Willsmum and the debt monster

willsmum_2

Good afternoon All!

Have updated my signature as all the bills I can physically afford to pay off this month have been paid. That means I now owe (only) £16,287.10.

It had dawned on me that by the end of January I should be well under the £16k mark and I am soooo excited about it. It just feels like a weight is lifted with every £1k I can knock off the balance.

It is official! I have bought all of my Christmas presents and goodies with CASH for the first time in my whole life. I am so chuffed with myself as it means that I won't be getting any of the usual "suprises" when the credit card statement drops on the mat! :T Yay me!

Went shopping today to get the last bits in for Christmas (am going shopping with my Mum on Wednesday to get perishables). I know it isn't exactly the best value thing to do, but I used my clubcard vouchers and it meant that my weekly shop only cost me £9.99 this week! I was really pleased. Now, why can't it be like that every week???

Am thinking of maybe saving up next years tesco vouchers to spend on Airmiles. Hubby and I haven't been anywhere since 2006 (so depressing) and I am sure a short break somewhere would do us the world of good.

Have realised that if I want to hit my "£10k in 10" challenge I am going to have to pay £833 a month off my debts. There is no way I can achieve this with wages alone so I am going to have to nip over to the Up Your Income board to get some hints. Could do with pulling in about another £200 a month. Any ideas???

Had a conversation with Nationwide yesterday about my arrears and I have upped my monthly repayment (only by £25) and it means that I now only have 2 payments left after the money I paid today clears! God, I will be so chuffed to see the back of this one as at it's worst I was £3500 in arrears!! Think I should celebrate when it's gone :beer:!

Bingo Britain is going well, have won £103.20 so far although i think I may have turned my 3 year old son into bingo addict. He actually got out of bed last night and shouted at me from the top of the stairs that he wasn't going to sleep until he got to play "Wingo". Bless him, he likes it when the colours change. God knows that I am going to do when the free play runs out!

DH has been told today that he is getting a 2.5% payrise from January. I know it isn't much, but with the economic climate the way it is, i have told him that he should count himself VERY lucky.

Just a quick question, even though I am currently paying off debts, should I be considering starting a savings account for "emergencies"? For example, if the washing machine was to die, I have no contingency for it. Thoughts please!!

WM x x

coldstreamalways

We generally work on the premise that as I earn more, I pay the debts, OH is responsible for putting £100 a month into savings and £100 a month towards presents and xmas etc. That way if there is a surprise, we are covered.

willsmum_2

I am still well up for the challenge beginning in January and am quite excited (sad, but true!) I have been a very good girl (just in case Santa is reading) and I have set my diary up for 2010 so I now know everything that is going out of my account until March 2010.

I have been using a diary to monitor my direct debits for about 6 months now and it has helped me no end in being able to plan and budget for things. I really would be lost without it

I have had 3 NSD's in the last week (another one today planned) and so I am managing to get back on track with my online banking again. All of the transactions have caught up with themselves and now I know what is left in there is actually mine :j. I am quite amazed that it is Christmas and I have money left in my account, but I guess it just goes to prove the difference budgeting and saving can have on your finances. :T

Am supposed to be working from home today as I have no childcare, but my DS has a completely different idea. Even new Thomas The Tank episodes aren't doing the trick!!! :rotfl:

Speak to you all soon

WM? x x

InaPickle

willsmum wrote: »

I am still well up for the challenge beginning in January and am quite excited (sad, but true!) I have been a very good girl (just in case Santa is reading) and I have set my diary up for 2010 so I now know everything that is going out of my account until March 2010.

I have been using a diary to monitor my direct debits for about 6 months now and it has helped me no end in being able to plan and budget for things. I really would be lost without it

I have had 3 NSD's in the last week (another one today planned) and so I am managing to get back on track with my online banking again. All of the transactions have caught up with themselves and now I know what is left in there is actually mine :j. I am quite amazed that it is Christmas and I have money left in my account, but I guess it just goes to prove the difference budgeting and saving can have on your finances. :T

Am supposed to be working from home today as I have no childcare, but my DS has a completely different idea. Even new Thomas The Tank episodes aren't doing the trick!!! :rotfl:

