Madnessa's Debt Diary & Change Life by Xmas Challenge

Madnessa

Just reduced the limit on my CC to £3,000 from £4.000. They actually made more of a fuss than when I asked to get it increased!

"Are you sure? You know that if you were to need the money then you wouldn't be able to get it. If you want it increased again you are going to have to ring us up and be approved again..." blah blah blah

Very patronising!

RAS

well done and yes the reason they like the high limits is because that way you end up paying them loads of dosh.

dreams_R_free

I had 3 CCs with MBNA, 2 legit and one that became MBNA when they took someone over. I had credit limits of £6000, £8000 and £9000 on them:eek: . I know it's a lot but they kept putting them up and although I didn't use them (much anyway:o ) I liked the 'security' of knowing they were there for an emergency!

After my LBM I decided to close down 2 of them because I wanted to lessen my 'lines of credit' so I could apply for a 0% card instead and knew the fact that I already had a fistful of cards(albeit with miniscule balances) was preventing me from getting accepted.

I phone CS at MBNA to cancel the 2 I'd paid off in full and she asked me to wait until she'd checked something with her manager. She came back and said as I already had the credit limits and was such a good customer:rotfl: she had been authorised to up the credit limit on the card I was keeping(the £6000 one) to the full limit of the total credit limits on all 3 cards. That's £23000 just on one card:eek: . What a temptation to someone like me who's practically permanently skint. Needless to say I declined the offer!

Madnessa

:j :j :j

So far three NSDs this week and am going for another one today. The weekend will be very difficult though. I do need to do our weekly shop on Sunday but I will have to be strong on Saturday and not buy some overpriced ice-cream or lemonade when I am on town.

My shift yesterday was quite short but I have another on Saturday so I should have earned about £55 this week. Next Friday I get paid from my full-time so I will be able to take a chunck out of the CC.

I am dreading next month though - five weeks. Also my DD for car loan comes out on 29th and I will only get paid on 31st. So I have to get £280 from somewhere to pay for it. I think I will have to save all money from second job to pay for loan and then I will be able to make a huge payment on CC.

Unless I can get the date changed for when they take th emoney form my account. Is that possible?

Madnessa

Just weighed in at 64.8kg. So that goal has been achieved and now I have until next Monday to get down to 64kg.

I also just paid £100 on my CC and now I only have 84 pence left on my account until I get paid on Friday. If I don't have it I can't spend it!

I also managed five NSDs last week :j :j

Am going to try for 5 again this week as i have absolutely no money whatsoever and plenty of food to keep us going until Sunday. On our weekly shop we only spent £20.55. A personal best for us but we still had a few bits and bobs in our store cupboards and I'm not eating much at the moment.

I have the opportunity to work my other job on Thursday but I would have to take a day off. I would earn about £45 though. That's about 2% of my CC debt so I will have a think about it.

Madnessa

For my end of August problem (my car laon DD will go out two days before I get paid) I have decided that after next Monday all my second job wages need to be saved so I can pay the loan back without going in to overdraft.

So I have four Mondays before the payment. That means I need to earn on average £69.75 per week. Not sure if that will be possible.

I may be able to earn £100 this week (not sure yet) so I that could be the first £100. Then I still have three weeks to earn £60 a week. That's one and a half shifts a week. I can do that but nore sure if there is enough work for me. Will have to wait and see. If the first two weeks go badly I will have to get selling.

If I can save enough for the loan then I will be able to make a huge payment of £650 to my CC at the end of August. That would feel good

Madnessa

I have been working on some longer term goals and am going to post them as I seem to work harder at doing things that I post here. It's like if even just one person reads it I have a witness and it's more shameful to fail... if you get what I mean.

So here are some of the things I want to achieve after my remaining debts are paid off:

1. By 30 I must be earning minimum £25,000/anum
2. By 32 I must have a deposit saved to buy another flat (£30,000)
3. i must pay off the mortgage on my current flat in just over eight years (2015). That's with an overpayment of £500 per month which I will start after my debts are paid off
4. I must get together a rainy day fund of £3,000 (priority after paying off debt)
5. By 35 I must have a variety of investments
6. I must own my own shop by the time I am 35

And finally I must be one of those people who does what they say they are going to do! Otherwise none of this will ever happen!

That's quite scary really. So much to get on with

Also me and OH are getting married!

Will probably be next year and will be MSE style!

dreams_R_free

Congratulations Madnessa on posting your long-term goals. I so admire people who can see through the mist that seems to envelop everything when we are in a lot of debt and can see a life beyond it. I really hope it all goes to plan for you. Please keep us posted through it all.

I know what you mean about doing better once your targets are posted on here for people to see. I feel exactly the same but am such a backslider that I have so far chickened out of posting my intentions on here:o . With becoming debt-free as with dieting I always expect to fail:eek:

I don't know whether you and your boyfriend intend to have a DFW wedding but I wish you a happy and stress-free time planning it. Even if the wedding costs temporarily derail your financial plans it is a once in a lifetime(hopefully!) experience so you have to remember that and do what ever makes you both happy.

Keep up the great work you've done so far
Imp

chevalier

Here are some websites, on which you can earn a bit of money or points to put towards vouchers. Sorry if it is a bit long! Both you are your OH can sign up to these sites, so that you get double the benefit. Hope this helps.:T

www.lightspeedpanel.com - this is a survey site, where you get points which turn into vouchers (you choose). May not help with the cash flow, but the vouchers could be saved towards birthday/xmas or given as presents.

www.ciao.co.uk - survey site that gives money. A bit fits and starts ie no surveys for a couple of weeks, then three or four the same day.

www.yougov.com - again paid surveys. However takes a while to get to the minimum payout level

www.pigsback.co.uk - this is a points site, ie they give you points for buying things via their site. BUT you also get points for signing up for news letters (some of which are even interesting!), and also for clicking on adverts with pink borders. I have spent NOTHING with them but got a £10 voucher through this week (only been registered since January). There is also a thread in the freebies section, which gives you all the daily answers to the competitions so you can have a better chance of winning on them.

www.mutualpoints.com - another points for clicks site. You can also buy things via their site and get points too. For a long time, I just clicked the links in the emails they send you, and that gets you 5 points. At 3000 points you get £20 I think. You can do searches via their site and that gets you points too.

www.quidco.com - this is a cash back site, so very good, for checking if any potential new insurers (ie if you have checked your contents insurance say and found a new provider), are offering cash back. Eg Lloyds was offering £120 cashback on new policies at one point (the offers do change). You can also get small amounts of cash again for doing searches via their site. You can earn 52p a day by doing this. Every little helps.

www.greasypalm.co.uk - another cash back site, where you can do searches and get small amounts of money. But it all adds up. I think you can get about 50p a day on there for nothing. Minimum payout is £20 I think, but you can sign up to survey sites via there, and get extra money that way for nothing.

Madnessa

Thanks Chevalier - I will be having a look at those to rake in a few more pounds

Thanks too IMP. I too have had the yo yo diet problems! But I am now just under 65kg for the first time in about a year and my pants are feeling slack! I am aiming to get back in my skinnies by the end of August. It's just frustrating that everytime a achieve weight loss I have a few bad days and give up. Reach straight for crisps and chocies and ice cream... well anything really.