long way to go but on the right track!!

littleskintdragon

Havn't started a diary before but thought now that I would,

I had my most recent lbm in Jan this year and am absolutely determined that this time I will succeed.

I have done my soa and know that I overspend in some areas like sky, cars & mobiles for example. However I have recently started a new job and tripled my pay so i'm not concerned about those at the moment.

Since my lbm i have started writing every single penny down that I spend, I have a file full of spreadsheets and know for the first time ever how much I owe.

I will post later how much my total is (as it in my car at the mo) and will add it to my sig to watch it drop.its around the £52,000 mark

Today I opened a new bank account to transfer money to every week for groceries and petrol,and leave the other bank card at home for bills and direct debits only.

Anyway the reason I'm here is that I'm so proud of the progress I've made since Jan that I wanted to share it :j I know I owe a lot of money but since jan have paid off my next account of £350 and £128 for a finance i took out when i didnt have £££ for a new freezer.

My goals are as follows:
2012 pay off c/c debt,loan and 2 x o/d's
2013 pay off car finance x 2
2014 erm tbc

Thank u to anyone bored enough to read my post :rotfl:
and please don't b mean if ive said something wrong
it's a sensitive issue for me :embarasse

littleskintdragon

wanted to add the steps ive taken since jan:

have paper bank statements sent to the house so that I can really see where money goes

Check online banking everyday

Take lunch to work every day

Write down everything i spend and how much it adds up to

Bought a £10 greenhouse and planted lots of free seeds

Been given a free bookcase instead of buying me a new one i've been fancying

downgraded my grocery brands

there are more i will add tomorrow

brizzledfw

Hi LSD

Great news! Didnt want to read and run...this is a great start. Well done, especially on the pay rise- should be able to mean you can shift the debts much more quickly.

Post a SOA too- you should get lots of good and supportive comments.

Best wishes

Briz

jwil

You've made a great start, well done!

littleskintdragon

so another day passed my quest to b debt free.....
long long day at work, but a nsd which im proud of!!

looking for someone to drag me off the computer at 7.30pm when i've booked an online slot on the next sale. if anyone's in the area please please help me!!!!

Pay day tomorrow

littleskintdragon

well managed for the first time to not buy a single item in the next sale :j , I must b a changed woman!!!

trying to work out the best way for me to pay my debts off now, my pay has gone in and after bills have gone out will have about £1000 left which could go towards debt. Tempted to leave it in my account as its currently got me out of my overdraft. Cant ever remember not being out of my overdraft. I increased it last year when we moved house and needed a bit extra to pay the solicitors bills.

ani*fan

Hi there littleskintdragon :wave:

Well done...you're off to a flying start!

The different pots of cash for bills etc are a great idea and something I only got into recently. Having all your DD money in one account that does not get touched is helpful. It also stops you from having to check your accounts every day (which will eventually stress you out or at the very least bore you to tears ).

One piece of advice I'd give is plan, plan and plan some more. Your bills are paid and you have a grand leftover, but could it really go to debt? What about petrol and food? What about that wee birthday present you have to get your pal, or the trip to the cinema you have planned? Haircut? Flea treatment for your cat? £3 for parking?

You get the idea.

I generally sit down a few days before pay day and work out what's going to be happening the next month. Yes, this is all very boring and grown up but I've got to quite like it. I leave bill money in the DD account, move food money to the food account and petrol money to the petrol account (the same one my work travel expenses goes in to.) So that's the basics covered.

Then I look at what's left. :eek: And this is where you can get creative.

You need a present for your pal...Thornton's are giving away free easter eggs just now. Cinema trip...orange wednesday? Prepaid cheaper ticket taking your own snacks? Parking...could you car share? There is SO much money to be saved by planning a bit better and taking advantage of offers I just can't tell you. And it's such a feeling of satisfaction when you get to do what you wanted at a fraction of the usual cost.

Generally I save as much as I can in petrol and food too throughout the month (though OH is responsible for the food budget, my job is to try and eat less of our supplies. ) Then at the end of the month, I scoop up everything that's left (and there always is now, always, no more running to the bank to get my overdraft extended or buying petrol on a CC and pretending i haven't) and overpay a CC, or cut a bit off my overdraft, or whatever. The main thing here is not to make overpayments you can't afford. Don't leave yourself short cos then your vulnerable for bank charges and goodness knows what else.

After all that, I decided to look a bit longer term about planning things like car MOT, road tax, etc. Big expenses that happen now and again. I'm hoping to save £25 next month by buying my car insurance outright instead of paying for it by DD over a year. It's a big step for me. Then I want to buy a year's road tax instead of 6 months which I have always done before an dis much more expensive.

Anyway, I'm sure you get the idea. Sorry to rant on for so long, I got on a bit of a roll there and haven't realised how far I'd actually come!

Best of luck with your adventures. I've subscribed and look forward to hearing how you get on.

clippy_girl

hi lsd! well done on yoyr progress so far. re trying to decide what order to pay the debts and whether to leave the cash to pay your od off, have a look at the nowball calculator. you put all your debts in it and interest rates and it will work out what order you should pay them to pay the least interest. not sure where link is, probably on main dfw board or perhaps a sticky at top of the diaries board.

ani has given lots of good advice, esp re making large payments and leaving yourself short.

building on from the pot idea i also do this for birthdays and haircuts and xmas. work out how much you spend per year, divide by 12 and transfer the money to a seperate account each month. then use that to pay for the stuff and if you have to buy a bday present etc... it doesnt eat into your monthly budget

littleskintdragon

ani*fan and clippy_girl thank u both for your advice

I'm planning on using the separate pots tactics, trying to decide whether to do this online in virtual pots or having cash in the house which there is a chance i may dip into when i need bits from the shop!!

As for money for petrol as was mentioned i usually use around £100 a month but claim expenses through work and usually get around £200 back so work well!

I know what your both saying about leaving myself short so this month i've decided to leave the money in my account which has paid off my overdraft but i'm not going to decrease the overdraft this month, ill leave it in with the hope i don't need it and use next months pay towards a c/c.

My dh gets paid weekly so his pay is enough to pay the rest of the bills through the month and anything else we need.

Fortunately we are now in a fairly good position financially and can afford to pay back what we've borrowed to live on the past few years. its still difficult though because weve gone without so much the last couple of years clothes and nice things wise that theres such a temptation to go and spend some of the money i'm now earning.

really really determined though :beer: cant wait to b on the dfw roll of honour

littleskintdragon

completed my spreadsheet for march (i dont include anything after the 25th when i get paid as thats next months money)


In january of this year (my lbm) we owed £54,377 :eek:

We currently owe ...................... £52,441! (-3.56%)

I am aware that this is a lot of money, however I only used to think of my debt as credit cards and loans, but have recently got everything down on paper including student loans for me and dh, overdrafts and car finance etc. makes you realize just how much u really owe.

Love watching the total dropping

Just worked out that if i continue to pay at this rate then my debt free date is Oct 2014, however my 30th is Sept 2014 and I want it gone b4 then!

littleskintdragon

havnt posted for a while,

Quite a good week this week, got a £250 cheque this week that we've been waiting for since november, so paid this into the bank and came home and made an online payment to cc :T

Also made my first payment towards the family loan of £100

Made use of clubcard vouchers this week and changed some for 2 free days out over easter hols.

Started my sparkle fund, only putting in 10p a time, but it's going to be my treat when its bigger. I never buy anything for myself, its either for dd,dh or home!

Will have to post an soa before long, have been calculating this month to see how much we spend. once ive had my statement ill post one