My Debt-Free-Wannabe Diary

DontDoDebtKids

DontDoDebtKids wrote:

Now I twiddle my thumbs until 16 November :mad:

I've just realised that I will have been paid again just about when this cheque will clear so I won't have to scrimp and save to pay off Egg...

DontDoDebtKids

I've had a really awful afternoon just stewing over my debts! :mad:

I've been losing my grip on spending lately and need to STOP. I purchased a new computer screen on the internet at the weekend but it won't arrive until the beginning of November so I am now more tempted to cancel the order and save myself £225. I have also been cruising eBay for new gadgets to buy but that has to stop too - I only started because I have been listing things to sell off.

What am I doing to pay them off at the moment

I've allocated half of my salary (£1150) per month towards paying off my debts, but checking with the snowball calculator that means I will finish paying them off in November 2007. I get a 10% bonus in March, however, so that will knock off about two months from this DFD, making it September 2007.

On top of that I have Quidco earnings, but these are drying up at the moment as most of the past earnings have come from Matched Betting.

More income from ebay sales, not much but still something.

I keep thinking that I should restart my matched betting. I might start a diary or perhaps incorporate it into this diary? That might motivate me.

What else? Oh yes, I've signed up to YouGov and I do some Pinecone Research things but Pinecone only send you vouchers and YouGov only pays you when you get to £50 (that's going to be a loooong time!).

Oh, and I play £1 on the lottery every weekend (with a subscription) just in case... :rotfl:

What if I reduced my spending?

I currently budget to spend £775 a month, which includes any lunches at work (not necessary) and petrol to get to and from work (necessary!).

If I could reduce my general spending to increase my debt payments then I, obviously, become debt free sooner so...

Currently = my last payment will be £32.82 in October 2007 (just over 11 months)
Increase of £50/m = last payment is £669.06 in September 2007 (11 months)
Increase of £100/m = last payment is £155.80 in September 2007 (11 months)
Increase of £150/m = last payment is £944.32 in August 2007 (10 months)
Increase of £200/m = last payment is £522.84 in August 2007 (10 months)
Increase of £250/m = last payment is £23.04 in August 2007 (just over 9 months)

What do I spend my money on?

Now I have a few weeks' worth of data, here it is in all its glory:

Week 1: Spending Summary

Going Out : £84.45
Petrol : £49.03
Lunches : £1.70
Holidays : £306.80
Misc : £2.20

Total : £444.18

Far too much spent on going out and should I really be going on holiday if I want to pay off my debts? Didn't really need to spend on lunches or "misc"

Week 2: Spending Summary

Going Out : £44.25
Petrol : £32.45
Lunches : £6.65
Misc : £15.00

Still spending too much going out and this week I spent far too much on lunches and "misc"!!!

Total : £98.35

Week 3: Spending Summary

£44.63 Petrol
£1.70 Lunches at work
£49.40 Going out (Curry & Drinks)
£5.00 Wedding Present

Total £100.73

Still nearly £50 on going out!!! Don't begrudge wedding present but could cut out lunches at work...

Week 4: Spending Summary

Lunches : £2.70
Car Rental: £39.05
Forex: £50
Food, Sweets & Magazine at airport after waiting in stupid queues at Heathrow while people asked to test their milk, take their shoes off and generally not allowed to have any luggage at all: £8.55

Total : £100.30

Mostly holiday spending here - my point about stands!

Week 5: Spending Summary

Petrol: £40.50
Lunches at work: £3.60
New Stereo for car: £20
Online Backup Service (2yrs): £47

Total: £111.10

New stereo? Online backup service? Do I actually need these things? Couldn't they have waited rather than costing me 7.9% interest?

Week 6: Spending Breakdown

Lunches & Snacks at work = £2.50
Petrol = £40.99
Ikea trip = £63.25

Total = £106.74

I K E A ????? !!!!!!

Week 7: Spending Diary

Lunches at work: £5.90
Going out (tue): £23.00
Going out (sat): £64.60
Petrol: £43.03
Snack: £0.38 (Smarties have the answer!!!)

Total: £143.85

Going out!! How much!!! £87 !!!!! And while I'm here, how much on lunches at work??? Aren't they meant to PAY YOU!!!

Week 8: Spending Diary (11/9 to 17/9)

Going out: £71.05
Lunches at work (1): £2.50
Currency Exchanged: £200
Gift (for xmas): £45

Total: £324.29

GOING OUT!!! CURRENCY!!! How much for a Christmas Present!!!?

Week 9: Spending Diary (18/9 to 24/9)

Bus to airport: £6.60
Gin at airport: £19.99
Hire car: £116 (Quidco cashback about £16) and £20 late collection fee (plane late ) = £120
Guide Book: £14.99

Total: £161.58

MORE BLEEDING HOLIDAY EXPENDITURE!!!! DO YOU WANT TO PAY OFF YOUR DEBTS!!!

