To infinty ... and beyond

Elena_Handcart

Well the New year beckons, the alcohol is flowing and I am feeling brave enough to document my intentions of being debt free by this time next year.

I started this rocky road some 4 years ago, when I set myself a 5 year plan to be debt free. I started off with debts of just over £51k, and as I type this is now down to a little under £8k. I think I should be able to do clear this over the year, but not if I keep up the rate of spending I have gone through over the Christmas period. I think as I am getting closer to being debt free, I have taken my foot off the pedal a bit. And I want to make sure I find the pedal again soon so that I don't lose the momentum I have had up until now.

I am off to snog a few people now as 12:00 beckons - but I hope to be back regularly to update my final stage of the journey.

All the best for 2013 my fellow DFWers:beer:

desert_rose

Love the user name :T

clippy_girl

Well done on the massive amount you have cleared so far :T

Elena_Handcart

Hey Clippy & Desert,

Thanks for the words of encouragement...

Desert - HaHa, I did wonder if my user name might be too subtle - I guess I didn't need to worry

Clippy, wow - loving your diary & plans for 2013. I would love to get out to NZ for a spell. I have friends out there and would love to go and visit them. Plus, I am in love with the place since watching the Lord Of The Ring films. I am very envious and shall be subscribing shortly.

Right, I started the diary last night because I wanted to make sure I kept my focus, in shifting this debt once and for all. It looks like it has worked, because here I am again to write down all the progress that I have made! well none really - it's all been a bit quiet on the DFW front, because all of my financial friends are closed for the Bank Holiday (I suppose the clue is in the title!!). Normally I would be updating my spreadsheet with all the interest that is added to my saving accounts on the first of the month. Don't get excited... when I say 'ALL' it only adds up to pennies, but I do get the £5 from the H4lifax. I will have to wait until tomorrow to add this in. It all helps to bring those total debt figures down.

Right it's time for tea now, so I will see y'all later. Hope your 2013s are proving to be debtless, and hangovers are non-existent.

Elena_Handcart

Right, I have a nice full tummy now.... Well, maybe a bit too full actually... and watching The Hairy Dieters on tele (Oh! the irony)

I just thought I would chat about my diary and some of the rules I have set myself.

Rule no 1 - I am not gonna talk about [STRIKE]Fight[/STRIKE] erhh DFW Club. I am not really advertising my struggle with my nearest & dearest, so I am going to keep any reference to those around me to a minimum. Well, it was me that got into this mess, so I don't see why they should suffer whilst I get myself out of this mess.

Rule no 2 - I am not really going to use a signature. The reason for this is because I have noticed with other diaries, that when you guys update your signatures - it applies it to all of your old posts. So - it is hard to see the progress over time. What I am gonna try and do, is post a template of my progress, so that I can see how far I have progressed.

Rule no 3 - I am gonna try and post at least once a day. Unfortunately, due to really bad insomnia, these updates are unlikely to appear until the early hours. Today is obviously a bit different because of the Bank Holiday.

Rule no 4 - If this diary reaches 250 posts, then I will start a new diary. I have noticed that if I stumble upon a diary and see thousands of posts, then I tend avoid them because it feels like it will take too long to catch up.

I think that is all for now. I am gonna read what you guys & gals have been up to over New Year, and then post a bit more later.

Laters 'Gators

Elena_Handcart

Rightio,

I think it is time to get some actual figures down and a DFW plan of action for the week.

So the actual figure that is still outstanding currently stands at - £7385. Unfortunately, I know that about £600 is being added to this due to some Christmas spends. Hence the diary, so that I make sure I don't do this again.

All of my debts are currently on two CCs at 0%. One of these ends in July '13 and the other ends in October '13. Because they are on 0%, I am only paying just over the minimum, and any spare cash I have at the end of the month goes into a savings account - so that I can at least get some interest before I have to pay the bill in full.

I am also very worried at the moment, because my poor old motor car is very poorly at the moment. It is struggling to start every morning, plus it needs some work (timing belt?!?!) doing that the garage pointed out at the last service. I think that the issue with starting is down to the battery, but I am just a bit concerned that it is something worse which might mean a new (second hand) car. This will mean more credit unfortunately, as my current SOA is so tight you can barely fit a rizzla between it.

