Gotta get Debt Free

Pinky15

Good to see you back Knitty and Happy New Year.
Well done on your figures you have cleared loads and sound very motivated! x

Knitty78

It seems every new year I come back on here.

I am pleased to say that I have reduced my debts down to £9930.06 and I'm hoping that 2011 might be the year I finally clear them. Although, we are again living on my salary until OH gets another job (seems to be another new year tradition).

I'm going to try and come on here a bit more often, although I made great strides last year this was done via ebay and mobile phone selling and I've not much more that can be done this way.

This year I would like to rein in my unneccessary spend and I think coming on here and keeping my diary I am more likely to stay on track.

Knitty78

A fairly uneventful weekend, grocery shopping slightly more than I expected, I think I might go back to doing it online as I was spending less then, even with delivery charges.

Unfortunately an unplanned spend today as I was meant to be taken out for lunch but it was cancelled at the last minute so I went to buy soup (reduced luckily!) so £1.50 spent.

Payday today, but I'm also waiting for two extra payments to come through for a sold mobile phone and a bank transfer. I'm hoping to clear my overdraft this month when that money comes through (might be tough but it's an expensive overdraft).

Still no news on a job for OH.

Knitty78

No more spends yesterday, the money I was waiting on has all come through today so ebay fees and my cashback credit card cleared (luckily I only put one thing on that out of desperation for food!) as well as my overdraft :j. I now know how much I have left for spends once I pay my overdraft fees for the month (no point in going overdrawn again as I'm with the Halifax (£1 per day) so I've cancelled the overdraft) and I'm hoping for a small amount to put towards my Egg card if I can but if not this month then next.

I've decided I'm going to update my totals in my signature on the 24th of each month as that is payday and will reflect total payments made for the previous period.

On top of all this, we have a holiday in Devon booked for April which we have paid for but need to save up for petrol and spending money whilst we are away. Luckily I have a bonus coming through in March so hopefully this can go some way towards funding that (and maybe even put some more towards debts as well?). We have a £1 bottle at home which we use for holidays so I shall continue with this (I rarely put coins in, it's mostly OH that does this) and that again will go towards those costs. Luckily it's self catering so most meals we can do ourselves cheaply, although we will want some treats.

So, a busy few months ahead, I might see if there are any free listing days coming up on eBay and go through my cupboard to make a few extra £s, I'm sure there are some things in there I can sell.

Knitty78

So yesterday was more expensive than I anticipated with spends of £16.88 which means I have £282.90 to last me until 24th February. All bills paid but petrol/food/entertainment for two people needs to come out of this and the next week or so is a busy one with dinner out tonight, Friday, Saturday (and lunch as well) and out 2nd February. Discounts can be used for all the dinners and lunch is already prepaid - just bad timing with birthdays (of people that don't know each other!) happening all at once. Luckily we have very full store cupboards/freezer so we should be ok.

OH has a job interview today (that I am waiting for him to come out of and call me) so fingers crossed something comes from that!

Knitty78

Argh! Last night ended up costing more than I hoped and I forgot about a direct debit due to come out (now added to speadsheet!). If I can make it through the weekend without totally emptying my account we'll be ok. Money left down to 247.20.

shy2011

Hi Knitty
Thought i would pop across after your kind words on my diary.
Wow what a read you have come so far in your debt free journey. Im really impressed and inspired. How did your OH get on at the job interview?
I currently dont really give myself entertainment money which i think i should do as it really gets me down. But i want to throw everything at the debts :-)
Shy x

Knitty78

I try to allow myself some me spends as I couldn't stick to it if I didn't. We haven't yet heard about the job interview, we were told yesterday but as the job starts on Monday I can only assume we will hear today or he didn't get it.

Spent money on groceries and a magazine yesterday. Money left = £233.41. I must go and look for some vouchers for dinner tonight! Tomorrow is my last 'big' spends day of the month as we have a friends birthday to attend, luckily she has a discount for the dinner and the lunch we are going to is prepaid for food so we just need to be careful with the drinks.

Sunday I will asses how much money we have left and meal plan so we can make the most of it.

Knitty78

Some good news - He got the job and for more money! He starts on Monday but we don't know if it's weekly or monthly pay yet so we're going to have to be careful still with my cash till we know.

Knitty78

It's weekly pay so only 2 weeks and then hopefully I'll have some more money for debts! I've managed to overpay some this morning on my Egg card (quite a lot actually) due to snowballing and missing a direct debit that had already come out (I double checked before making the payment) so it's all coming down at a good rate.

Money left for month = £230.46