Broke Kitty's Debt Diary

Broke_Kitty

New car is a dream to drive, and my first payment doesn't go out til the beginning of next month, so I'm a deposit down from the emergency fund, and it's scary not having anything to dip into, but if I'm strict this month I should be okay until pay day when I can put a little bit in the pot again.

So so happy to feel like I can drive without being scared it's gonna break down on me.

Broke_Kitty

Looking back over my own thread for inspiration right now as it's been an expensive old month for many reasons, and it's pay day on Friday - I'll totally make it that far and that's fine - but I still just have that heavy feeling where you've been haemoraging money and not put anything whatsoever in the emergency fund or overpayed any debts.

Since I started the journey 11 months ago I've paid off 48% of the debt I started with, and that's not to be sniffed at so I shouldn't feel so down. Need to just remind myself that rubbish months like this will happen.

I do feel lucky - I've got a reliable car now, and yes it's another monthly outgoing and will slow the rest of my repayments down, but it should be the end of unexpected outgoings.

It's been a good few months since I upped my income to be honest and I've just been living paycheque to paycheque. I've sort of given up on surveys and clicksense etc - it was so much effort for so little outcome and just meant I had NO time for myself. The feeling of accomplishment for earning a tenner sort of stopped feeling like that much of an accomplishment.

I've made the decision to look into selling a lot of my clothes and stuff instead. I have been really wanting to downsize anyway, and yes, it's a lot of effort too, but I think it will be much more rewarding - both having more money in the bank (need to build that emergency fund back up asap) and having more room in my drawers!

banwa

Hello Broke Kitty

I recently bought a brand new car on finance, and I am really happy with the decision. Martin himself does say there is good debt and bad debt, and our car has brought down tax, insurance, fuel and maintenance costs significantly. We spend £120 per month less on those things than before and the car payment is £160. So not cost neutral but nearly.

And I totally agree with you about surveys. 20 minutes for £1 is less than half the national minimum wage. I read on the debt free roll of honour one poster who swore by forgetting all those distractions and concentrated all her efforts on her job, and doing as well as she could at that.


Good luck with the clear out

Broke_Kitty

banwa wrote: »

Hello Broke Kitty

I recently bought a brand new car on finance, and I am really happy with the decision. Martin himself does say there is good debt and bad debt, and our car has brought down tax, insurance, fuel and maintenance costs significantly. We spend £120 per month less on those things than before and the car payment is £160. So not cost neutral but nearly.

And I totally agree with you about surveys. 20 minutes for £1 is less than half the national minimum wage. I read on the debt free roll of honour one poster who swore by forgetting all those distractions and concentrated all her efforts on her job, and doing as well as she could at that.


Good luck with the clear out

Thanks for stopping by!

This is very true! I think it's smart debt, if you can afford the monthly payments. Which I comfortably can! It costs me far less to fill the tank (because the engine is smaller) but it seems to last just as long! I think when it comes to insurance renewal time I will probably make a saving there too. It initially cost me a £50 admin charge to change the vehicle from my previous car to my current one on my existing policy, which means I don't lose my no claims discount for next year.

Yes I think that's so true! It's totally fine for people who don't mind it, but I have a blog and two youtube channels which bring in a trickle of money at the moment, and if I put that time into building them up could eventually be much more financially worthwhile!


This morning I sent off an acceptance letter for a credit card my bank offered me - which may seem like a horrible idea to many on here, but I was offered 0% on purchases for 12 months, and while I have no emergency fund I felt like this was prudent. Without a buffer in place (because it was used for my car deposit - the exact purpose for having an emergency fund in the first place) my only other option if something happened would be to use one of my existing cards which would incur interest. Those are cards I've transferred my old balances to last year interest free and they're in a drawer somewhere with the letters still attached never to be touched!

With Christmas and mine and my boyfriend's birthdays coming up less of my wage will be spare to put back into the emergency fund for a couple of months, which made me nervous. Especially as I have my dental check up due in January and we all know that anything can happen when it comes to teeth!

I know better than to use credit cards for general spending now, so it may not even be touched - but it's good to have just in case.

Broke_Kitty

Yay, work are giving us bonuses in next month's pay!!

That's a few hundred quid which is gonna go in the emergency fund until Feb, and if it hasn't been needed by then it's going straight off the MBNA card!

Broke_Kitty

So here I am a year on - I've halved my debt, literally, it's been at least 12 months since I last spent money on a credit card. Everything is budgetted for monthly, and I don't really spend money on myself - although I HAVE bought a few bits and pieces for myself recently, because I broke up with the BF a few weeks ago and well, that's just what you do isn't it.

I've all but stopped going out, me and my friends usually have nights in and play board games instead, which I prefer, and I'm glad I have friends who aren't party mad.

I had a mystery £200 left at the end of last month, which I paid off my MBNA card (the interest free period on that card ends soonest) which goes to show how little money I am spending. I pretty much only spend money on food and drink, actually. Might seem decadant to some, but as long as I have good company and good food, I'm a happy girl and don't have much need or want for material things.

Since posting about being scared about having no emergency fund just one month ago, I somehow have £625 in there. £350 of that was my work bonus, the rest has just been me rounding down my current account into there each time I don't spend my full weekly budget, plus the £100 a month I'd allocated to putting in there. Just goes to show how used to avoiding shops and not spending money freely I've got which is a very very good thing. Once the emergency fund reaches a healthy £1k I'm going to start putting any extra money 'lying around' straight toward the credit cards.

I will DEFINITELY be debt free this time next year, I've decided. Christmas 2015 will be my time to celebrate!!

I need to make 2015 the year I pull my finger out and start selling my posessions too. I own too much stuff I never use, just because I'm too lazy to sell it and I don't want to give it away because I want to get something back for it. I have an iPhone 4S to sell, and a digital camera, and I think I'll list those on Facebook first and then start looking at things like clothes etc.