The freezing, and the pain to come.

rainbowneeks

don't be too hard on yourself...we all fall off the wagon sometimes...you're doing really well xx

BEAT_THE_DEBT

At least you are thinking about what you have spent now thats half the battle xx

savingholmes

Hi FP - we never think at our best when we are in pain and recovering from surgery. Dust yourself off - put some of those suggestions of Miggy's or similar into place - and have a plan to resist temptation next time... as there will always be one....

I used to be wow there's a sale on must get what I can now - Now tho I step back and think they do cyclical sales there is no rush, I can wait. I also rarely buy at full price now for the same reason

savingholmes

Where have you gone? Hope you are okay?

chevalier

Hi there.
Glad to hear that the operation went well. And well done on having your second LBM about your spending.

I hope that things are progressing well now. The thing about the bar job. Yes the hourly wage is pants, but that is still money you wouldn't have
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financial_planner

Hi, its been a while since my last post, sorry. I've strayed from my MSE objectives, but because of a few bursts of luck, I've managed to keep myself on track, and so have some successes to report.

Of crtical importance is the fact that the credit cards are still in the freezer. There has been no defrosting. I'm living firmly within my means, or rather, within the means of my agreed overdraft. In addition, I have paid off two debts:

my brother (£200), and
my finnish credit card (£450). - £150 more than I initially assumed.

The really good news is that I also got a performance bonus at work to be paid this month, £640, after tax, this will be something closer to £400 I think. I'm going to celebrate, by making a huge downpayment against my Amex card (£1000), when the pay cheque comes in. This seems to be my worst performing and illogical debt. I seem to be paying £100 per month just to service the interest, at 18%, on a debt of ca £4800. The downpayment will help, but what I really need to do is transfer the balance, but my credit rating is trashed so I don't know if that is going to be possible.

As for 'everyday life', I had to pass in the end on the finnish classes, that was going to cost me £350, money I frankly don't have. I'm going to have to try and learn a bit more of the language using books and online. I had to quit the bar job, it just wasn't worth it. The place was very poorly run and unreliable (I had concerns that it wasn't actually legal), and after tax I was earning the equivalent of £3.50 an hour. But I've not given up on the idea, I just need to find a more appropriate pub to work in.

Otherwise, I have found that, whilst I am doing things that work towards a debt free existence – like cooking for myself, not buying coffee, and cycling everyday, old habits die hard. This week, for instance, I spent £35 on Thursday night, £18 on friday night, and £80 last night. What a waste! What can I say? I've only got myself to blame. Its only me that can turn this situation around.

Overall, I can see myself changing. I'm not going back to the credit cards, I keep facing reality, like I am doing now after the spending spree of the past few days. It's a long and hard project I have embarked on, but all you can really do is stay on course.

Will look at my finances etc again today, and perhaps post again later.

financial_planner

OK, this is how my total debts looked when I started (September 18th, 2011)

Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
amex...........................4824.93...108.9.... .18
mastercard..................4664.86...55....... .0
brother........................200.......0........ .0
dad............................11250.....125...... .0
overdraft.....................1881......0........ .20
finnish cc.....................450.......0.........0
Total …..................23270.79..288.9.....-!

And this is how they look now (23rd October, 2011)

Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
amex...........................4840.93...106.99.... .18
mastercard.....................4598.86...55....... .0
brother........................ 0...... .0........ .0 (paid 01/10/2011)
dad............................11125 .....125...... .0
overdraft......................1881..... .0........ .20
finnish cc..................... 0...... . 0.........0 (paid 10/10/2011)
Total …...................22363......288.9.....-!

So, I'm in £907 less debt , or perhaps that should be 3.89% of the total:j

Well worth celebrating. It could be better though, I need to urgently look at my lifestyle and spending patterns, to see how I can improve and sustain the debt fighting.

Cheers!

FP

Want_to_be_free

Well done on the progress- do you know anything about snowballing? You start paying your highest debt (without thinking of interest) , you put in all you can effort, and the rest of the debts, you only pay minimum ... But what really happens when you finished the biggest one, then you concentrate on second biggest one and put all you can efford there ...Suddenly debt goes down very very quickly ....

gallygirl

You've paid off over £900 in a month, so that is something to celebrate :j.

On the other hand if you hadn't had those 3 nights out it could have been over 1k .

You need to strike a reasonable balance between paying off and having a life, so don't be too hard on yourslef, it's early days yet. Maybe you need to set a more realistic entertainment budget - but then make sure you stick to it?

chevalier

wow over £900 paid off in a months, that is awesome. WELL DONE. Ok oops about having a few of these:beer::beer:, but at least you realised that it was an issue, and that is the first stage of really getting a handle on your debts.
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