The Diary of P - age 32 and a half!

henna123

Well here goes, This is my Diary!

A little about me, For the last 8 years I had a job as a catering manager, It was a stressful job and not fantastic pay! The last 2 years were better pay but the new job I was in was ok at first, however in march 2010 we moved into a brand new building where the expectaions rose - a lot! and i did not realise how much the stress was piling on until I started making stupid mistakes, Well it all came to a head in October, Made a mistake and was facing disciplinary, after speaking with hubby I resigned!

And I am so much happier!!!
I am having to be extra careful with money atm as obviously I am not earning as much, I am currently doing chef work through the agency and I am picking up about £300 less a month than I was in my full time job.

I have joined the sealed pot club and have a tin for anything above a 20p piece (because I know we would take back out the 50p etc for takeawys when having a bad day!!)

I am quite good at making the meals stretch and inventing dishes lol so I will cost a few out and put them on here for people to use if they want them!

Christmas is going to be tight but thats a whole other post!

Hopefully I will keep this up and I will post a bit more about my debts when I am feeling braver!

P x x

henna123

ok sooo, here are MY debts, not counting hubbys atm or the mortgage as I cant do much about them!

mint card #1 = £3,545.12
Mint Card #2 = £55ish
Next Acc = £782.24
Natwest Loan #1 £2483.78
natwest loan #2 £10653,46
car loan = £4000ish, sounds bad but added car tax on and cant remember exact figure without hunting out paperwork!

£21519.60:eek:
OMG!!!!!!! That is an embarrasing amount for a 32 year old!! And as i said - its all mine! it doesnt include any of hubbys or the mortgage GULP!

Right, Mope over! what will I do first?
WEll it is tough to overpay atm as I am unsure of exact wages coming in each month due to agency work so really need to save extra for next months bills 'just in case' its no good me overpayingthis month and then defaulting on one next month! So first of all I want to pay off the £55 on the Mint one and the £5 min pay from that can go to the Next card - I am already overpaying that by £16.42. I WAS overpaying the other mint card by £50 a month but have dropped that for the tie being.
I really dont know how we got into this state! my mother would have a heart attack if she knew!! she thinks i have just 1 loan lol

Can anybody point me in the direction of a tool to calculate when i will be out of debt at the current payments? If not I can do a spreadsheet again, I did once but lost it!

Also I see a lot of people on here say they are making money from clicking and from different websites, I have more time at home now so any info on those would be greatfully recieved!

Thanks for reading!

P x

lellybun

Hi henna,just wanted to say well done for starting your diary.

It might be worth posting an SOA (state of affairs) so that people might be able to help you find ways to maybe cut down your outgoings, leaving you more for paying off the debt. Sorry not sure of the link but if you search on this site for soa, you should be able to find it.

Best of luck for your debt busting, you have come to the right place for support and ideas. You could check out the up your income board, and the old style board has lots of tips for saving money.

lelly

Sue-UU

Very well done for making a great start P!!

I agree with lelly, if you haven't already done so then sort out a complete SOA and let us all help you through this.

There is a Tool on here somewhere that lets your know when you'll be debt free, I'll have a look later.

With your frame of mind and just how budget conscious you are though P you'll get this lot cleared. If you've anything sellable then pop some (a bit at a time) onto E-Bay and recoup some cash to pay back.

See you later, Sue x

kdenty

Don't be embarassed. It happens to lots of us. 2 years ago I owed £26, 416
I'm 34 now so I would have been 32 then too!!

I do online surveys for a few pennies (usually £5 Amazon vouchers every few months and sometimes freebies products to test). Look for Valued Opinions and IPSOS and YouGov. Lightspeed was ok but has just changed owners and teh website is down. My best so far from surveys was testing free shoes that i got to keep

henna123

HI - thanks for the replys, I will sort out a SOA but to be honest atm I am not spending much other than paying bills, car costs etc as I am only just earning enough to cover those bills.

My husband pays all the household bills inc mortgage and I give him £400 a month towards it all ( doesnt cover half of it but he earns more so he gets to pay )

I have had a productive day, Phoned mint and found out that my annual APR is 20.9%!! so I applied online for a 0% credit card - I honestly expected a no straight away! however it said yes, but it only gave me a limit of £1500, so assuming all the paperwork arrives and it all goes through ( keep your fingers crossed please!) I can transfer some of it and I will save £1233 in interest and it will take me 2 yrs 6months to get it paid off. Whereas currently it would take me 4yrs 4months.

I also Put £4 into my sealed tin and some change into the change bottle.

I also had a freebie from work where they had a roast lamb today I got offered the ends and at first refused but then realised they would make a lovely minted lamb pie, not being too frugal here but i looove lamb so why say no?

