Elmer's moneysaving mission

ElmerFudd

Hi all.

I am not new to the forum, but have since forgotten my old username etc so I recently made a new one!

A bit about myself. I currently have a fair amount of debt, amounting to £31300. Some of this is from a student loan which is at a low APR, while the bulk of it is from other loans and credit cards.

My mission this year is to make headway into this debt, despite the setbacks I have had over the last year.

On a positive note I recently got promoted, however this took me just over the threshold which I could keep deferring payments to the student loan. I will begin repaying the loan in April, which will amount to £165 a month (I have confirmed this with the SLC), on another positive note I have managed to defer half the repayment to after payday in April giving me another £80 to go toward the big debt that month. Sadly this will take away some money from me each month that I was planning to spend on the high APR credit card...

Now we get to another problem. That credit card company has just decided to raise the APR again - this time to 24%. There is no way I can afford this really but can't afford to refuse the increase right now as we have to lay out £1k for an emergency (which fortunately can be paid back over the next few months once my pay comes in due to not having to pay the council tax, water rates, student loan etc).

April will be a tough month, so my goal this month is to make things easier for me that month.

Goal 1: to increase the number of NSD's.
Goal 2: to try to increase income.
Goal 3: reduce outgoings.
Goal 4: not to be tempted by burger joints and coffee bars.
Goal 5: Look at the t&cs for the other credit card COLOR=red]COMPLETED - this can be done[/COLOR][COLOR=black[/COLOR] and see if I can transfer some of the debt to them at a lower APR.
Goal 6: Daily spending diary. Must hunt round for a notepad and pencil..
Goal 7: Cut back on electric usage

So far today have spent 70p on a coffee, I may or may not have to buy some lunch material - but may have enough to tide me over.

Let the no spending commence!

28 Feb 2011 - spent 70p on a coffee
1 March 2011 - 86p on milk
2 March 2011 - £5 exactly on various necessaries* may have to repeat this another day unfortunately
3 March 2011 - so far nothing although very tempted this morning to buy a coffee (train delays, freezing weather, having to walk 2 miles to work from the mainline station due to flooding at the stop I get off to work). UPDATE: NSD
4 March 2011 - spent £45 on fee, £30 on a meal out for me + OH
5 March 2011 - ordered shopping online for 2 weeks = £120
6 March 2011 - spent £60 on bills
7 March 2011 - spent £2.10 on a coffee in the morning as have a lot to do at work this morning. Wasted 70p on a coffee this morning and am still waiting on a refund/ replacement. So busy over weekend had no time to get pot of coffee for work and forgot to bring in teabags to work this am. Will not forget tomorrow as have more time. Got refund finally 70p yay!
8 March 2011 - NSD!!
9 March 2011 - Spent 70p on a coffee. Should have really bought a jar have wasted so much money already this month. Only 2 NSD's so far spent £264.36 on various things and £3.50 needn't have been spent (yes I was thirsty and yes I didn't have time to "make" myself a drink at work but I need to consider this as a possibility and have at least a cold drink available at work - the water fountain often is problematic and there is no way anyone in their right mind should drink the tap water!).
10 March 2011 - so far haven't spent anything. The shopping arrived and I was able to take some coffee into work, so hopefully I shouldn't be wasting those odd 70p's on coffee at work. I'll just have to make a more concerted effort not to be tempted to get a coffee while waiting for the train in the cold or simply go for a cheaper brew, alternately buy a flask and make some at home...we'll see how it goes. Best bet is for me to just avoid them like the plague. EDIT: NSD!!!
11 March 2011 - massive spend today on final fee (£820), but that's out of the way and we won't need to worry about it now. Slow stoozed some shopping onto my other CC, so hopefully will be able to throw more money at the high APR CC. I need to crunch the numbers at some point but all being well should be OK for this month as most of the bills have already been paid. Have paid the minimum on the high interest CC but will throw more into it once I am sure it won't make me short for the month.
12 March 2011 - NSD!!!
13 March 2011 - NSD!!!
14 March 2011 - £3.77 on a small shop (milk etc)
15 March 2011 - Should have been a NSD, but as I was late in, and my OH was very sick I bought us some takeaway which cost £4.40.
16 March 2011 - Bought some medicine in the morning which cost £11.60, and £1 on the lottery, which brings my spending for the week already over my limit (£20.77), and there's still 2 days left!!!
17 March 2011 - Bought an unplanned coffee due to having to walk to work and being mega thirsty (really have to plan for these possibilities as they seem to happen fairly regularly), so wasted £2.10. This brings my total to £22.87 for the week. Not happy about it, but on the plus side there's only a day left of this week and a good chance tomorrow and Sunday will be NSD's (Saturday is the weekly shop).
18 March 2011 - NSD!!!
19 March 2011 - Spent a fair amount on shopping etc. £140, but it should cover us for 2 weeks.
20 March 2011 - NSD!!!
21 March 2011 - NSD!!! Found 31p today so actually up!
22 March 2011 - Found 51p so far today!! NSD!!!
23 March 2011 - So far haven't found any cash anywhere however I am looking forward to another NSD today!!NSD!!!
24 March 2011 - NSD!!!
25 March 2011 - NSD!!!
26 March 2011 - paid rent
27 March 2011 - NSD!!!
28 March 2011 - NSD!!!
29 March 2011 - Found 30p!!! Not sure if this will be an NSD though. I'm hoping it will be. LSD!
30 March 2011 - Should be a NSD.

