Lightbulb Moment

poppycracker

Well done so far! my flabber has never been so gasted :T

coxj2901

I have moved the payment date of my MBNA loan today from the 16th of the month until the 25th of the month (payday) which will save me £337 this month as the payment will come out of next months salary!

I've transferred £225 to my savings account as I want to keep a minimum balance of £1000 in my savings account to stop me ever needing to borrow again for emergencies (One of my goals this year)

Rgds, John

savememorecashmartin

John,

I'm fairly new to this site and mostly a lurker rather than a poster but I just had to post here to say your inspirational story has brought a tear to my eye this morning.

It's amazing what can be achieved with a little resolve and some good advice. The stories on this site are testimony to the strength of spirit that some have. The posts you have made have changed in tone from the miserable first one shortly after your LB moment to the recent, much more upbeat ones, telling us how you have paid this off and reduced the cost of that and are getting your lives back on track.

Martin Lewis has a lot to answer for - and it's all good!

Wishing you and yours all the best for the New Year.

coxj2901

Hi Savesmore,

Thank you for your touching post. Happy new year to you and your family too!

We have come a long way but I do realise that there is still a lot of hard work ahead of us. I still have over £24k of unsecured debt and our spending habits are still not firmly under control (As the revelation of my next spending diary will testify to!)

However, I am monitoring every penny that leaves my bank account now and I am really determined to become debt free and provide a better life for myself and my family. The weight of the debt still occupies a lot of my thoughts but I know with determination and the support of the MSE forums then I will achieve my goals in time.

Martin for a knighthood anyone ????

Anyway, onto my spending diary for last week (Some obvious areas for improvement!)

W/E 7th Jan-07

Details Amt
Petrol £47.00
90 Cigarettes £24.39 (Got to tackle this ASAP)
Takeaway Pizza £16.73
Asda - Groceries £6.00 (Nappies for the little one)
Asda Weekly Shop £76.95 (Higher than usual due to stocking up on some freezer items - buy 2 get one free etc.......)
Vinyl Records £34.36 (To be claimed back from second business)
Chinese Takeaway £17.85
Swimming £5.30 (Daddy Daughter day on Sunday!)
Cinema £8.50 (Daddy Daughter day on Sunday!)
Groceries £4.50

Total £241.58

We usually have a treat on a saturday night which is either a pizza or a chinese so I don't mind this expenditure as it better than going out and spending £50 on a meal or a night out up town. It is higher this week as we had a pizza on the Evening of New Years Day but will usually only be once a week.

We are not drinking much at the moment either so hopefully this will help with the weight targets for 2007!

Note to Self: Smoking Issue to be dealt with this week.

Rgds, John

jumping_j11

Re smoking - there is a series of articles in the Times this week, by Paul McKenna, on giving up smoking. Have you tried your GP? A lot of GP practices now run smokestop groups. My husband went to one and found it very helpful. He also used Zyban, ( he got it via the nurse running the group)which definitely helped with the cravings in the first few weeks, and he used Nicotine patches. Given the incredible willpower you have re your debts, i bet you can do it!
Don't buy the Times, go to https://www.timesonline.co.uk and the articles are there, plus some podcasts.

coxj2901

jumping_j11 wrote:

Re smoking - there is a series of articles in the Times this week, by Paul McKenna, on giving up smoking. Have you tried your GP? A lot of GP practices now run smokestop groups. My husband went to one and found it very helpful. He also used Zyban, ( he got it via the nurse running the group)which definitely helped with the cravings in the first few weeks, and he used Nicotine patches. Given the incredible willpower you have re your debts, i bet you can do it!
Don't buy the Times, go to https://www.timesonline.co.uk and the articles are there, plus some podcasts.

Thanks for the times link - I definately need some help with the smoking habit.

Some more good news. I've just received a letter from First Direct Confirming that they will be refunding my bank charges of £548 :beer:

I also have another 4 items selling on ebay which are due to finish tonight and they all have bids on them so more funds to throw at my debt.

I will be listing some more items on ebay tonight as we have decided that every Wednesday will be "ebay night" where we list around 5 items each week. This way it keeps the motivation going and it doesn't become too much of a hassle when posting the items out.

I have achieved my first 2 goals of the year now.

1. To have a minimum balance of £1,000 in my savings accounts for emergencies

2. To run 3 mile in less than 30 mins by the end of January.

Onwards and upwards :rotfl:

Rgds, John

jue

Hi Cox, just read your thread and had to post to say WELL DONE. What a turn around you have achieved for you and your family. What an inspiration to others. You will be debt free in no time.
Sending you best wishes for your future.

Skint_Catt

I've just read the post for the first time too, and I'm overjyed at the progress you have made! it's made me more determined that I can deal with my debts too - and as tomorrow is 10p listing day - eBay is my first start!!!

Good luck to you for dfd!

S_C

coxj2901

Another £55 from ebay sales last night :j

I didn't list anymore items on ebay last night as I decided to wait for 10p listing day today

Rgds, John

coxj2901

I have transerred £54.65 from my paypal account to my bank account and spent last night listing 28 items on ebay. The listed items were for the business so I will not get any "immediate" benefit from these, but will help business sales and promotion of our website.

I now have £159 to last me until payday and it's going to be tight as I still have some bills to leave the account. I'm determined not to dip into the savings account though

Rgds, John