2 jobs worn out debt free diary

RoseRed

Your getting off to a great start, I like the idea of a bar chart might have to get one set up on my spreadsheet.

I know what you mean about your hubby, but it is a good idea to set yourself a small amount each for treats, you can either blow it in one go or spread over the month. It can make life a lot easier.

Good luck and keep going. xx

isy1011

Well Im sticking to my weekly budget but it's hard this week. DD's needed school uniforms, outgrown other basic clothes, We had a day out Sunday that cost quite a bit. Next week Ive got DD's birthday presents and new school shoes to get.
Im selling something on ebay today. Hope to get about £30. That should help towards expense.
I'm really trying to think differently about money. I have gone from not opening cc bills to watching every penny now. At least I feel in control.
Thank you to everyone here as I need to keep checking in with this site to keep me focused.
I redid snowball calc though yesterday and its 25 months to pay of cc's. I dont know why I expected it to be less.

jwil

Good luck with the ebay sale, hope you get a good result from it.

25 months is not too bad, and just think of how you can reduce it if you can come up with a little extra every now and again. Try and think of it as a challenge rather than a sentence (easier said than done, I know!).

isy1011

Well here I am up in the middle of the ****** night writing on here! It was busy at college yesterday we were enrolling students for 9 hours solid! So Im still wide awake from a full day of talking to students about their grades etc!
Anyway, because I was so tired when I staggered out of work yesterday evening and because the kiddywinks were at my sis in laws DH and I ate out. Thereby blowing the weekly budget! But...it was fantastic. Cheapy curry really and a beer but so....good.:D It was just a shame that I couldnt actually talk to DH because my mouth wouldnt work anymore!
So far my e bay sale has 4 days left and a 99p bid!! Hope that goes up a bit.
I feel like its a really expensive few weeks with younger DD starting school and her birthday coming up and Aug bank holiday weekend seemed to cost alot. Hopefully that will settle down.
Anyway thanks for reading this. Must go back to bed now.

JoolzS

One thing you have to keep in mind is that in 25 months every single penny that you are currently putting into paying off debt suddenly becomes spending and/or saving money!

One thing I found helpful when paying off my debt was reading lots of other DFW diaries on this site just to know I wasn't alone and, to be honest, not in the worst place.

I got lucky because I found this site before my debt got completely out of hand; as have you. In 25 months you will suddenly have this big font of money that you may not know what to do with. One thing I did whilst paying off my debt was to keep a list of all the things I wasn't buying - just the frivolous things such as a new DVD player because the one I had froze on rare occasions; a new TV because I still had a huge CRT in the living room, etc. In the past I would have simply replaced these using the CC, but because I was trying to clear debt I lived with what I already had. Once the debt was gone I was able to replace them without guilt, simply using the money I had been using in the past to pay for the debt. The really good thing was that because I waited they were cheaper

I don't know how much you are paying into the debts, but you mention over-paying by £300 so I'm guessing that it's in the region of £600 or more. Just imagine - in just over two years you will have that £600 (or whatever amount) each month to simply spend or save as you wish. In my case, it took me just about a year to clear the debt and I now have some months where I spend every penny I used to put into the debt and other months it goes into savings - and savings is something I never thought I'd ever have in my life.

Keep doing what you are doing - it's really worth it.

Julie

isy1011

Another diary note....

Just read Martin's info on student loans and it was very interesting. I thought that once I had paid my credit cards off I would start to throw huge amounts of money at student loan (my DH's) but he says NO.... that putting money in a cash ISA is far better. Also I cant throw HUGE sums of money at First Direct loan as there are penalties and fees to repaying early.
So 25 months to pay off credit cards. At the same time my student loan will be paid off then going to invest the £600 month I will have been using to pay off cc's and my student loan into savings and ISA account.
Thank heavens for this site.:money:

isy1011

Morning...

New week means new weekly budget. Went over last weeks by £8. Cant do that every week. I have had to trim some money of weekly budget because I have had no work from second job I sometimes do. Not that I have the time or energy to do it any longer really so it would be great to not have to do it if I can.
The ebay sale not going great. Hope it picks up in next two days.
Worried that this week will be another 'expensive' week. DD's 5th birthday and starting school. So birthday present and school shoes.
Last week it was bank holiday so we spent more then.
Managed to use clubcard vouchers to buy some school clothes which helped alot.
Also because I have been watching my online banking more closely I found a direct debit of £5.99 to carphone warehouse that neither of us knows what it is for! So cancelled that! How could we have a direct debit that we dont know what it is for?

Anyway continuing with spending diary-best thing Ive ever done money wise. Then I put everything Ive spent onto spreadsheet to keep track- that really is helping too. I have a columns for entertainment, clothes, work food, petrol, presents, car, groceries, diy and other. I have a column that tells me what my weekly budget should be and another to say what Ive spent. If I go over that is in red and under is black. God what a geek I am!!:o

Have a great day everyone.:D

saorsie

Geek?! I think not lady! Genius more like :T There's nothing I like better than a multi-columned, colour changing spreadsheet and if it has a graph chucked in as well, then so much the better!

Well done on reducing your CC's, your spending diary sounds like it has been your saviour - keep up the good work and those totals will soon be tumbling

-s-

moo2moo

Assume you've phoned Carphone Warehouse to find out why they've been taking money from your bank account and to request it paying back immediately with interest.

isy1011

That's this mornings job. I guess it was to do with DH's last mobile phone. I bet there was a little box on a form that said tick this if you dont want insurance. Because £5.99 seems like that kind of amount to me.