Chapter 1 (Vanquishing Very) - Here's to 2013 and one debt at a time.

Housework*Fairy

Well, after sitting around for the whole of 2012 waiting for a money parcel to be dropped in my lap, I've accepted that's not going to happen(!) and these debts will not pay off themselves. I'm not going to beat myself up about not having paid off my debts before now, I'm going to start with a clean slate and just accept it will take ages but that it can and will happen and I just need to relax and stay calm and focused.

So, I've been paid from my new job (hooray) which I started two months ago and even though it is the most expensive month of the year I intend to start tackling my debts here and now. I'm going to start with the smallest first and just pretend the others don't exist or I just feel too overwhelmed to think about them.

I've just started a new job which will pay me around £50 a month more than I was getting in my old job, but it's within walking distance of home so I don't have the petrol expenses either, or the worry of having to pay transport costs if my car dies, which is a big weight off my mind. I also have to wear a uniform so I will no longer be tempted to impulse buy nice clothes for work any more! Also, I get paid the last working day of the month, which ties in with DH's wage, so no more confusion, a pay period is now the same full calendar month.

So, to start with - smallest debt first is my Very Catalogue which stands at £225.00.

My first aim is to pay this off by the 31st January. At the moment the balance is a 'buy now, pay later' which runs out in February so it's good timing.

I've worked out how much money we've got left for December, which averages out at £257 per week for food, petrol and everything non-bill related.

All of my Christmas presents are sorted out so hopefully I shouldn't have any Christmas spends.

I'm going to keep this thread as a spending diary / budgeting tool.

Thanks for listening

rising_from_the_ashes

Congrats on the new job - slight case of green eye appeared as I'd love to a) be within walking distance of the house and b) have a uniform .... best of luck with your debt tackling .....

pennywisepoundstupid

Hi Housework*fairy, just wanted to wish you good luck with the debt busting and well done on the new job.

I lurked on your last diary and it was very inspiring, so i'm looking forward to reading your new diary.

Wishing you all the best in 2013.

beanielou

All looking good

mummybearx

Good luck :T

Have you checked out the tax thingy for washing your uniform at home? Might help save a little bit

Tiglath

Good luck - there's a lot to be said for tackling a small debt as you start out. I find it very motivating to be able to cross one off completely (knocking off two this December, coincidentally the ones with the highest APRs).

amber03

Good luck on your journey, i have managed to pay off one debt this year was hoping to pay my off my O/D this year but no joy, will have paid abit off it tho. Like u not going to beat myself up ,going to set myself a new deadline of july 2013 to get this one out of the way, then will just have my CC to concentrate on, which is just under £5000.. Oh well i'll be on the journey with u.x

brizzledfw

Hi there

Thanks for the link ..have subscribed:D

Housework*Fairy

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Congrats on the new job - slight case of green eye appeared as I'd love to a) be within walking distance of the house and b) have a uniform .... best of luck with your debt tackling .....

Thank you, that was one of the main reasons for me taking the job (the walk, not the uniform). I had an 8-mile trip to work previously but with rush hour traffic and a set of traffic lights every 400 metres I used to burn petrol like nobodies business. I'm looking forward to not spending as much money on petrol.

Day 2 Spends (Saturday)
£10.00 - DH Cash
£25.00 - a few drinks down the pub*

Money left in bank: £202.47
Money left in purse: £17.02
Money left in change box: £24.20 (this is a box of pounds and 50p which we use for kids stuff - football etc. DH runs a kids football team and the subs money is £3 a pop, so I tend to rob the change off him, put it in the tub, and then when he pays it the following week he uses notes from our bank account, so I do actually owe it £25 from the bank).
Total money left: £243.69
Days til next pay period: 6 (I tend to spend very little money during the week although DH does seem to be taking out a tenner every other day)

I've written a menu plan and will be off shopping shortly

I've also made a payment of £20.00 to Very so balance now is £205.00

*we rarely go out, but both kids slept out yesterday so we decided to treat ourselves. I say, treat ourselves, as £25 only bought us four drinks and two hours in the pub each! Jeez.

..and DH is on board with the trying to budget weekly instead of Monthly business...

welshdreamer71

Morning x good luck on ya debt free hike, its so nice to get those pesky catalogues paid off but so easy to spend on them ! I had to close my accounts to take away the ease if spending on them, only one iv kept is my argos card the temptation drawers me in on that one so I think this time il be handing over card to hubby when iv cleared it in a few months, have a nice Sunday, and wow you can see why the pubs are closing now can't you when you can buy 36 bottles for twenty quid eh x

fallen121

Welcome back! I too lurked on the previous thread, your regular updates kept me going reading them on my mobile whilst I was getting ready for work in the mornings; most times the emails I get are just casino spam or reminders to pay bills LOL

Well done on the new job. I used to claim the uniform cleaning tax allowance as I used to work in a Bank branch where we wore a really foul uniform. It's really just a case of writing to the PAYE people, address will be at the top of the form that shows you what your personal allowance is for the year. It used to be £25 a year but I'm sure will be more now. You don't have to send cleaning receipts or anything, just tell HMRC the name of your employer and that you wear a uniform and need to claim the uniform cleaning allowance and they should write back with a new form showing your adjusted tax allowance. Even if it only makes a small difference to your personal allowance, it might mean a couple of extra quid in your pay packet each month.

I still claim an allowance but for a professional subscription. The last time I wrote and asked them to adjust it because it had gone up they took about a month to reply but I think thay was because I'd sent the letter to an old address.