oh my life...... Light Bulb moment.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Debt can be very isolating which is why this forum is so helpful.

You do have a long journey ahead of you but you can do it and without selling your home i'm sure.

Seeing the debts go down steadily will be very good for your self respect, so stay strong .

Magpie100

Hello MiMi,

Apologies for the Mondo/Monzo confusion. It launched originally as Mondo and then they immediately rebranded as Monzo (copyright or brand issues, I think). ANYWAY. My card cays Mondo as it was one of the first batch, but they are now Monzo. Naturally I Assume that my card will be worth a fortune, due to its rarity. ;)There may be other bank cards that do a similar thing if you don't want to wait, but worth waiting a bit to see if you can get one. Just be warned they occasionally get refused - oddly, always for me in petrol stations.

I know you are wanting some input on your balance transfers - I will confess I am drinking red wine and need to have a clear head before I look at it for you. Perhaps someone else will have some advice but I will try and get my head round it in the next week.

How did the return to work go, and how are you feeling? I hope you are ok. Good to see you were doing an action a day still and your niece's birthday gift sounded thoughtful and not too expensive. Well done.

I'm afraid debt repayment does involve much waiting, but you are right to think of the number of months going down.

How are you feeling about October? Once all your DDs have gone do you want to let us know what is left in the pot, and what upcoming events you have this month or potential areas of overspend?

VEry pleased to hear you are STILL not a gargoyle. and you are very much more than a debtor. Debt is isolating - but the second you confront it and talk about it a lot of its power goes away.

Update us when you can, espeically on the return to work. M100

MiMi66

Thanks Magpie and Hairy Hands - es the shared journey is a great help.

Pay day yesterday and today I have paid off an outstanding amount on my Nationwide Credit card that I had the cash aside for - £560, this sum wasn't on my signature, as it was cash I had there for a expense that was build up in August / Sept and similarly in a few days time once child maintenance and child benefit is in I will do the payment for my using Natwest CC and pay it off in full £699 - I have not used it all since this huge financial fright - pleased with myself - so with my usual payments for cc debts - that comes to about £1904 of repayments before mortgage and usual DD's and a bit left to live on - only savings left is what I am accruing through selling bits. It is OK though - I feel good to have cleared though balances rather than add to the longer term CC debt.

I started back at work yesterday - OK, a bit of a shock with the volume of it - I am starting back on reduced hours though so I should be able to build up my energy and brain functioning over a few weeks.

I have allocated £400 for the month for food, fuel and living - it is my son's birthday this month and we are going to London for a uni open day as well - these are the challenges to the money pot. I have £95 in sales money in so far - waiting on Music Magpie (who say one parcel has gone missing!!!!!!) to pay for the items I have sent them. I am hoping this money will cover a cheap few days in London - parks and museums and noodle bars! I've already paid for the travel up there by train.

I'm going to break my budget into weekly amounts and try to put aside a bit a week to cover my DS's gift and London - tight tight tight month.....

If I can do this November onwards will be easier - saving a bit then and enough to cover a modest Christmas.

Thanks for any ideas on the BT's when anyone has a thought about them - I guess there is no wrong way but I don't want to be more of a financial idiot than I have been!:D

MiMi66

Ohhhh I forgot to say 55 is now 54 months to go to DEBT Free Day!:A

HairyHandofDartmoor

Birthdays are expensive but it's great that you're not chucking it on a card .

I don't think I'd be able to give you very good advice on balance transfers. Why don't you ask about that specifically on the main DFW forum?

54 months sounds better than 55 :T

117pauline

Hi Mimi

I have just read through your diary and my word, you have had some ups and downs.

Just a couple of suggestions:

I get the impression you have very high expectations of yourself and that might well be your undoing.

You have just gone back to work after major surgery, a phased return and yet you are talking about overtime. I understand you feel work is where you can achieve there but please, your long term health is going to be vital for the whole debt free journey.

I suggest you focus on one area and really nail it. It might be food, one off treat purchases, where ever you feel you can make some noticeable changes.

Cash is the way to go for me as I notice it more. A spending diary records purchases as well as how I'm feeling.

Finally, please build in a little treat fund. Not many can go without all the time without having a s*d it breakdown.

Good luck and take care. Have a great weekend
Pauline

mrsonions

I've read your diary from start to finish and I agree with Pauline - don't be so hard on yourself! Are you paying off too much each month then leaving yourself short? My advice is to pay off the minimum then see how much you have spare then take it from there? Be kind to yourself

MiMi66

Hi 117pauline and mrsonions - very kind of you both to read and comment - I've been off line a few days with getting back to work and still decluttering!! And you know I still don't have space much - very peculiar - space and objects continuum is not yet working out. So - I've thought on your comments about my being too tough on myself - I think the hard thing is for me is that I have been spectacularly bad at striking a balance in the past - I think I do need to be tough on myself for a good while to kick an old really ingrained habit of spending without thinking. I can't really cut the repayments by too much anyway to maybe £95 over three cards is in excess of the minimum payment - and I really do not want to drag out the repayments any longer than the next 4 and a half years. But, your kindness is really valued - and I do intend to get a emergency pot and a slush fund behind me. This month is a tough one, and I am budgeting so far very well - the tricky thing for this month is my son's birthday and the uni visit trip to London. However - I have worked out that with the overtime I have booked and I can cover these things - my decision will be whether to raid my tiny slush fund to do it or whether to use the CC and pay it when the overtime gets paid....

