I need a kick up the ****! Storm's DFW Diary

Storm

Well, thank goodness that March is over, as with the new tax year I can make a nice fresh start at everything!

I've joined in Emily's challenge for clearing a £1000 debt by the end of May, and I'm tackling the overdraft as it had managed to creep up again to £1060 :eek: Once it's gone completely I'm going to cancel it so I can't run it up yet again, and then it will just be the credit card to hit.

Anyway, so this month so far...

£119 minimum payment to CC
£149 from wages to OD
£175 expenses to OD
£50 extra pay to OD
£40 last months expenses to OD (lost the cheque, so waiting for replacement!)

£533 so far this month :j

Have played around with the snowball, and as I've not had the best start to this challenge I need to up my monthly payments to £600 to still clear the debts by December.

However, loads of overtime in march plus a small payrise will mean an extra £270.28 after deductions at the end of April I've worked out, so the target for May should take care of itself really, and I've not too much more to find this month either.

Having said all that, I want to clear about £650 from my overdraft as part of Emily's challenge, so with the minimum CC repayment next month I'll need to find an extra £120ish before the end of May...

I filled in my P87 today to claim tax back on work mileage which came to £49.20 - not bad considering I only passed my test in September!

Still not got internet at home, which does mean Ebay-ing isn't too easy, though I'm going to come into the office over the Easter weekend to list a load of stuff. Also still waiting for the £50 that NTL owe me - sent a very strongly worded letter last week to Virgin as they've taken NTL over, threatening to go to the small claims court if they don't get their act together PDQ!

Anyone know which vouchers sell well on Ebay? I've got abour £18 of points on Pigsback, and I'm trying to work out the most cost-effective ones to flog (or do I get 'useful' ones and put the money from my budget into the pot?)

Apologies for the extremely long post, I know diaries can sometimes get self-indulgent, but I needed to write it all down!

Storm

Oh, dear, I'm having a shoe dilemma - I've been looking for ages for a pair of flat brown shoes, and I've seen a pair I REALLY REALLY love the look of. They weren't in my size in the shop, so would have to order off the website... £60 for the shoes and £5.99 delivery!

Now, this month is going pretty well so far (although I know it's only the 4th!) - I'm already paying off a huge chunk off the OD for Emily's challenge, and I came in £50 under budget for a friend's visit last weekend, so that would cover most of the shoes... What do you think guys? BTW, here's the link to the shoes (I know not everyone's taste, but I LOVE them!)

http://www.jonesbootmaker.com/ebusiness1/store/product_details.jsp?pid=28401&cid=112&brc=&red=product_list.jsp?id=112,mid=-1,

Storm

OK, I'm taking the silence as disapproval of the shoes, and what I've said to myself is that I will wait until the end of the month, and review the situation - if I've still got money left in my 'spends' budget then I will let myself get them then, but not before (though I did find that if I go through quidco I'll get 5% back!)

Anyway... I thought it might be time for a new SoA as I've not done one for ages, and I've recently had a small payrise so here goes:

Income: £1374 pcm as far as I'm able to work out
OT - varies between nothing & £200, so not including it in figures

Expenditure:
Rent £350
Bills (will break down in a minute) £100
Car Savings £100
Food £100
Diesel £30
Smokes £45 (I know!)
Lunch @ work £65 (I know!)
Socialising/Misc £160
TOTAL Exp = £950

The bills I've worked out pretty accurately for gas, electric, phone, Sky basic, broadband & council tax; the landlord pays the water bill and I've got all the others down to the bare minimum.

The car savings is towards tax, mot & insurance - I put it in a separate account simply because I get too confused otherwise.

Although I've broken down food, fuel etc on the SoA, the way I normally work it is to say that I've got £400 a month for all this stuff, and therefore if I save money at the supermarket then I can 'reward' myself with an extra pint at the pub etc.

OK Debts...

Overdraft: £650.61 worked out at the end of this month based on current SoA
Credit Card: £3862.49 @ 14.9% apr
I also owe the library service about £25 in fines before I can borrow any more books, but as this is at 0% I've not bothered so far!