The good news is that I recently checked my credit report on Noddle. I don't normally give much weight to this report after reading about them here. But I was happy to note that my credit rating is 5/5 :eek:. So hopefully if I do need credit for a car purchase, I will be able to get a reasonable rate.

So that is my target for this week:-

1. book the car into the garage, and find out the potential damage
2. Open a first direct account, so that I can get the free £100.
3. amend my Lovefilm account. I was getting the full package - but now find that I only need the very cheapest option, because they send me DVDs that just aren't being watched. (this will save me £12 a month)
4. update my spreadsheet, with any interest I receive.

So - in keeping with the positive start to 2013, I am gonna sign off now and try to get to sleep at a reasonable time.

Night Night all

Elena_Handcart

OK, so it is time for today's update.

I haven't had a chance to book the car into the garage. Nor have I looked at opening a First Direct account. But - I have updated my spreadsheet with the interest that has been added to my accounts. A whopping £5.48 to throw at my debts.

The way I calculate my spreadsheet, means that this doesn't affect what I consider to be my outstanding debt. This still stands at £7385.84. What I do is work out an "effective debt figure" which takes my savings from the outstanding balance. This now stands at £2954.96.

Even this figure is slightly cheating, because I have many avenues of savings, and some of these are tied in for 5 years or so. That means I won't be able to access them to clear the debts by 2013. But they do count to the longer term plan to get mortgage free. (Well- it all makes sense to me :cool:)

I currently have 3 basic saver accounts, 1 ISA account, 1 account with Ratesetters (thought I would give it a try), 3 sharesave accounts with my work, plus I also buy shares in the company each month on a reduced rate (I buy them before tax is paid).

All these saving accounts make me sound like Rockerfeller, but I am only talking about monthly savings of between £5 to £25 a month. When I started the DFW path, I decided that any additions to my salary would go to savings; this was because I thought - the money I had coming in at the time covered my debt repayments, so if I saved any extra money then it would be a case of "what I never had I wouldn't miss".

So I consider that my debt is £7385, but if I use the savings it will reduce this figure to just below £3k.

My head hurts now after all that..... I think I will go and lie down in a dark room and contemplate my navel:p Only joking...I am gonna read what you peeps have been up to.

Elena_Handcart

Well,

Not managed all of my tasks for the week.

I have applied for a First Direct account - which has been accepted and all set up. i have spent the last couple of days moving DDs & SOs to make sure I get the £100 from them. That works out as 1.35% to take off my debt figure. All for a little effort just to make sure the DDs & SOs are still covered.

My mind has now turned to the Santander 1-2-3 account now. But as the main money to be made on this is by paying the council tax - I think I will wait until after the 2 months holiday.

Also a bit peeved with Debenhams. I bought a few items for Christmas. I went to pay with my Debenhams Store Card, but because I hadnt used it in 10 months they had closed the account. So the assistant suggested re-opening the account and I would get 10% off the purchase. (I know what you are thinking - what is wrong with that??) Well I thought I was simply getting the Debenhams Store Card re-enacted; but it was actually a new application for a MasterCard. Oh well - I shouldn't worry too much, because it was accepted and I got my 10% off. I just hope it doesn't affect credit ratings too much, as I may need to call on that to pay for any work needed on the car.

Still haven't booked the car into the garage - as it is a bit warmer, the car has been a little bit more reliable. I still think it needs doing - so that is next week's task...

Elena_Handcart

...I am not taking on too many DFW tasks next week as work is going to go ballistic. Everyone will be back from Christmas breaks, and I have LOADS to do. One good thing is that I will have some O/T next weekend. With a bit of luck, that could bring in £100 which will help to pay for Christmas.

I started a £1 collection pot on New Years Day. My thinking is if I throw in a pound a day, then I should have £360 saved to spend on next year's festivities. I told the others in my house, and they said that I shouldn't have told them, because now they know where to get some cash when they get caught short. :eek: I think I better find a good hiding place for it....

