Feeling mellonicoley about my debts

mellonicoley

I failed at having an NSD yesterday On the way home I popped into Superdrug and grabbed two galaxy chocolate bars in their 2 for 99p offer. At least I made a saving! One of the bars is still in my bag as well so I can have that after my lunch.

Speaking of which... I managed to leave my lunch at home. SO ANNOYED. I guess it's because I'm not used to taking it in with me. I just headed out the door without a moment's thought, and then half way up the road realised I'd left it behind. If I'd gone back I would've been late to work, and I really want to be on time for the rest of the week. My lunch was supposed to be leftovers from the curry I made last night, so I'll just have it for dinner instead, and tomorrow I will try my damned hardest not to forget my lunch!!!

So obviously today will not be an NSD

Currently trying to decide what to get for lunch. My choices are a bit limited as I'm not meant to have gluten. There's a place nearby that does jacket potato and cheese for £2.50 so I might go there. A friend of mine suggested a cheap £1 microwaveable meal from the nearest supermarket but I really don't like ready meals that much anymore. They just taste of salt and nothing else....

Anyway, thought it might be a good idea to update this diary with my short- and long-term MSE goals.

In the short-term, I want to get through the rest of this month and March without having to borrow any money. So I need as many NSDs as possible (lol what a great start so far).

From April, once I've paid off that payday loan and freed up £500, I can start tackling my other debts. Also I'll have an extra £40 a month because my HFC loan will also have been paid off by then.

I will be making some hefty overpayments on my Very account because it's at 40.9% APR and my minimum payment is £70 a month. Absolutely shocking. I'm hopeful that I can pay that off by August.

In the end, I want to be debt-free by 21st August 2013. My 29th birthday

I think I'll do a more comprehensive post soon of my debt-busting plan!

mellonicoley

I've worked out that I can be debt-free way before my 29th birthday if I just stick to my plan... that's the problem I have, sticking to things! I am so determined to try though because otherwise I can't see a way out of this debt-hole...

Today is not going to be an NSD. I'm really trying honestly, but I think apples make me hungrier?! Is that possible??? I forgot to bring in my crispbread for snacking on so might have to succumb to hunger/greediness and buy similarly healthy snacks to keep at work. I'm constantly stuffing my face lol - I think it's down to boredom in my job but that can wait for a whole other post! - so I should stay away from any chocs, crisps or biscuits. And no, it's not me being thirsty but thinking I'm hungry... I had about 6 glasses of water yesterday and have had two today already :rotfl:

At the moment I have £65 in the bank to last me until end of the month - £40 in my current account, £25 in my savings. I'm trying to keep the £25 in there because I agreed last month to go to a thai dinner with some work peeps and I really don't want to cancel (because I usually cancel... not because of money but because I'm actually fairly unsociable lol). So essentially I have £40 to last me two weeks (payday on 28th).:eek:

This month can't end fast enough!!!

Forgot to mention the other day that I closed my Barclaycard account because they tried to push my interest rate up again... I wasn't having any of that! So at least that's one card I can never spend on again.

In the spirit of this journey, here's a breakdown of my £7k of debt:

Very £1421.05
Capital One £231.41 -just made a payment of 7.37 :T
HSBC cc £2101.12
HSBC od £1529.49
Moorcroft £229.99
HFC Bank £90 (approx - no statements for this, so need to call up & get exact balance, but only two more payments to go!)
Barclaycard £512.88
Barclays Partner Fin £651.94 (for my Mac... )
Wonga £522

Total = £7,289.88

It's going to look much better once I pay off Wonga, but I'm going to incur some charges for going overlimit with Very, C1 and HSBC :mad:. HOWEVER from April I'll have £800 each month to split between debt-busting and savings...

Yes. I just did the sums and I can't believe it's so much. Makes me angrier that I've obviously just been chucking this money away.

Reasons for saving some money & not just chucking everything at debt:

• Emergency fund
• Xmas
• Moving into (rented, unforch) flat/house with my sister and our cat :j

I know the last one probably shouldn't be a priority but we're so sick of our housemates!!! And I'll still have about £600 left each month to throw at debts/more savings.

mellonicoley

Boooo... minor setback. I owe Barclays Partner Finance £773.27, not £651.94... Just called up to double check. It seems that the copy of the credit agreement they sent me (which by the way isn't the one I signed - they must've lost the original already!) showed the loan amount BEFORE interest. There isn't an APR rate shown on it either.

So my total debt now stands at £7,411. One step forward, two steps back....

HappyNow

mellonicoley wrote: »

Today is not going to be an NSD. I'm really trying honestly, but I think apples make me hungrier?! Is that possible???






