My debt busting diary!

ScattySkewbald

After spending most the afternoon reading other people's diaries on here I've been inspired and have decided to start my own diary to keep me on track and motivated.

After moving house last year which pretty much wiped out our savings, we had a run of bad luck with the cars which resulted in about 2k worth of bills. This coupled with trying to find our feet with our new budget, meant the odd tank of fuel or food shop being banged on the card, which over the course of the last year has all added up.

So I've decided now is the time to get a grip of it all, get the debt paid and start making the most of life.

Current debt is as follows:
Credit card - £3966
Overdraft - £110

I also want to lose about 1.5 stone, so will be using this diary to keep me on track with that and to keep me organised and motivated in general.

ScattySkewbald

Progress made so far this (pay) month.....
1. Transferred balance of credit card to 0% card for 12 months
2. Paid off £450 on overdraft - previous balance was £560
3. Submitted expenses claim for work
4. Started a spending / food diary eek!

Things to do:
1. Target overdraft - get charged monthly interest on this. Not sure of % but it has been around £8 per month against £600.
2. Reduce overdraft limit to remove temptation!
3. Try and keep the food shopping under £220 per month (should be a hell of a lot less but taking baby steps!)

Indebted2U

Good luck, welcome and well done for all you've achieved so far :T

Poppy_Jane_Parka

Hi Scatty! Have just started a diary too, similar plan- time to stop living in the moment and clear debt!

beanielou

Great start
Keep[ going

ScattySkewbald

Thanks for stopping by guys - love this site everyone's so supportive.

So last night I rediscovered 1poll - logged into my account and found that I had £15 sitting in there can't withdraw it til I hit the £40 mark but that £40 would come in very handy for Christmas. Just need to remember to check it daily.

Managed to claim a £5 amazon GC on swagbucks - again this will be put towards Xmas pressies.

Saturdays my weigh in morning (gives me plenty of time to work off the weekends potential over indulgences ) and really pleased to find I've lost 2 lb. Really pleased as I've been struggling with this and have been staying the same for the past couple of weeks. That's 6 down in total just another 19 ish to go. Have done it once can do it again!

Have woke up to find I've had bids on a couple of items I put on eBay last weekend (free listing of course ), these finish tomorrow so fingers crossed.

Hope you all have a fab weekend :beer:

ScattySkewbald

Monday again why do they come around so quickly?

So good news and bad news.......

Bad news is its gonna be a big spend day. I have a delivery of wood shavings arriving for the ponies at a cost of over £300 :eek: On the plus side though it is budgeted for so no extra on the card or o/d, it will last for over a year and it will save me over £120 over the course of the year through buying in bulk. So, not all bad, but it still didn't stop me feeling sick withdrawing the money!

Good news, my eBay listings finished last night and I've made approx £75 . Still undecided as to how to put this to best use. I owe Mum £30 so will obviously pay her back first. Options for the rest are
a -Chuck straight at o/d
b- Start my Xmas savings pot.

Have relisted the unsold items and already have a bid on one of them so pleased with that.

Overdraft limit has been reduced from £600 to £200 little bit worried as its like having my security blanket taken away BUT if I'm gonna break this cycle it has to be done!

So, jobs for today:
1. Spend an age at the post office posting all the eBay parcels.
2. Collect an order from Tesco for my friends little ones birthday (love my club card lol!)
3. Withdraw cash to pay mum back

Have a good one x

ScattySkewbald

I've decided to pay the excess eBay money off the overdraft. I've got just over £100 in my topcashback account which will hopefully be payable before Christmas, so that should be a big chunk towards the Christmas fund. So all being well overdraft should stand at £66.66 + whatever interest is chargeable for the month.

ScattySkewbald

Nice start to the day - another £5 GC swagged and a small bid on one of my eBay items. You know what they save, every little helps.

GC will go towards my Xmas fund. I love Christmas but manage to get soooo carried away every year with last minute pressies etc. Whilst the doesn't necessarily mean adding to the debt, it does mean January's a long miserable month as OH gets paid almost a week early in Dec and it means it has to cover nearly 6 weeks. Determined to get organised this year so that come beginning of Dec all pressies have been taken care of and I can just sit and relax and soak up the Christmas spirit and mulled wine! Well that's the plan anyway!

Hoping for a NSD today - just got a couple of eBay parcels to post, but since the buyers have paid the postage it doesn't really count!

roxy7699

You've had a good couple of days. I think yesterdays bad news wasnt bad at all, as you said it was budgeted for. Also a great decision to put the money on the overdraft. Better than having to pay the interest, once its gone you will have spare to put into the christmas pot.

ScattySkewbald

Thanks Roxy- just seemed like a lot of money to be spending when I'm trying to stay focused.

Definitely the right decision with the ebay money tho - it feels good to see the o/d in double figures. Just got to keep chipping away at it.