Isla's "the final stretch" diary

isla_red

2 days until payday and 55p in my purse! Come oooon Friday!

isla_red

I've managed to reduce the debt down to a stable £675 and I've done my sums for this month. I found out why I struggled so much last month, there was a formula error in my Excel spreadsheet so the calculations were wrong - doh! I've fixed it now so should be on a more level footing this month.

I have accumulated 3648 Boots advantage points which gives me a nice buffer if things get tough and I should be getting a good boost of Clubcard vouchers as well this month so I'm hoping to have savings to use in Tesco / other places.

It's going to be really tight to make my December DFD but I'm leaving it there because even if the debt isn't completely cleared by then I will have made such progress this year. I currently have the least amount of debt against my name for 10 years This has been a year of making huge changes in my behaviour and "do I need it?" "can I afford it?" "will I use it?" have become my standard questions before I buy anything. I'm so much happier and I don't worry about the statements coming in each month because I know that if I follow the plan I'll stay in the black. It's still tempting to get sucked into more debt but I am really making an effort and if I can't afford it on my debit card, I don't buy it. Simple as that. Why has it taken me 10 years to learn this?!

isla_red

Before I forget today's jobs are:

- Plan lunches for the month Soup and pitta breads at the ready!
- Review my Christmas present list to see what I still need to organise 10 more to go! :j
- Raid for £1 coins for my Zumba classes (I got a fat lip from £1 last month while fishing in my Terramundi pot!) Coins to paper conversion complete!
- Do some research around upcoming flight sales
- Sort a birthday present for my Gran Still stumped!
- Set NSD target for the month (I've got a bit sloppy recently!) Target is 12 - fingers crossed!

isla_red

Much as I didn't want to do it, I had to raid my sealed pot yesterday so I can get going on the Christmas shopping. I was planning on leaving it until the end of November but I really need to get cracking. I've put some money aside and I managed to recover a fantastic £65 out of the sealed pot :j It doesn't sound like much but added to what I've saved and the Boots advantage points I have stored it makes a really healthy Christmas shopping budget. Such a difference from this time last year when I was already working out how much to put on the credit card. I've also managed to earn 650 airmiles in the last couple of months so I'm well on my way to free return trip to London or Paris just by being clever about my shopping :j

My budget is still tight and I've now planned into 2011 so it looks like I'll be on this road to being debt-free for a little while longer. Our winter fuel bills are already starting to creep up so I'm having to allow more money out of my budget for bills rather than debt as I don't want to end up owing the gas company. My credit card debt is stable *touch wood* and I have been paying lump sums towards it for the last 7 months so I don't feel too terrible about reducing the lump sum slightly in order to accommodate the higher gas bills - am I kidding myself or have I got my priorities right?

Jobs for today:

- Price comparing Christmas presents online
- Research alternative gas / electric companies to price compare
- Call dentist re: any outstanding amounts on my account

isla_red

Okay, so the good news is that since April I have managed to clear 63% of my debt. The bad news is that the last 37% is proving difficult to shift in the run up to 2011. Our house insurance renewal just came in, our gas bills have gone up and I've exhausted my budget. With a bit of fiddling I'm still optimistic about starting 2011 with 75% less debt than the same time this year but it's feeling like a slog now.

I've got Christmas covered and I'm shopping around for good house insurance deals but I'm getting tired of money being on my mind constantly and would love to slap my younger self for ever thinking that a credit card was a good solution to anything.

isla_red

Soooo...Christmas was fine and covered that okay but what I hadn't accounted for was a £376 gas / electric bill. :eek: Needless to say that's impacted on the debt somewhat but I'm still getting there. My current debt is now at £805.59 as of my credit card bill that is due to be generated today. I have £500 ready to tackle the majority of it and I'm now on a 0% so that's a saving there. I'm hopeful that my March 2011 statement will be my first £0 credit card statement in 9 years. Fingers crossed!

isla_red

A wee payment this morning so back down to £715 I did however forget my lunch today so now looking at my empty desk drawer and bank account in a slightly panicked way. I've managed to find a box of dried fruit in my bag and I have some grapes too. Fingers crossed I have enough Boots points kicking about for a £1 sandwich or something.

9 days till payday! :j

Today's jobs:

- Finish budget for February
- Call gas / electric company re: new billing system
- Don't spend any money!

isla_red

Good morning diaryland! Hope you are well this foggy morning.

It's 8 days to pay day! :j

I've finalised my budget for February and we've finally got our gas/electric onto a monthly payment system using actual meter readings. We've been generating our bills every two months but monthly will make it so much easier for us to manage and I absolutely refused to let them put us onto estimated bills. I don't know how they get away with estimated bills, when I compared their estimate to our actual bill in December they were off the mark by £130!!!

I can't make any more payments towards the debt until payday and I have £23.14 to last me until then. Fingers crossed that should be fine so it's a quiet weekend at home for me this weekend!

isla_red

7 days to payday! :j Who said countdown?!

Happy Friday diaryland! Today's challenge is to not spend more than £8 on lunch with a friend so soup of the day and a small drink for me please! I have no plans whatsoever this weekend, deliberately arranged it this way so that there is no temptation to spend money I don't have on the credit card.

I did get a letter through from Virgin Money this week saying that all purchases from selected petrol stations and supermarkets are now 0% until October 2011 which looks like a good offer for anyone who might be strugling a bit at the moment but I just don't want more debt. My dream scenario would be scrabbling together enough from ebay and amazon sales to take my debt to less than £300 by mid February. That would be an incredible feeling so I better get listing this weekend! Fingers crossed I find some hidden treasure lurking around the house that someone would like!

isla_red

Happy Tuesday diaryland! It's 3 days to payday :j

Another NSD for me, remembered to bring in both breakfast and lunch today so it's looking good for the 2nd NSD of the week. I have £11.91 left in the budget until Friday and I'm determined not to spend it so it can then go against the debt. Every penny and pound counts at this stage.