Reasons for saving some money & not just chucking everything at debt:

• Emergency fund
• Xmas
• Moving into (rented, unforch) flat/house with my sister and our cat :j

Yes, I've never been able to see apples as real food. They just give me chocolate cravings .

Lots of people on here (me included!) would consider Very's interest rates to be an emergency. Same with Xmas - lovely to save for it in advance, but you'll be earning virtually no interest on your savings, yet paying lots on your debt. Remember interest is your enemy! Could you consider delaying those savings areas for a while? Not necessarily for your house-move, I get what you mean there.

mellonicoley wrote: »

One step forward, two steps back....

Noooo, maybe two steps forward, one tiny step back. And just remember that if it wasn't for all the effort you're putting in now, it would be JUST the backward steps. You're doing great, keep at it!

.

mellonicoley

HappyNow wrote: »

Yes, I've never been able to see apples as real food. They just give me chocolate cravings .

Lots of people on here (me included!) would consider Very's interest rates to be an emergency. Same with Xmas - lovely to save for it in advance, but you'll be earning virtually no interest on your savings, yet paying lots on your debt. Remember interest is your enemy! Could you consider delaying those savings areas for a while? Not necessarily for your house-move, I get what you mean there.


Noooo, maybe two steps forward, one tiny step back. And just remember that if it wasn't for all the effort you're putting in now, it would be JUST the backward steps. You're doing great, keep at it!

.

Thanks HappyNow for visiting again and for the encouraging words. :j

I know what you mean, Very's APR is horrendous! I may decrease the savings pot a little so that I can pay more towards that... I'll stop saving for xmas because I think it's a massive waste of money anyway but would love to have the emergency fund to help my mum out sometimes and also because I can think of half a dozen instances where I might need it. I was just saying to my sister the other day that if my glasses ever got broken, I wouldn't even have the money to replace them. Which is really bad because my eyesight is terrible without them, I can't see anything clearly unless it's 2 inches away from my face! I wouldn't be able to work or go outside or do anything

Today will hopefully be an NSD day!!! I brought in lunch again - some yummy tuna salad. I have chocolate mini rolls and crisps to get me through any major cravings I might have today as well

And of course there's lots of free water & coffee (except I actually hate coffee lol)

I did a massive spreadsheet yesterday instead of working :rotfl:and worked out I could be debt-free by June 2013 and have Very paid off at the end of August!!! I've assumed my rent and bills will increase once we've moved as well, so hopefully my estimate isn't too far off the mark. Maybe sooner if I alter my savings plan. I'm quite pleased with this and I'm determined to stick to it!

12 days until payday... I think getting past the 14 day mark has helped me psychologically. It doesn't seem so long anymore, even though it's only 2 days less and I still only have £40 to spend (plus a couple of quid in my purse + £25 I'm keeping aside for my work's thai dinner).

I'm really pleased that I've managed to bring in lunch for most of this week so far. Tomorrow it's ham and cucumber sandwiches I think! I'm actually preferring my lunches to the ones I usually buy too.. :cool:

On Saturday teh sis is taking me to a Dickens exhibition, so I'm going to try to make us lunch beforehand so that we don't end up buying something whilst we're out. We're very good at rushing out without having anything to eat first, and then buying lunch on the go. Also want to pop to Lidl's after to get things for next week.

Sunday is hair-wash-and-being-lazy day so will hopefully be an NSD!

mellonicoley

Have just discovered I could potentially make £80 on ebay by selling one of my lenses (camera lenses... I'm a bit into photography) that I never use. That could be something to pay on to the Very account!

I also have a few textbooks that I might chuck onto Amazon

mellonicoley

Still haven't managed to get on to ebay or Amazon to sell my items, but have decided to wait for a free listing day on ebay in any case. Need to do a proper de-clutter and see what else might be worth selling... I even have a couple of energy bulbs that I'm tempted to list! We bought the wrong type

Saturday night and I have £20 in my purse, probably about £5 in the change pot (really need to take that down to the bank), and £6.56 in the bank. Not as good as I'd hoped.... However, I'm going to pat myself on the back for taking lunch in 4 times last week and therefore saving myself - compared to previous spending - £20! If I hadn't taken lunch in, I'd be running on empty now.

For next week, I'm going to try to snack less & not buy apps on itunes

Tomorrow I'll be going to Lidl's to buy more things for lunch next week and maybe a few extras for dinner. Going to try to keep that £15 or less so I have £5 spare for chocolate emergencies And also just in case I forget lunch again :mad:

Can't wait for payday next Tuesday! not that i intend to use that as an excuse to change my money-saving ways...

