A Thread for After Debt?

MunniMuncha

Many thanks for your kind welcomes! My main problem has been that all my spending has gone on the credit card and then has been paid off each month, regliously, without fail! But that has in turn been my downfall. I haven't been keeping an eye on what has gone on the card and every month my bill has been horrendous! If it's been around £700 then that has been a good month!!!! :eek: But has generally been anything from between £1200 and £2000. :eek::eek: That has been a lot of money to find every month, but have somehow managed it. It has become a vicious circle as all my money has gone onto paying off the credit card, so left no money in the bank and the circle starts again.

I have, in the last 2 months, got my spending on the credit card under control and hopefully by next month I am back on an even keel, will not have a balance on it at all and only use my bank account. I started doing it this way to get lots of Mr T points and it has worked as have had loads of points, but not at all worth it imho. So spending diary, spreadsheets and transferring the odd pences to savings here I come. As you can imagine the thing that has suffered the most has been my savings which are now virtually depleted. Anyway here's to 2012 and getting back to my old money saving ways :T

joedenise

Little_bit_dizzy wrote: »

Does anyone have any ideas regarding banks which don't charge transaction fees for using debit cards abroad? I know it's probably somewhere on a Travel Board, but I thought I'd ask you clever lot first

The only one I've heard of is Metro Bank but no use unless you have one near you, most of which in central London, as you have to go in to open the account.

Denise

MunniMuncha

LBD - we have used Tesco where you can put your money on a card and then just use it like a debit card - think it's called Travelex? There are no fees incurred when using this card and it is put into the currency of the country you are going to. No sure if they still do this but if you get a cash advance off their Tesco cc then there is no fee for that (can draw down 1/3 of your limit - so long as there are funds available) and then pay it off in full when your statement arrives, plus you also get clubcard points too. Be warned tho that the WHOLE balance of your card needs to be paid off at next statement date, otherwise you do pay charges. It has worked for us on both dollars and euros and will definitely use that way again.

AlyBaly

Hi everyone and a special welcome and hello to everyone joining.

Had a busy week so not had too much time to do anything unlike you guys and girls( the joys of working full time)


Will pop on later to read and catch up xx

SOT2011

Wanted to say a proper Hi following my short de-lurk the other day to say congrats to JG & family.

I am SOT, (Staying on Track), as I tell so many people I know at work about this forum I don't want to be too identifiable.

I am debt free (bar the mortgage sadly!), fairly recently, paying off my 0% car loan with savings when ex-OH and I split in October to try and make it more possible for me to stay in the house on my own. So it is just me & the small dog who I adore, making our way in the world on our own.

This seems to be working out just about, though things are a bit tight if I look closely enough at them, it is all taking a bit of time to settle down. The TofE seems to be going through ok, and once I have paid the lump sum to ex-OH and paid all the fees I will be much clearer about where I stand. This should hopefully be in the next month or two at most and will be a great relief to just have it done and dusted.

The reason I have mainly lurked till now is that I have to be careful how much time I spend on here, it quickly gets addictive! especially as the dog needs my attention more now there is no ex-OH about to take the strain in the evenings and also I am studying OU and that takes a lot of my time though mainly at the weekends.

I am borderline spreadsheet addicted. I know to the penny how much is due to go out on bills each month, and I have budgets (food, routine petrol, extra petrol for non routine trips eg trips to parents etc) and pots all over the place for things like Christmas, next years holiday, car costs, rainy day etc etc etc, but what I am hopeless at still is sticking to the budgets routinely, I manage for a few days, then forget to note anything down and before I know it I am looming dangerously close to the budget limits! I need to be more careful as savings have been much depleted by clearing my car loan and the Tof E money that will go out so I have less of a buffer to rescue myself & little scope to pull the savings back anytime soon either.

Current project is the grocery (food, cleaning and dog food and treats) budget - I set it at a generous £150 each month but am yet to hit that target in the 4 months I have been trying. I cannot believe I spend so much even with meal planning and lists, I would love to reduce it much further, to say £100, but until I can hit £150 at least a couple of times that is just a pipe dream for me.

Oooh blimey, just realised how much I have written, sorry everyone, maybe this is why I should stick to just reading! I'll stop now before I drove you all to distraction on my second proper posting on this thread!

QueenB.

SOT2011 and munnimuncha Welcome to the thread, it is so easy to get distracted and fall off the ol' wagon so to speak. Thats why so many of us are on this thread, well that and the great chat:D

Rising I need a shed too this year and once we get that the boys want bikes. Due to lack of space they haven't had bikes for a couple of years and I have always said when we get a shed they can get new ones, why is it that they forget their school bags but not that promise:rotfl: I hope you are feeling better after the whole dream issue and enjoyed your lazy saturday.

Oldtractor £105 is a lot for a weekly shop but mines not that much less, I am trying to finad all kinds of ways of reducing it and keeping a record of the price of our regular items to keep an eye on price rises. I look forward the warmer weather so I can grow my own veg.