So far so good on the budgeting front though - I am doing a sterling job, but even I can see I could cut more - but one thing at a time. It is tough and quite frustrating to penny pinch and count every outgoing - but it is making me rethink my relationship with money.

I went on 'date'? with the local man - ended up paying for my own meal which is OK, but I am not sure if that means it was just a friendly get together or whether it was a date. I am not sure anyway as to whether he could/would be a romantic interest, but it is nice to spend time exploring that side of myself. I do think however I got ripped off!! So cross with myself for not pointing it out at the time - We went to Pizza Express (they do a vegan pizza hurrah!) - and had a pizza and a cider - Should have come to about £15 each - the bill was for £34 - but before I knew it - having put £20 cash on the table for my half - my companion said to the girl to take £40 to cover the tip - I didn't twig to it until we walked away - but the tip was already on the bill - the extra £4 - we ended up giving a %25 tip - which ordinarily I would just have shrugged off mentally but this time it stuck my head a bit as I am truly counting every penny. £4 is packed lunches for several days.... Ho hum... I mustn't get to obsessed but it does go to show I am taking cutting costs it seriously. The said companion was nice enough - funny and on the same page politically - but not sure we have much in common other than that. It seems I am a fuss pot.

I am still not sure what to do with the BTx arrangements I have - I guess it is not fair to ask for people to advise really - it is tricky and ultimately my own responsibility to make those decisions. I had another offer today - Virgin card - 14 months 0% - nice to know I am not completely blacklisted for these offers and I hope they keep coming at the time I need to switch - just do I do it now or take the risk I get something offered in March /April??? Arghhhh decisions decisions.

No progress on a lodger..... So hoping someone comes up through the local hospital.

I've managed to get a mini nest egg together from sales - £238 so far. Overtime will be paid at the end of this month - a tiny bit of breathing space.... I am doing OK with getting back to work - interview likely for the job in November - and I feel optimistic without being over confident.
It will be a HUGE relief to have permanency in my job role though.

And I guess to finish today on - I haven't cried about money for a good few days - and I tell you it is easier to cope with being tight, than it is to cope with feeling the bone eating despair of helplessness over money and debt - taking action - almost any action is key to sorting out the stress and fear and worry. Mind you I am not going to dwell too much on this - as even thinking about it I can feel the little anxiety nausea bug creeping about in the pit of my stomach and I am very keen to keep that locked down. Not in denial but definitely trying to control it rather than it control me.

Hugs everyone on their journey to financial balance and contentment.:A

foxgloves

Hi Mimi,
Glad to hear you're still on it (the budgeting, I mean). I shall be right there with you this month with working a tight budget. Having recently had to replace our ancient washing machine, our equally cronky old vacuum & pay for repair work to the front of our house, I was less than impressed last week to discover my much needed new glasses would be costing over £450. I nearly needed the defibrillator when I saw the bill & it had to go on a blasted CC because the other things had depleted our savings pot. Bah! Though I should add that it is fab being able to see properly & if I hadn't opted for varifocals, I'd have needed to buy two pairs as my prescription isn't quite straightforward. So a tight month here also. Have set the budget. Tight but do-able. Had a useful morning picking courgettes, herbs & heaps of pears from the garden, putting with other home grown stuff & store cupboard ingredients & doing a bit of batch cooking: slow cooker black bean chipotle chilli, two pasta bakes & several containers of sliced pears poached with lemon & cinnamon. Started thinking about what can be rolled into meals for next week & think I'll do my meal plans tomorrow to keep me focussed. I'm also intending to update the list of what's in the presents box before pricing up gifts I need to buy. If the total looks as though I'll still be paying for it in 2018, then I can revise my list. My favourite moisturiser ran out at the weekend - £26. There is no way I could justify spending that amount this month, so I have bought one at a fraction of the price to use in the interim & will treat myself again when I know I can afford it. Oh, & no heating on yet. It's just not been cold enough, so we're saving a few quid there. We have been debt-free once (after decades of naughty frittering) & I didn't find it easy taking out a modest loan to buy a car last year, even though we've been overpaying it & knocked 2 years off it, & I am not happy I've had to put my new specs on a CC but I am feeling really focused at the moment. There is nothing I could buy now which would give me as much pleasure as being solvent.
So let's get cracking on this tight month.....good luck with it! Am going to knit for my sales basket now.
F x

HairyHandofDartmoor

You are so right Mimi that fretting about debts is far more stressful than living on a tight budget. The difference is that you are in control.

I agree with foxgloves too that there is nothing I could buy that would give me more pleasure than being solvent; very wise words.

You are starting to make inroads into your debt but you still have money set aside for the uni open day and birthday. So your budgeting is clearly working