Who ya gonna call?....Debtbusters! I aint afraid of no bill

Fed_up_of_being_broke

:wave:

Hello!!

I bit the bullet this weekend and became a DFW :T

I have £10k of debt on 2 credit cards and a loan and i've decided enough is enough i'm tired of just keeping my head above water I have struggled in the last few years i was made redundant twice and struggled to find work, but fortunatley I have been back in fulltime work for 6 mths and now I want to focus on getting the debts that accrued in that time down.

My first move was to cut back on the non-essentials....the BF! when I was trying to make ends meet by waitressing and bar work he was walking out of construction job after construction job..this manager didn't know what he was doing...or..he didn't like the way this manager spoke to him meanwhile i was working my backside off.

This decisive action saved me roughly £400 a month and a lot of tears and arguements I have to say as hard as it was at the time I actually feel so much better now and more like myself

my next move was to lurk on here for a bit, I feel bad for saying but it felt good to read there are more people out there than I thought..a lot more I felt ashamed that I'd go myself in this mess and that i'd let my Ex use me so blatently still i've wasted enough time on him..onwards and upwards.

I've decided to keep a diary as I think I will need it to get me though the low times as well as celebrate the high times.

The last few days have been such an eye opener for me, i've realised i'm frittering away £500 a month on what I'm just learning, i've earnt £45 in two days by selling odd bits around the house that i don't use anymore and by joining a cashback site

At the moment my DFD is 2019 my dream would be to pay this off before dec 2013 and then to start on my mortgage...but we will see

Emzilla

Hi

Just wanted to wish you luck with clearing your debts. Oh, and I love the title of your thread .

I'm off to subscribe.

Emz xx

ZTD

Hello and welcome to the boards.

:hello:

Have you done a full SOA?

This will help you see how much "spare" money you have every month and where it could be draining away to.

Fed_up_of_being_broke

Thanks guys yes i've done an SOA - thats what gave me the wake up call! this week i'm keeping a diary and living life as usual as I want to understand where my money is going as I seem to hemerragh money but not have anything to show for it.

I've read a lot of these diaries and they are so inspirational i really want to do this i'm tired of robbing Peter to pay Paul

Fed_up_of_being_broke

My goals for the next 3 months:

• Earn £10 a day (£920)
• Try to use up everything in my cupboards before shopping again (food & toilettries)
• Beat my projected electricity usage for the next quarter (£200)
• Try and have 50 NSD
• Actually budget for xmas

Fed_up_of_being_broke

I feel great today so much better about my debts than I have done in ages, I feel like I have a plan.

My only question is how do you all ween yourself off on MSE Forums? I was reading diaries and getting tips and before I knew it, it was 2am!! I’ve had 4 hours sleep! And even then I turned my PC off reluctantly and dragged myself to bed! I just find it also helpful and inspiring and comforting that I’m not in this pickle alone (I’m far too ashamed to tell anyone i know the full extent)… I may have to rig some sort of timer so the PC switches itself off after two hours!

I really hope I keep this pace up, I brought lunch in with me today (£3-£5 saving) and I called my friend from work last night as explained that I wouldn’t be eating in the canteen for a bit, I said that I wanted to pay my card off – she didn’t get it until I gave her the figures from the demotivator – she was shocked! Then she asked me to demotivate her from her 3 latte’s a day!

In a way I came out of the conversation even more pumped because she said that she didn’t realise the real cost of the food, and that she appreciated that the £1200 a year (yes I know! That’s without the odd chocolate bar!) could be better spent even if I cut the cost of my lunches by half and she admitted that she’d totally annihilated her savings with all her holidays this year and although I thought of myself as broke I was in a better position as her – she rents her flat, has no savings and although she didn’t go into figures appears to have a lot on her credit cards.

I’ve felt a lot more “money aware” today I switch my TV off at the wall instead of leaving it on standby when I left and rather than having all the lights blazing in every room this morning I turned them on and off as I went it feels good..


