Regrets, I've had a few

In_Debt_Bet

Dear Diary

I couldn't stand the pain anymore so went to the dentist yesterday, he took one look at my poor swollen face and said ouch you must be in agony, he gave me some antibiotics straight away so that saved me the cost of a prescription and I'm going back next week to 'discuss options', this must be doing wonders for my diet, for the past 2 days I've lived on soup and scrambled egg, very MSE.

I've heard from the owner of the car I bumped and it looks like it is going to cost me £250 which is about half the first quote and at least I have the money to cover it so I guess that's a good thing, still v cross with myself though.

Hope everyone is having a good week.

Bet x

In_Debt_Bet

Dear Diary

Hope everyone had a good Easter, my tooth is better now so I'm back on solid food which included plenty of chocolate I've been trying to save money and have been doing quite well on the No Spend Days and taking my lunch to work.

I received a letter from Barclays about the change to their overdraft charges, I was feeling really chuffed a while ago because I managed to get it right down however because of the way our household works with OH getting paid weekly my account often dips in and out of overdraft although it is always well within the limit, not sure what to do at the moment. I'm also expecting to hear from the owner of the car I bumped, I agreed the price they had been quoted and said to send me the quote and bank details of the garage but that was 2 weeks ago and I've heard nothing further. On the one hand I'd like to get it resolved but I'd also like to hang onto my money for as long as possible as it will put a definite dent in my overdraft - no pun intended .

Bet x

In_Debt_Bet

Dear Diary

Hello again, I’ve been in lurking mode for a while but thought it was time for an update, I’m pleased to say that today will mark my third NSD in a row and barring any unforeseen emergencies tomorrow will be number four :j I’ve also been really good and have been taking lunch into work for the past few weeks, I’ve got a bit more imaginative with it and have enjoyed some yummy salads instead of the usual crispbreads and low fat cream cheese.

Now the not so good news, my debt totals have increased a little (must update signature), I needed to get new specs as my last ones broke a while ago and I’ve been relying on a very old pair, I was getting headaches and struggling so I decided that my eyesight needed to come before my debt, I managed to get a free 2nd pair but did have to pay for special lenses for one pair which came to £149.00 I'm afraid this went on my Barclaycard . Also I finally had enough of living without a shower, I paid for a new one using my Barclaycard and then balance transferred it to my M&S card so I’m effectively paying for it on 0% interest for 12 months.

My overdraft had crept up and as Barclays have changed their charges this would be costing me a minimum of £12 a month as opposed to the previous charges which were around £1.50-£2 so I did another 0% over 12 months balance transfer from the Barclaycard to my current account which has cleared the overdraft, just got to make sure it doesn’t end up creeping up again. Talking of the dreaded Barclays I have found a couple of useful tools on their online banking website that enable me to categorise my spending and also set budgets that I can keep track of so I’m going to be using these instead of relying on saving receipts and remembering to update the Apps that I’ve been using up to now.

July was quite a spendy month with three close family birthdays three weeks in a row, fortunately there are no more birthdays until Christmas so I’m going to start planning for that now

Having spent a while on my spreadsheet it looks as if after everything has gone out this month (including money budgeted for food) I should be left with around £5.00 in my bank account, if this turns out to be the case this will be the first time in ages my bank account has been in credit at the end of the month which I think would give me a huge mental boost in the debt busting. I’ve calculated that if I can keep my account overdraft free each month after everything has gone out I should be left with £280, this should leave me with a small amount of ‘pocket’ money, I’ve put £70 in the budget for the month – does this sound okay, an amount that I can use to snowball the debts £100? and and an amount that I can use to start an emergency savings fund which is currently £0 so I’ve budgeted £100 for that.

Other news, my dodgy wisdom tooth flared up again and the dentist has said that it has to come out and I'll need to go to hospital to have it done, not looking forward to that at all :eek: also I've heard nothing more from the owner of car I had a minor prang with since I asked them to send me a copy of the quote paperwork/garage details four months ago, very strange.

Anyway that's it for now, if you’re still there thank you for reading this far.

Bet x

In_Debt_Bet

Hello all

I've updated my signature and have been spending a lot of time on the spreadsheet working out a budget that I think I can stick to, if I can manage it I will be debt free by August 2017 which is also when I hit the big 50 :eek: (officially I'm 39 however I may need to review this soon as I think I've been that age for about six years now :rotfl: )

So in addition to all the household bills my updated budget figures are:

Credit cards - £500 - this includes an overpayment of £88
Savings - £150
Groceries - £150 (this includes food for lunches at work)
Fuel £50

I have to wait another month before I can do anything but after September I can change the tarriff on my mobile phone so that bill will be reduced from £25.00 to £10.00.

I've made a point this month of paying for pretty much everything (apart from my weekly zumba class) using my bank debit card this means that I can use the online banking tools to categorise my spending and make sure my budgets are realistic. I've noticed a big difference in the food bill since I have stopped buying OH his favourite cider and chocolate bars each week when I do the grocery shopping, I love him dearly but if he wants them he'll need to start paying for them, especially as I can't remember the last time I treated myself to a bottle of el vino cheapo.

One potential spanner in the works is a large bill that has come in from the water board. They are investigating this at the moment as we are on a meter, our bill last year was £171 and the bill for this year comes to £538! Nothing has changed in the way we use our water so I'm really hoping that they come back to us and say it was an error on their part. I am worried though as I remember at one point in the year we had a problem with a toilet cistern constantly dripping water into the bowl and it did take us a couple of months to fix. I guess we will have to wait and see and if we do have to pay it come to some sort of arrangement, fingers crossed it won't come to that.

I'm still bringing my lunch into work every day and am managing at least a couple of NSD's a week - must start keeping track of these, I lost it for a while but I think I now have my debt-busting mo-jo back :j

Bet x

In_Debt_Bet

Yesterday evening I came across a piggy bank which we brought back as a holiday souvenir about five years ago, on opening it I found $145 East Carribbean Dollars in notes, I think we were saving it for our next trip out there but that's unlikely to be for a few years yet so I'll be changing it back at lunchtime, I should get around £32 for it. I also found £7 of Tesco clubcard vouchers that needed using up so did an online order for free collection with some careful shopping it came to just over £30 so my piggy bank find will cover this weeks groceries. :j All in all quite a productive evening, I may even treat myself to a bottle of el vino cheapo on the way home later.