Samtoby Sounds like you had a great night until the whole icky puddle vs heels incident:eek: I prefer to use cash as its far too easy to keep spending with the debit card. I take a certain amount out with me and it really does hurt to hand it over LOL plus it gives me pennies and £2s to add to my pots I can spend ages to adding up the coppers in my penny pot, seeing the neat little piles theres that OCD thing again:o

When we went into the bank today to reduce OH overdraft the clerk told us that we shouldn't do it because it would look bad on our credit rating. He suggested coming back during the week when we could do it without it affecting the credit rating. We started the process anyway but could this be true? Seems strange to me that a few days would make any diffrence.

PS. Love the new word spreadsheetitis:rotfl:

rising_from_the_ashes

SOT2011 wrote: »

The reason I have mainly lurked till now is that I have to be careful how much time I spend on here, it quickly gets addictive! especially as the dog needs my attention more now there is no ex-OH about to take the strain in the evenings and also I am studying OU and that takes a lot of my time though mainly at the weekends.

I am borderline spreadsheet addicted. I know to the penny how much is due to go out on bills each month, and I have budgets (food, routine petrol, extra petrol for non routine trips eg trips to parents etc) and pots all over the place for things like Christmas, next years holiday, car costs, rainy day etc etc etc, but what I am hopeless at still is sticking to the budgets routinely

Ohhhhh some things here sound soooooooooo like me!:) Extra congrats deserved for managing to stay DF and keeping your house/buying out ex etc.:T You're so right about this site being addictive ... I spend far too much time on here:o - it will be a lot less once the nicer days/evenings arrive in the summer!

QueenB. wrote: »

When we went into the bank today to reduce OH overdraft the clerk told us that we shouldn't do it because it would look bad on our credit rating. He suggested coming back during the week when we could do it without it affecting the credit rating. We started the process anyway but could this be true? Seems strange to me that a few days would make any diffrence.

PS. Love the new word spreadsheetitis:rotfl:

Don't really understand how a few days could make a difference - unless it's to do with when they send the monthly info to the credit agencies.

As your available credit -v- debt is part of your credit rating it could impact on this....eg

total credit = £1000 / used credit = £900 so you're using 90% of your available credit
OR
total credit = £1000 / used credit = £500 so you're using 50% of your available credit

Obviously the 2nd looks a lot better .... so, if by reducing the OD you're making your available/used credit nearer the 1st example this could impact your credit rating IYSWIM?

Can you not leave the OD level where it is and just keep paying it off - and then once it's gone, reduce it then?

QueenB.

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Ohhhhh some things here sound soooooooooo like me!:) Extra congrats deserved for managing to stay DF and keeping your house/buying out ex etc.:T You're so right about this site being addictive ... I spend far too much time on here:o - it will be a lot less once the nicer days/evenings arrive in the summer!



Don't really understand how a few days could make a difference - unless it's to do with when they send the monthly info to the credit agencies.

As your available credit -v- debt is part of your credit rating it could impact on this....eg

total credit = £1000 / used credit = £900 so you're using 90% of your available credit
OR
total credit = £1000 / used credit = £500 so you're using 50% of your available credit

Obviously the 2nd looks a lot better .... so, if by reducing the OD you're making your available/used credit nearer the 1st example this could impact your credit rating IYSWIM?

Can you not leave the OD level where it is and just keep paying it off - and then once it's gone, reduce it then?

I can see how the above could affect the rating but we don't use the OD, I have only been in my OD a couple of times in the past few years since opening my account and always cleared it the same month and OH cleared his OD balance about 6 months ago and has stayed in balance since. His OD limit is HUGE:eek: and even reducing it by 2/3 will leave a healthy OD limit if we ever need it...which with my budgeting im hoping should not happen.

JulieGeorgiana

Oh my this thread does run at some speed... have read it but won't have a chance to catch up much!!

Eliza and I are settling in at home (we were released this afternoon - Eliza had to have 24 hours observation). Last night was horrific due to the other woman on my ward!!!! so I've had 4 hours sleep in total since Thursday morning!

Eliza is all bathed and sleeping now... just waiting for her to wake up for dinner then we can all go to bed! But after being so poorly for the pregnancy I feel better and more energetic then I have in over 9 months!!!!

Just want to say thank you all for your lovely messages... below is a photo for you all I took yesterday

Dizzy Glad you got the accounts

Rising I suffer Spreadsheeitus too (in fact talking of spreadsheets I have to go make a quick meal plan as Eliza messed mine up... which is why i am on the computer!!!! So sad of me...! but the budget is messed up as it is the last two days and parking costs!!!)

LealeaV Yup I think she will have the knack of spreadheets soon... and she has definitly got meal planning sorted

To all newbies welcome... hope to get to know you all soon.

samtoby

Had a busy afternoon with DS before dropping him off at his dads. Just watching some tv while my tea goes down.

I think keeping a speadsheet just keeps money in control and for me and my saving journey this is vital even after becoming debt free. It's like medicine.

I think as long as you do not have say 10k available credit and do not use it then that would reflect badly because your not using it and instantly could be in 10k debt! I have my phone very account and bank account and that keeps me on an even keel. I don't have an overdraft. So essentially I have say £1200 available credit which I use but only to like 50% to max so no reason for more credit. Well for me anyway. Personally I think there are so many ideas about what is best but spends what you have credit wise how you use it where you live and what you do. As long as you stay at a manageable level for you then that's all that matters x