Betti's debt free diary

betti911

Thanks Lucy. I will def look into that this week.

Have been trying to be good this weekend. Spent £2.70 (£2 for cleaning the stairs money and 70p on car parking at the cinema last night. Am going to really try to be good this week. Get paid on Friday so will spend as little as poss until then.

betti911

Lucy1982 wrote: »

you just need to transfer £500 into it every month.

Do you just transfer the money in and out each month? I was looking at the website there and it says I can apply online. I can't afford to pay £500 a month towards my OD.

Looked at my bank statement online there. It was scary! I have had a few extraordinary purchases this month but it still was horrible. Hsve bought car insurance, passport, new tyres, money towards a wedding present, money towards my mum's b/day present, money for 3 lifts!!

I will just have to be really careful next month

Am a bit worried as my council tax bill doesn't seem to have come through. Am going to query that tomorrow.

It also says on my bank statement that I have paid arrears and then immediatly re credited them to me. I wonder if its been a mistake on the banks part as I overpaid my loan?:question:

betti911

This will hopefully be my new budget come September:

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £1632.08
Travel allowance - £75 (aprox)

Total - £1707

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage- £466 (fixed until Dec 08)
Council Tax - £116 (discount now applied)
Phone - £28
Car Insurance - £0 Have arranged to pay this off in one lump payment this year
Food- £0 Am still eating every night at my Mum and Dad's I take breakfast from their house too and am able to get lunch at the moment from their house to bring into work (Their way of helping me)
Electricity- £5 per month- That was how much its been lately not using much at the moment as not in the house much mostly at my parents
Petrol - £180
Car loan- £84.00
Personal loan Debt consolidation- £241.33
Gym membership- £33
Cineworld cinema card- £11.99 (I use both of these v reg)
Extra payment towards car loan- £200
Xmas Savings- £50

Total: £1415.32

I have also arranged an appointment with a financial advisor from RBS to see about my overdraft. He said he might be able to get me a very much reduced rate than I'm paying at the moment. I'm going to keep a really keen eye on what he is saying though as these people really try the hard sell on you! Once my credit rating improves a bit I suppose I could apply for a better rate on my loan which is currently at 8%. Suppose I have reduced my debt a bit already but don't want to apply for anything further until my debt via loans is under 10k. Its hard to tell re my overdraft as this goes up and down.

betti911

Also my council tax bill has come in and have set up my direct debit.

Further piece of good news thought I would have to get further stuff done to my car and I don't which I'm chuffed about

betti911

I bought my bed over the weekend. Have this debt interest free for a year and then I will transfer it over to an interest free credit card. I got the best deal I could possibly get and my parents wanted me to use the full sum of money which they gave me (i put the actual cash into my car loan to save money).

Have been good with my money this weekend. Didn't spend very much at all even though it was pay day on Friday. Paid my electricity bill £3.52 - so cheap cause I'm not living in the house most of the time... only there every so often. When I get my bed I'll spend the odd night there. Its delievered in a few weeks. Know it was very expensive and to be honest I am feeling guilty about it but its got 4 drawers and its really good quality (one of the memory matresses) so it will prob save me money in the end. My parents have had the same bed for 30 yrs! It just doesn't make my signiture look so good anymore

betti911

Man at the bank who was supposed to phone me today about a better deal for my loan didn't which was rotten. I'm going to phone the back tomorrow. Think they've forgotten about me

Ches

maybe it is for the best. I would be very wary of any offer that sounds as if it is going to cost them loss of interest as there must be a catch somewhere. Just be careful. You are doing OK.

betti911

My boyfriend took me on holiday last week. We were all inclusive, got a great last min deal 5 star in Rhodes for £335. Have not been doing terribly well this weather with my money saving. Really need to do something about the overdraft. This month I paid £15 to service it as opposed to having it for free! Have my bank review today. Still on holiday so they are going to phone me this morning. I'll see what they say. You are prob right Ches there will be a catch somewhere.

betti911

Spoke to RBS and you were right Ches they were pretty awful. They wanted me to take a secured loan on my flat. They actually said it would be safer?!? whatever that means.

Don't know why I didn't think about it before but am going to transfer my overdraft to an interest free credit card. I've been accepted this morning for the virgin 15 months deal 0% deal which sounds okay. I'm going to give my credit card to my mum (she's got the rest of my cards) to avoid any temptation to spend and I'll keep trying to make the overpayments to my loan first before I tackle the OD on the credit card.

Ches

That sounds like a sensible decision. Glad you had a good holiday.