Buddiebabe's SOA / Debt Diary

buddiebabe

Hi

Sorry i haven't replied to all you posts before now but its strange how things work out. I had decided to set aside time every day to at least catch up with the posts on here and everything else, however, i didn't manage it at all.

I've been really busy with my 2nd job working at 5am till 7am then going into my main job so when i did get any time off all i could do was sleep or collapse on the couch. It was giving me some more time off but it really wasn't worth it and i've ended up making myself ill :mad:

Im loaded with the cold and im going to the football tonight to sit in the freezing cold but i am not going to miss out on it cause its all paid for and it should be an amazing game! So i ended up taking today off as a holiday to get some rest before it and to catch up on some stuff!

Well i've paid everything that is due this month but it does mean i only have £20 to last me until i get paid on Friday from my 2nd job but i need to keep that money for my MNBA card so am gonna be struggling to get petrol and food for the next few weeks but will worry about that when it happens! Petrol is the most important so that i can get to work... i do have some food in the house so can use that just now.

I will update my totals but not until nearer the 1st November.

I've updated the snowball calculator with all the payments made and the interest and it is now showing my debt free date as December 2013 which means i should be debt free before my 36 birthday!!!! As long as i can meet the payments i should be making!

I have put the details from the snowball calcualator and put them on a spreadsheet and have printed out what the payments i need to make are from now till December 2008 to see if im being realistic about meeting them!

Things are going really well with the boyfriend... i still have a bit of a problem with his friend but we are going to meet up for a nite out to try and overcome that. He has talked about moving in and although its just been 5 months it feels like we are both ready but are going to wait for a little while first. Now if he did move in it would obviously help with the bills. I don't want him paying anything towards the mortgage or my debts cause that way it doesnt complicate anything. It would mean the house would still be 100% mine and i have spoken to him about getting an agreement drawn up to say that if things don't work out then he has no claim on the house. So it would be the case that we just split all the bills, gas, electricity, phone, internet, council tax, tv licence, house insurance and sky down the middle and then on top of that he pays money for food each week. So it will in effect half my smaller outgoings and if im good with the food budget i can maybe save some of that too!

I've not really prepared myself well for xmas this year and because of that it will be a relatively quite xmas... the boyfriend says he's quite happy to pay for nights out if we want to go out but he's done it a few times and i end up feeling really bad wasting his money and then feel like i should buy him something to say thank you... the good thing is that i've realised that a small bar of chocolate or something out of the pound shop is appreciated much more than some grand present that i just cant afford!

I've not really bothered with ebay and have about 12 boxes full of stuff and i know that if i started putting it on now then alot of it would sell in time for xmas so i really need to get back into it.... its just finding the time. I only have one days holiday left to take from my main job and i cant take any holidays from my 2nd job until next year now :mad: so its going to have to be on my night off or when i get a sunday off. I know i need to start making time for it but find it really hard to get motivated!

Hopefully my next update will include that i've listed some things on ebay..
Anyway im going to go try and get some tidying up done
Buddiebabe x

Seaxwyn

HI bb

Pleased to read your update and see that things are going well with the boyfriend. Him moving in would obviously help a lot to lower your living costs, but you must make sure he pays his fair share.

How much have you told him about your debts? If you are going to live together he would have to know, and it sounds like he's committed to you so he wouldn't run off if he learned the true picture.

buddiebabe

Hi Seaxwyn

Thanks for you comments. The boyfriend knows everything about my debts and wants to do everything he can to help but i've already explained to him that it is my mess and that i need to be the one to get out of it.... stubborn i know but i cant let him take on any of my debt or pay towards it. He respects that and he knows that i cant afford to go out all the time so he is happy to pay for nights out when we do decide to go out but is more than happy to stay in and watch tv :j

We've decided that he's going to move in on the 1st December and that he'll pay £50 a week towards the bills and money on top of that for food! He's already said that if i can reduce any of the bills then thats going to be extra money in my pocket he'll just continue to pay the £50 a week and i can use the extra for whatever i want.

I've been off work for the last 5 days but am going to go back 2moro because if i dont then i probably wouldn't go back... i've been working too much and making myself ill doing it. Today is the first day in ages that i have actually felt ok. Its not been completely wasted time off though i have managed to list some stuff on ebay and i have taken some more pictures to list more stuff... luckily my dad let me know it was a half price listing day on Thursday so i didn't spend a fortune listing stuff today... so its all photographed to do on Thurdsay nite when i get home... i would have done it on turbo lister but its not working :mad: never mind!!!

I was going through some paperwork today and my last scottish power bill was in credit so i phoned them today and they are sending me a cheque for £27.90 and have reduced my monthly payments from £24.50 to £24.00 saving me £0.50 :j not alot i know but its always extra in my pocket!!!!

