Slowly But Surely

TheTortoise

Thanks - it's just I'm spending so much on diesel it's crazy!!!!!!!!

Lemon_Tree

i do know the feeling as i seem to spend inordinate amounts of money on petrol each month, simply to get me to work and back - no fun journeys included either

TheTortoise

Panic and Palpitations!!!!!!!! I have had to use my credit card over the last few weeks - for fuel, food and have put some xmas presents on there too. I thought I would have gone over the £200 mark I checked today and had racked up £331!!

I felt I needed to come and confess, and also justify (to myself).

The fuel and food - not really optional.
Xmas presents - most quite bargainous, and I am not far away from having finished my shopping.
(a few little items for myself....NOT ALLOWED!!!!!)

*sigh* it just made me realise a few things:
a) how EASILY credit card debt racks up - it creeps up on you and you barely realise you are spending
b) that despite my LBM I still have moments of weakness that could set back my plan for my debt free date of August 2013.

I feel I need to write out my plan again, to include paying off this new £300 debt.

I have just received my £146 from a family member who is paying me back for a car. £80 of this has just gone to the credit card. I have taken back a dress (£17) which may not have come off the balance yet, so that could be another £17 off. The rest will be paid on Friday when I get paid.

I will not be able to pay anything off the overdraft in November, as still have a couple of xmas presents to buy and need fuel to attend a wedding.
December 20th I hope to pay off £350 (what I would have been paying Santander. This makes overdraft £2250.

Following this I'm hoping to be able to pay off around £500 a month. This will be difficult but if I can keep my focus I can do it. OD will then be clear by May 20th and current account should be in credit.

Then all focus shifts to MBNA card which will not be paid off in the 0% period, but I'm hoping that I can either find another 0% deal (would rather not do this) or shift to my Barclaycard who keep sending me shorter term 0% deals since I paid them off. I'm banking on them maybe sending me one around then!!! I can hopefully clear the card within another 6 months. ALL CC debt will hopefully be clear by December 2012. That is only a year away.

Then snowball into the leftover debts of loan and car loan (car loan kind of doesn't count as family member paying me back for that as they now have the car but I would rather clear it and have that money as pure income).

I really need to maintain focus and this is the most difficult time of year to do that. Fingerts crossed I get a bit of back pay which can ne ploughed into OD or CC, and pay increase can be incorporated into the plan to make things move a bit more quickly.

Sorry for blithering - I am mainly doing it to myself!!!

Lemon_Tree

well done for coming back, it's not easy and don't let anyone tell you that it is. i still have times when i seem to blow out the credit card in fact this month is one of them, but you've just have to get back up on the horse and start again.

TheTortoise

Hi guys!

Just thought I would post a little update...
I'm currently paying off my overdraft and this month I could well be under the £2000 mark before I get paid...this hasn't been the case for a number of years so I'm quite excited at the prospect! MBNA is just ticking away at the moment, and the loan is going down...

I'm feeling positive for 2012!

TT

Lemon_Tree

great to see you back here. fingers crossed your OD's is below £2k before payday that's a great acheivement.

TheTortoise

Hello MSE!

Well it's been a while since I posted on my diary, and for my own benefot I'm going to summarise the last few months.

I cleared my overdraft, but then have used it to pay off the MBNA credit card, as it made sense with the interest rates. The remainder of the MBNA has been transferred to Barclaycard at 0%, meaning I now only have 1 credit card!!! This feels so great! I closed the MBNA account the other day and it fet like a huge weight was lifted!

So...currently the overdraft stands at around £900 (or will be by the end of the month), and Barclaycard stands at £2258.43. Loan is £1531.

Total debt £4689.43

Not bad at all considering when I joined MSE my total debt was WELL over £11,000!!!:eek:

I have realised though, that I am still a bit friviolous when it comes to my day to day spending - not so much big spends or clothes shopping, but day to day things like buying lunch out, going for meals, and 'nipping to the shops' and coming back with ridiculous amounts of food I don't need. In a nutshell it's FOOOOOD that is my weakness!!!!!

I'll share with you some of the things I have done to try to combat this:

• Shopping at Aldi - This really has made a massive difference
• errrrrmm....

Ok, so that's all I've really done! But here are my vows for the next few months:

• I will limits evening meals out to 2 per month
• I will not buy any takeaway meals in the evenings
• I will aim to make my lunch at least 3 days of ever 5 when I am at work
• I will continue to shop at Aldi

TT

Lemon_Tree

well done for the progress you've made on your debts, it's something to be proud of.

TheTortoise

Hi Lemon Tree

Thanks for your post! Hope all is going well for you too

Spent money on tea and cake today but resisted actually buying a whole lunch out...progress!

It's a tough month this month due to paying off the MBNA...I have £190 to last me 20 days and this needs to cover food, fuel and entertainment. I think it can be done!! I'm estimating that round £100 of that will need to be on fuel, so it's a tight £30 a week budget for everything else!!

I think what I'm going to do is take out £20 a week in cash, and go and do a really sensible food shop in Aldi each week, taking into accound what I already have in my cupboards. That leaves £10 a week for entertainment, however I reckon I can do a fair amount of free fun like walks.

This can be done!!!!!!!!

TheTortoise

Ok, I spent just over £15 in Aldi, and got a fair amount of food which should last me the week if I can muster enough willpower to resist mid week shopping!!

19 days 'til payday!!!