Determined diva's get outta debt diary!

Determined_diva

Thankyou! You are so sweet! :A

Determined_diva

I am writing today as im out for the day tomorrow.... (BBQ round my friends so it shall be cheap!)

So this week I have done a whole week on YNAB and am so happy I am taking control of my life once again.It is a great tool to use and I would recommend it to anyone!!

I am spending too much on buying lunches out and wine (both out and at home) is basically the main message coming out of using the app so far.

I am going to start batch cooking from now on so I have no excuse not to have lunch ready to go (and something that will help with that I will share with you later in this post :-))

I have decided to also "give up" drinking.. now by that, I mean social drink out then yes... me having a drink whilst watching TV.. NO!!

What is putting it into prospective is that I am starting a bar shift tonight (not sure how regular the work will be though at the moment) and I do not want to leave my garden on this sunny day!!! But I have to... Im in debt.

I dont know about you, but I cant wait for the days when I can decide if and when I am going to work and what work I am going to do. For now, I have no choice. I have lived beyond my means and I want to start putting it right.3 years until I am 40. Thats 3 years until I promised myself earlier this year that I would be debt free (aside from the mortgage) So a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.. get up off my !!!! and get to work! So to cut a story short, thats why I am going teetotal.. I cant bear the thought of serving drinks till late, on my poor feet etc to then go spunk all i've earned onto alcohol myself throughout the week.

Being realistic, of course if it my birthday, Christmas, New years etc and I am at home, I am going to buy a bottle, but right now the money is better put towards my debt so I can start living a life without weight on my shoulders and dread of the postman......

.... speaking of which, I came home from work today to find letters from debtors with late payment penalties (£30 total). If you follow me on here, I recently became self employed and started off the year with one of my last holidays I will have until I am debt free. What I stupidly didnt consider (code for " I stuck my head in the sand and pretended it was going to be okay as I really wanted to go on that holiday) is that I no longer get paid holiday... no money earned whatsoever throughout Feb so March comes and I dont have enough funds to pay all! I sold a hellllll of a lot on Ebay to make up the shortfall and I am now getting paid again but it sucks to know I have lost another £30.00 into the black hole.

I did however receive £300 back from HMRC woo hooo!! I am putting that into an emergency fund account which is currently £0 but need it to be £1k and my bar work will go into that pot too. Once I hit £1k the bar work shall go as extra towards the debt.

I also got a part time job this week to coincide with my self employment! Yay Go me!!! Its not much per year and a massive drop on my old corporate hourly rate, but its something and it will help whilst I am building my own business up.

So to summarise:
1. No more alcohol (at home)
2. £300 in the emergency fund
3. Bar work in the emergency fund until it hits £1k and then it goes towards my debt
4. Be debt free in 3 years (excluding the mortgage)
5. Take lunch to work (now I defo can as I have a job!)

I CAN DO THIS....I CAN DO THIS....I CAN DO THIS....I CAN DO THIS....I CAN DO THIS....

DDx

Determined_diva

So... the bar work earned me £85 and I have managed to get another 2 shifts for this weekend as I did well there (woo hoo!)

DDx

Determined_diva

Happy Easter!

Well I've done 2 bar shifts which has brought me in £110 so far and I have another shift today to get through before tomorrow's first day off in 6 weeks!! Overall my emergency fund is up to £540 so hopefully not too much longer until I get to that £1k and can then start to put the money off the debt.

A loan company that I owe £4.5k too has offered me a reduced settlement to pay them £1.2k over 3 monthly instalments (£400pm) so I am going to take them up on the offer and finally put that debt to bed once and for all. I just need to keep doing a good job at the bar so I can get the shifts as I can't afford the monthly payment on my regular job just yet. The other good news is that my old bar asked me back too so I can work between both and keep the work coming in (fingers crossed!!)

So to recap for myself... in order:

Emergency fund £1k **achieved 01.05.17 **
Loan £1.2k
Barclaycard £1.6k
Capital one £2k
Tesco £3k
Bike - get £200-£400 as need to buy one due to the car situation below
Car - on HP until September. Hand it back as hardly use it now and ride my bike instead
Student loan - £1.4k
Now I go into Save time :
Emergency fund part 2 - get it to £5k
Bathroom - £3k
Holiday £1k
Emergency fund part 3 - get it to £10k
Mortgage overpayments - feels like it will take me till pension age but will overpay what I can ����

I don't know how long this is all going to take me but just wanted somewhere to jot down a plan to work through! I obviously pay monthly payments to the debts anyway so they shall be reducing monthly!

Have a beautiful Easter Sunday everyone ������

DDx

Determined_diva

Dear Diary,


I am £91 away from hitting my first goal of £1,000 for my emergency fund savings!! I cant believe it and I am so excited! I am working tonight (salary has been included in the figure but nothing else) so could I earn the £91 in additional hours and tips??? It is defo achievable as there is the flexibility to do this.. cant knacker myself out, but I must hit this goal tonight!!!


Next week I can then start on my next goal of £1.2k to pay off one of the loans.


Wish me luck!
DDx

Determined_diva

I DID IT!!!! I hit my £1k emergency fund and I'm over the moon!

Bobarella

Determined_diva wrote: »

I DID IT!!!! I hit my £1k emergency fund and I'm over the moon!

Well done to you :T:T a great achievement:j

River.Bee

Determined_diva wrote: »

I DID IT!!!! I hit my £1k emergency fund and I'm over the moon!

Woop woop! Cheering for you! :beer:

Determined_diva

Checking in for the week:

Emotional week - tired, stressed and annoyed that I am in debt.

I need to figure out a way to earn a bit more and drastically reduce my spending!!
I have been doing my 2nd job this weekend and pulled in another healthy £250 to go towards debt. One debtor has offered to reduce it from £4k to £1.2k if I pay it off within 3 months, so I plan to use job 2, to pay that so I can take it up on the deal.

I know I am in this mess because of my idiotic ways, but I really hope I can get through this so I can slow down and enjoy life!

Started home cooking and really enjoying it! I did still spend on lunches out when I wasnt prepared, but next week I plan to get it all locked down so there is no excuse to go to the shop... tbh I think I am still stuck in my ways with the spending... if there was literally not 1p in my bank account but a cupboard full of food, what would I be doing? Cooking of course!!

I am also going to start running again to clear my head and also reduce my temptation to have wine to "de stress" me. This will save me money whilst getting fitter ;-)

Next weeks plans:
Tidy my bedroom
do all the washing and drying
spend time and play with cats
study revision
batch cook for the month ahead
daily meditation
2 x runs of 30m

DDx

River.Bee

You'll get there, it'll take time but eventually, the day WILL come when you see your name on the debt-free roll of honour
That's good news about the debtor willing to reduce your debt too.
Don't forget to enjoy life whilst you're on this journey. Just remember how much you've achieved so far!
:beer: