Determined diva's get outta debt diary!

Determined_diva

Feeling super positive about the week ahead.

I have written everything out and set my intention for the week out.
My goals for next week are:
1. Study
2. Tube to zone 2 as much as possible
3. Find £50 to pay off of my debt
4.Not engaging with the w@nker at work. Keep my head down and just keep doing my thing
5. All meals are cooked
6. No alcohol Monday-Thursday
7.Weight training and Boxing 4x during the week
8. Daily meditation
9. Record all of my calorie intake/burned - I have a 11lb's to lose!!!
10. Stay positive

DDx

Determined_diva

Review of Jan-Mar 2018

This first quarter has been jam packed work wise and very stressful trying to figure out my financials, where I need to get to and how I am going to get there.
I have also slacked with my debt repayments - I got too used to living the life I want. I need to be able to keep focussed and think one year of pain is a lifetime of gain!


Best Financial Decision
- Starting to take lunch into work (from March). It has helped so much already
- Cutting up my Barclay card so that I am unable to spend on it
- Picking up extra work (totals: £479.50 across Feb and Mar)
- Not missing any payments
- Starting to embrace tracking via YNAB
-


Worst Financial Decision
- Spending too much on lunches at work
- Not sticking to my food budget - spent too much which ended up getting wasted due to going off!
- Too much spent on alcohol
-

Priorities and focus for April-June
- Clear Barclaycard completely (£1458.09 as of 25.03.18)
- Sort my timetable out once and for all so that I know how much I earn and where I could do more work to pay off debt quicker.


Specific Changes For April-June

- Keep tracking religiously on YNAB
- Be more regimental and stick to my budgets I have set for the year
- Less drinking. put that money towards the debt
- Take breakfast and lunch to work – the cost of eating out is extortionate
- [STRIKE]Cut up my Captial One card[/STRIKE] :j


Specific Goals For April-June
- Clear Barclaycard
- Reduce Capital One to £2.5k (Currently £3,238.91 as of 25.03.18)
- Reduce Tesco to £2.5k (Currently £3,113.69 as of 25.03.18)

Determined_diva

Last week was super hard for me..my beloved cat got run over and I've been beside myself ever since. Time to pick myself up and get this debt cleared once and for all.

I paid for the private cremation (£150) and now I am completely broke. I have new additional reasons for clearing this debt - so I don't need to work all the hours under the sun to pay it off which means I have more time to spend with my other cat.

I regret being so heavily in debt that I have to work so much to pay it off and don't see them as much as I want to.

I regret spending my money on going out and drinking with friends, rather than paying that towards the debt and therefore shortening the amount of time I am in debt.

I regret not dedicating myself to this site 100% to be able to keep on track of my debt repayments

I regret all these years of being foolish. So now is the time for CHANGE! I actually have already started this (taking lunches into work, logging all my spends on MSE, reducing the amount of wine I pop in the basket with every food shop, trying to save money on travel and walk into zone 1 etc.) but I know I can do better.

What can I do better?
1. Completely cut out alcohol in the week and just have 1 bottle on sunday
2. Log into MSE daily (even if I am just lurking) this will keep me focussed on what I need to do.
3. Stop going out with the girl at work for the weekly 4pm happy hour prosecco (£20). This will (a) save me money and (b) allow me to get home to my cat earlier
4. Start the business !!!!!!!!! The more I build this up, the bigger opportunity I have to earn more money and also work from home (with my other beautiful cat)
5. If I take on more work (I am a fitness instructor), take early morning classes when the cat is usually out anyway and only do covers so I am not tied into teaching them in case I get too tired from delivering more classes.
6. Meal prep on Sunday so I have all my food done for the week ahead and not having to buy out.Example- £6.75 for lunch (I work in the city) or £0.51 for homemade vegan spag bowl. That's £30 a week saved right there!!

Not going to set any more than these so as to not clutter my brain and I end up doing none. I truly believe these 6 points will shift me in the right direction.

What can I do to help myself?
1. Start training again. I focus too much on work and not on my own goals. Stress reliever and helps me promote my work.
2. Do work on the tube so that I don't need to do it when I get home. Be more efficient with my time!
3. Pay something off the debt daily - even if its a £1. It just gets me in the habit and mindset of constantly chipping away at the debt

DDx

Determined_diva

I also worked out on the Natwest debt calculator that if I pay £1000 per month off the debt, I would be debt free by 28th July 2019.

I have worked out that by reducing down drastically, I can afford £800 per month to throw at the debt. This means I need 2 extra classes per week to get that extra £200

If I pay £800 per month, my debt free date becomes 28th November 2019. This is not an option - its too late in the year for me as in 2020 I have a big birthday to celebrate so need time to save up for that too.

Ok - now I have the plan and know what I need to do. Go smash it.

DDx

River.Bee

Really sorry to hear about your cat he/she is waiting for you at the other end of rainbow bridge
Also really wishing you all the best for your debt busting. I like your point about wasting money on things that you don't really need means you'll spend a longer amount of time in debt, that's a good motivator and will be using that myself.
I'm loving your attitude, keep it up!

Determined_diva

Thankyou River Bee. I am still missing him terribly, but he is home now from the cremators so have his ashes where he belongs :-(
DDx

Determined_diva

Hi

I have been so broke I had to use my credit card so I could get my tube fare and food for work :-(

I have managed to pick up a few more classes though to help towards my target (I needed £50 per week to be able to pay £1k off debt a month and the classes will pay me £70 per week) so this is good news at least.

Looking forward to clawing the money in and keep paying the debt down.
I have to get this debt out of the way so I can move on with my life.

DDx

Determined_diva

Dear Diary,

This week has been okay for me. I have been working on getting more money locked in via extra classes. Got the Saturday triple so that's an extra £70 per week in the bank for me. That is £3.6k before tax for me - AKA one credit card !!!!!!. Oh well - one year of hard work and pain and a lifetime of happiness I guess!

DDx

Determined_diva

Dear Diary,

Its my birthday!!!!! wooo hoooo
I am going to Prezzo with mum today to have a basic pasta (£8 each) and I have a bottle of prosecco on the house from them as it is my birthday!

Debt wise - I need to do a bit more to pay it off quicker. I am going out too much although I am earning a bit more now which is yet to come through but at least I am banking it (£280 per month extra). That will go directly to the debt.

I also got myself a Monzo card so I can load money on it for the month and start to budget more efficiently. Pay day is on Friday, so the monthly budgeting shall start from then.

I'm worried as I know how hard this is going to be for me, but I have to keep positive and think how much better my life will be when I get through this hardest 1-2 years I have coming my way to be able to pay the debt off once and for all.

Debt currently stands at: £18,665.07
Goal for June: to get sub £18k

What are my focuses for the short term? Where do I start? I feel like I want to tackle Capital One at £3.1k and pay min payments on the rest of the debts. It's the largest balance and highest APR, so even though I initially wanted to do the smallest card first, if I can do this large one and get it out the way, the other ones would have gone down too by the time I need to hit them too.

DDx

Determined_diva

Dear Diary,

Just checking into say that I have worked out my budget once more and my DFD date is scheduled for September 2020!!!

I am so annoyed with myself that I have so much debt that it will take me OVER 2 YEARS!!!! I am actually bored of my self being here 6 years later having learnt NOTHING! When will I ever learn!!

DDx