I'm taking part in Emily's challenge to try and clear a £1K debt by the end of May, which was my overdraft which was at £1060 at the end of March. I'm doing quite well so far, though will be Ebaying to try and get a bit more in there this month.

Oh, and overtime is drying up a lot at the moment, so won't have much past the end of April

ZTD

Storm wrote: »

OK, I'm taking the silence as disapproval of the shoes,

:eek:


£60...

:eek: :shocked: :eek: :shocked: :eek: :shocked:


Not that I'm judgemental or anything...

Storm

ZTD wrote:

:eek:


£60...

:eek: :shocked: :eek: :shocked: :eek: :shocked:


Not that I'm judgemental or anything...

I have to say, not immediately buying them (which I would have done pre-LBM) has meant that I'm now looking at them and thinking I don't actually want/need them. The weekend I saw them I had friends visiting, who went completely mad shopping as they live in Scandinavia, and I think I got a bit caught up in the whole 'spend, spend, spend' of the weekend!

To be honest, I do spend quite a lot on shoes as I've got extremely peculiar feet, and the cheap ones just hurt (so I never wear them again :rolleyes:) BUT... I do not NEED these shoes at the moment, and to be completely honest, after a bit of a breather I don't really want them either!

Storm

Well, it's nearly the weekend (thankfully) and I've had a pretty productive week all round really. I've sent off 2 job applications, both of which are more money than I'm on now, sent off my P87 to get tax back on work mileage and paid in some cheques & postal orders from ebaying stuff.

This weekend I'm fully intending to write out a strict meal plan for the week to include lunches (still haven't really got into the bringing lunch to work thing yet!), give the flat a good spring clean and go through my wardrobe working out what does & doesn't fit, so I can flog stuff on Ebay & if absolutely necessary plan out what replacements I need to buy!

I'm feeling much more positive in general, partly I think as my boss in on holiday this week, so no constant pressure & extra work being thrown at me!

Storm

Good news! I've been approved for an M&S credit card with the low LOB rate :j

Not sure what credit limit they've given me, but I got the credit agreement through on Saturday to sign, and it's gone in the post this morning. Once I know how much I can transfer then I can play about with the snowball again, and see what the new monthly amount to aim for will be.

On a slightly less good note though, on Saturday I went to the supermarket and realised that I'd left my debit card on my desk at work (was using it to sign up for a free LoveFilm offer, not spending on it!) and so had to pay for my groceries on the credit card It did mean though that in terms of spending actualy cash I had to be careful as I literally only could have what was in my wallet, and I even finished the weekend with £5 left! :j

Storm

Sun is shining, I've lost a bit of weight and I'm full of the joys of spring really!

Soooo please with myself as I managed to bring some lunch with me for once (just got to buy a roll to go with my tuna, sweetcorn & onion as used the last of my bread for breakfast) Found a £5 Tesco voucher lurking around last night too, so am going to divert there on the way home to get the bread etc I need, rather than spending money.

However, NTL/Virgin haven't responded to my letters about the £50 they owe me, so I want to start looking at my options for small claims court etc - does anyone have any experience of doing this sort of thing? I'm going to check out the opening times of my local CAB too, but any tips etc would be great. The weirdest thing is that a year ago I probably wouldn't have bothered, thinking the hassle wasn't worth it for £50, but now all I see is that it could reduce my debt signature, rather than hassle!

hypno06

No idea about the NTL/virgin stuff - sorry, but everything else seems to be going your way today so I am sure you will get this one sorted x

Storm

OK, just been checking online banking... £687.46 overdrawn (oops, bit more than I'd planned) and £3931.95 on the credit card. I've got £37.14 in my purse which has got to last me until payday (next Monday), which should be fine except 2 friends have their birthdays this weekend, so got 2 nights in the pub to contend with!

I just want my payslips to arrive so I can work out next month's budget - I'm determined to get the O/D paid off (tempted to just cancel it completely on Monday morning so I know I definitely can't sneak into it!)