Betti's debt free diary

betti911

Got my Bradford and Bingley share dividend though today... only £16.75 but put it towards my personal loan anyway.

Going to balance transfer my personal loan onto a credit card tomorrow interest free. Will still have about £700 left to pay on the personal loan but will work on that first.

Have had a good week apart from the Ikea debacle at the weekend. Have a long weekend this weekend but going to be very good.

betti911

Have been quite good this week and have just over £120 to do me until next Thursday. Any extra money I have I'm going to put it in my ISA towards my buildings and contents insurance which is up on 15th December.

Am frustrated as there's so many things I need for the flat but am just doing without as I'm saving every penny towards my debts and Xmas. Maybe things will look up after Xmas.

betti911

Monet has come through from virgin so will have to change my sig this weekend. Next month should be expensive as I've got to pay my balance transfer fees for Virgin and barclaycard.

betti911

Had an okay weekend. Spent £21.50 socially and then £30 on Xmas presents. Got a really good deal though. Hoping to do my new sig soon.

betti911

My new sig is done. Have £550 in debt coming off this month and stillhave to save for Xmas. Its going to be tight :eek: Have set a budget for myself of £46 per week for everything except petrol. I managed on this last month and it was okay. I managed to save an extra £60 odd pounds towards Xmas too.

Still don't think I'm doing terribly well as have loads more debt to clear but am trying my best.

Tustastic

Hi Betti, I think you're doing really well on all fronts. No point feeling bad about £80 spent at Ikea - is it stuff that will go really well in your flat or is there anything you feel like taking back?

betti911

Thanks Tustastic. I took back some cutlery but I've kept the rest. I really needed bedding for my new bed as didn't have any to fit a king size as my bed at home is only a single.

I have applied for an Alliance and leicester online account like one of the posters suggested either with a small interest free overdraft. Am going to put the rest of my loan there when fingers crossed everything comes through and then everything will hopefully be interest free for the time being and I can concentrate on clearing off the balanaces. Still got a long way to go on that front.

Get paid today so will edit my sig (again) this week

betti911

Good news. Have just had a small pay rise :j :j

New SOA will be on its way :money:

betti911

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £1729
Travel allowance - £75 (aprox)

Total - £1804

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage- £466 (fixed until Dec 08)
Council Tax - £116 (with single person's discount)
Phone - £28
Car Insurance - £0 Have arranged to pay this off in one lump payment this year
Food- £0 As before am still eating every night at my Mum and Dad's
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 - £190 (taking into account petrol prices)
Personal loan RBS- £550 (including extra payment towards loan)
Gym membership- £33
Cineworld cinema card- £11.99
Xmas Savings- £75
Social- £200

Total- £1674.99

The £75 aprox I get for travel expenses I'm going to also to put towards Xmas. I'm going to put any extra I can save towards my sister's b/day present.

I told my Dad the extent that my debts are still at last night and he said he was shocked. He didn't realise how big my debts were and how much they were getting me down. I spoke to my mum about it ages ago and I'm sure my dad was aware of it too. He said he thought I had a couple of thousand pounds worth of debts and when I told him I had just over 12 k but I was proud of what I'd cleared off so far he looked so sad.

I don't want any more help from my parents. They've helped me enough with the flat and this is my mess. I want to clear this on my own. Despite this talking to my dad made me feel so much better and I'm really glad he didn't say that he was very disappointed in me. He seemed to think I was having trouble paying my debts though but when I expalined that I was coping fine and making overpayments he didn't seem to believe me which made me sad.

Just phoned up to chase up my Barclaycard boots vouchers for Xmas. They are apparently coming out today and with the extra £10 I've got from pigsback I should have enough for my boyfriend's family's Xmas present.

Also found out I might have to get the clutch in my car fixed which I hope is not too expensive.

betti911

This month I've paid off my personal loan!

Have got a new job. I won't start till January. The pay is slighly less... about £900 per year but its set to go up very soon and its also nearer home so I save money on petrol which at present I'm paying at £200 per month.

The only downside of this is that I've got to pay myself out of my contract which'll prob cost £1800. It does seem a lot of money at the moment but I figure that I'll recoup that within a year just on petrol. This job will also give me more of a quality of life (I at present do up to 5 hrs driving per day) and a finanal salary pension which is great as I've not contibuted to a pension and I'm 26 at the moment which means that I'm leaving it rather late!

Re the money I'll have to pay back my boyfriend has already said he's lend me the money and I'll pay him back within 4 months. It'll mean my debt free date is set back 4 months but at the end of the day I'm still determined to get there.

Hope I've made the right choice!!