I've decided to allocate myself £40 a week for all spends. So that's for food, toiletries, chocolate emergencies :rotfl:, anything. Once i get paid, I'll withdraw the £160 (or £180, depending on the month) in one go, then split it into envelopes for each week, and then try my hardest to not dip into the next week's money. OBVIOUSLY, i'll be leaving my debit card at home. The thought of this actually terrifies me, but what the hell.... gotta try everything once!

I've also decided not to go to my work dinner on thursday after all. I should try to spend more time with work colleagues but to be honest... We have nothing in common!!! I don't mind giving up my lunches for them but not my evenings.... Also, I'll be able to hang on to that £25, the start of my emergency fund.

This evening I opened up another savings account with my current bank, and that's where the money for my Moving House Fund will go. It'll also be good for longer-term savings because if you have 5 or less withdrawals a year, you get paid a slightly higher rate. 2%. Woo...! Obviously i'll be looking for a slightly better rate when my Buying House Fund (due to start in 2013) grows to a substantial amount.

mellonicoley

I fell off the wagon this weekend. Didn't even make it to Lidl's or Sainsbury's, but fortunately I've still got food in the house. Enough for a few dinners anyway.

I haven't made lunch for the last two days. In fact, I've spent about £15 this week already! :eek:

I don't want to make excuses for myself, but... I've been in quite a bit of pain this week (I have a degenerative disc and possibly sacroilliac joint dysfunction, and sometimes it flares up. then the inflammatories I take make me feel sick :-s), and I've been feeling a bit low and very unmotivated. SO I think this has led to me not wanting to do much (e.g. go shopping or make lunches) and spending too much (e.g. on my fave snacks/naughty junk foods).

The pain is better today, and should hopefully get progressively better from here on I hope! So no excuses for the rest of the week really....

Tonight I really need to try to catch up on my studying as well! Already know when my exams are: 22nd and 24th May. Not long to go really so must crack on!

Can't wait for payday as I can pay Wonga off then and will be one step closer to being debt-free! :money:

Oh in the end I didn't even have to make an excuse not to join my colleagues for dinner. They moved it to the start of March, but it's on a day now that I won't be in the office, so I've got an excuse now not to go

Wow how unsociable do I sound?!

mellonicoley

SO the weekend is nearly upon us. FINALLY! Have been waiting for this since Monday lol :rotfl:. Plans for the weekend:

• STUDY. Have not done any studying this week so really must catch up this weekend!!
• Do a meal plan for next week, starting from Tuesday (that's payday, yay). I will probably order everything on Sunday night for it to be delivered on Tuesday. Must remember to check out cashback/voucher sites. Might order through Mr S's for the nectar points, although they're pricier than Mr T/A... BUT I am more likely to use the points than Tesco vouchers, and if I shop carefully, I don't think it'll cost me that much more.
• Try to have one NSD this weekend. Should be fairly easy as not planning on leaving the house tomorrow. Because of all the studying...
• Start a spending diary. Have not been doing this, and even though I'm pretty sure where all my food goes (snacking!), I need to keep one just to make sure. Might also be a good idea for me to note how I'm feeling when I have the urge to snack. I'm pretty sure it's usually when I'm feeling low or bored, but again need to make sure....
• I also need to wash and trim my hair tomorrow morning. Not a chore at all, I love playing around in my hair but might ask teh sis for help with the trimming...

Feeling a bit more motivated now that the weekend is here. May it continue!

mellonicoley

ARGH what a complete waste of a weekend. I don't know what is wrong with me, any drop of motivation I've had has gone flying out the window. Must. FOCUS!!!

So no studying was done.
No meal planning.
No NSD.
No food ordering.
No spending diary.

HOWEVER, I did wash my hair... deep conditioned, moisturised, twisted up... then realised I'd forgotten to trim. ARGH.:mad:

And to top it all off, this weekend was an ebay free listing weekend AND I MISSED IT

Need to get back on track this week, especially since payday is tomorrow and I need - no, must! - stick to my debt busting plans. Also, would like not to fail my exams, so must get on with the studying. Thankfully I have Monday to Wednesday off next week so plan on spending that time to catch up with my online lectures and practise questions.

Going to re-do my budget in a minute so I can work out exactly how much I have left for food next month so I can plan accordingly. Have to remember to put the cinema trips we have planned into the budget, plus might be going for a meal out this friday, as I usually forgot to budget for them and of course that results in me overspending.:o

Tomorrow morning I have to pay my CIMA exam fees, so need to be careful how much I spend whilst I wait for those to be reimbursed by work...