A Fool and Her Money- CAFCGIRL's Debt Diary

CAFCGirl

How about my quidco expert?

Or my hair cut expert?

Or my miscellaneous expert?

ZTD

CAFCGirl wrote:

ok I'm beginning to understand the importance of a spending diary

CAFCGirl wrote:

Oh I dont know where everything is, what everything is and why I spend money on everything else.

But you will! And then you'll be a DFW stormtrooper....

CAFCGirl wrote:

See I told you it hurt!

But soon it won't, because you'll be in control and kicking debt right where it hurts.

Ok confession time - this is the first stormtrooper picture that popped up...

Imelda

Hi CAFC girl

I too struggled with my "additional spending" my budget looked very pretty but I never stuck to it. Now I give myself pocket money (whatever you decide it to be, seeing as you have about £90 over why not give yourself £40) and then I put the rest into a savings account. Then if it is still there at the end of the month use it to pay off your debts (and only use it if you REALLY have to, put it into a savings account which takes 3 days to transfer on the internet and destroy the cash card). It's nice to know it's there if necessary.

CAFCGirl

Hi Imelda.

Thanks for the tip!
I think I'm just getting worked up because my pay is going to be really low next month so I want to keep as much money as possible spare this month to help with the next one, although I'm really not sure I'm going to be able to do it.............

Have had a couple of thoughts about consolidation loans but dont want to jump into anything too quickly. I know you shouldn't borrow more to cover debts but I'm struggling with making any impact when they are spread everywhere!

But its going to take a lot of research before I decide on anything on that front.

Ideally I want everything in one place, with the freedom to overpay and with no early settlement penalties, with payments of about £200 a month, standard, thats about what I'm paying out right now with just covering the minimums on everything. I think I'm going to look into it and see if it'll make any sense and use the snowball to calculate what will happen in terms of interest on all of the above!

Phew............... my head really does hurt now

PeachPickle

ZTD wrote:

I don't think I can overstress the importance of a spend diary. :rotfl:

But you're certainly going to try to :rotfl:

CAFCGirl wrote:

How about my quidco expert?

Or my hair cut expert?

Or my miscellaneous expert?

I've given this some thought, and I think I'll be your General Expert. Both all-knowing and military :rotfl: It's a good job you don't wear glasses/contacts (that you've mentioned) I'd probably be offering to become your stealing-from-work-expert

Do you use pisgback at all? I've been on it a month and I've earned 2x £10 Boots vouchers so far without spending extra on anything I wouldn't have bought anyway. I figure I can either use my vouchers to stock up on toiletries etc on BOGOFS or save them for birthday/christmas gift buying

How much more food do you buy than you actually need? I think you should try and run a meal planner alongside your spending diary, be superorganised

By the way, is your mobile contract/payg? If it's not payg on O2 have a look on their site and see if you think it'd be cheaper - if it is I have an unused sim card they sent me randomly that you can have

Working_Mum

Hi CAFC Girl,
I hope I am posting this correctly - first time I have ever posted a messge.

Last November I had to pull in our belts financially - hubby had major fall out with employers and we were staring into the abyss. Some things I did which you may find ehlpful:-

I froze our credit cards in water in the freezer.
Set up standing orders for all of our cards - set figure eats into the debt quicker and you don not get whacked with additional charges
Sorted out our old mobiles and recycled them for money at envirophone.co.uk
Started to shop at Aldi and Lidl - for everything. Saves loads and good quality for almost everything.
Never wnet shopping hungry and without a list.
Used my freezer - made loads of spag bol sauce/lasagne/chilli and defrosted as required (not tempted to order an expensive take away).
Made up a week's worth of snadwiches/packed lunches for my familya nd put them in the fridge ready for collectione ach morning.
Cut coupons
Downgraded almost all of my beauty products (my skin is radiant) - must eb all of the water I now drink!
Cleared out my food cupboards and used all ingredients - I was such a hoarder previously.
Changed my mobile phone tarrif. - saved me £50 per month.
Sorted out and repaired old clothes and Ebay/car booted them.
Kept our Bank Manager informed.
Gave myself a little treat occassionally- a magazine or something becomes really valuable!
Celebrated our successes - it can be bleak sometimes but you have to give credit where it is due and look back and see what ground you have covered.

Do not give up!

Good luck,

Working Mum!

bella20_2

things will be fine i'm sure!! I've had more problems at work ended up walking out I was told how to do something wrong by my manager and now shes turned it round to make it look like my fault, i'm so upset. I was took in a room and just made to feel so small, it ended up i couldnt get my breath and my arms and hands went all tingly i felt awful, i think will have to go doctors see if can get a sick note while i try to find another job quickly!!!!

sorry to hijack your thread, just wanted to let you know your not on your own, i should be moving house in a week or so, so should have some money from the sale to cover my bills for a month or so!!

Anyway thinking positively got to find a new job asap wish me luck!!!!!

ZTD

PeachPickle wrote:

But you're certainly going to try to :rotfl:

Nothing succeeds like excess! Besides, I had a range of smilies to try out... :rotfl:

PeachPickle wrote:

I've given this some thought, and I think I'll be your General Expert. Both all-knowing and military :rotfl:

PeachPickle, CAFCGirl and some plastic explosive - a team to be feared... :T

CAFCGirl

My oh my so many peeps to reply too!

Firstly!
Peaches - Many thanks on all things general and military Erm I dont buy much food that doesnt get used really. Am going to be living off the cupboard contents for the foreseeable!
As for Pigsback, I dont really use it, mainly because I dont really buy anything online. I've got most things apart from deodorant in abundance!
However meal planner would be a super organised thing to do. Will no doubt list what I've got and see what joys we can all come up with


Welcome to Working Mum, I feel very privileged my sad sorry tale was the site of your first posting, I feel kinda special now
Excellent ideas by the way, am thinking about the credit card one!Aldi is opening in my town in september so that'll be in walking distance, just have to go past tesco's to get there, but I will!!!
Lidl nowhere near me unfortunately!
As I've said before the food thing should be relatively ok, hopefully my darling mum will visit me soon and stock me up!

OOOOOOOOh and what to treat myself with, apart from the wonderful company of all those on the boards............ I do like a good magazine or some crispy chilli beef from tesco £2.69 or is that too expensive for a treat? How often do I get this treat? lol I'm like a kid in a sweet shop....... mmmmmmmm sweets..........?

Bella - Sorry to hear things have hit the fan for you hun. Can you contact your HR department and have a word. It's not fair that you take all the blame. Have you now quit completely? Super super good luck on finding a new job though And especially one that you're really gonna like and wont have an evil boss anymore And good luck with the move too

And for ZTD, I dont really know what to say..................
Now about these explosives...................

CAFCGirl

I would also just like to add that I had my disciplinary meeting today........... and I got a verbal warning!

Lowest possible disciplinary action they can take

super super