My Debt Free Diary

saver03

I thought I would do my new incomings and outgoings as I am sure they have changed recently.

RENT £410
COUNCIL TAX £88
CONTENTS INSURANCE £23
CAHOOT LOAN £271.60
MUM LOAN £200
WATER £15.66
TV LICENCE £13
VIRGIN MEDIA £30
MOBILE £39.99
GAS £50
ELECTRIC £30
FOOD £100 (for 2 people)
WEIGHTWATCHERS £17.95 (monthly pass)
HAIR £25 approx. (have it done very 6 weeks)
ISA £350 (holidays, birthdays, Christmas, pay off debt sooner)
TOTAL £1664.20

Incomings
OHs £1280
ME £570 approx. (every 4 weeks and sometimes more if I can do extra hours)
TOTAL £1850 approx.

DIFFERENCE £185.80 Not really too sure what we do with this!! Probably just buying bits here and there!


Gas and electric are on card meters and I am really not happy as they are both so high but as we only rent not sure if we can do anything about it. The gas has gone up a lot now as it is starting to get cold and we have the heating on. Even though we wear extra layers and have more bedding and hot water bottles the gas credit practically disappears!

Any advice is greatly received as I am sure there is more that I could be doing. I am so desperate to be debt free so I am really going to have to knuckle down.

saver03

I have decided that I am going to actively start saving to pay off my loan earlier than 7th February 2009. As of today 2nd November 2007 I have an outstandig balance of £4201.08. The interest, 5.6% apr, gets added daily so it will go up as I go along and I pay £271.60 off per month.

I will be putting money into my isa monthly and as of today I have in there £470.62

I will also be listing more on ebay and leaving any money made in my paypal account so I am not tempted to spend it. There is nothing in there at the moment.

I am also collecting £2 coins and I have £42 at the moment.

I will also use the money from my quidco account and make sure that I do my daily clicks on there at the moment I have £17.43

I am definately going to tighten the purse strings and see how much sooner I can pay off this loan.

I am hoping that by adding it in my diary it will kep me focused and determined to knock months off my loan.

As always any advice is greatly received. :money:

saver03

I am having a no spend day :A and I am going to my friend's soon for Sunday dinner so will be saving too :rotfl:

I have done my clicks on quidco and on pigsback, so have made a little there.

I need to have a mass sort out though as house is not in order then when I have that done will be able to get cracking on ebay boxes:j

I am still keeping up with my challenge of clearing Cahoot loan earlier and my mum has given me her takings from her copper jar so will be starting a finders keepers pot. I will be writing my progress in once a month and I hope that this will keep me motivated.

Any advice is greatly received as I would love to be debt free sooner:D

saver03

Have taken day of work and was sent home early yesterday as not very well. Have worked out I will be losing £41 approx. :mad: as I did overtime on Monday so I am up on the week.

I have been trying to keep busy and earning money by doing my quidco and pigsback clicks but don't think I have energy for ebay listing!

Will go back to bed for a few hours now and hopefully feel well enough to try to do something this afternoon. Also, need to make sure I am right for work tomorrow as can't afford to kep taking time off.

saver03

I will be updating my challenge to pay off Cahoot loan early each month and these are Novembers figures.

QUIDCO £31.74
FINDERS KEEPSERS £5.02
ISA £820.62
WEIGHTWATCHERS £ FOR ILBS £1.50
EBAY £10.64
£2 COINS £42

TOTAL £911.52
LEFT ON LOAN £3946.17
DIFFERENCE £3034.65

I have only worked 6.25 hours this week due to being ill so my wage will be very low for the week but I am hoping that I will get company sick pay so that would be a huge help.

I am trying to do some extra ebay listing as may need it to supplement my income and it also goes towards my pay off loan early challenge.

saver03

I am so surprised that I have paid so much off my debts. Since my lightbulb moment I have paid off £5201 which is 23% of my debt. :A

I know that there is still a long way to go but I find that knowing I have paid off so much just spurs me on to meet my goal of paying off my debts by the time I am 30.

Any advice is greatly received as I am sure there is loads more that I could be doing and it would be really good to pay off debt sooner.

rb6ac

saver03 wrote: »

I am also going to be VERY strict with my shopping budget. I have put £100 in the cupboard and that is to last me from payday to payday (4 weeks) and if we run out then it's tough.

Hi! I hope you don't mind me saying, but I don't think you need to cut down on food - after all, £25 a week for both of you is quite a small amount. I think you should change the £250 christmas and birthday money, and cut it down to £200. The extra £50 can go on paying debts off, £50 over a year is £600 which is a huge chunk of your debts. I also think the £250 is way too much for something so trivial, as another poster said, that's £3,000 a year, which is just about what I pay for shellter a year (i.e. rent!). By reducing this to £200 a month, this would still be £2,400... which is still loads! Anyway, good luck with the e-baying!

saver03

I have just realised that it has been 1 year since my lightbulb moment

I am very glad that I found this site and that people are so helpful and supportive. It is nice to know that I am not alone and I always have somewhere to come for help, advice or just a good old rant about it all!

saver03

Well I have done more hours this week so I will have made more money. :A But as I was off sick the week before it will just make up for what I lost.

:mad: However, I had take out one night as I got home late from work and could not be bothered cooking.
I also went to collectormania at the gmex over the weekend and spent more than I really shoud have. It was £10 for us both to get in then £20 for Malcolm McDowell to sign a picture!! Then we ate out and spent £40! :mad:

I am working tomorrow though and I don't normally work Mondays. If the staffing situation is still bad I may be needed to do more again. Any extra is always helpful. :cool:

ANY ADVICE IS GREATLY RECEIVED AS I WOULD LOVE TO BE DEBT FREE SOONER :money:

saver03

I had to take some money out of isa to pay for Christmas :mad: I know I was saving it partly for this purpose to start with but I was hoping to pay off loan early.

On a good note I have nearly done all my Christmas shopping.:j I have alcohol, chocolate and a dvd to buy which I can get from Morrisons. So I can use my saver stamps, which give me an extra £3 and my staff discount knocks off 10%. As my saver stamp card is full I have £100 so I am doing pretty well in that respect. Also, I will be stocking up on the non-perishables that are on offer when using stamps. :A

I am trying to get some ebay listing done today so I can make a bit extra and maybe shift some of these boxes!

Also, have extra hours at work leading up to Christmas so that helps too.