My Diary Aiming For A Debt Free Life

Jag_Babe

Hello Everyone,

I am 29 years old and live with my partner and son. I am a self employed freelance journalist / copywriter. I am also branching out into photography. I am currently studying some home study courses and due to start training in vet medicine in September.

I had my lightbulb moment a couple of weeks ago.

Here is a list of my debts

Mastercard

Credit Limit £1500
Current Balance £1509.48
APR 28.9% p.a
Minimum Payment £37.73
New Balance 19/08/2009 - £1,496.26
Capital One

I no longer have this card so clearing debt on a monthly agreement.
Current Balance £143.51

Minimum Payment £57.85
New Balance 19/08/2009 £85.66

Last Years Council Tax

Balance £161.30
Minimum Payment £50.00
New Balance 19/08/2009 £ 111.30

Fashion World

Credit Limit £1000.00
Current Balance £200.00
Minimum Payment £15.00
New Balance 19/08/2009 £185.00

Other Catalogues

I no longer have these so only clearing the debt

Current Balance £569.35
Minimum Payment £57.85
New Balance 19/08/2009 £524.35

Personal Loan

Credit Limit £1000.00
Current Balance £860.50
APR 365.1%pa
Minimum Payment £80.00
New Balance 19/08/2009 £828.50

Car Road Tax

This is due at the end of August £180, I have not been saving over the last year for it.

The other monthly bills that I have are:

[STRIKE]Rent £350[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Council Tax £180[/STRIKE]
Petrol £120
Horse Riding Lessons (me and son) £200 - £90 paid
Food Shopping £250 £180 paid
[STRIKE]Storage Unit £153[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Electric £162[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Gas £194[/STRIKE]
Mobile Phone £20 £10 paid
Car Insurance £65
Landline Phone £30

My credit history is not good - too many searches and 2 missed payments. Any questions please ask.

Other bills in August will be

Car Road Tax £180
Course Fees £1300 (I have almost all of this saved though)
Holiday costs £180 and spending money £200
National Insurance £100

I will aim to post something in the diary every day.

My income is about £2,100.59 per month before paying national insurance

Jag_Babe

My first to do list is as follows-

• Put £28 aside each week of August to pay for road tax at the end of the month.
• Put £25 aside each week of August to pay the national insurance bill at the end of the month
• Sort out a budget for this month
• Start keeping a spending diary - update on a regular basis
• Look into ways to increase the amount of income

penguin83

Hi Jagbabe, welcome to diaryland!

Vet medicine was my dream when I was younger, good luck with it v jealous :rotfl:

Look forward to reading your diary x x x

boredofbeingathome

Hi and welcome to the boards. There are a few of you doing a similar job, wordsmith is one and seaxwyn as well. At least i hope so..:o

But any way welcome and we are a friendly, if slightly nutty bunch!:rolleyes:

BOB X

Jag_Babe

Goals For August 2009

• Make £95 per day (Excel, Writing, Ebay, Mystery Shopping and everything else)
• Declutter bedroom and list items on ebay
• Try listing books on Amazon done
• Lose weight - Do 30 minutes exercise a day done
• 10 NSD during August done
• Put money aside for television licences/car expenses/ presents/ holidays etc I haven't started doing this so will aim to start this in September
• Stick to my daily work diary I am getting better at this
• Work on my 100 day work challenge I have not yet started this
• Sort a budget for August and stick to it I have sort of done this
• Update my spending diary on a daily basis done
• Look into ways to increase income and ways to reduce expenses done
• Take 7 days off work during August (I seem to get in the habit of no time off) done

Jag_Babe

I have managed another NSD, 9 in a row :j

I got paid on Friday income was £659.13

So far this week I have paid:

Catalogue £15 New Balance £554.35
Loan £12 New Balance £788
Fashion World £15 New Balance £185
Personal Loan £12.50 New Balance £848


I am saving money on food shopping as I have planned meals for the next week and there is enough in, so £100 saved

I also saved anther £30 as I have managed to use less fuel this week for work so no need to put any more in.