I then checked my phone bill online (cause i hadn't had a bill for ages) and i was £49.00 in credit. I phoned them to see about the credit and they said they wouldn't refund it :mad: but they would just keep it to reduce my following bills.... so my payments were £26.00 a month but i said i would not pay that it as it would just increase the credit so they have now reduced them to £11.00 a month saving £15.00 :j

I phoned up Sky and have reduced my package by £2 a month and also got a £20 credit for telling them i hadn't received my sky magazine for months!!! I was looking for a bit more but he wasn't prepared to reduce the cost any further... but when the boyfriend moves in its the one thing that he will be paying for so im not all that bothered

So in total today 3 phone calls have saved me £17.50 a month :T

So as its nearly the 1st November i've decided to update my total debt now. I've not listed the overdrafts as they have now been paid off:

LOANS:

ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND £ 14811.36 now £14560.32 (58 payments of £251.04 to go)

TOTAL £14811.36 now £14560.32 :jpaid £251.04:j

CREDIT CARDS:

BARCLAYCARD £4834.91 now £4804.26 paid £30.65
MARBLES £3590.00 now £3580.00 paid £10.00
MBNA £4528.61 now £4526.24 paid £2.37
MORGAN STANLEY £1900.00 now £1880.00 paid £20.00
SKY £1500.00 now £1490.00 paid £10.00
TESCO £2140.00 now £2100.00 paid £40.00

TOTAL £18493.52 now £18380.50 :jpaid £113.02:j

TOTAL OUTSTANDING £33304.88 now £32940.82 :T total paid £364.06:T

now i know its not much but at least it has started to come down :T

I have printed off a table of what i need to pay to my credit cards to ensure that i stick to my snowball date... which has now went back up to January 2014 never mind... at least i can start my 36th year credit card and loan debt free then it will be time to start on the mortgage

Buddiebabe x

dearbarbie

well done you!!!! ive just read this diary and you're doing so well!

Seaxwyn

Well done buddiebabe!

What a nice post to read. Lots of steps in the right direction. Life will get so much easier for you now with your boyfriend contributing to the bills. I am quite sure your debt free debt will be a lot earlier than January 2014.

I hope you're feeling a bit better about his friendship with that girl as well. It is so obvious from what you write that he is committed to you.

Great news and keep posting

buddiebabe

Hey Seaxwyn

Yeah i actually felt really good when i was writing it for a change!!! Things are starting to look up.

The only thing i can see being a problem is that i need to clear so much space and clean everything before he moves in... so much to do and no time to do it :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: the story of my life!!!

The friendship issues seem to have resolved themselves.... she wants to be my new best friend... dont think im ready for it yet but will give it a try.... she is still texting all the time and phoning him and him phoning her when he's not here but only 31 days until he moves in then the phone calls late at night will stop cause i've told him that i wont be happy with her phoning when im trying to sleep... and he was fine with that he actually said she will need to realise that things will change....

Im going to try and keep posting more regularly when i can... but am not going to make any promises as i don't know if i'll be able to keep them

Hope things are going well for you... have tried to get on to read ur updates but the computers so slow at the moment and with the forum problems i'll try again when things are working properly again which i hope will be soon... i'd forgotten how much i rely on this site ... u only realise when its not there to use!!

The other good news at the moment is that i did list some stuff on ebay and at the moment i have 8 things selling totaling £34.00 with 6 days still to go and 22 items being watched... am keeping my fingers crossed

Better get to bed now going back to work 2moro even though i dont feel ready i have to otherwise i'd need a sick line and dont think the doctor would give me one.

Buddiebabe x

buddiebabe

Well i came home tonight to a letter from my royal bank credit card offering me a balance transfer rate of 5.9% until July 2008 and then it reverts to 18.3% im so glad i didn't close this account when i was going to.

Anyway i have a credit limit of £10000 on this card and i was able to transfer up to 95% of my limit but at a cost of 2%.

I phoned them up and i've transferred my Barclaycard balance £4800.00 which was previously 25.4%, my Skycard balance £1500.00 which was previously 26.5% and i've transferred £3000.00 to my MBNA card which was 23%.

i've worked out that based on the above figures if id left the balances on those cards i would pay £1537.80 in interest over the 8 months and by transferring it although my debt will increase by the 2% fee which works out at £186.00 i will only pay £373.12 in interest over the 8 months so in effect im going to be saving £978.68 in interest alone :rolleyes: thats alot of money :eek:


Once my transfers go through im going to close my Barclaycard and i cannot wait..... am so looking forward to telling them where to shove their card :j

So i've entered all the details into the snowball calculator and my debt free date is now May 2013 which saves me 8 months on my debt free date :j and its also going to be easier to make the payments as instead of 3 payments going out totalling approx £287 it will now be 2 payments totalling £250.00 which means i can still pay the extra but it will all go towards overpaying instead of interest.

I've made £75.00 on ebay in the last few days and i've another £39 worth of stuff selling and 25 items being watched so am hopeful for another £50 - £100

Am off to bed now just wanted to update with some good news.

Buddiebabe x

ZTD

buddiebabe wrote: »

Am off to bed now just wanted to update with some good news.

Buddiebabe x

Not merely good news - but excellent news. As you say £978.68 is a lot of money. Glad things are looking on the up.

Seaxwyn

Excellent news! It seems your luck has well and truly turned. I'm so glad.

I knew that debt-free date would come closer, and I'm sure you'll get there before May 2013 as well.

Good luck with the ebaying

Seaxwyn

Hi BB, are you still around? How are things going? I hope all's well with life, work, relationship etc etc. Pop on some time and let us know how you are.