Make £10 a Day in October
I have had a flying start to the “£10 a day challenge in October” I’m actually averaging £15 a day if I could keep that up that would be amazing that would be £465 extra – that would pretty much pay off my capital one card. I’ve decided this month not to include anything I’ve saved like others have as it’s such a tight month the odd £1 here and there might just get me by. I’ve opened a savings account to receive the extra dosh so it’s totally separate. Ebay is totally addictive! I put a couple of bits on at the weekend and I have a full blown bidding war going down on two of the items! I feel so daft – they have been sat in the bottom of a draw for well over a year and 2 days into the bidding they are at £20 :T

Balance: £52.56

Sealed pot
Ok so I kinda have two pots one that is really sealed and any loose change is going in there and one that I’ve started putting £2 coins in. I’m going to try and be disciplined not to dip in to that one but it’s there as an emergency if I need it.

Balance: £ Dunno



To do List for today:

· Sign up to dooyoo – I reckon I could do a review a day and put the points towards xmas
· Sign up for some more survey sites
· Check the balance on my nectar card – might get a free meal out of that
· Ask the boss about TV Extra work - see if he would be ok with it and me using my holiday and booking at short notice
· Read up on the tips for pre-paring for the winter on MSE old style
· Go to the gym

ZTD

Fed_up_of_being_broke wrote: »

My only question is how do you all ween yourself off on MSE Forums? I was reading diaries and getting tips and before I knew it, it was 2am!! I’ve had 4 hours sleep! And even then I turned my PC off reluctantly and dragged myself to bed! I just find it also helpful and inspiring and comforting that I’m not in this pickle alone (I’m far too ashamed to tell anyone i know the full extent)… I may have to rig some sort of timer so the PC switches itself off after two hours!

Don't worry it'll get better with time. Not cured - just better...

Fed_up_of_being_broke wrote: »

In a way I came out of the conversation even more pumped because she said that she didn’t realise the real cost of the food, and that she appreciated that the £1200 a year (yes I know! That’s without the odd chocolate bar!) could be better spent even if I cut the cost of my lunches by half and she admitted that she’d totally annihilated her savings with all her holidays this year and although I thought of myself as broke I was in a better position as her – she rents her flat, has no savings and although she didn’t go into figures appears to have a lot on her credit cards.

You may want to stick with her then - it's one things having people on t'internet land who are in the same boat as you, but someone In Real Life who is may be better. If you can get her on board (not guaranteed, the pull of denial is strong) then you can spur each other on.

Fed_up_of_being_broke wrote: »

Make £10 a Day in October
I have had a flying start to the “£10 a day challenge in October” I’m actually averaging £15 a day if I could keep that up that would be amazing that would be £465 extra

Just don't commit yourself to keeping that up. If you do, then it's a bonus, if you don't then it's not a reason to go "Why bother?" and jack it all in

Fed_up_of_being_broke wrote: »

· Go to the gym

Go! Get your money's worth.

Incidently, clicking will give you an easy bulleted list.

LondonGirl252

Hi!

Answer to your question! YOU DON'T you're here to stay now! hahaha I feel very much like you now, I have a similar (ever so slightly more) amount of debt and this forum has been the catalyst I need to get going and more importantly keep going!

There's loads of great ideas and a link to lost tesco clubcard vouchers on my diary if you get stuck on here till 2am again! LOL

Well done and good luck!

Fed_up_of_being_broke

ZTD - yeah i think you are right I might even be able to convert her to an MSE and then send her some of the referal links for the sites i've signed up to today

LG - thanks i've subscribed to your diary for added support - and taken a look at the Tesco link, however I can't remember the details I signed up with :mad:

• [STRIKE]Sign up to dooyoo – I reckon I could do a review a day and put the points towards xmas [/STRIKE] DONE
• [STRIKE]Sign up for some more survey sites [/STRIKE]DONE
• [STRIKE]Check the balance on my nectar card – might get a free meal out of that[/STRIKE] £1.55
• Ask the boss about TV Extra work - see if he would be ok with it and me using my holiday and booking at short notice
• Read up on the tips for pre-paring for the winter on MSE old style
• Go to the gym off to do now

turbo.jet

I'm subscribing to your diary and will be following with interest! Good luck on chipping away at that DFD. My ultimate goal is to finally own my own place too (mortgaged). <sigh> one day!

LondonGirl252

I didn't have the right log in details either - give them a quick call and they sort it for you!