Feeling mellonicoley about my debts

mellonicoley

Today I paid £270 to Very and £70 to Capital One. I've covered my arrears, but apparently I have to pay Very another £85 this month! Don't think that's happening. Fortunately I'll be able to overpay by even more next month :beer:

As I was updating my spreadsheet this evening, I suddenly realised I need to call HFC Bank tomorrow and make my FINAL PAYMENT!!! So happy. I took out a finance agreement to buy my Dell laptop about 4 years ago... and it only lasted 2 years. So I'll be glad to be rid of this one! Plus that's an extra £40 to go towards Very

I've had to estimate my total debt as I can't get to all my balances... Capital One are trying to force me to call them by restricting my online account! i'm hopeful that once today's payment is processed, that restriction will be lifted. I also need to call Barclays Partner Finance to find out how much I owe (requested a statement from them about a month ago and STILL haven't received it. They're truly appalling). Also need to get a statement from Moorcrap & call up HFC Bank for a final payment figure .

I believe that as of 28/03/12, I owe approximately £6309.05 :T *conflicted emotions*.Which means i've managed to pay off just over a grand in six weeks! Pretty chuffed with this but hoping to do loads better in the coming months

Here's the breakdown

Very @ 40.9% :mad: £1261.56
Cap One @ 34.08% £105 (approx)
HSBC CC @ 29% £2120.50
HSBC OD @ 19% £1481.15
Moorcroft £179 (approx)
B'card £520 @ 20% (DD for £10 on 10/4/12)
B'clays (iMac) £591.84 (approx) - have no idea what APR on this is! Lost my copy of credit agreement, requested a new one which arrived without an APR on it. Also they haven't sent me a statement like I requested. Rubbish!!!
HFC Bank (Dell) £50 (approx) - not sure of APR but who cares, nearly done with it!

Total = £6309.05 :T:T:T:T:T

At the end of April, my plan is to pay £450 on to Very and clear my CapOne CC. I know, I should snowball, but it'll be so good to get rid of that card, I can tick another debt off my list!

mellonicoley

HFC is paid off! Settlement figure was £43.17. One more off the list. Never using finance to buy a computer (especially if it's a Dell) ever again. Hopefully my iMac will last me a few more years.....

Need to go update my sig....

mellonicoley

I'M BACK!

Apologies, this is going to be a long one!

Obviously I fell off the wagon massively after my last update, which was a shocking 10 months ago. However, it's not been all bad.

I moved sideways into a slightly different role at work, and it has really changed my life quite a lot. My job performance has gone up, I've been getting more responsibility, and I work with a bunch of really cool ladies. I also got a nice bonus last June, but don't ask me what I ended up spending it on! I'm hoping not to waste this year's one...

I stopped studying CIMA as I was not enjoying it AT ALL, and realised that I don't think I want to be an accountant... unfortunately, I don't know what I want to be instead! I've been considering careers in IT, statistics and photography. There's a pattern there somewhere... :rotfl:

My debt is pretty much at the same level it was before, although I no longer owe HFC, Moorcroft or Capital One any money. I'm nearly done paying for my iMac as well -only 3 payments to go!

After that's done, it'll just be:

• Barclaycard £481.47 (I closed this account & it has the lowest interest, so I only pay £15 a month on it at the moment)
• HSBC overdraft £1595.69 :mad:
• HSBC credit card £2422.83 :mad:
• Very £1513.01

Also I currently have 3 mobile phone contracts... But luckily two of them end this year and I will NEVER be so stupid as to take more than one out ever again! In fact when my newest one ends in 2014, I will switch to PAYG.

Anyway, basically I've been missing payments on B'card, HSBC etc for the last few months because I got into a payday loan trap again, so the totals have shot back up from what they were and what they should've been! But luckily Wonga has been banished from my life... almost. I had to borrow again last month because my only pair of glasses broke, and of course because I'm !!!! with money, I had nothing spare to buy new ones with.

I have a serious problem with spending (obviously). It's quite compulsive and it's obvious to me -if not to everyone else -that i buy things to make my life feel a bit more complete. And it's stupid things too like expensive hair products or new gym bags! And then a few days later I end up feeling crap about having spent/wasted the money. I probably need therapy, but then I've known that for years. I'm a very maladjusted individual, but that's for a whole other post perhaps...

SO my plan this year is to try to pay off the above debts as quickly as possible. However, I also need to save some money, as me and teh sis have to move house now because our mum has been unwell and is coming back to the UK regularly for doctors appointments and hospital visits. So we need somewhere where she can come and stay for 6 months at a time, and obviously house-sharing isn't good for that.

My plan is to:

• Pay £50 a month each on to Very, HSBC c/c and overdraft;
• Pay off as much debt as possible with June salary bonus;
• Save £1400 by end of May 2013 so that we can move in June/July

It's going to be so difficult but this time I'm determined to do this!!! My mum is depending on me big time and I'm sick of owing people money.

I'm hoping to save most of my money by shopping in the markets for fruit and veg, taking packed lunch to work, and trying to get the cheapest deals. I've now got National Portrait Gallery membership so I go to all their exhibitions for free, so I can use that instead of, for example, spending money at the cinema. Also making use of Netflix and Lovefilm for films instead of going to the cinema/shopping. Getting vouchers for restaurants when I go out with friends. Batch cooking. You know, the usual stuff!

I'm also trying to lose weight. So far this year I've lost 6lbs which I'm very pleased with. Only another 38lbs to go!

Anyway, that's it for my first post in 10 months! I will try my best to update this thing at least once a week :A

Cheers,
M x

mellonicoley

Got a letter from Very/NDR, so have updated my sig with the new total. eek!