Here we go again...

Araboo27

I’m back again

Tried to sort my debt problems out a few months back but I didn’t get anywhere. I thought I’d had my LBM, obviously not though!! A couple of people pointed this out to me and it got my back up, probably because deep down I knew they were right.

Anyway, fast forward a few months and I’m even more in debt....surprise surprise. I owe an additional £1000 to isme for a Macbook and just last week I spent over £300 on two new camera lenses which I really wanted but definitely did not *need*.

I’m still not convinced I’ve had my LBM but I’m still really determined to sort this mess out, it can’t continue - it’s affecting my health, this amount of stress is no good for anyone!!

Plan of action -

Save approx £2K (already have about £800 left of my OD to cover cost of new car)
Valet, tax and MOT car and put it up for sale
Buy a new car for <£1000
Once my car sells, use my £2K savings to top up the sale price and pay off BH (current settlement is £12,427.62 and car is worth £10,500 ish, hopefully will get a bit more
Get out of overdraft and reduce available OD from 3000 to £1000
Save in order to have a ‘spare’ £1K in my current acc. and then cancel my overdraft completely
THIS WILL TAKE ME UP TO THE END OF 2013 - WILL HAVE CANCELLED MY OD BY 31/12/13 SO I CAN MAKE A START ON MY LOAN IN 2014
Apple is being paid off £42.90 p/m at 0%, last payment 15/11
Very is £878 at 0% til 15/11, will use my student loan payment in September to pay £766.92 off, use my own savings to pay off the additional £111.08
Isme is £1000 at 0% til 20/06/14. Use my jan SL to pay off £766.92 then will use my May SL payment to clear the last £233.08
Last debt remaining is a £9000 loan (over 60 months) which is actually in my poor Mother’s name as I couldn’t get one :-/ Currently paying £180.89 p/m off this. Will either increase my monthly payments or put money into my savings account and get a settlement figure and pay it off in one go...need to check out the best way to do it.

= DEBT CLEARED!!!!!!!

As soon as I am out of my OD I can start paying off my loan...I did think about paying off very/isme first but they’re 0% and I’ve already planned to use my SL for these so have purposely left it out of my planned budget. Really hoping to get my debt all payed off by June 2014 this would mean being super strict so even if I need to readjust my goal my debt will definitely have been payed off by late 2014!!!!!!!!!!! I haven’t really accounted for misc. costs like school uniforms, xmas/bday presents etc. Also, I haven’t factored in vehicle related costs - depending on what new car I buy I think my insurance will reduce slightly but with it being an old car there’s going to be a high chance of things going wrong with it will definitely be getting it serviced etc to do my best to keep it in good shape.

Actually, I think I’ll set a new and more realistic goal of being DF by the end of 2014. It sounds far away but I know a lot of other people spend years and years paying off debts, I’m lucky it’s only going to take me 18 months

I can’t wait to be in a position to SAVE money!! My plan is to move to australia in the future so this will be my main goal in terms of saving. I’d love to have enough money to do the move and also have a deposit for a house/piece of land when I get there...I need to keep this in mind whenever I struggle!!

*Will deal with my SL when I need to. I don’t plan to get one for my last year in 2014 so will owe approx £4500 once I finish uni in 2015.

Araboo27

I currently transfer £80 into a second current account each Monday to cover food, petrol + anything else....I always go over and end up using my main account as well :-/ not sure what to do? Do I increase the amount/draw cash out and don't use cards?? Or just be very frugal?!

Diesel - as of Monday i am back to work after being on mat leave, will be doing 50 miles per day, mainly motorway. Driving around town of a weekend, rarely over 20 miles. I'm hoping to get my diesel to come in force£25 per week. I think I will start and go to the petrol station each Monday and put £25 in...at the moment I just fill up whenever I run out :-/ I don't keep track of fuel costs and I don't save any money out of my weekly £80 so this comes out of my main account - naughty Araboo!!

Food? Can easily be reduced...I need to plan, stop wasting and stop buying cr*p!!

Nappies? Not sure how much these cost per week as I tend to stock up every so often :-/

Is £80 reasonable? I only buy presents at Xmas/bday for my own 3 kids, mum, 3 nephews and my best friend so not a massive amount...I think I will set a limit on cost and use my main account for these?

MrsSmith2013

Hi Araboo - just thought I would say hello. You sound like you have a plan in place, which is always good, I do love a plan!

What is your £80 per week to cover, and who does it cover? I budget £75 per week for food shopping for 2 adults, 2 children. That covers food, drinks, nappies, toiletries, but not fuel.

I find that doing a meal plan helps me stay within budget. We list 7 meals per week and buy the ingredients we need for them. Then there's always snacky things and cleaning products etc on top of that.

Good luck with your journey and hope you are debt free asap!

Wildchild_2

Hello :wave:

Good luck and I hope you have had your lightbulb moment! It would be great to be debt free by the end of next year and then you can start planning your big move!

Araboo27

MrsSmith2013 wrote: »

What is your £80 per week to cover, and who does it cover? I budget £75 per week for food shopping for 2 adults, 2 children. That covers food, drinks, nappies, toiletries, but not fuel.

One adult and 3 children (10 months, 4 and 6). As of september I'll have two at school so packed lunches for the boys and myself will be included in this (currently spending £10.50 p/w on school dinners!) as well as essential toiletries and baby things etc. I think I could do the food for £55 including nappies - I might try doing my big shop each monday and see how it goes. At the moment I just shop as and when so not sure how much I spend, far too much anyway!!

Thanks to both of you for commenting, at least I'm not alone in this

Forgot to mention that I've also bought a tefal fresh express max and a £400 blender since I was last on here - oops :-/ They are both awesome and get used at least once a day so I don't feel too bad.

As of today my money only gets spent on *ESSENTIALS*

Araboo27

Maybe -

£25 diesel
£55 food/nappies etc

and I might add an extra £20 for 'spending money'. I at least need to be able to do a little something with the kids at the weekend for example. I don't drink/smoke/buy clothes so it's not too bad!

ragstoricheswannabe

Wishing you good luck with your challenge, we have similar debt so will be along for the ride to see how you do it and nick any tips to shift my debt quicker.

For food, i budget around £70 per week for 2 adults and 2 children, but when i have used up most of freezer and cupboards it tends to be around £80 a week. Hoping to try and reduce this though so guess your £55 a week is realistic.

beanielou

Not too sure you have had your lightbulb moment to be honest but wishing you well on your journey to being debt free

Araboo27

beanielou wrote: »

Not too sure you have had your lightbulb moment to be honest but wishing you well on your journey to being debt free

What makes you say that? I don't think I have either :-/ but I know I need to sort it out or Australia will never be possible...

Today and yesterday have been nsd's I was so tempted to order a Chinese last night, didn't even think twice about wasting £15 at first!! BUT I caught myself before ordering, well done me....I had toast for tea instead, lol. Not very sw friendly but who cares?!

Araboo27

Oh and I'm sat here with a head full of henna and cling film :-/ no more £100 bills at the hair dressers every 6 weeks! Henna is £7 something from lush and I can get three goes out of each block!! I'm growing my hair as well so planning to go 6 months between cuts

I'm back at work on Monday and really need to sort my eyebrows out.....normally have them thread at £10 per go :-O I'm going to be brave and pluck them myself!! Wish me luck, lol

beanielou

Maybe the 400 quid mixer gave a wee clue!