Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat and my overdraft needs to go on a diet!

allybee101

Well. I've lurked around here long enough, getting my fix of MSE tips and inspiration from the lovely folk on here. I've posted a few times but never committed to the full effort of maintaining a thread on here. Gulp.

So I thought I should probably take the plunge and actually write down what I'm doing to tackle my debts. I always work better under pressure and having the beady eyes of many a MSE-er watching me might keep me motivated!

I have 2 debts to deal with, one being my overdraft and I really need to clear it. It would be so nice to read my statement without minus signs scattered over it like confetti.
I'm not putting a SOA quite yet. I have a good handle on this at present. I will need to review it in the new year as I will be moving, and also finishing an assignment at work which will put me back to a lower pay scale. I want to clear as much debt as I can by March 2012 to give me a little breathing space after the job change.

Overdraft - I am planning for this to be no more than -£2500 by the end of my pay period (20th of the month).

Credit card - I have just cleared one balance :j and the other currently a balance of approx. £848 (a trip to pay for this weekend which I knew was coming - next time it will be saved up for ).

So on the 19th December (just before my next pay slip) my debts will probably stand at around £3350. :eek:
What a lovely Christmas present to oneself!

So there will be a little money making, some cutting back and general pulling up of festive socks for the foreseeable future.

In a way, I am grateful my debts are so small and I am full of admiration for those who are tackling seriously huge debts.
I am trying to nip my bad spending in the bud before I go any further down the slippery slope.
All butt-kicking, inspiration, comments, suggestions welcomed!

Cheers folks.

allybee101

Checked my accounts online and have my new totals.
Current Acc/Overdraft : -£1702.40
Credit card : £851.22 (actually £728.68, but transaction for £122.54 expected to go on today from weekend)
I've reworked my figures and I think I should be able to come in under -£2400 on the overdraft this month, provided I stick to what I've budgeted.

Plans for the super new spendthriftiness had a wee hiccup this morning. Got up very late this morning so no brekkie and had to buy a snack from the sandwich trolley. I did manage to grab some oatcakes, cheese and pickle for lunch so the damage isn't too horrendous.

Earlier this year I foolishly agreed to make a friend's wedding cake for her big day in December so I have been trying to work out my design for that and factor in the costs. I'm being paid for it, but I will need to buy ingredients first, and a lot of icing! I had an interesting few hours trying to work out how to make fir trees out of sugarpaste. I took photos, it's like the evolution of trees as I tried out various techniques.

So the plan for the rest of today is:
Update my signature to show new balances
Found 50p in my jeans - going in the penny tub (not sure what this will go towards yet)
Investigate 0% balance transfer offers for CC.
Find debit card and PIN for old NW first reserve account - I am planning to turn this in to my 'pocket money' account and load it up with my budget.
House insepction on Wednesday - need to have a tidy up!
Win the lottery (always the glass half full in my life!)

FreshPrincess

Keep positive Allybee this forum is not just for people who have debt of 20k+.. And it can be just as daunting to tackle. I had a debt of £4k two years ago (not including student loan) and knuckled down and paid it off in a year (on a !!!!! wage and a couple of periods of unemployment) and I also went travelling costing £1,600 in that year. I was so proud. Now I'm back to £2,000 debt. It is mainly as I am unemployed, and I am addicted to McDonald's, buying on eBay! "Smaller" debt can sometimes be harder to sort as you don't treat is as urgent as if you had debt collectors knocking at the door. Good luck with the cake! I'm sure she will be very grateful for your time.

kerri_dfw

I really want to see the pictures of the trees, is that wrong?
Good luck with the debt busting, there's a sealed pot challenge thread on the board somewhere that you could join in with, if you haven't already. They open them on 1st Dec as a xmas bonus

allybee101

Thanks for the messages

I will get the photos uploaded somehow. The first trees look a bit sorry for themselves http://images2.moneysavingexpert.com/images/forum_smilies/redface.gif
and got a bit squashed. New mission to find camera cable.

In the meantime I need to work out my quantities for cake and icing - I suspect I will be buying one of the 5kg packets of sugarpaste (fondant) icing from the cake decorating shop.

Today was a non NSD. Yesterday morning I was asked to go to a meeting in Birmingham today. So I had bus fares to the station to pay (to be claimed back). I then bought a bottle of water for the train and some additions to my packed lunch - I wanted to avoid a yoghurt explosion over my laptop.
I then bought a sandwich on my journey home as I left Brum later than expected and I was going out to a rehearsal ( I sing with a chorus and a dectet). It was yellow stickered so not too bad. But the twix was bad. And the Wotsits. I am on a diet along with my overdraft

So £10.35 spent today, £2.70 can be claimed back. Oops.

Need to find out what's happening with my Christmas orders - mostly all bought now, and one item to crochet - well, will be crocheted once I've learnt all the new stitches!

I might take a roll of duct tape to that penny pot - remove the temptation to dip in to it!

allybee101

Yesterday was a busy-ish day full of all sorts of goings on.
For some stupid reason I stayed up ridiculously late on Tuesday night then had a panic as the Letting Agents were doing an inspection on Wednesday so I had to do some de-cluttering. 3 carrier bags of rubbish and a box of recycling sorted by 2.00 am.
I really need to sort out my sleep patterns!

Was up and about at 9.00 as I was going to a Pensions rally march. Yes I am in the public sector, and yes I did strike.

I don't mind that we will have to work longer - we're living longer so it's got to happen as you can't have people on pensions for 30 or more years.
I appreciate that maybe contributions probably have to go up, although if pay isn't increased in line with inflation, RPI etc then take home pay is squeezed more and more.