Jag_Babe

AIM FOR AUGUST

Income

Aiming for a total income of £2500

Income so far this month £[STRIKE]659.13[/STRIKE] £1435.68

Expenses

Sons Birthday £[STRIKE]120[/STRIKE] £[STRIKE]60.00[/STRIKE]£45.00 paid
Mastercard £40.00 paid Actualy paid £47.00
Capital One £57.85 paid
Last Years Council Tax £50.00 paid
Fashion World £15.00 paid
Catalogues £60.00 £45 paid
Personal Loan £75.00 £32 paid
Car Road Tax £180.00
National Insurance £100.00
Rent £350.00 paid
Council tax £180.00 paid
Petrol £[STRIKE]120.00[/STRIKE] £80.00 £60 paid
Horse Riding £[STRIKE]150.00[/STRIKE] £100.00 £50 paid
Food Shopping £[STRIKE]250.00[/STRIKE] £150.00 £80 paid
Electric £162.00 paid
Gas £194.00 paid
Mobile Phone £20.00 £10 paid
Car Insurance £65.00 paid
Landline Phone £[STRIKE]30.00[/STRIKE] £26.01 paid
Holiday £350.00 paid
Storage £153.00 paid
Hairdressers Appointment £[STRIKE]30.00[/STRIKE] £13.50 paid

Total Income £2500
Total Expenses £2751.85
My original calulations show that I will be £251.85 overdrawn this month.

So far this month I have managed to save £95.49

Karen_30

Just wanted to pop by and say hi! Wishing you lots of luck in clearing your debts. You seem super organised already :T

Jag_Babe

Oh well back to work tomorrow. My plans for this week are as follows:

Monday - Home based all day so should manage a NSD and no petrol will get used in the car.

• Complete projects for work and raise invoices done
• Complete more of the ironing pile
• Look into survey and free lotto sites done
• Enter competitions done
• Washing
• Transfer money between bank account and paypal account done
• Catch up with work phone calls done
• Ebay - Check account and list 20 items
• Sort the Tesco order and look for cheaper alternatives done
• Look into selling photographs
• Catch up with emails done
• Blog work
• Studying at least one hour on each module that needs to be covered.

I don't seem to have stopped today but not very much done by the look of things.





Tuesday - Home based this morning and out and about this afternoon will take some spare change just in case it is required.

• Update budgets done
• Complete work projects and raise invoices done
• Do survey and lotto sites done
• Studying - at least one hour on each module that needs to be covered
• Sort profile on work site done
• Blog work
• Complete more of the ironing pile done
• Hairdressers appointment (This amount is taken into account in my budget) done
• Look into new ways to make money done
• Catch up with work phone calls done
• Ebay - check account and add 20 items
• Catch up with emails done
• Gym done

Wednesday - Out and about all day today so unfortunately I will have to use the car.

• Gym done
• Complete work projects done
• Catch up with emails done
• Studying - complete at least one hour on each module that needs to be covered
• Ironing
• Blog Work
• Clean downstairs - use the products that are in the cupboard done
• Do work on writing challenge
• Revise budgets done
• Ebay - Check account and list 20 items

Thursday - Home based all day today so manage a NSD.

• Gym done
• Complete work projects done
• Washing -Hang outside if it is dry done
• Catch up on emails done
• Studying - one hour on each module that needs covered
• Blog Work
• Ebay - Check account and add 20 items
• Pack holiday gear done

Friday - Home based all day so should manage a NSD.

• Ebay - Check account and add 30 items
• Gym done
• Complete some of the ironing pile
• Blog work
• Catch up with emails done
• Complete projects for work
• Studying - complete one hour on each module that needs covered.

Saturday - Out and about today so sadly will not manage to have NSD.

• Studying at least one hour on each module that needs covered
• Gym done
• Blog work
• Writing challenge
• Ebay - check account and add 30 items
• Sort bills done
• Move money around between bank accounts and paypal done

I do not seem to have got much work completed during this week

Jag_Babe

I am back off holiday and ready to kick debt into the past. My plans for this week are as follows:

Monday – Home based all day so should manage a NSD and no petrol will get used in the car.