Speak to you all soon

WM? x x

Wowzers! Well done to you for all that forward planning! :T I must admit, I would be lost without my diary, too. It's nerve central. I get a new one for roughly £10 from WHSmith every year and it seems like a lot of money to pay when I could get cheaper ones, but it's big enough to take everywhere with me and write the copious 'spent' and 'to do' lists on, as well as put my appointments and work hours in, as well as being pretty to look at, and gives a whole page to weekend days as well as weekdays (which most don't do), which are necessary to me as I work weekends a lot of the time as well. It's the best £10 I've spent each year of the past two, and my best friend is getting it me as part of my Christmas present this year, so that's even better! :T

All hail the diaries! :T And Thomas the Tank Engine (try DS on Shaun the Sheep or Timmy Time if he hasn't discovered the joys of those, yet. )

Lemon_Tree

you've done really well, if you find a way to get another £200 a month please can you let me know as i need to shave 6 mths off my dfd which is £225 extra a month and i just can't find it.
well done on getting almost to the end of your mortgage arrears, i can imagine the relief as it would scare me silly to be arrears with that.

willsmum_2

"borrowed" my diary from work - very MSE (and naughty) of me :rotfl:

jo1972

Hi WM,

You have done fantastically well, well done!

I had a similar amount of debt to yours and didn't tell my OH either, I'm not condoning it of course :rolleyes: but I did manage to clear it without him ever knowing so whatever your reasons are for keeping schtum, good luck

xx

willsmum_2

Jo - thanks for that. Good to know I am not the only one who doesn't share 'everything' with OH.

Have just sat down and gone over a few things (starting to get concerned that this is turning into a rather unhealthy addiction :eek:) just to see the sort of dent I can look forward to realistically putting into my debts in 2010.

The first thing (and to be honest, most depressing) is the fact that there is no way I will be able to shift the whole debt in 2010. I have had to sit here and come to terms with the fact that I am still going to be in debt this time next year :mad:. The good news is that it won't be anything like it is now and it looks like i might even be able to start having a life again come 2011 :rotfl:.

My two biggest debts are a virgin credit card at £3179.08 (34.9%:eek:) and my Natwest overdraft at £3322.46 (16.9%). Once I have shifted these two I will have wiped off £6501.54 off my total debt which would be nothing short of a miracle!

Am feeling quite upbeat about it all as I have worked out that I actually have more than I thought left over once all of the bills are paid to pay off debts so, as they say, every cloud!

Off to go and play with the calculator again :rotfl:!

Speak soon

WM x

tlc123_2

hi willsmum

I've haven't had chance to read your whole diary yet, just the first page.

We've "met" on the 10 in 10 challenge board, so it's been really nice to read your diary and get to know a little more about you and your circumstances. I think maybe I'll do a diary one day, so I'm not just an enigma that randomly posts!

You seem to be doing so well, you should be so proud of yourself. My OH knows we're in debt, but I have been economical with the truth in terms of exactly how much, so I know how you feel when the post comes and praying he doesn't answer the phone first. He has no idea we're double our OD limit at the moment. Even though its my own fault, its still hard to carry the burden.

Point is, we're on the road to recovery!

I will subscribe to your diary (if I can work out how) and look forward to keeping in touch reading your diary and seeing your progress on the 10 in 10 challenge! (I have £40 so far!)
T xx

willsmum_2

Right, I am seriously considering medical help for this obsession with blasting my debts which I seem to have developed.

I have been working things out (again) and I think I am more excited about starting this challenge in January (apart from Xmas, of course!) :j

I am at home with DS today who is running around as excited as can be (he is only three, but sounds like he is 33 sometimes!)

So, been number crunching again today and I am pleased to report that as long as I don't do anything stupid (like spend money). I will have about £800 to pay off my debts in January. Now to me that sounds like an enormous amount of money, but the sad fact of the matter is that really only puts a little dent into the whole amount. About 5% I think of the total debt, but it is 5% in the right direction so I am really pleased and think it will be a wonderful start and motivator for 2010. :j

I love Christmas infact, I love it that much that I am one of those people who will not sleep tonight with the excitement of it all. I am worse than the kids, but just can't help it.

Planning on spending tomorrow with M & D so they are buying everything and cooking everything - very MSE :money:. Maybe not for them, but definitely for me!

Everything is more or less done for the big day tomorrow, just a couple more presents to wrap.

Well, Merry Christmas everyone, and I will speak to you all soon.

WM x x