Anyhoo, been reading a few diaries, and can't believe how angry I feel towards W0nga. {Well all PDL companies really - but W0nga sticks out because they are the most well known}. I consider myself VERY lucky that I have never needed to use these companies - but I really feel for all of those who have been caught in their vicious cycles. They really seem to be feeding off everyone's misery and taking advantage of people in vulnerable situations. The quicker that the powers-that-be legislate against them the better.

Right - this insomnia is gonna have me awake for a few hours yet, so time for a catch-up on what y'all have been up to.

Night Night
E_H

Elena_Handcart

Phew, am I glad that week is over.... Well not quite because I am back in work again tomorrow - BUT the worst is over i hope.

So nothing much to report in the way of becoming DebtFree. The only thing really is the fact that I am currently using £30 a month to buy shares in the company I work for. These shares are bought before you pay tax on your earnings - so even though I am buying £30s worth of shares, it only actually costs me £20. But as they keep reminding me the value of the shares can go up as well as down!! Oh well - the way I look on it - £20 is only the cost of one night downthe pub - so I might as well take the gamble, and cut out a pub night.

Anyway, another bunch of shares were bought this week, and I thought I would have a quick tally of how much they were currently worth at today's share price. This is only to get an idea of how much they are worth - because I can not cash them in for 5 years otherwise I would have to repay the tax on them. So I was quite pleased to see that they would be worth £1636 at todays share price :beer:. That's not at all bad just for giving up one pub night a month. I hope I haven't put the mockers on them now and watch as the share price falls through the floor before I am able to cash them in...

So a bit of overtime tomorrow which I am hoping will bring in £100. Also waiting for pay day - so that the money starts to get paid in to my new First Direct bank account, then I should get £100 off them.

Slowly but surely catchy monkey..

Right off to catch up on all the fun you guys have been having.

Elena_Handcart

Phew, what a week...

Well I thought I wouldn't have much to report this week - How wrong was I??

Well, I think I will start with the bad news and move on to the good; in some vain attempt to make myself feel better - so here goes.

Right, poor old Flossie (that's the pet name for the car) has decided that it most definitely does not like this cold weather and has given up. Well, I say given up - she will play as long as I give her lots of loving care and attention and a right good blast of jump leads. The immediate problem is probably just the battery, but there arte so many other problems, that it just doesn't warrant any more money being spent on her. So - in an incredibly un-DFW manner I took off to the nearest garage and decided to invest in Flossie2. A nice new motor that will hopefully get me from A to B without having to worry about breaking down on the route. I budgeted to spend £10k, but managed to get it for £9.5k plus I got £500 part ex. So I am quite pleased with that. I did feel very DFW whilst buying Flossie2, because I went armed with all kinds of facts and figures about how much I could afford and how much APR I would be charged. This resulted in the sales people trying to beat my quotes and promised a monthly figure £5 a month better than I was hoping for. I know this means more debt, and I probably will not achieve my goal of being debt free by the end of the year - But, I knew I would be needing a new car soon, and I had already accounted for this in my budgets. It is just happening 12 months earlier than I had hoped. Oh Well.

On more positive notes - I was paid earlier this week, so I have transferred all of my spare cash into the various saving schemes. This means that I am closer to repaying the credit cards when they lose their 0% status. Plus I am now waiting for the transfer to First Direct so that they give me the £100 for opening the account. Also - I noticed that they are now paying £125, so hopefully my application was late enought to qualify for the extra £25....

Also - I had even more overtime this week. With the £100 last weekend - I am hoping for an extra £200 for this week - which will be anice lump sum to throw at the extra car costs.

Also - I have been told that I can expect a bonus from work this year. This is great news, because it isn't guaranteed. Last year, my bonus came to £1300 - so if I get anywhere close I will be as happy as a pig in the proverbial.

I should go and update my spreadsheet now - so that I add in the car costs. I want to make sure that the direct debits are paid from the correct bank accounts - I don't want any surprise charges as a result of taking me into overdraft.

So keep smiling everyone....it makes people wonder what you have been up to.