I have also seen a few posts where people have made little payments a day onto cards etc to get them down and have thought that i will do this weekly with my wages, round it down and pay off something, so if wages come to say 195.60 i will use the £5.60, not a lot but it would at least be an extra £20 a month

I have signed up to a few more sites today but I think I need to go through my emails and set something up so I can have a lst and just click on each one a day to make sure I do all of them!

P x

henna123

well, today I start my 5 week stint at the safari park!! (no not as a lion tamer!) I will be cheffing in the main house for the christmas parties, bit worried as i start today but the parties dont start until next friday according to the pamphlet? I really cant afford to lose the 40 hrs they promised me this week so fingers crossed!

Today should be a no spend day! I wont be heading to any shops and i bought the puff pastry yesterday to top my 'free' minted lamb pie - which the filling tastes great now it has all cooked down

I have signed up for a few more survey sites, although i do seem to be an unwanted sole as half way through they tell me i dont meet the category of people they are looking for! about 4 in a row this morning!
I also entered online to the lorraines cash prize and a few other free competitions, most of the items i wouldnt personally want but they could go onto ebay
Got a real bug in me at the minute to pay things off but not knowing exactly how much i will have coming in at the end of the month kind of hinders it!
I will get the old bridesmaids dresses put on ebay by sunday ( I promise!) and there are some shoes that kill me everytime i wear them as i have such odd feet!

I went up to the loft yesterday to lok for some items to go on! OMG do we need to dump nearly everything thats up there!

I did go through some of the boxes left by previous owner and came across the madonna nudes book and........ a washable condom!! do you think theres any value in that one lol?

I am trying for a homemade christmas but have realised that unless you start this early and do bits throughout the year it can still come in a little pricey! next year it will def have to be buying and knitting as i go etc, we were thinking of making fudge, shortbread, red onion marmalade, some homemade chocolate slabs with different toppings, and a homemade fruit cake, may have to check out aldis and lidles prices!

Have a good day everybody

P xx

henna123

well i managed a no spend day today but as suspected am not needed as much as i was hoping over the next week so back to the calculator to work out how many extra hours i need to get booked in, have the possibility of 4 hrs this weekend so will take that over nothing! Hopefully once it all kicks off for xmas parties next week i will be needed 5 days a week and it should be around 10 hrs a day.

I did 8 hrs today, freeeezing cold as the kitchen area to the top function rom is basically a marquee! it has a wooden structure but only part walls! couldnt feel my fingers or toes at one point, think I may need to leave thick socks and my walking boots/fleece in the car for next time!

Anyway, a little tired so not going to moan much! looking forward to a night out tomorrow, although i am driver so will be good!

P x

Sue-UU

Not so sure about the condom P (the lengths, so to speak, some people will go to!) but I'd sell all else I possibly could. You know what they say about "your rubbish is someone else's treasures!"

BTW. I do the YouGov surveys, that way you're always guaranteed to complete each and every one they send. Received my 2nd £50 cheque from them today!!! (OK, yesterday). Yes, it takes quite a while to get to the £50 (or 5000 points as they now refer to them), but it's a joy when you get there!

I've given up on the others, a complete waste of time.

Keep warm in the job whatever you do. I used to be a silver service waitress and at functions like that you could almost freeze between courses at this time of year.

BTW, I'm still looking for the "when will I be debt-free tool" No joy though, but will persevere.

Enjoy your work P. You're on your way to being debt-free, but don't forget that SOA!

Sue x

henna123

Damn Sue - you have shattered my hopes of becoming a millionaire with that 'thing'!!! :rotfl:thought it was my DelBoy moment!! will have to hunt for that pocket watch after all .

I will post an SOA, would like to complete a joint one too though first and atm its very hard to say how much we are spending on food, need to start keeping reciepts as have mainly done small shops this month.

I just wish they had told me i would be working in a 'marquee' that wasnt quite covered i could have worn proper clothing as i have it anyway but as kitchens are notoriously warm i didnt even have a tshirt on under my chefs jacket, really glad i wore my thick hoodie instead of a coat when i went otherwise i would have been v cold!

thanks for the YouGov - Just signed up....BTW do you EVER sleep or are you in a different timezone!

As is typical just got another call offering me work today when i already have work, prob wont get anything from sat-tues when i a free!

P x x

henna123

well very very very tired today!!

Went out to the German Market yesterday and had a great day, spent a little too much but it is the only time i will be out over december!

Had 4hrs work today and feel like i am coming down with a cold.

Put a little more away into the change jar, Also had an email saying that i will recieve my new credit card soon, I have to find out however whether I can pay off my next account and still get 0% for the transfer? anybody know?

P x x