Champagne Lifestyle Lemonade Budget (My attempts to get debt free by April 2010)

Sun_Addict

Thanks for your inspiration Cbm and I don't mind you rambling on my diary! I don't have to clear the debt until March 2010 payday so have four paydays left to pay it off. If need be I could pay off £100 a month for the next four months and be debt free by my original target date. I've decided to see what I have to play around with when I get paid this month (should be around 21 December). If I find I'm leaving myself short I'll pay off what I can and pay the rest off as soon as I can in the following weeks. I thought I was being really good by buying all my Christmas presents throughout the year but what I forgot about was all the little "extras" that make Christmas that much nicer. A lesson learnt for next year though!

Sun_Addict

Have been thinking about my spending habits and I really need to get them sorted. I spend far too much on "bargains", not always things I really need. These small amounts of money soon add up to a large one. I think if I could have been a bit more restrained I could have cleared my debt sooner. I know I still need to have a life but I think I'm having too much of one!! I have far too many "things".

I also need to stop booking holidays before I've saved for them as this is what is making things tight over Christmas. I've had to pay for the August flights and villa deposit in just one month and this has left me short. I know I'll be glad of this next year but I do pick my times! :rolleyes:

I've decided I'm going to set myself a budget for personal spends and stick to it. When it's gone it's gone!

I really need to take myself in hand if I'm to remain debt free in the future!

beanielou

I think its good that you can see that TBH.

Sun_Addict

After a lot of thinking and looking at my budget for December I have come to the conclusion that it's very doubtful I'll be DF by Christmas now. OH has got two days off work this week due to jobs not being ready and he'll lose two days pay so that's another nail in the coffin! I'm going to aim for paying off at least a third of it. I'm not being charged any interest, the 0% doesn't finish until April and it's daft to skint myself just to fulfill a mad self-imposed target. My original aim was to pay off the debt by the end of the 0% so I think I'll settle for that. If I can pay it off before then that will be brilliant. Looking back I've paid off £1200 in the last 10 weeks so I feel that's an achievement to be proud of. I already feel a load has been lifted off my shoulders.

Looking to next year I need to be a bit more MSE. I've learnt a lot from this site but still find I fall down in certain areas. For example last week I bought DD's birthday present and OH's Christmas present on a Boots 3 for 2. For the third free item I got something for myself that I didn't really need, just liked (although I am using it). If I was thinking along MSE lines I would have put the third item away for Christmas next year. I also now have £54 in Boots Advantage points. So of course I'm thinking what I can get myself with them. What I should be thinking is will I be able to buy anything towards Christmas (or birthdays) in the Boots sale with them. Actually I would really like to buy myself some decent make up brushes so what I'll probably do is get them and then keep what's left over for the sale - compromise.

I also remembered I used to set myself goals at the beginning of every month and review them at the end of the month. I've been doing this with the 12 week challenge thread but not on my own diary just lately. So for December my new challenges are:

1. Pay at least £133 off debt
2. Make a start on being more MSE

That's it - no other challenges for this month and certainly no weight loss challenges at Christmas. I've managed to get back to my WW goal weight so just need to try not to go too mad during the festive period.

There is some good news amongst all this - out of my 8 ebay items, I've sold 5 so far. Auctions end today so will see what happens to the rest of them. I've made a profit of about £30 so far and this must go towards my hairdressers appointment on Saturday (highlights time I'm afraid).

All this thinking is making my head spin! :rolleyes:

Claw_back_money

Hi Sun Addict
I could almost hear the cogs whirring - what a lot of thinking :rotfl:

There are so many ways to manage the DF journey, that I've come across, from the really cutting back (bread and water til I get there) to the more generous (I'll cut down on the restaurants but don't want to notice I'm on this journey). Surely its got to be what works for you, and as far as I know you are not being harassed for money from creditors you haven't paid - this is a personal challenge. So if it makes you happier to do it over a few months - that's got to be right.

It sounds like you've come to some very sound personal 'rules' about spending - re hols etc. I know what you mean by the ongoing learning though, I have to almost think myself into the money-saving spirit before I go near temptation, or I have 'just this' or 'just that' and blow the budget. I'm not sure I agree about the 3rd Boots thing though -you bought two presents and it was a free gift - why not have something for you if you are going to use and enjoy it?!?

I'm very jealous about the ebay sucess - I still can't bring myself to go on the site. Is it right the p&p rules have changed and you make much less money out of it?

