16 Pay Days to DFD!

kaz0705

Hello, good morning and happy Friday!

I thought I'd use this opportunity to reflect back on the past year. I had my LBM on my payday last year- 27th Jan 2010. I was able to pay all my minimum payments but one of my creditcards had reached £150 a month minimum and that scared me into taking action.

I am so thankful that I did. My attitude this past year has completely changed and 2011 has started much brighter because of it.

In a whole year (payday being yesterday) I have paid off 46% of my debt (or £6765.20 to be more exact). To now be under £8k seems almost fantastical to me.

It has been a long hard slog. I've had to say no to lots of things I would love to do. My social life is dicated by what offers pubs or restaurants have (All Bar One being a saviour this past year!) and I question everything I buy before purchasing anything.

To illustrate the change in me, in November I got through a House of Fraser voucher and decided to treat myself to my favourite Clinique foundation. They had an offer on so that if I bought one other skin care item, I got one of their free gifts. I bought a soap to sell on ebay (cheapest thing to buy!) and picked my choice of the two free gifts.

I then agonised for days over whether I'd picked the right one! I hadn't mentally added up what the RRP value of all the products would have been at full size, to work out the best value for money! _pale_

Likewise, I went to Brussels for NYE and almost cried because we hadn't been able to get our money changed up in advance and I knew we'd missed out on about 20 Euros by doing it at St Pancras! My boyfriend had to have a word whilst I moaned on the train! :rotfl:

Anyway, I have plenty still to do but in the past year have paid off a loan and, yesterday, one of my highest interest rate creditcards. I'll have another loan cleared by May and then it's just down to 3 cards- two with high balances and high interest and one on 0% with less than £400 on it (helpfully, Santander promised me a guarantee card with BT and then gave me a £500 limit. Thanks for that!).

On top of that, my best friend is getting married in Barbados next year and I'm to be bridesmaid. She'll help out with some costing but it's mostly going to be down with me. I've already worked out a budget to save for this and it fits in with my money saving (just about... might end up having to extend DFD by a month or so).

That's probably next Feb (DFD should be 27th April) and once I get back from the Caribbean, I'll be flying off again to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for the charity I work with. :eek: Not exactly ideal- dream holiday to the caribbean to be followed by hardest challenge of my life but so be it!

So, as well as being dedicated to being DF, I also need to get fit!

I guess this is my diary where I will be holding myself accountable for all decisions and, probably, moaning when I feel a bit put out and- hopefully- celebrating! :beer:

Have a good day, all.

Kaz.

xxx

LAM2011

hi - and WELL DONE. Gosh what a fab feeling.

And can I just say I find it so inspiring to log in and read stories like yours as I have barely seen through a month from my LBM but its through people like you that I feel that I CAN do it if I stick to the rules.

I bet you cant wait for Barbados.

kaz0705

Hi LAM!

I think January is a LBM for a lot of people! And judging from your signature, you've done well already!

It's been a year of up and downs and I think it's fair to say that lots of my sentences now start with "Martin Lewis says..." and "on MSE...." and most purchases are met with "did you remember to do topcashback?"! :money:

Luckily I have a very good circle of friends and am open with everyone about my situation... I've not been perfect by any stretch and it's helped enormously having a partner who can treat me so I don't need to feel like I'm missing out much.

I would say my consumption of trash TV has increased though :rotfl:

I am super excited about Barbados except I'll need to still be training for Kili and probably not drinking- bah!

In the meantime, we've got the radio on in the office (distracting me from the Education Bill I'm supposed to be briefing so) and am very much in the Friday mood.

Only one whole year of being in debt left- feel very excited and hopeful for the future :j

kaz0705

Am hyped up again; the sun's shining here in SW London and I've *had* to work from home due to maintenance needing access to my flat today. Which means I'm still in my jammies! BEST THING EVER. :j

I've also called the tax office today. When Martin was doing his 'check your tax code!' thing, I just ignored it because I thought that ll my paper work was always in order from job to job so *of course* I must be on the right code....

Nope! Apparently not! So I've received a tax rebate and additional money in my pay last week. This has, in the main, paid off a creditcard- whoop!

More importantly, I think it'll also mean that I get more take home each month. According to a tax calculator I did online, it could be an extra £150 or so (although not sure how accurate it was as I tried to include my interest free travel loan that comes out at source...). Anyway, that would be a MASSIVE bonus- just need to wait another month to see, I guess.

In the meantime, I'm in a quandary.

I've put £450 of the tax money aside to pay towards my friend's wedding next year and am saving £50 a month into a tax isa. This plus my 'break' for my travel loan payment (it gets taken over 11 payments so one month I have an extra £110 in my wage) will pay for the holiday.

HOWEVER, as a dutiful MSEr, I know that you shouldn't have savings when you have large debts. I have two creditcards left- both just under £4k and one at 19%apr, the other at 23.9% apr (!!!).

Sooooo, should I pay off the £450 and put the extra £50 each month towards my debt? This would mean that I would have to pay for the whole trip on credit but with the assumption I'd have shaved a month or two off it anyway by clearing a large amount off early...

Decisions!

Need to get on the snowball calculator, I think.

But really I should get back to work- the education bill won't read itself!

Hope everyone in DFW world is having the sun shine on them today