My SOA- feel free to rip apart..

kaz0705

Hi,

I wasn't sure whether to post again on here but thought i'd do a mini-update as I've now done 2 months on my snowball calculator repayment plan and feeling pretty good about it!

As I posted previously, I had a 'free' (ha!) trip to NY last week which was going to be a big challenge. As it was, I took all that I could 'afford' (in the loosest sense of the word!) and stuck almost entirely to it. The only concession was my friend lending me a bit so I could buy something for my sister's pending 30th birthday. I got paid whilst we were away so figured it could come out of that and I'd repay her- which is exactly what happened!

So, even though its left me with £46 for the rest of the month, I managed to repay my friend, have NY spending money AND meet my suggested overpayments. Which I'm quite proud of!

However, between last payday and heading to NY (27th - 17th Jan- well, almost heading to NY, I got slack a few days before i went), I made a very clear discovery of where my money's going. I think it's obvious that if I want to clear my debts faster than the snowball calculator says (end of 2011), then I should probably stop going out so much!

Anyway, I have become obsessed with checking on here and doing topcashback (now on £90!) and am so excited about the fact my creditcards are actually coming down now.

In fact, probably the thing that I'm most pleased about is that I used my card to pay for joint car hire for a (pre LB booked) holiday with my friends (I offered so i could get cashback). I paid all the money back off them straight off the card (would normally have just spent it) AND paid off my 1/5 of it too! In the past I would definitely have just 'written' off the £23 and spent it, especially as I'm now on a tight budget, but instead I made sure I paid it off.

WHOOP! Here's to new habits!

:-)

RAS

Hi

It is amazing how once you start to hit the debts, they come tumbling down.

Well done for the cheap NY holiday. Thought about trying to write a piece about it and tout it about to a magazine or two?

kaz0705

Not at all but I have a freelance journalist friend who's always trying to get us to do stories... Excellent idea!

Have to say, it wasn't the most fun as I could only window shop which, considering most go *purely* to shop, was a bit of a nightmare. Thank good for the 20'' of snow! Meant a day in Central Park was basically essential!

gonzo127

silly thing as i know it was way back when you mentioned this, when shopping at Asda (if you are doing this) have you been checking for e vouchers, Asda do ALOT of free delivery e vouchers or save £5 when you spend over £50 sort of things

kaz0705

gonzo, yep! I'm on it! got one through but need to check out when the cut off date is as trying not to order food again for a little while!

Not quite as attractive as the free bottle of wine voucher Ocado did but sadly the more sensible MS option!

DCFC79

How are you managing kaz with it,

edit just read post 35 and some others and you seem to be doing pretty well