It's another month til payday diary... Shazzers quest continues!

shazzer22

Right, well I haven't been around for quite sometime, just lurking slowly gathering the courage to get myself back on track (hopefully)

I know that with the New Year coming up everyone will be setting themselves new challenges and resolutions and I'm not really any different but want to start small and become truly committed to actually sorting myself out. Therefore I'm gonna do a count down to the next pay day, just really as my finances are on such a knife edge I'm not sure I'm even gonna get there unscathed!

Hopefully by the time I get to the blessed 30th January I may be in a better position to actually plan my finances for the following months/year!

So to give you a bit of background (in case anyone is at all interested!) I joined MSE back in 2006 and I've not really taken control of much, the guy I was with at the time wasn't really good with money and I ended up supporting the both of us, he is well in my rear view mirror now and its time I did some growing up

I graduated in 2005 and had racked up quite a bit of debt already, studying in London and living the high life! When I left I got a good job and have had three promotions in 3 years. I've got a good pension, no savings, a loan from my best friend and a boyfriend who is far more sensible with money than me! (Well, just about!) I was told in November that my team at work is being outsourced therefore I will be served 3 months notice on 30th December, (Happy New Year!) although its not all doom and gloom as the company are attempting to redeploy me (but no guarantees of course!) The two positions I'm lined up for could see me take a sizable pay rise but I want to be able to do something meaningful with it and focus paying off my debt. If I take redundancy it will be in the region of £7k.

So enough rambling... here's what I intend to do about it.

27 December - Complete court expenses form and post for when I had to appear as a witness last month DONE! £21
28 December - list at least 3 things on e-bayDone! 3 handbags!:j
29 December - pay in coppers and coins and use it to make extra payment on barclaycard bill Part done, I've paid in £14.00 in coppers but not sure Barclaycard is the best place to make my overpayment... It might do me better to leave it where it is but will have a proper look later on, when at work!
30 December - List books for sale on amazon/green metropolis
31 December - dig out old mobiles from dusty drawers and get envirofone prices Part done already! 27/12 one phone via Quidco/cashinmyphone - £16.60
1 January - day with boyfriends family, I'll settle for a no spend day!
2 January - make sure SOA is finished and accurate (gulp) - I know its the most important but it'll scare me off if I do that just yet!
3 January - Cancel free trial of credit file thing
4 January - find all my mystery shopping log-in details and attempt to find some

I am the sort of person who needs to be helped along, so any friendly kicks up the backside would be appreciated! I intend to plan about 7 days in advance and set myself little daily targets to begin with so I know they are achievable and then work my way up from there!

So I guess I'm writing a debt diary, but for now its a survival log! (and it might just keep me sane!?)

moo2moo

Remember to go via Quidco for both Cash in my phone or Envirofone (the same company) to get a little extra.

Fire_Fox

What a scary and exiting position to be in! It may be worth finding out what you can do with your redundancy money should you be temporarily unemployed (I am sure it will only be temp as you sound very in demand!). A lump sum may affect your entitlement to benefits, but perhaps not if you legitimately pay off your debts first?

The SoA is often frightening in theory, but can help you feel in control as you see exactly what you have coming in and going out. Perhaps you could get your boyfriend involved in the MSE site to keep you on the straight and narrow? The average bloke loves a challenge!

If your phones are not worth anything on Envirophone it is worth sending them to Tesco Clubcard - only £3 each in Tesco vouchers but £12 if you swap them for deals vouchers.

urg123

Hi

Just wanted to drop in and say good luck. I like how you have set yourself small but manageable tasks for each day. As you get more settled and have a better idea of your future post your SOA and we'll have a look at it for you.

Have you thought about approaching similar companies to the one you work for? If you have done as well as you have where you are, it might be worth just letting them know you might be interested in anything that is coming up.

Wishing you all the best.

URG xx

shazzer22

Thank you for your encouragement so far. Well I've completed todays task and hopefully £21 will be winging its way to me within 10 days of the CPS receiving my form.

I also went onto Cashinmyphone via quidco, got £4.50 tracked from Quidco and £12.10 for my phone which isn't bad since it was an old handset work gave me. (thanks moo2moo!)

I've also started to total up what my loans and credit cards come to and its looking like near the £29k mark, completely terrifying but I also dug out some old paperwork and back in 2006 I was around £36k in debt so I must have been making in roads some how or somewhere?! (God only knows where!)

Thanks for the positivity around my job quest Firefox and Urg123, I am fortunate to have had a good team around me for the past year and a manager who has really supported my development, the company are supporting me in investigating both internal and external opportunities so I am in a bit of a stronger situation then some of my other friends being made redundant, and I could always take a temporary downward step if it meant securing a role to stay with the company (they would 'mark time' my salary) although its hard to remain positive with so much uncertainty.

I think that has prompted my review of my finances to attempt to gain an element of control over at least one aspect of my life so I can make sure some of that spills over into my career!

I'm actually quite looking forward to getting back into ebaying... something to do on the cold windy nights on my own when the other half is working night shifts!

shazzer22

Well I'm at work after the best nights sleep in ages, made my packed lunch and made sure I had a proper breakfast at home so no sneaking up to the staff canteen for me today, aiming for a no spend day today.

pandapaws

Just wanted to say good luck! I also really like the way you've set little tasks for each day rather than just having one big list, I might steal that idea on my challenge-challenge.

I'll keep hassling you for the SOA if you do the same for me! I've been putting it off for ages as I know it's not going to be pretty reading.

pandapaws

Have you done that SOA yet?:D

shazzer22

Not quite yet, but its on its way! My housemate is cooking leftovers up for all of us tonight so thats good and moneysaving... must find the energy to get upstairs and delve through my belongings to find some stuff to put on ebay...

shazzer22

Managed after much trauma with my camera and then the camera on my phone to get three items on ebay as promised! Also managed to set up a proper spending diary... but had nothing to enter into it as I had a complete no spend day!

shazzer22

After a very chilly trek to the bank with a fully laden handbag full of coppers I have completed todays task, now just need to move it to the right place! Need a cup of tea now and defrost before getting ready to go to work!

Hope everyone else is having a nice day, I'm actually quite looking forward to the new year now!