Week 10: Spending Diary

£38.34 - Petrol
£2.30 - Lunches at work
£10.97 - New Golf Trolley (clubs too heavy to lug around for 18 holes)
£12.67 - 30 Golf Balls (lost my last one!)
[STRIKE]£14.99 - PC Game[/STRIKE]

Total - £79.27

I don't believe it: a new golf trolley, some golf balls, a computer game...what a WASTE OF SODDING MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Week 11: Spending Diary

Under arm spray (couldn't take mine on plane): £2.38
Car Park: £1
New Wallet: £17.50
Lunches at work: £2.30
Petrol: £37.45
New car aerial: £5.99

Total: £66.62

WHY DID YOU BUY A NEW WALLET? YOU HAVEN'T GOT ANY SODDING MONEY TO KEEP IT IN YOU FOOL! A NEW CAR AERIAL???

Week 12: Spending Diary

£6.66 Lunches at work
£23.90 Meeting friend for lunch
£23.64 Christmas Presents
£23.00 2007 Diary
£229.40 New Computer Monitor

Total £306.60

YOU HAD BETTER CANCEL THAT SODDING MONITOR ORDER NOW SONNY JIM. AND WHILE YOU'RE THERE, WHY ARE YOU TAKING PEOPLE OUT FOR LUNCH????

That's a total of £1717.19 I didn't need to have spent if I had just kept my wallet in my pocket and made lunches for myself. My debts would now be £14,381.15 instead of £16,098.34.

That's almost the balance of my Lloyds card...

EDIT: Computer Game in week 10's spending diary has been cancelled as it hadn't shipped yet.

DontDoDebtKids

Could have saved £38.51 if I made my own lunches to take to work.

Spent £747.93 on holidays in the past 10 weeks...

Spent £360.65 on going out!

DontDoDebtKids

I think I'm going to try something:

This week is already done for as I have bought some bits and useless bobs and spent on this and splurges on that...

...so...

Next Week I will only spend money on necessary expenses!!!

gallygirl

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: your comments on your spending made me laugh!!!!!! Why don't you write things in your spending diary BEFORE you buy, then get your 'other self' to pass comment?

Don't be TOO hard on yourself - you're making progress, but that IS a lot spent on going out & holidays. :rolleyes:

Snaggles

Hello! :hello:

I love reading your diary and keeping up with how you are doing - your spending diary summary really made me laugh (sorry, don't mean to laugh at your expense, but your comments were funny!).

Yes, you could have spent less, but don't be too hard on yourself, you are doing a fantastic job of clearing your debts. You are lucky in that you have an excellent salary, and also in that you don't have the 'I wont cut back because I deserve to have lots of treats because I earn a lot of money' attitude that I sometimes see on this forum, which really holds some people back.

Good luck with the debt-slaying, keep posting, I'm looking forward to the next instalment!

PS What did you decide to do about the monitor?

DontDoDebtKids

Hi everyone,

After my rant at the end of last week, I feel that at least I've vented some steam but it doesn't speed up my debt paying, so instead I will try to do something about it rather than complain!

I've decided to keep the monitor, even though it won't actually arrive until probably the 7th of November (so I've still got some time to cancel it) and my girlfriend has said that I might as well keep it because otherwise I'll keep going on about it....

Thanks for the comments everyone - I suppose my comments are a bit funny really. Possibly more harsh than anyone else could be without making my cross (because I already was!).

DontDoDebtKids

Direct Debit for Egg loan went out today, so totals are:

Debt Totals

Egg: £6464.32
Capital One: £1901.88
Lloyds: £1919.06
Amex: £5715.22

Total: £16,000.48

Soooooo close to being under 16k!

DontDoDebtKids

Spending Diary

Lunches at work: £4.56
Petrol: £40
Tickets to the ballet (Christmas): £80 :eek:
Postage (ebay): £0.79
More Christmas Presents: £4.70+£2.90=£7.60
CDs: £10 (actually my gf bought ages ago, I just paid her back this week because she remembered - oops!)

Total: £142.16

Assuming that my spending money is £775 and my mobile etc. direct debits total £42, this leaves me with £590.84 this month (which I don't want to spend all of!). I'm going to keep track of this a bit more closely as I've written the daily "remaining" figure at the top of the page of my spending diary each day!

OH YEAH: I'm NOT spending anything this week on non-essential items as a challenge!

DontDoDebtKids

Scary...

I just thought I would check when the next few debt direct debits went from my account and the next one isn't until next month!

Because I've balance transferred my Capital One balance, there isn't a direct debit for it anymore. So now all I have are Egg (soon to go too and be replaced by M&S), Lloyds and Amex.

Then I'll slowly transfer the Amex balance to the M&S card for the next 5 months (at 3.9% instead of 4.9%) while paying it off with any surplus cash...

Then there will be two!

Then I will probably knock Lloyds on the head because it will be quite quick as it's a low balance.

Then there will be ONE!!!

Then I will pay off M&S in less than 7 months at £1000 a month.

Then I'll lose my wannabe status... :A