I object to the fact that the extra deductions that are currently proposed won't go to my pension. They will go towards trying to infill the black hole in the budget. David Cameron should really call these 'pension reforms' the Public Sector Tax if he's going to be accurate.
I don't see him and the other MPs taking pay cuts, increasing their pension contributions, giving up the niceties in life to scrimp and save.

So, a friend from work and I joined the marh through Nottingham. We didn't have tickets for the TUC rally afterwards, so we went for lunch. In a place called Fat Cats (oh the irony!).

After that I went to a cake decorating shop to buy 6.5 kg of sugarpaste icing :eek: and various other items for the wedding cake. I need to start making the decorations.
50 fir trees
Lots of rocks
One hibernating bear
One bride and one groom


That'll keep me busy for a wee while!
The icing was on special offer for Christmas so that saved me some cash - well it saved the bride some cash. I'm paying for everything and then claiming the costs back, so I'll be spending tonight costing out the cake ingredients.

Finished up the day with a chorus rehearsal and me volunteering to bake some cupcakes for the Christmas show we're putting on. Refreshments are needed and I could do with practising my piping skills!

allybee101

I have asked to be enrolled on the Sealed Pot Challenge today.

I just need to select the pot and then get busy with the superglue after work tonight. My penny pot usually gets raided every now and then for 10/20 p to make up bus fare. Well no longer!
I'm not sure I can cope with the commitment.

I was reading another diary and the poster was listing all their Christmas socialising and budgetting for it all. I decided to copy this fab idea, and was a wee bit shocked to discovered I'd be spending about £125 on 6 partying occasions! Yikes. I think I need to do a little reviewing of how much I'm going to take to each event. There are several where I could stick to soft drinks without any problem so I think I could shave some cash off each one. I hope my liver appreciates this!

This weekend I have to buy a Secret Santa gift and finish making a Christmas present. I also need to write my Christmas cards to send them on their way.

Spends today - £1.80 - really need to get wake up times and breakfast sorted pronto!
I don't plan on spending any more today!

kerri_dfw

Hi Ally,
The way I deal with my sealed pot is to count it, this keeps me focused because I go "wow I've saved this much", then I become really possessive of the £2 coins and hate spending them. This isn't what you're meant to do, but it might help. Although, if I do take out a few coins to make up bus fare or something I put back more than what I took out to make up for it. Alternatively, you could have a "just in case" jar with £1 in coins to help with the bus fare moments.

Have you thought about writing down your incoming/outgoings? This really helps to identify where you're overspending.

allybee101

Hi,

Yes I'm keeping track of my daily spending - it does help reduce the mis-spends but not fail safe yet!

I sealed up my pot today. I counted what was in there, and added some coins as well. It came to £6.71. So not a bad start! If I continue chucking random coins in I reckon it could hold about £70. If I make an effort to put in more high denomination coins it could be quite a lot higher! I now have my Sealed Pot Challenge number - 1474 so must go and update my signature!

A quiet day catching up on emails, doing laundry and having a paper declutter. I am forever putting magazines to one side to re-read, sticking bills (paid ) in a stack that threatens to topple over and cause death by a thousand paper cuts.
And I have recipes up to my eyes.
So I am being ruthless and having a serious sort out. I found a cut out recipe from a magazine from 2003 that I've never even attempted. It does look yummy though - chocolate melt in the middle puds, yum! I think I need to sort them into a folder and pull some out each week to test. Alas I am on a diet so the puds may have to wait for Chrimbo.

allybee101

I had £7.40 in my purse this morning so I have set myself the challenge of not withdrawing any more cash until Friday. £6 has gone to the work social which had to be paid for this week so £1.40 left.
I've set myself the challenge of not taking any more cash out until Friday at the earliest. Gulp.

Card transactions limited to two -
I need to buy a Secret Santa present, £10 limit, for Sunday.
I may need to fill the car up, dependant on whether I can car share twice this week. £30 max and no sneaking in any chocolate bars!

We'll see if it works...

This week I also need to do:
at least three loads of laundry,
lose two stone (and the rest) although 2 lbs is probably more realistic
make wedding cake decorations
declutter bedroom
sort out bag of clothes for charity shop - and take them there.
bake cakes and decorate them for Christmas concert on Sunday (Chocolate Brownie cupcakes- delicious recipe from friend!)
Activate new debit card.
Work out Dec/Jan finances
Finish writing quiz for chorus fundraising.
Write Christmas cards

I am out every night this week with a meeting, two singing rehearsals, and two performances so it could be interesting fitting all this in.

allybee101

Well, Secret Santa bought after a lot of wandering around trying to find something a bit different and fun that wouldn't end up in the back of a cupboard.
Went to Hobbycraft and found a paint-your-own money duck (trying to spread the MSE word!) and a giant cookie baking set so that's sorted. Just need to wrap - I already have paper. I also picked up some raffia 'string' for when I wrap family presents. I've kept to a fairly strict budget on xmas presents for several years so I always try and make the wrapping a bit special.
This year I'm planning on newspaper or brown paper with xmas trees paint-printed on it and tied with raffia string. I need to find brown paper and also sacrifice a potato for stamp making!

I realised that I needed to fill the car with petrol yesterday evening so went to Mr S and remembered I'd still got dried spaghetti on my list for the cake.
Fear not, it's not a spaghetti cake! The dried spaghetti is used to hold vertical decorations together. I did consider using cocktail sticks but didn't want to risk anyone impaling themselves on a skewer if they ate the trees!

So, ended up in Mr S buying spaghetti and got sidetracked by a few yellow stickered items. Oops. Used some old nectar points so balance was £8.50 in the end.
At least they weren't full price.
I also sampled some Mr S fake beef Monster Munch. Disappointing is not a strong enough word! Will remember not to try them again!

A few pennies in the SP this week.
See you tomorrow.