Isla's "the final stretch" diary

isla_red

Yay for an early pay day! :j Our pay went in a day early and not a moment too soon.

I've made a payment to the debt so I'm now at my lowest debt amount in years! I'm SO excited. Just need to keep sticking to the plans to get rid of the remaining £425. The budget for February is all drawn up and I'm just having as many NSDs as I can to get rid of this last lot. Fingers crossed.

isla_red

Good morning diaryland!

Today's lunch is a fab packed lunch of sandwiches, quavers and some raisins. Kind of healthy? Maybe not but at least it's cheap lol. A friend has finally paid back an outstanding debt to me so I'll be putting that towards my own debt once the cheque clears. Yay! I'm still owed a further £75 by others but I'm not sure how I'm going to get that given that I have already mentioned it on 4 occasions. I'll definitely be sticking to my new year's resolution of not lending money that's for sure!

Hope you all have a good week

isla_red

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Well it's direct debit week for me so my bank account looks suspiciously like someone just pulled the plug and let the money drain out! Oh well, easy come easy go. My new debt figure is £400 and I'm hopeful that the cheques will clear this week so I can make another payment before the end of the week.

1 NSD so far and my packed lunch is sitting in the fridge so I can have a second NSD day. I'm aiming for 5 NSDs this week so hopefully can make it happen.

Hope you're all having a good week

isla_red

What a wet Wednesday!

It's absolutely bucketing today, how lovely! Another payment towards the debt this morning, this time £100 from one of the cleared cheques so I'm now down to £300 :j Unfortunately no NSD for me today because I need to send a letter to America (totally singing the proclaimers as I write that :rotfl:) but I have scrabbled together the 97p from my purse so no need to draw cash from the bank.

I have a bit of a dilemma just now because one of my friends really wants us to have a trip together but when I priced it up for me it was £250 :eek: before we eat, do anything or go on any visits while we're there! I don't have the money but don't want to disappoint her and I just don't know how to explain I can't afford it. She still lives with her parents so doesn't have to deal with mortgage, bills etc but I don't want to get into that because she always gets really defensive. Anyone got any ideas?

I'm so close to breaking back into the black and I can't bear the thought of sinking in again so soon.

isla_red

Woo hoo the letter only cost 67p so I'm going to chuck the extra 30p into the sealed pot. Every penny helps. I'm also going to contact the friend who owes me £75 because it's not on that she hasn't given me it while I'm still in debt. *puts on tough face*

isla_red

Happy Thursday everyone!

I sat last night and did the sums for this trip my friend wants. If I trim a bit more off my budget this month and next, use all my sealed pot money and cash in my penny jar the trip is just about doable without spiralling back into debt. I didn't manage to see her last year at all (we live very far apart) so I feel I really do need to make an effort this year.

Hopefully another NSD for me today, I have my packed lunch with me and some dried fruit to snack on. It's nearly the weekend! :j

isla_red

Friiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidaaaaaaaaaaay! :beer:

SO pleased it's nearly the weekend. My friend has managed to reduce the cost of the trip so that it will only be £150 for flights / accommodation which is much more affordable. Plus she has asked for me to pay her back when we go as it's easier for her to get the spending money when we meet up so I have 2 months to save up. :cool:

I've wiggled the budget about and I'm planning to make another payment to the debt on Monday morning once the last of the cheques clear. Annoyingly the friend who owes me £75 has gone into full on avoid mode so I'll just have to wait and see if I ever get that back. :mad:

No plans for the weekend, it's been raining for days so a weekend indoors cleaning and listing on ebay doesn't sound too bad. Come on 1st March, I'm ready to be credit card debt free! :j

isla_red

Happy Tuesday everyone!

The last of the cheques cleared this morning so I have made another payment of £200 taking my debt down to an astonishing £100!! :j I genuinely thought I'd never get near this point. My student loans are cleared, my overdraft gone and this is the last £100 standing between me and being debt free!

Another piece of news came yesterday, I got a very sheepish text saying that the AWOL £75 should be with me by the end of the week. I really hope it arrives because I am so ready to break free from the shadow of debt.

isla_red

Wednesday again!

I've sold a few books on Amazon Marketplace so no NSD for me today as I have to go to the post office to ship them all. Popped a few more items onto ebay so hopefully they will shift too. No sign of the mysterious £75 yet but I'll keep my eyes peeled.

Hope you have a good Wednesday everyone

isla_red

Sunny Thursday!

No ebay auctions finishing today or Amazon orders to post so a quiet day today. The mysterious £75 appeared as a cheque last night and £25 I'd withdrawn from paypal arrived in my account this morning :j Once the cheque clears I should be able to make the final payment of £100 to my debt at the start of next week :j I will FINALLY be debt-free!! :j