Bugbabes Debt Free Diary

bugbabe1970

Hi all

Been posting now for about a week and have been really inspired by you all. I am so amazed that so many of you have become debt free and the lengths you have gone to to get there.

Im still taking baby steps so i thought i would post here every time i did something positive about clearing my debts, every time i have a slip up and just generally just try and keep myself motivated towards a debt free life.

I want to experience a debt free life too!!!

A little history!

39 years old, married with 3 children aged 15, 12 and 8. Both my OH and I work full time and I am also doing a degree. Im paying my debts every month but am always left with no spare money at all. We have no savings. The fact of the matter is we are both terrible with money and budgeting because we should have enough money left each month to save and not just pay the minimum amount on my cc

Debt

17k in personal loans. Will be paid in 4and a half years
2k owed to tax credits
1k on catalogues
2,500k on credit cards

Goal

pay off cc, catalogue and tax credits asap then sort out the loans

Baby steps!!!

Getting as much advice and reading as many post on here as possible to help and encourage me
Yesterday I gave my husband my 3 credit cards and he cut them up and we threw them away!!!:j Really pleased with myself!
Got an application form for a casual job. Only a couple of hours on a Sat morn but will give us an extra £120 per month to pay debts
Took some XBOX games back to Game Station that the boys dont play and got £28 for them towards Xmas
Turned the heating and water down, and constantly nag everyone to turn the lights off!!
Told the kids no more spending!!! They have to save their pocket money if they want anything

Not a bad start Going to do my shopping on-line for ASDA now and stick to £80 for the week as a starting point!
then im going ti look on Amazon to see how i go about selling the mountain of books we have at home

thank you all for you continued support and any advice is more than welcome:A

Lemon_Tree

hi and welcome to the boards, well done for starting a diary i've never been brave enough. You're making great progress what debt busting plans etc have you come up with?

bugbabe1970

Haven't written for a few days been really busy with work/college/kids.

So lets see!!

Still running around turning the lights off after everyone.
Did a £80 online food shop in Asda on Sat and going to wait until we have completely run out until i buy more. Usually top up the food but not doing that any more
Left my bank cards at home when going to work and college so i cant spend anything
spent £40 revamping a laptop i had given me 2 years ago and never used. It is now internet ready and virus free so can take the laptop request off the kids xmas list.

Had a bit of luck yesterday. Been helping my dad out a lot lately because he is not very well, he gave me £250 to say thankyou. So i put £100 in savings, £100 off credit card and £50 in the pot for petrol etc.

So all in all not a bad week! Oh and my daughter has been nagging me to take her to see "A Christmas Carol" so agreed to take her at the weekend but she brought a letter home from school yesterday to say they are going next week so that saves me at least another £10

Thx all for continuing to inspire me x

bugbabe1970

Started xmas shopping last week and spent loads of time searching for the best deals do managed to save quite a bit by shopping at Amazon and on ebay.

My mobile contract with Orange came to and end so managed to haggle a really good deal. Got a fab new phone and got my bill down from £35 a month to £15. Going to put the excess £20 in savings every month.

Havent used my credit cards or catalogue for any xmas shopping so far, all paid in cash, so really proud of myself.

Cut down on food shopping by £100 last month, a good start, used that towards xmas shopping

Bought the dogs value dog food!!! They hate me lol

x x

lovescats

Hi and welcome to the boards,

I've just started a diary aswell so I'm here to show my support.

I can sympathise with you working and going to college, same here! No kids though. Just cats!

Well done for taking the xbox games back and getting some money toward christmas, can be a tough time especially.
Also well done for haggling with orange, gives you a real sense of achievement doesn't it?

Anyway, keep up the good work.

Lovescats.

bugbabe1970

GRRRRRR!!! Just wrote a really long post and my computer crashed!! Not a happy bunny!!

Lets try again. Didnt realise it was so long since i have posted but had a pretty rough couple of months. 2 days after my last diary entry my dad passed away. It was very sudden and has left me heart broken. I am trying to get my life back to normal and taking things a day at a time. some days are good and other days, it just hits me that hes gone.

So my light buld is still glowing and am pleased to report that Im still being inspired by you all to get shot of my debts asap.

My dad left me some money so have used some of it towards paying some of mu debts. Wasnt sure about this at first but im sure my dad would be pleased that I am getting my finances sorted. He always worried about me struggling fo money.

Paid of BOS C/C £450
Paid off Next directory £700
Paid £200 of Capital one C/C

So I owe the catalogue £350 and Capital One £250. Also owe MBNA £1800. Have saved 2 months child benefit which comes to about£360 so will pay the catalogue this month. Hope to pay off Capital one in the next two months.

Going to look into making overpayments on my 2 loans then. I think I am going about this the right way, but any davice would be more than welcom!

Another bonus, my DH had given up smoking, which I am thrilled about. It is saving us around £130 a month:eek:. So that going in a sealed pot. I want it to go towards paying the loans but, Im 40 in April and my DH wants to use the money to treat me for my birthday, so who am I to argue eh? He thinks i deserve to have a treat after everything I have been through over the last couple of moths, so as we are not struggling for money at the moment I think I will accept!

Just a breif history if anyone is interested

Married for 16 years
3 lovely kids aged 15, 13 and 9
Work full time in a residential special school bring home about £1350 a month
Husband is a teacher, currently earns £1850 a month.
Currently on the 2nd year of a degree course.

My husband and I both have good jobs now, but it hasnt always been like that. We have really struggled in the past as my husband had to finnish work because of a bad back and didnt work for 2 years. He went back to college when my youmgest child was 1 years old to retrain as a teacher. It was reall a struggle and at times we didnt have any more for food and nappies (my mum and dad were angels and really helped out). But a couple of years down the line, he was lucky enough to get a permanant teaching job 20 mins walk from home:T and we are getting ourselves and our finances sorted!!

Im really going to try and post more often. I feel like a weight is being lifted from my shoulders after facing our debt and getting it under control.

Thanks to all who continue to inspire me and thanks to those who have responded to my diary. Really apreciate it.

Blimey!! What long post. Sorry

bugbabe1970

Im thinking of putting some things on ebay.
How difficult can it be??
Will have a look into it this weekend I think.

bugbabe1970

Lovely day here in South Wales. Just took the dogs out for an hour and it was lovely. Trouble is when I got home I was starving. Resisted the biscuits and ate a cold potato instead!

Got 2 more assignments to finish for uni then that's the end of my second year. I WILL start some reading 2morro! Not a pleasant subject though. Child protection and where its gone wrong etc etc! Got to look into some of the child abuse cases of the last 40, 50 years and why we are still failing to protect our children!

No spend day so far today. Got petrol in the car, will have tea provided at work so am going to leave my purse at home. Wont be able to spend on the way home 2morro then either.

Happy day today. My dad would have loved it out in the sun in the greenhouse today. Hope hes pottering about wherever he is x x x x

blue-bells_2

Hi bugbabe,

Just came across your diary and wanted to say hello. Really sorry about your dad I bet he would have been really pleased that you used some of the money he left you to pay off some debt, a great step in the right direction.

Good luck with selling on ebay- I haven't done it myself but must look into it!

Take care and I look forward to following your journey *subscribes*

blue-bells xx