Cheers
Cbm

Sun_Addict

Hi Cbm - thanks for your comments. I don't know about the P&P rules changing on ebay but I know you're not meant to make money out of P&P. I'm a new ebay seller so maybe they changed before I got in on the act. It's free listing this weekend so if you have anything to sell it would be a good time to do so. I've just got one thing left to list at the moment so will wait until the weekend to do it. I don't particularly enjoy doing it but it's a great way to get rid of stuff you no longer use but is in good condition.

I've been looking back at when I first started a diary on MSE and it was 17 March this year. My debt then was £2600. So this means I've paid £2200 in less than a year. :jMy aim now is to be debt free by the anniversary of my diary on 17 March 2010. Unfortunately for you lot it means you'll have to put up with my ramblings for a few extra weeks. Hopefully I'll be clear by the end of February but it's definitely going to happen in March if not. The one thing that worried me was having to balance transfer again at the end of March 2010. Even if the worst comes to the worst I know I can pay off the debt using savings. I could "cheat" and pay it off by Christmas by using savings and then put the money back each month but I'm loathe to let any savings go at the moment because of OH's work situation and I'd lose interest (for what it's worth at the moment). At least I'm not paying interest out that's the main thing. Paying it off by Christmas was just a personal challenge. My original challenge was to pay it off by end March 2010 so should've stuck with it really.

Anyway hope everyone has a great weekend. Can't believe it's only 3 weeks to Christmas!!!

Claw_back_money

Sun_Addict wrote: »

Can't believe it's only 3 weeks to Christmas!!!

:eek::eek::eek::rotfl:

It can't be 3 weeks - there's so much still to do!

It sounds like you are making the best use of your money at the present time, by having savings earning interest and owing money on a 0% card which will be paid off before the deal finishes - is that what people describe as 'stoozing'?

have a good week
Cbm

Sun_Addict

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Managed not to spend too much at the weekend - trip to hairdressers and lunch afterwards was planned spending and me and OH managed to have a morning in town yesterday without spending anything other than the price of a coffee each and the car parking. Got to be a first! Actually OH just wanted to see the Christmas market and decorations so we shouldn't have been buying anyway.

The 12 week challenge I was on finishes today so need to post my achievements on there. My challenges were:

1. Pay £1200 off debt - done!!
2. Lose 7lbs - only lost 3lbs.
3. Pay/save for all March holiday associated costs - threw the August holiday into the equation so still have to save for March spending money.
4. Buy all Christmas presents - done!!
5. Ebaying - done!!

So did ok on the whole. Hope there's a new challenge starting.

Sun_Addict

Things are looking worse on the paying off debt front this month. OH's money is really down so far this month. Another note to self - this usually happens around this time of year December, January and February are usually very lean months in the building trade and I really need to allow for this. I'm really cross with myself for booking the flights for the August holiday before Christmas. I should have waited until afterwards. We have a credit card that we use for planned spending that is paid off in full every month. The flights went on this card so this week I had to shuffle around our finances and lend myself the money to clear the balance when it went out on Tuesday. However, I have to replace this money by the end of the month as it's needed for other things. I can really see me only being able to pay the minimum payment on the Virgin card this month as things are so tight. So much for being debt free by Christmas.:mad: There is one good thing though and that at least I'm not adding to the debt and it will be paid off by the end of the 0%.

For next Christmas I am going to have to remember to make sure I have saved enough money by the end of November to cover EVERYTHING. So then in December I don't have to worry about not having enough money. Although I'm hoping things will pick up in the building trade by next Christmas (surely!!!!) and OH's money will start to go back up again.

I think one of my New Year's resolutions has got to be "don't book holidays before you have the money for them". This is how I got a debt in the first place. I booked holidays and when it came to paying for them would find I didn't have enough money and would slide the balance onto a 0% card. This time last year I would have probably applied for a 0% balance transfer card and put the flight money on this. At least I've made an improvement on this front!

Anyway enough moaning - what's done is done!

Sun_Addict

I've rolled up my sleeves and made myself a spreadsheet for next Christmas estimating all likely expenses (including DD's and DS's birthdays which are just before and just after Christmas - bad timing that!). I've been quite generous with the guesstimates and it has come to a scary £810!!! I'm going to start saving in January so the money is there next year whatever happens. I am also going to make an effort to pay for next Christmas by using reward points, vouchers from surveys and money left over from grocery budget so should be well covered.

Re the debt - I'm going to join the One Debt vs 100 days challenge when it starts up again in January to finally get rid once and for all.

I feel a bit better now!!