Shopaholics Debt Diary

shopaholic84

I have been lurking around on the forum for a few months now, and i have loved every minute of it. So i have decided to time to start my own diary so i can keep track of my spendings, and hopefully stop myself, because i am a little bit of a shopaholic :rolleyes:

Now, a little bit about me. I'm 24, still live with my folks (who are happy to have me for however long), have been with my OH for 7 years, but don't want to move in with him until i am debt free. I am also, a BIG spendaholic.

I have already got so many tips from the forum, and have managed to save myself quite a bit of money :j I am sooo thankful to everybody, everybody is great and i am so grateful.

I currently have £2,476.39 of debt, which is broken up between Kays catalouge, Barclaycard and my OH. Most of the debt is owed to my OH, so i have very little interest being added on every month, which is great. I do however, feel guilty about not paying my OH back as quickly as i'd hoped. He's great though and is happy to get it in dribs and drabs, but i'm not happy giving it to him like that so its my challenge to pay him back ASAP.

I will post my SOA soon, so if anybody has any advice, i'd loved to hear anything to help me become debt free sooner.

Thanks again to everyone on this forum, its a great place and i already feel more positive just being part of it.

xxxx

poorandindenial

Hello and welcome

A couple of random hints:

Try a spending diary, there is nowt like being confronted with the crap you spend on to make you think twice before you buy (well it did me )

Check out how soon you could be debt free using the snowball calculator at www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

You have probably seen both of these before but I still heartily reccomend them

Looking forward to you SOA

PS - am a fellow Londoner, which end you at??? I am East London (Zone 3)

shopaholic84

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]SOA dated - 6th November 2008[/FONT]

£925 pay - normally around £1050 though as i do overtime every month, but i won't include this in the SOA, i will work it out on my basic wage. If i do get extras, it will go towards debt payments, well i try to use it that way, it keeps being spent on clothes shopping :rolleyes: :mad:

Incoming:
My wage - £925.00

Outgoing:

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]£100 - rent [/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]£80 - travel [/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]£5.69 - life assurance (will look into how to cancel this, only signed up for the £80 cashback on Quidco)[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]£4.40 - Dogs Trust [/FONT]
£7.70 - HSA dental - just signed up so can't cancel yet
£20.00 - PAYG mobile top-up - Orange
£5.99 - Cinema Paradiso (keeps me busy when i'm saving money by not going out
[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]£100 - Kays (just over minimum payment)[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]£20.00- Barclaycard - (minimum payment - must up this)[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]£42- driving lesson fees [/FONT]
£100 - OH - sometimes more, sometimes less

= £459.22 - £465.78 left every month

Now i have seen i have quite a bit left over, i must throw more at Barclaycard debt, and pay more to OH.

poorandindenial

Don't forget to budget for things like birthdays and xmas, oh and clothes and haircuts (not TOO much mind )

Check the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com to see if there is anything else you may have missed.

shopaholic84

Hello poorandindenial

Thank you so much for posting.

I am from SE London - Bromley. I love the idea of the spending diary, something i'm going to sign up too, looks good. Hopefully it will control my spending.

Unfortunately i am useless when it comes to budgeting for things. I tend to just buy them without thinking. Take yesterday for example, i bought some Ugg Boots, cost me £120, but i did look around for a discount code before buying, so i saved myself around £50 :j however, if i was a good girl i would of used this money to pay off some debt.

Last Saturday i signed up to Dooyoo as i noticed a lot of people raving about it, i have so far made £20 from it, so thats £10 a week in Amazon vouchers. I'm hoping to make £10 a week until Christmas, so then i can use the money of presents. I' actually enjoying writing reviews, and reading other peoples.

poorandindenial

It is also worth checking out the 100 day challenge, you list stuff you won't let yourself buy for 100 days or until Xmas and then you (sort of) stcik to it.

My list includes -

Clothes
Shoes
Handbags
Chocolate
Lunch at work
Magazines
Junk for the house
And a few other things that I can't remember right now

I signed up for Dooyoo but then lost interest as I am basically lazy and then also several people started getting banned, well done for making £20 but watch out for them (there are a few :eek: tales on the first one to £15k thread)

shopaholic84

That sounds like a good idea, i really need something like that to stick too.

Oh god, thank you for the warning. I hope i don't get banned, i stick to the 2 reviews a day, and don't rate too much. I'd really miss my £10 Amazon voucher every Thursday, its makes my Thursdays checking my email and seeing the reward yey!

poorandindenial

If you save it until you get to 50k miles then you can get cash can't you??? As you have done OK this far and they have paid out then why not do that for a bit then chuck the £50 at your debt?

shopaholic84

Thats a good idea, but i know myself, if i got paid out £50, i know i would spend it on clothes lol. Where as if i get vouchers, i can save them up for Crimbo gifts, or i could spend it on the Sex and the City box set i have eyeing up for £50, hmmmm. I know, i'm hard work i know.

Thank you soo much again poorandindenial, you have really helped me. Just signed up, and now have my own spending diary - yey!!!

xx

poorandindenial

LOL - I am a bit like that too, no will power. If I leave any leeway in my account then it evaporates, I have to get it straight out and paid onto debts the second it goes in or else *!!!!!!*

shopaholic84

I'm exactly the same, i must try harder.

Arrggghh, i have just checked my Kays account to see my new statement and can you belive my next payment is due on the 22nd November. Last month the due date was 28th October, so its not even been a month before the next payment, so i'm really paying two payments of £100+ a month to Kays - its rubbish. What a rubbish company, i must get this debt gone. The current debt to Kays is £493.35, but i think i still have £20 to be deducted because i sent something back last week.

Now need to work out where i'm going to raise £99.02 from before the 22nd Nov. I really expected it to be around the same time, which just happens to be when payday is.

Maybe i could sell some stuff on ebay...., hmmm. Off i go to look around my room lol.

xx