ElmerFudd

Just worked out that once all the essentials and minimum payments are met I am left with £164 for food/ cleaning stuff for the month for two adults. Is this workable? The problem is currently my wife and I are spending at least £50 a week. If it wasn't for the student loan coming out things would be more comfortable.

ElmerFudd

This weekend was quite expensive and busy, however after this Friday's fees are paid I will have cleared another payment completely! After this I will be able to hone in on the high APR CC and hopefully will be able to definitely have more LSD's and NSD's.

ElmerFudd

Current debts as of March 2011:

Credit card 1: APR 24% = £10400
Credit card 2: APR 6.95% = £7500
Credit card 3: APR 6.95%= £1600
Loan 1: £3452
Loan 2 (student loan): £8500
Overdraft: £1500

Not entirely sure of the figures, will double check when I get home but I reckon at this stage I owe about £32952. This may be £1k less as I am not completely sure how much the student loan balance is and I don't have the details on me. Also I am waiting on some payments to clear so these figures will change in the next few days. Additionally once my fees have been paid and are clear I can start stoozing on the other 2 cards (@16.9% APR) and overpay on CC1. I have a feeling the figure for CC3 is correct but that the loans and CC2 are wrong (both potentially lower), but again I will modify this tomorrow.

*modified but still waiting for statement from student loan company, additionally the top figure will reduce within the next week due to a payment going into that card.

slbhill

Yes, perfectly do-able with a bit of planning. The grocery challenge thread would be an ideal place to start! My budget (also 2 adults for food, cleaning, toiletries) has gone from a bit over £200 down to £150/month by following some of the tips there and just generally being careful. Good luck!

ElmerFudd wrote: »

Just worked out that once all the essentials and minimum payments are met I am left with £164 for food/ cleaning stuff for the month for two adults. Is this workable? The problem is currently my wife and I are spending at least £50 a week. If it wasn't for the student loan coming out things would be more comfortable.

elantan

was just going to echo what slbhill said ... although it is hard and hubby and i arnt currently able to manage it ... but we will get there

ElmerFudd

Thanks slbhill and elantan, I am hoping that the grocery etc shop we did this weekend will cover over 2 weeks. I bulked up on toileteries/ detergent etc so should have enough of those for a good month or two. The only things I will have to get are milk and possibly something in a fortnight or so. I'm going to keep an eye on it and see how it goes!

elantan

good luck with it .. weezl has a thread going that can feed people on 80p per day ... very interesting thing to try ... if things get tight

ElmerFudd

Thanks elantan will do that.
Thankfully have been keeping up on the daily spending diary and not too happy about my spending habits. I have wasted £3.50 so far this month which could have gone toward debt, if only I had thought about an alternate solution to the drinks issue at work. It's difficult since I walk a mile or 2 sometimes from the station to work so am parched when I get there. Think of it as wasting 35p a day, if I keep this up that equates to roughly £127 a year. If this was sunk into the debt I would be free a lot quicker. I should really take a bottle of water in from home, except that's extra weight for me to carry...far too complicated. Can't wait until Saturday, then I'll know where I stand better financially. I'll still have a few payments to go out but all the big ones will be done and dusted. I constantly feel deprived right now. Psychologically it's hard thinking I can't even really afford to buy a McDonalds since it would tip me over into being unable to pay a bill. Can't afford to lapse again with the coffees...must focus more.

ElmerFudd

I'm glad I am making a concerted effort to write out my spending diary. To be honest I thought it would have gone by the wayside by now. Hopefully I can maintain it til the end of the month. I won't have access to a computer for 3/4 days after today but I will make notes on paper and transcribe them after. I can already tell that coffee is definitely my major flaw, although there are probably other things that will come up before the end of the month. I am really hoping some of this debt starts going down faster soon. I'll have to wait til the April hump passes though and evaluate things again in May.

ElmerFudd

OK. The major payment has now gone out so from now on the only things to worry about will be bills.
The daily diary is being maintained even if I am not having as many NSDs and LSDs as I would like.
I already find myself catching myself before I spend money on frivolous things. I *must* keep this up.