Missy's must get rid of this debt diary!!

missymoo81

Right I've just had my LBM crikey it's been a long time coming.

A little about me (goodness I feel Like I'm on blind date!!) I';m 28 and have just moved in with my other half, I have started a new job which unfortunately I hate but can’t leave for a year due to my contract (military). I also have to travel an hour every day to get there each way!!! Which is pretty rubbish.

Anyway am rambling.... what else...... oh yeah Me and my wonderful other half are getting married next march (in the Maldives, as if I could forget, so need to save up a fortune!!!) and want to start a family asap, which would mean me leaving my job (oh dear!!!!;)) and going part time somewhere, so we’d take a substantial cut in income.

But the debt..... here comes the bad bit....I know I don't have a lot of debt compared to some others, and after ready so many DFW diaries I can really appreciate how well people are doing. My debt stands at £3964, it's weighing me down like I don't know what. It's a cahoot loan so you can take money in and out as you please, which has been my major down fall. I have had the loan for about 5 years, and haven't really paid anything off it, it was only for £4000 to start with. oooh all that wasted money, it makes me feel sick. The loan just has to go before I even start thinking of saving any money for a baby. The other tricky thing is my other half doesn't know I have the loan..... he is so very good with money and I am not, I want to pay it off before he needs to know, not that he'd mind all that much I suppose it's just a pride thing.

I'm not going to put an SOA if you don't mind as it is rather complicated as I have things going out left right and centre, and I have cut down to the bare minimum everything I can. I just need some encourgement along the way to push me in the right direction.

I do have a plan of action though, I am going to put every spare penny onto paying the loan off. Which means massively scrimping else where. My OH works away every other month so when he's away it's easy when he's home it's not so easy.

Rules of the game are:
No and I mean absolutely No buying any clothes at all!!
No sweets magazines or chocolate!
Drive as economically as I possibly can
Take a packed lunch at that's all!
Take my own tea to work so don't pay their v expensive prices
Driving as economically as I possibly can so that my petrol money goes further
Cook most meals from scratch at home instead of going out (might be difficult to persuade OH on this one, might have to gently persuade him!!)


Hmmmm...... can't really think of anything else at the moment, any indeas or encouragement would be so very gratefully appreciated.

hmmmm think I might join the 100 day challenge.... oooh and the payment a day!! :j Start as I mean to go on and all that .

Speak soon

Missy x

missymoo81

Hmmm just noticed there should have been a comma in the title somewhere.... oh well too late now.... goodness I feel even worse now that I've put it down in writing. I feel so stupid I've let it go on for so long :huh:

I need to cancel my gym membership, Ill do that tomorrow. Oh and I have a dress I don't want or need for that matter that I can take back tomorrow and get my money back it was only £16 from tesco, but as they say, every little helps.

Need to get super organised to, so that I can take lunch in to work with me rather than buying stuff and so that I can drive more sensibly. I definitely need to try and down brand on the shopping but not sure how OH will take to it.

Well I don't need to buy shampoo for a long time as I did the usual and bought tons when on Buy one get one free.... I do need some showergel though..... cheapest and best... any ideas??

Right I'm going to do some sums on my debt and how soon I can pay it off and post it!

missymoo81

oh dear have fallen at the first hurdle will someone be so very kind as to move my diary to debt free diaries, as I seem to have put it in the wron place. Thank you! x

Katy83

Hi Missy,

Well done on taking the first step - it's that one that is always the hardest.

In terms of an soa, even for your own benefit I would suggest first play about with the snowball calculator to see how quickly you can pay your debt off and then tweak your soa to make cutbacks to see how you can achieve the maximum possible payback each month.

I'm sure it is hard with your OH being away every other month...

Shower gel, morrisons own is lovely - costs about 70p-ish for a huge bottle! Also, make sure you use a puff because it goes miles further.

Good luck xx

Aniya

Hi Missy,

Just wanted to say Congrats on your Lightbulb Moment, I only had mine last week too so yay for us! :j

It sounds like you have just the right ideas for cutting back and I'm sure you can reduce that loan in no time by sticking to your plan - very doable for you to be debt free very soon :T

I've subscribed to your diary here and I'll keep popping in to see how you're doing - good luck to you x

LeeSouthEast

hehehe welcome to Diary-Land. Almost!

Consider reading Martin's survey guide. I've made an extra £12 raw cash this month, and won £10 in vouchers (chose to redeem at Amazon, but could have done Tesco, Iceland, ASDA.. anything useful really!).Sure that's "only" £22, but for the hour of work it took? Nicely paid.

Keep that up for a year it hits £264, or 6.6% of your outstanding loan!

Loads of other generation ideas around and ways to save (batch cooking etc).

Good luck!

BEAT_THE_DEBT

welcome having a diary really helps. You sound focused. Keep a spending diary its invaluble and you will soon enjoy not spending more than spending!:T

missymoo81

Hello there,

Thank you so much for popping by.

Katy 83 - thank you so much for the tip on Morrisons showergel, I shall be heading there at the weekend....ooooh and I forgot about my puff, will dig it out!!!

Aniya - definitely yay us, I'm still feeling rather like a rabbit in headlights at the moment, but I'm sure that feelling will pass.... I hope!!!

Leesoutheast - hmmmm I don't know much about surveys etc, I might have a look into it, although I'm out of the house from 0630 - 1830 so I don't seem to have very much time. ooooh yes batch cooking, what a great idea, and menu planning too I have a feeling I'm going to be very busy in the kitchen!

Thanks so much for reading it makes me feel a little better, I have some lovely people to help me along the way.

missymoo81

oh crikey I think I'm going to have to write these tips down, now a spending diary, thanks beat the debt, that is definitely what I need.

I am so used to just going out and buying whatever I feel like, sweets and clothes etc. Now I'm really going cold turkey!!!!! eeeek still scary, put the Next Directory down!! aaaaahhhhhhh

missymoo81

hmmmm...:think: just had a look at my direct debits, and my insurance and phone acontracts aren't up unitl april next year so there isn't anything I can do about those. Gym as I said I'm going to cancel although I have to give three months notice (rubbish!!!) So nothing budging on there.

OMG:eek: - I have just put my loan on to the repayment calculator and if I carry on paying the £125 per month against my loan it will take 47 months to pay it off at £1863 interest!!!!!!! My goodness I need to get this down now!!!!

sortingitout1980

Hi Missy,

I too have just joined and started a diary, today is my first day.

We have almost exactly the same amount of debt although mine is on credit cards and like you my husband has no idea and i can't tell him. I shall subscribe to your thread to see how you get on.

Good luck, we can definitely do this.