSD's motivational ramblings...

SC01

:grouphug: Awwww lots of hugs for you. I know how you feel. I felt quite down today looking at how depleted the account was now that everything's gone out.

I hate my job too. Unfortunately it's not that well paid either! Feel like I've got to get to grips with my new budget first before I can face looking for a new one - one thing at a time.

Did you enjoy your free meal?

debtfreesomeday

Thanks guys, feeling a little more positive today. I hope you are both feeling bright and cheerful this morning too. A trip to the (free at the moment) gym helped clear the cobwebs a bit last night! I also re-checked our budget and there may be enough in it for me to get a hair cut at the weekend and make me feel a bit better about myself... was 6 months since the last one!

SCO1 - yes, had a great meal thanks! We got the train as it was cheaper than driving and parking (very DFW of us!). All in all we got a £50 ish meal for about £12 in travel costs, and felt like we'd had a night out for a change! I'd definitely recommend signing up to the Wagamamas website for freebies, it's well worth it.

debtfreesomeday

Ok, so I forgot about the £30 debit card payment for the petrol at the weekend that hadn't come out of the bank account yet, and the postage I had to pay for the Amazon books today. (£12.93!!!! :eek:) So no haircut this weekend for me! Nevermind, it's only 3 weeks until payday (only! :mad:), so I shall book myself in for a cut then.
Bit annoyed as also had to spend nearly £5 in the awful 'Tesco's' today too.

We're going to the gym again tonight to use our free membership deal so will chill out a bit there. In true 'organised DFW' style I have already prepared the veg for the dinner tonight and froze some that was about to go over last night. I hate wasting food - especially lovely fresh fruit & veg.

Anyway, gonna stop rambling on now and get back to some work!

Lula-Hula

Hello,

I've just had a read through & am really impressed at what you've achieved so far. Yep, sometimes it's just pants being a DFW - struggling is such hard work :rolleyes: but you've taken such positive action that you should be really proud of yourself & if you're halfway there then it's downhill all the way now

lula x

debtfreesomeday

Thanks for your kind words Lula x I seem to go from being very positive and "let me at 'em" (the debts!), to feeling really low like I can't do it... wish there was an in between! Nevermind!
I'm nowhere near halfway unfortunately, but I'm certainly in a better position than a couple of months ago!

Hope all's going well in DFW-land for you too. xx

Lula-Hula

debtfreesomeday wrote: »

Thanks for your kind words Lula x I seem to go from being very positive and "let me at 'em" (the debts!), to feeling really low like I can't do it... wish there was an in between! Nevermind!
I'm nowhere near halfway unfortunately, but I'm certainly in a better position than a couple of months ago!

Hope all's going well in DFW-land for you too. xx

Ooh sorry, I completely got the maths wrong there maybe a clue as to how I got into debt :rolleyes: . Moving on... I know exactly how you feel about debt-free mood swings, & I think the first couple of months are so motivating as you get everything in order & work out the first realistic budget & start swapping phone / internet & energy suppliers ... & then it all goes a bit flat. About 4 months in I got hit by car repairs, dentist bill, dead tv & terminally ill fridge freezer . I hadnt yet got any savings / emergency funds together so you can gues how I paid for it all :mad: . I think I've got it all under control again now & have started an emergency fund but am now faced with the reality that the frugal way I'm living now has to stay like this for at least the next 2 years :eek: if I want to clear the debts. Compared to many DFWs 2 years is not long but sometimes it feel like a life sentence :rolleyes: .

Keep posting & I recommend joining in some of the challenges - they kind of take your mind off the long & daunting journey ahead & keep you focused on achieving goals with loads of support & encouragement from people who know exactly how damn tedious this can be at times.

chin up sweetie & how about trying a local college for cheap hairdo's.

lula

debtfreesomeday

No worries Lula! We're only a few months into this really so I guess, as you said, we're losing the motivation slightly as we've done all the big things we can like swapping suppliers etc. We will be about £300 a month better off in 14 months or so if everything continues as is, as we should have paid the credit card off by then, if not sooner if I have my way!

Cars, freezers, fridges etc are a pain aren't they?! And don't you find they all break down at once?! We had to take a loan out when ours died on us big stylee on the side of the M4 last February! Unfortunately we have to have a reliable car for various reasons, but these things happen and I can't change it I guess, I can just change the way I deal with financial situations in the future!

I don't know why it never occured to me before to save monthly for things like tax and insurance, but it really helps! Our house insurance was just up and we only had to pay £20 extra towards it as we'd saved so much a month for the previous few months. It is a great way to ease the pressure of one off large payments or avoid even more monthly direct debits! I wish I'd done it before!

Yes, we started the £2 challenge which was great and turned a bit competitive between the two of us! We got to over £70 but then we put it in the bank account to help the overdraft and haven't really got back to it since. Think we must start that again.

Thanks for your encouragement anyway, it's people like you who spur me on! xx

debtfreesomeday

Well not a very eventful DFW day for me today; although I have just found out, thanks to another member on this site) that I am able to over pay on my Lloydstsb loan. That's great news as it means I can get rid of it much sooner than the 6.5 years we have left on it! I'm just wondering though, whether it's worth me now reducing the credit card repayments which we're overpaying massively on and putting it towards the loan instead which is obviously at a much higher interest rate? hmm.. what to do.
The minimum payment for the credit card is £25 a month, and is 0% until next August. We're paying £300 - £350 a month on it at the moment. The loan is at 8.9% and is £168.50 a month.

Think I'll head off to the snowball calculator and check it out...

debtfreesomeday

...snowball calculator says pay off credit card debt first, then work on loan so that's what we'll do I guess. So frustrating though as I want to start work on the loan NOW! BUT, it does say we'll be free of THAT loan within 3 years from now if we overpay by £300 a month. :j

debtfreesomeday

Another Amazon sale today :j so that's another £16 or so coming my way.
I'd like to put it straight on the credit card but I think we may need it to top up the main account a little to prevent being overdrawn; :mad: so it'll have to stay in there for now, although I am really tempted just to shift it over... I'll have another look and work out the sums later!

Feeling a little bit more like there is a light at the end of the tunnel today than the past few days. I think the revelation of being able to overpay our loan has helped lift the general view of things, even though we can't afford to over pay for a while yet until the pesky CC has been paid off.
I have tomorrow off work so that's probably lifting my mood a little too!