An Attempt To Be Cunning...

Foxington

Just done my weekly balance on accounts and thanks to some interest on credit card payments and a few purchases made on cards that I wish I hadn't done, my total debt has increased by £59.10

Must try harder not to use credit cards at all from now, feel so bad that I used them! Ringing work today about a possibile return, also going to make a list of things to do next week... Any suggestions?

honeybear_2

Hi Foxington

Congratulations on all the progress you've made so far :T

My big suggestion for you would be to hide the credit cards or at least leave them at home somewhere safe. If they're not with you when you're shopping then you can't use them. Also, having to go home for a card if you do want something extra will give you some valuable thinking time as to whether the purchase is really necessary

A spending diary is also useful to help you keep track of what you're spending & what you could cut down on

Lemon_Tree

hiding cards is good, especially if you put them in 'that' safe place, cos when you go to find them you'll never find them lol well in our house anyway.
is there any chance of being able to take back what you bought which has made you feel so guilty?
suggestions for next week? try challenging yourself to cash only, or having no spend days if you don't already do so.
and definitely a spending diary helps stops lots of impromptue spending sprees.

EssexHebridean

Hi Foxington (You just KNOW you're going to get shortened to "Foxy" don't you?!) and welcome to diary land!

You need to remember that feeling of guilt re the credit card spend - however, although it might be a useful tol to stop yourself doing the same thing again, what is done, is done, so no point beating yourself up about it now. How about instead trying to work out a way of making back that £10? Have a look around the boards here for the various ways that people increase their income without actually taking on additional paid employment - how about writing reviews, or buying through a cashback site for stuff you would have bought anyway? There are also surveys, competitions....all sorts of ideas.

The safest place for a credit card you do not want to use is cut into tiny, tiny pieces and put in the bin. If you absolutely MUST keep one "just in case" then remove it from your wallet, place into a bowl, fill the bowl with water and put into the freezer. You still have the card, but won't be using it just on a whim, that's for sure!

Check your SOA again as I think at the moment the figures are being distorted by those annual figures you have in the middle. Just because you pay something annually, remember that you still need to budget for it right across the year, so divide those yearly costs by 12, then you know how much cash you need to set aside each month to make sure that the money to pay them is there when needed. Sounds so obvious, but it's the little things like that which have tripped most of us up at some stage. Check your car maintenance figures too - you don't seem to be allowing much for servicing etc yet you're obviously do fair few miles between you? We put aside £150 a month for our two cars depreciation & maintenance - that's for a 2 year old Clio and a 6 year old C3, allowing for the fact that mine will needs its first MoT next November, cheapo tax on both as both small engined diesels, and accounts for ALL the "foreseeable" stuff - tyres, tax, insurance, breakdown etc.

One thing that sets alarm bells ringing - you have nothing in your SOA for contents insurance? I hope that this is because you pay contents and buildings together - if not you really must get this sorted!

You seem really organised and focused - good luck with your plans!

Foxington

honeybear - Thank you

Lemon Tree - Unfortunately can't return the stuff I bought

EssexHebridean - Thank you and wondered how long before the Foxy thing would start! Lol! The contents and building insurance are together, will update my SOA to be a bit better. Loving the idea of freezing my credit card in a bowl of water!!!!!

Ok, so going on all your advice this week I'm going to:

• Have a NSD all week - Only buying essentials like bread and milk
• Hide my credit cards and not use them again
• Start a spending diary
• Update my SOA to be more accurate
• Try and make back the money I spent on my credit card

Thank you for all your advice and words of encouragement :beer:

EssexHebridean

Something I did when I started on my MSE ways last year was to evaluate the way I shopped and then used the food I'd bought. I realised that I had a tendancy to pop into Tesco just for milk or something, and end up buying extras which honestly weren't needed and sometimes even went to waste. I also found another trigger for me was going in without a list - firstly it tended to mean I forgot things (leading to the aforementioned odd mid-week trips) and secondly it meant I impulse bought. Now, I write a list and pretty much stick to it, and 9 weeks out of 10 I only go in to shop once a week. I may get slightly less benefit off the reduced counter now because of going in less often, but I do still make use of the vouchers that get sent occasionally (£4 off a £40 spend for example) and also use the 5p off petrol on a £50 spend promotions to save a bit extra and stock up on stuff. Trying to make sure you don't waste stuff by meal planning etc is also a good skill and can save a lot.

EssexHebridean

How's things going Foxy?

Foxington

Hi EssexHebridean Had a bit of a bad week health wise so not been posting or doing as much as I should/wanted to...! The good news is that my debt has decreased by £149.15, may go up again when they take some interest on the card payments back but feeling very good about that at the minute!

Some excellent advice there EssexHebridean, thank you Will sit down with the missus this week and make a meal list. We have started using a shopping list, still have the odd thing that we don't need but we are getting better. Our shopping bills are gradually coming down, especially as we invite ourselves to other peoples houses for dinner when we can get away with it!!!

On the to-do list front, the NSD didn't quite go to plan as my better half did the Christmas shopping last week - But she did an excellent job and kept the costs right down :T Haven't spent anything on the credit cards at all, have started a spending diary using MS Money which also is giving me a better idea of what the SOA should be like (An updated one coming soon...)

Hopefully going to have a better week this week and get some more stuff done :beer:

Foxington

Cancelled the TSB Platinum today which is saving us £17 a month! Had to wade my way through trying to be sold the Gold account and adding more money to my loan but finally got there! :j

My wife also got a Natwest credit card to transfer her balance to from the Barclay's card that the 0% offer finishes on next month, she's more sorted than I am! Lol! :rotfl:

Got me thinking, she'll have about £1500 spare on that card after transferring her balance... Would it be a good idea to transfer as much as I can from my Tesco card to her Natwest card and then transferring some of the balance from my TSB card to the Tesco card which would reduce the interest rate for about half of the balance on the TSB card at the minute?

Foxington

Just edited my SOA in the first posting to be a little more accurate... The debt balances and payments are as they were on the 30th of October, seems we have a £188.79 shortfall each month! :eek:

Just done my weekly roundup and our debt has dropped by £189.41 and brought the DFD to July 2017!! :j Not a huge gain in the grand scheme of things, but it does make me feel good to get under the £26000 mark :beer: