Debt Free by THIRTY!!

debtfreeby30:S

Thank you NewLeaf! It's not much to start with but at least it's something.

Cancelled my £2000 overdraft on an old student account today. Rang up to do it but got told I had to go in branch, on arriving at the branch I was told I could have done it over the phone!! Aaaargh, useless banks, thankfully I hadn't made the trip specially otherwise I would have been really peeved! Anyway, it was a two minute job so not all bad and at least it's gone now :T

Need to do my eBay listing...

debtfreeby30:S

Hello Saturday! Had a nice cheeky lie in this morning, always a good thing! Just wondering what to do with the rest of my day now... Not much has happened this week, sold my old Sky box for £20 cash (not too shabby and nooo fees!), going to keep half of it in my purse and put the other half onto my Barclaycard. Think my small coin jar is full too (it's actually tiny) but I will take that to the bank too and chuck it into the Natwest account that I cancelled the OD on earlier this week. Made the decision to keep the account because I can pay coins in very easily! I'll pay this off the Barclaycard too.

Trying to keep my spending diary updated quite religiously, these pesky NSDs are not as easy as you think, there's always something coming up that needs some money - had to put £10 petrol in the car on thursday as I was visiting a friend. Usually my BF sorts the petrol as I pay the insurance and he uses the car far more than me to get to work - I maybe take a couple of my own trips a month, think he's getting too into his own money saving and making sure I only ever get in the car with the petrol light on! Meal plans are going ok although I have a bit of a gap today - think it'll be leftovers for lunch and tea!! Think we've definitely been overeating recently, I swear we eat enough to feed a family of 4, no wonder my festive chub is hanging around (plus my plan to go running is not going too well either), aaaaaargh, wonder if I can start serving less and hope BF doesn't notice - he eats a full (large) portion of tea and then has cereal before he goes to bed. Think that's just a male thing?! There's some dark looking bananas in the fruit bowl, think I may make some banana bread today!! Would love a NSD weekend... I'm sure something will come up though that just "needs" buying...

debtfreeby30:S

So it's not been a NS weekend but I've managed a NS Sunday - bought some tissues yesterday after the BF took me for brekkie at our fave little cafe in town. Used the £20 I got for my skybox and then out the £15 notes in the bank (more than the planned £10!!) and have put it in my savings account ready for when I can make a payment to my barclaycard - it won't let me make a payment less than the minimum payment until my direct debit goes through. no harm the £15 can sit there no problem. Had a spare £2 in my main account so chucked that across too. Went for a quick walk today which was nice, just need to get my run on now! Maybe this week will be the week I get back into it?!
Payday on Friday, looking forward to paying some bits and pieces off my debts! Don't like the time between paydays where debts don't look like they're going down. Need to continue on the straight and narrow with my spending and get NSDs up. Meal plan is working well though, shouldn't have any reason to buy any more food until next Sunday. Found out today that BF doesn't mind Quorn mince in place of beef mince which is interesting as I'm wondering if it's cheaper?? Certainly less fatty anyway so I'm going to put that on my list for next meal plan and check it out.
Don't seem to be doing too well with my surveys at the moment, I started 5 the other day and didn't get accepted onto any, grrrrrr Only need a couple more and I'll be able to get a £10 voucher. Usually use the vouchers for clothes, thinking this year I will spend as little as possible actual cash on clothes and just use extra earnings when I need something. I have loads of clothes so should get by with spending very little. Shame it's one of my major weak spots! Still only spent £6 so far this year so not doing too bad. Just random ramblings today, apologies! Hope everyone is all good

debtfreeby30:S

AAAARGH getting so impatient waiting for payday!! Worked out I should be able to pay off £375 from the Barclaycard this month which isn't too shabby. I'm aiming to clear £3000 this year which works out at an extra £100 on top of my £150 Direct Debit payment. This shouldn't leave too much to pay come 2014. That's the plan anyway. Need to make sure I just throw all I can at it when I have the spare money - I keep considering holding money back and paying more equally across the months but thinking honestly about it that just gives me more chance to mess up and spend the money on things I don't need! Talking about holiday options with the BF today, if and only if I manage to make extra money and save money from my monthly spends budget will I be able to go. Found a cheap and cheerful deal of £200 for 10 days in the sunshine which will probably make me feel incredibly guilty when I'm there BUT if I don't take the chance for a get-away then I won't have chance to take one for the next 18 months due to work commitments. Hmmmmm... decisions decisions, we looked at a stay-cation type thing and going camping in Cornwall but the money is not actually much different when you calculate travel and the lot. Guess time will tell when I have to include it in the monthly spends for the next couple of months! I may not eat for a week and then I'll be able to afford it!
Meal plan is still going ok although I wasn't too impressed by my effort tonight. On a more plus note today was a NSD, 2nd one in a row!!! Woooooo!!

debtfreeby30:S

Paid in my loose change from my teeny little jar ( I say jar it's actually a dinosaur money box my mum put in my stocking a couple of years ago, and yes, I'm 26 and I still get a stocking at xmas ) into Natwest - only reason I kept the account was because of the coin sorter. The big grand total was £2.35 (lame) but there was already £4 odd left in the account from when I cancelled the overdraft sooooo I have transferred a fiver over to the Barclaycard fund ready for overpayments. BETTER THAN NOTHING! Perhaps I should have a bigger change jar although to be fair I rarely use cash as my monthly food spends etc go onto a cashback credit card - claimed £30 from that too last week but it went straight onto the account so technically my budgeted spends should be less than normal and I'll be able to save the £30 when I come to pay the bill next month. We shall see how that pans out... Would have been a NSD today but I had to get my Grandma a birthday card, feel almost bad for picking up a 29p budget card! I'm usually beyond useless with cards for birthdays so one of my new years resolutions this time around was to actually send them. Shame I managed to not get BF one for his birthday at the beginning of this month... he got a decent present though so it's all fiiiiine! Attempting to find a funny valentines day card (literally hate the premise of valentines day) and there are no decent ones to be found anywhere. Perhaps he will make do without one of those as well...

debtfreeby30:S

Another NSD today :T and I'm making tracks into my hoards and hoards of bathroom goo. I won't be buying any new toiletries until I actually need more toiletries!!
Actually excited for payday on Friday, means I can take some chunks off the Barclaycard and then I'll have to come up with some more money making ideas cos no doubt I'll get fed up waiting for March's payday!!
BF is getting into the money saving although found out tonight he made £450 from a £50 "free" bet on the football. He said it only cost him £3 in real terms but how that equates I have no idea. He said he's using it to pay his credit card and he's excited about paying things off so I should be applauding but I can't help but be wary. He won £750 on online roulette tables just before Christmas, apparently using only £50 of his own money. He did use this to pay off an old student account has since closed that account so maybe I'm just worrying for nothing? He promised there and then at the time he wouldn't do it again on roulette but then this betting on football has cropped up and I'm not sure I like it! Probably just because I've never been in any way lucky and I'd never win that kind of money even though I'd love to have £400 to throw at my debts. Fingers crossed I don't find out he has a gambling problem come 3 years down the line... He's a good'un though so I'd be surprised.
Another NSD tomorrow hopefully!! Woop!!

debtfreeby30:S

One day until pay day!!!! Annoying that I have a super busy day at work but at least I'll be able to relish the debt paying when I get home!! Woop! Bought a bit of salad to go with tea and a chocolate eclair each for afters. No silly valentines day plans, we've never done anything for it so why start now?! I think we're going to make the most of a 3-course meal + a bottle of wine each for £20 per person offer at a local restaurant. That's plenty of treat for me! BF pays for meals etc out and I pay for shopping and groceries. At the moment we never go out so I think maybe I'm missing out somewhere... Haha! With my more concentrated budgeting I think I'll do pretty good at getting our food shops right down. I do all the cooking so makes sense I shop! I could probably do a month for £100 including washing powder and cleaning products etc, much better than I would normally do! I shall have to put that as an official target for next month, wishing time away and it's already going ridiculous quickly!! Have a fairly clear couple of months birthday wise now as me and my sister don't bother getting each other anything. Saves us both money!! I save £50 per month for Xmas and presents, the question is do I keep that intact or spend some of it paying the Barclaycard off?? Pooh decisions decisions... NSD tomorrow hopefully, paying debts off doesn't count!!!!

debtfreeby30:S

PAY DAY! WOOO! Paid off an extra £150 off the Barclaycard, I will be able to pay more when I get my expenses on Monday. Was hoping for a NSD but needed rice for tea so popped to the express store on my way home, picked up a couple of bottles of pop which were on offer at 2 for £2, saving of £2.18, naughty of me as usually I don't bother buying anything like that. Managed to walk past the magazines though which is a big thing for me! I used to spend £3-5 per week easy on magazines! They all have the same stories anyway so not sure why I thought I needed them. Perhaps when I get things reined in I can look at a subscription to something. Not in the near future though! It's BF's weekend in work so I'm meant to be meeting the girls for coffee tomorrow, kind of loathing the thought of spending the money but I literally won't go out the flat otherwise! Perhaps I'll see what the weather is like and decide whether to invite them round here or not! Two week shop needs doing this weekend too. Will go tomorrow night and hopefully pick some bargains up. It's my belated Valentines treat on Sunday night but that's BFs spends so I can have a NSD! Hoping to do more than my target of 10 this month but don't want to set an unbeatable target for my first proper month!! Happy Friday!!

debtfreeby30:S

Oooh just got a cheeky little unexpected cashback made payable, £14 towards the barclaycard! Just about to order my credit file too as I've not looked at it for years and definitely need to have a look at what's on there! No plans to apply for anything new in the near future so shouldn't mess anything up fingers crossed! Doing my fortnightly shop today, got my list all ready. Decided against spending money on lunch in town too as I have leftovers to finish in the fridge. Such a cheapskate!!!!!

debtfreeby30:S

Grrrr went completely over my grocery budget last night :mad: Spent £75 when I wanted to spend at most £50. Did get washing powder and loads of meat but still very naughty of me. I can make everything last until at least the end of February if not longer but that's not really the point. Need to have a better plan for March. Overspending means I'm going to have very little in the pot for over payments next month. Aaaargh, silly silly girl. Need to look at the positives, it's a NSD today and I have a good 2 week meal plan which doesn't even use all the meat I bought. Will see if I can stretch things to last 3 weeks...