Itswhat! debt DFW diary

itswhat

I can see how motivating it is to keep a diary of how we are doing so here goes...

Debt at lightbulb moment
30/9/06 £50, 819.89:eek:

Not sure when to post updates as I could do it just before OH get paid so it's worse case... or just after. I guess to be brutally honest with ourselves it should be just before:rolleyes:

So debt as of 4/10/06 £50511.96

DFD Dec 2013:(

The plan.(october)

• Open new current account, in order to prepeare for reclaiming bank charges- application form filled in
• start listing stuff on eBay- at the weekend
• Try to keep withing £200 food/groceries/toiletries etc. budget this month (vistors for almost 2 weeks in total so this is going to be hard-plan to reduce spending further in Nov)
• Make the insulated blind for that I have had the materials for for ages- no spending now and help to cut heating costs
• Start to read meters weekly to check electricity/gas usage
• Throw any earnings from eBay/budget savings/pennies in the piggy at the computer loan (£500 oustanding by my figures)

There may be more, but that little lot should keep us busy for October

Oh and some may remember I mentioned a "live" (automatically updating) snowball spreadsheet? Well OH is going to write up instructions then we will make it available.It's not 100% accurate but it will give a good indication of what a difference a small amount can make.

anniestar

Wow, good luck. I'm sure you will be successful.

itswhat

ahh well, best laid plans and all that...
after planning to keep spending to a minimum for the foreseeable -what happens? daughter comes home from school with two letters wanting money for school trips. One is (apparantly) a must do for coursework, drama GCSE they have to see a live performance etc.etc. £25 later...
Then there is an Art trip- Paris no less. It's not while next year but they need a deposit immediatley, another £40 arrrrgh. At least once she has a place there will be regular payments so it won't come as a shock.

Now I'm waiting for OH to call and tell how much his car exhaust is going to cost to get fixed- ahh just called- £90:mad:

drat

Oh well this time next year we coud be millionaires

Verbatim

Yes those school trips do jump up and bite don't they? Thought we had none this year (A2s) but have just been informed there is another, GRRR

itswhat

Another mixed update,
we paid the school trips/car exhaust etc without resorting to CC's and look to be on the way to reducing the amount of OD this month. So that wasn't a complete disaster.
I got my Tax statement though which was a bit of a downer- paying more again this year but that means the business is sucessful so mixed blessings;)

I opened the new bank account but my existing bank is dragging it's heels over providing me with proof of OD facility so I can get A&L to match it.
When I called them agian today they were most keen for me to go in for a financial review to help "save me money":rolleyes: :rolleyes:
As soon as the new account is up and running properly I'm going to be claiming back bank charges so that will mean I don't need the poxy loan they want to give me- HA! take that Nat West :rotfl:

Ebay sales are slow but every little helps, so progress but small amounts.

itswhat

November update

well progress is slower than I would like but at least the total is going down- hurrah:beer:
Debt as of 4/11/06 £50,174.66

I opened the new bank account so now have the incentive payment, plus most of the referral from a very nice person on the refrrers board duein the ccount on Friday. 0% interest on the OD for a year. So next job is to sort out my old account.
Also got a CC at 0% for 9 months- and transferred most of the &more card balance to that, just leaving a small balance to pay when the bill is due. The plan when it shows 0 balance is to ring them to ask if there are any BT offers, if not then cancel.

Ebay sales are very slow for us, it seems to mostly daughters things which are selling, but that is good as she is saving for an expensive item. Her plan is to put all her birthday and christmas money into the pot and hopefully she will be able to get it shortly after Christmas.
We did the November shop online yestarday and got the majority of the food shopping for £103. There will be extra(fresh fruit and veg) but we made use of lots of vouchers, and multibuys/offers and saved £32. Checking fixture ferrets at the same time as shopping helped a lot.
The vouchers were odd though, taking achance we put the voucher code in for something we were not sure we qualified for and it took it off the toal , so on a roll we put them all in and they were accepted. Hopefully that will remain reflected in the receipt this evening.

There are lots of things left to do to sorting out the bak charge claim, making the blind I planned to do last month. I also want to look at our insurance position. House insurance seems high so I need to check what is covered under business insurance then shop around. It's not due yet but I gather it can be changed part way through the year- more checking required.

Phew sorry it turned into a long one

itswhat

drat
got the settlement figure from Clydesdale today hoping we would be able to scrimp and save enough to pay it off- it £200 more than I expected - it appears to have interest front loaded.
Bum!
In more positive news I recieved an email saying I had won a competition. (it's genuine, it's from a new web site assoiciated with my hobby) but the prize is somehting I don't want/need....ebay here we come.

Sorry I know it's probably of zero interest to anyone else but it helps me to talk about what I/we are doing to get out of the hole

Skint-gall

Keep up the good work!

ZTD

itswhat wrote:

Sorry I know it's probably of zero interest to anyone else but it helps me to talk about what I/we are doing to get out of the hole

It's not of zero interest to other people - us lurkers.

Keep on postin' as they say...

rharper83

Yeah it's good to read these stories - helps to inspire others who may be in the same boat, and possibly even give great ideas!

chevalier

If it keeps you focused then it is fine with us:D