2012 The Year That I stop Faffing and Start Doing !!!

cutestkids

Hi as the title of my diary says 2012 is the year that I stop faffing about, talking about what I am going to do and actually doing it !:)

A bit of background.

I used to be really good at budgeting because I had to be then after having two children and more disposable income available for a few years I stopped budgeting and just spent as and when.:o

I think I had my lightbulb moment way back in January 2011 and have made a bit of progress since then but 2012 is the year that I am going to do it properly.

I have debt on credit cards which I have nothing to show for it, a lot of the debt that I have was caused due to both myself and my other half smoking 20 a day each, three years ago I had no cc debt but slowly it crept up a little bit here and a little there always with the full intention of paying it off the following month.

Gradually the price of ciggarettes went up until the brand we smoked was £7.00 a pack that is £14.00 a day between the two of us or over £5000.00 :eek: (Yes that really does say 5 THOUSAND it is not a typo) a year.

I just kept on buying them and putting either the fags or the petrol or the shopping or whatever else on the credit card, it was always with the intention of paying it off the following month.

Even last January when I had to "Borrow" money from my sons saving account to cover the tax bill I still went and bought the ciggarettes.

Finally in August of this year I quit smoking I had no choice because it was either a ciggarette or pay the mortgage, and 6 weeks later my OH joined me and I have not touched or wanted to touch one since.

I think finally I am in the right head space to sort it out pay the cc and most importantly pay the money I borrowed from my sons savings account back.

So I have joined in several of the challenges and am determined that I will finally sort out our family budget once and forall.

We are able to pay back all the cards etc and are in a more fortunate position than a lot of people, I just need to keep focused so I am hoping that keeping a diary on here will help.

Sorry to ramble on a bit.:o

cutestkids

Morning diary,
Well didn't sleep very well at all last night about a million things seemed to be going through my head for half the night.

So I decided to write up a list of the things I have started to do to become debt free since the beginning of the year.

1 I started to do a Payment a Day Challenge and it really does work.
2 I started checking my online banking every day, before I was forever being caught out with DD dates and getting charged £25.00 a time.
3 For the first year in probably more than 10 I actually did Christmas without credit, everything was paid for in cash.
4 I STOPPED SMOKING

So thats the four main things, there are lots more little things which I will add later.:)

cutestkids

Right so I am back, I think the next few days will be like this as I think of more things to add, I am the kind of person who needs to write it down or it does not get done.

So here goes more things that I have been doing on my debt free journey before I plucked up the courage to start the diary.

:jOn top of the things already mentioned, I have actually paid off two smaller debts totalling about £400.00 using the Payment a Day (PAD) method, some days it is just £1.00 payment other days it may be £100, the important thing to remember is every penny counts.

I have actually sat down and worked out my budget, when I started this I did not have a clue who most of the direct debits were going to so went through my bank account and worked out what each one was for and made sure that the money was in the account to cover it on the due date.

I have started the sealed pot challenge for loose change, the idea being that I will have a lump sum at the end of November next year which will either go towards one cc or into a savings account depending on how far the debt busting has come along by then.:cool:

Right need to go and make lunch for the kids so will be back later with more random thoughts.:D

cutestkids

Right some more thoughts before they vanish into the big black hole that is my head these days.

For a start the debt that I have is very managable now that the cigarettes are gone, I have sat down and worked out which cards to pay first according to the interest rates and have done the snowball calculator so I know exactly where I am at:)

My main problem over the last year was trying to throw everything I could at the debt and would often pay too much then be short for day to day stuff and have to put it back on the card.:mad:

That is the main reason for keeping this diary to keep myself in check and be sensible about our budget.

So I have sat down and worked out the total amount of debt and it is £12,621 :eek:

I have signed up to the pay as much as you can in 2012 challenge and have put £5000 as my aim for this year, this is more than managable I think and if things are going very well
I can adjust that later on in the year.:)

Right I am now off to work a few more things out.

loumac

Firstly .... Well done for quitting smoking! If you can beat something like that you can definitely beat your debts!

Wishing you lots of luck and I've subscribed to your diary to keep up to date with your progress.

cutestkids

loumac wrote: »

Firstly .... Well done for quitting smoking! If you can beat something like that you can definitely beat your debts!

Wishing you lots of luck and I've subscribed to your diary to keep up to date with your progress.

Hi Loumac
Thank you for the positive comments and for reading my random ramblings, I hope to make more sense as I sort out everything in my head:rotfl:

Muffin86

Hi Cutestkids!!

Well done on quitting smoking!! and good luck with your debt free journey! i will follow with interest xx

DorsetGirl_2

Its nice to see a fellow Xmas 2012 challenger with a diary - good luck. I look forward to seeing you DF

cutestkids

Muffin86 and DorsetGirl

Thank you for reading my diary hope everything you want to acheive in 2012 happens for you x :beer:

cutestkids

OK so I have just been checking the various survey sites that I am signed up to and have calculated that since August till now I have had payouts totalling £140 :j from doing surveys.

Since this was only from August I reckon that if I keep up with doing the surveys The payments I make from them should cover Christmas pretty much in full next year.:money:

loumac

Bravo!! How much time do you give to surveys to achieve this? Fantastic effort though. :T

PS - Happy new year!!