MrsB83's Debt Free Diary - it starts here!

mrsb83_2

It's the convenience which is the killler.

I really do love to cook, and I'm good at it, but I need to realise that I can't create something elaborate every night, and that a takeaway is not a fall-back position!!!

You'd need to be eating a lot of take away for the 50% petrol increase to be worth it

fizzypops

mrsb83 wrote: »

They really do, fizzypops.

I like to cook, but I'd gotten in a really bad habit of just ordering a takeaway when I didn't fancy cooking, instead of having easy things in the freezer which require no thought or effort!!

Are you a Chinese or Indian lover?!

both!!!
any kind of takeaway used to suit me, got in the habbit of cooking for the kids and then ordering a takeaway later for me. :cool:

im have now beaten that addiction and lost weight to prove it!!

mrsb83_2

So we made it through Christmas whilst having a lovely time and staying within budget! We didn't go out drinking at all, which definitely helped keep the costs down, but we did plenty of celebrating with friends and family anyway, so we didn't feel deprived.

New year's resolution is to clear another 35% off our debts, taking us to 43% by the end of the year. We're currently snowballing £800 a month, which would take us over 50%, but we have a few weddings and other expenses which I know will reduce the snowball amount for a couple of months, so 35% seems realistic.

It was great to have no money worries over Christmas, and to be able to spend the money we had as Christmas gifts on ourselves rather than on overdraft charges...

This month is going to be tight, but Feb should be fine as it's such a short month. We have discussed having two months in 2011 where we spend the absolute minimum and throw everything at our debt. Perhaps March will be the first.

mrsb83_2

Things are going so well with the repayments that I'm just annoyed that we didn't start doing it sooner!

We had a car emergency (aren't they the worst), but we had money set aside and only used a third of it on the repairs so we still have the safety net. The road tax reminder arrived this morning and I wasn't surprised! I knew when it was coming and I already have money to pay for it.

We've repaid 15% of our debt in 5 months and it hasn't been difficult at all. We're lucky that our wages are OK, but I didn't think it'd be this easy.

I know that we could have urgent payments to deal with at any time, but I'm so much more confident that we can deal with them now.

mrsb83_2

We paid too much over our usual snowball payment this month and now only have a few pounds left for food this month. It's because we overspent on food earlier in the month, and I should have just kept some of the additional money we'd acquired this month for such an occasion.

If I hadn't needed to spend it, it could have gone to the snowballing anyway. As it it, I'll be putting less in my piggybanking accounts for clothing this month - no big deal but lesson learnt.

mrsb83_2

Woohoo under £20,000! Big milestone for me as 20k is a year's salary.

Next target is to get rid of the Mint card which as of today has £900 on it. I'm hoping to reduce by £600 this month. We're trying a super frugal month and hopefully we'll achieve the extra payment.

I'm thinking of joining the payment a day club, because I get a huge buzz out of paying off, even if it is just a little bit at a time.

mrsb83_2

I've been PADding for a month and it's working out really well.

We ended up clearing £800 off the last CC last month after a really frugal month. We then decided to put the car insurance renewal on that CC and clear it this month to avoid the crazy interest on the monthly payments. It was nice to have that option.

So in two months we've cleared £800 and paid £400 in car insurance as well as all our other minimum payments. Feels good!

I've been saving money for new clothes and have bought £150 worth this month. It was great to have the money set aside.

I miscalculated this month's budget (I get paid weekly and I think I left out a week's pay!) so I have an extra £300 this month. I've decided to set it in the savings/piggybank account rather than using it against debt so that we can use it for a couple of treats for the house etc over the summer. We're already snowballing £900 a month so I think it'll serve our sanity better to keep it for spending.

mrsb83_2

The last credit card is going this month! I'm so excited.

We're having a month of only minimum repayments next month as we've got two weddings and we want to enjoy ourselves. I'm a bit nervous about it though. It seems so odd to only pay the minimum. I think I'll still try to PAD small bits here and there.

DH's higher salary starts next month so looking forward to seeing that too!

Ceniza

Not got time to read just yet, but have subscribed

mrsb83_2

I'm below £18k!

Feeling pretty good about things at the moment. Had a £500 bonus at work, £300 of which is going to go towards debt next month. Me and DH are going to have £100 each for yourselves and I'm really already looking forward to treating myself!

Not sure if the last credit card is going to be cleared this month, though. But sad but still proud of what we've done so far this year.