• Contact clients regarding work done
• Catch up with emails done
• Check online banking done
• Check pigsback account done
• Do the writing work that needs done today done
• Look into free advertising done
• Update accounts done
• Look for new work projects done
• Sort the items to be send back to the catalogue done
• Pay some of the money off my loan done
• Update my budgets and spending diary done
• Update work diary and sort list for tomorrow.
• Schedule the payment of all bills and debt -aiming to clear it asap. done
• Look into survey and free lotto sites done

Tuesday – I am mainly home based today but I will be out an about this afternoon

• Update budgets done
• Complete work projects and raise invoices done
• Catch up with emails done
• Check online banking done
• Update budgets and spending diary done
• Do the writing work that needs done today done
• Do survey and lotto sites done
• Catch up with home study course done
• Do work on my blogs done
• Complete more of the ironing pile
• Look into new ways to make money done
• Make a lists to go on ebay – take photos and add 20 items
• Go to horse riding lesson done

Wednesday – I am home based most off the day aiming for a NSD

• Catch up on emails done
• Check online banking done
• Update budgets and spending diary done
• Take mum shopping done
• Do writing work that needs done today done
• Catch up with the washing done
• Look for mystery shopping assignments done
• Do work on my blogs
• Add 20 items to ebay account
• Catch up on home study course paperwork

Thursday – I am out and about all day today – I will aim for a NSD

• Do writing work that needs done today done
• Catch up on emails done
• Check online banking done
• Update budgets and spending diary done
• Catch up on home study course work
• Do work on my blogs
• Pay the bills that need to be paid done
• Look for work projects done
• Look for mystery shopping assignments done
• Complete the mystery shopping assignments done

Friday – I am home based most of the day but out and about tonight doing temping hours aiming for a NSD

• Complete the ironing pile
• Do the writing work that needs done today
• Catch up with emails done
• Check online banking done
• Update budgets and spending diary done
• Do work on my blogs
• Add 10 items to ebay account
• Catch up with home study course work

Saturday – I am out and about this morning and home based this afternoon aiming for a NSD.

• Catch up with home study course work
• Do writing work that needs completed today
• Catch up with emails
• Check online banking
• Update budget and spending diary
• Do work on my blogs
• Clean and tidy house
• Move money between account and pay bills that need paid
• Do the hours for temping job

Sunday – I am home based all of the day and aiming for a NSD

• Sort out bills – pay anything that needs paid
• Update accounts, budgets and spending diary
• Catch up with emails
• Check online banking
• Do writing work that needs done today
• Catch up with home study course work
• Sort the paperwork that is required for college

Jag_Babe

Here is a list of my revised debts

Mastercard

Credit Limit £1500
Current Balance £1495.21
APR 28.9% p.a
Minimum Payment £37.73

Capital One

I am pleased to say that this card is now paid off and shredded. :j

Last Years Council Tax

I am pleased to say thay this has now been cleared. :j

Fashion World

Credit Limit £1000.00
Current Balance £500.00
Minimum Payment £45.00


Other Catalogues

I no longer have these so only clearing the debt

Current Balance £524.35
Minimum Payment £60.00
Personal Loan

Credit Limit £1000.00
Current Balance £696.00
APR 365.1%pa
Minimum Payment £80.00


The other monthly bills that I have are:

Rent £575
Council Tax £214.77
Petrol £120
Horse Riding Lessons (me and son) £150 (have reduced this since last month)
Food Shopping £250
Storage Unit £153
Electric £162
Gas £194
Mobile Phone £15 ( have reduced this since last month)
Car Insurance £65
Landline Phone £30

Other bills in September will be

Course Fees £1300
Other Lving Expenses (lunches etc) £100
National Insurance £100

I will aim to post something in the diary every day.

My income is about £2,000 per month