I refuse to be skint forever!!

menina

Thanks for the words of encouragement guys Did 2 out of the three planned extra shifts (third one got cancelled- not by me!!) Also think I'm coming into a little windfall so will be back for more musings and possibly a fresh signature/plan tomorrow. Bye for now x

menina

New income/outgoings

Income- £2371 pcm (after tax)
Outgoings:
Rent £980
Mortgage contribution £145
Loan £375
Capital one c/c (0%) £5
Sofa loan (0%) £60.80
Gas/electric £40
Water £25
O2 mobile £16
Orange mobile £40
My gym £54.95
Hubby's gym £54.95
Professional things £22
Dental insurance £9.95
Sky package £58
TVLA £12.12
Private banking £15
Account fees £20
Dog insurance £5.93

=£431 left over at the end of the month

Just came into some inheritance so was able to pay off 2 and a bit credit cards. I feel elated, but at the same time sad that the hard earned money of others had to go toward my financial mess.... Still, such is life and life will be considerably easier now.

menina

Right!! I really want to clear the rest of the credit card debt by the end of the month in order to start saving. So..

£1451 still owed.
Plan:
22/03- hubby's wages £300
27/03- my wages £400
29/03- £300 my extra shift money + £150 hubby's wages= £1150

£350 defecit

Doing x4 extra shifts in April, plus 1 more in March, so that will cover that, with £150 left over for April to save. (Allowing £150 to pay for our hotel for our May holiday). Impossible to be credit card debt free in March then, but by mid April I should be.

The next question is.. how to manage the finances, without needing to do loads of extra shifts, but still build up a nest egg?

kittycatfan

Hi menina i have read all your thread with interest , wow you have done really well paying of so much already and your lucky to have extra shifts available what is your job if you dont mind e asking.? Iwas thinking if your mates so rich she could pay for you to go nyc as the money she wouldnt miss haha worth a try , well i have £7324.69 worth of credit card debts but i can just about manage to pay minimum payments. Im really really worried about these payments but ive already cut back loads and go to aldi instead of tesco but admittedly i dont like aldi much also i have a extra 6 hours a week at work also so at least next payday should get a extra £156 anyway have great weekend

menina

Hi Kittycatfan, I know how you feel with the credit card payments. I had at least 10 grands worth of credit card debt for years. Once I'd decided to try and pay it off, it felt really tricky at first because as well as owing money, I was in some terrible spending habits! But, getting on these forums really helped to get my stress levels under control and gave me some good tips to sort stuff out. It sounds like you're doing all the right things, taking on extra work etc so stick with it, you're doing great x

menina

Well, hello and I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend so far...

I haven't really done much in the way of serious money saving lately so thought I'd try and get back in the habit of posting on here and keeping on top of things.

I've decided that my plan to pay absolutely everything off by the end of March (end of next week then!!) is a bit unnecessary, considering that the Capital One card is 0% until July. I'm going to go ahead and try to clear the other £858 though. I get paid on Wednesday, so will do the sums then, but probably will be able to pay off £400 from my wages. I should get paid for 2 x extra shifts on Thursday which I think will be around £300 and then use the left over cash from hubbie's wage to clear the rest. It won't leave me with anything really left over for the rest of the month but I did an extra shift yesterday and I've 5 more booked for April so I'll just use some of that when it comes. The capital one can stay at 0% since I paid a balance transfer fee anyway and I'll sort it before it runs out, probably in the beginning of July.

Money saving stuff for the weekend:

Look in the kitchen cupboards and see what meals I can make for the next week to use it up.
Go to supermarket and buy any other supplies needed- having made a list to stick to!!
Post letters for bic pen refund thing and santander 123 account
Organise my annual leave (think I've booked too much in order to try and do an unrealistically large amount of extra work!!)

Well, I'd better get on and do it then, poor dog is desperate for a snowy walk before I can do anything else....

Have a good weekend x

menina

2x NSD Actually managed to get it together to buy a lump of cheese to take to work to have with the free bread and butter and lo and behold, I've saved myself £3.79 a day!! Its such a simple thing to do.... shows how incredibly lazy and disorganized I can be when I want to be!!

Looking forward to Thursday- getting paid from 3 different sources, can't wait to make a dent in my last cc....

Have a good evening all xx

menina

Forgot i got paid today, not tomorrow. £500 paid off c/c. Now to see what tomorrow brings and if my extra shift money comes in. Here's hoping

menina

Extra shift money in the bank, although £100 less than i expected. Think it's to do with my tax code, will have to investigate when i get my pay slip... Still, thats another £200 paid off the dreaded credit card:) Hope to pay the remaining £278 off later when hubby gets paid

menina

So I managed to clear the barclaycard today Just £458 remaining on the cap 1, but it's at 0% until the beginning of July, so it might as well stay there for now!

I have completely maxed out this month's wages in achieving that though, so will no doubt have to use it for some (frugal!) expenses. I hope to clear those as I go along though. I'm still to be paid for 1x extra shift and I've 5 more in the pipe line so all should be well.

I have fallen into the trap before of paying off debts and then relaxing and racking them up again so I am determined not to let that happen this time. So I'll definitely be updating on here to help with that. In fact, I was just thinking how I'd love to buy this laptop that I saw (for £179) which I would really like as I don't currently have one, only an ipad which doesn't have usb or all the functions of a proper computer. Soooo tempted to buy it tomorrow and then play with it over the b. hol. BUT, I don't NEED it and I SHOULDN'T buy it because I don't have any money. It would be going on credit!! I really need to get into the habit of being a money saver, even when I'm not in loads of debt.

So, it's Easter w/end I'm with hubby tomorrow and Sunday which is when I'll be tempted to spend the most money, so rules for the weekend:

Go for 1x reasonably priced meal out- with out alcohol (always goes from being a cheap meal to an expensive one!)
Cook a roast with all the trimmings at home on Sunday (will save £50 on a meal/drinks out)
Don't blow loads of money in the pub
Don't go shopping (apart from for food)
Post off extra info required for santander123
Try to apply for co op current account (cheaper fee than I'm currently paying for mobile phone/travel insurance)
Go to the gym- start using that membership again!!
Post my mountain bike on gumtree. It is just too slow and heavy for my (city dwelling) needs and that is preventing me from using it!

Happy easter everyone x