Im serious this time; the debt has to go!

LAM2011

I did the Cancer Research walk / run last year - also did 5km. It was very emotional as we did it in memory of the person we had just lost - I did it with some family members. It is def worth doing as its also fun with all the other ladies dressing up etc and its for a good cause.

Eyebright

Morning all,

It was the 18th when I last managed to get on here :eek: I have been so unbelievably busy it's unreal. Also if I'm honest I haven't done anything much towards debt busting. I've mostly spent the week trying to not spend money, which I've mostly been sucessful at! Though a few spends have slipped through

I have a whopping £14.52 left in my account! Still it's PAYDAY TOMORROW WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Which means I really need to sit down and do my spreadsheet for my February budget. I've also got all my receipts from grocery shopping, which I need to man up and add up to see what the damage is! I was hoping that anything I earn over £1300 this month could all go towards OH's birthday, but some of it is almost certainly going to have to go towards covering the food shop overspend. I will not go over in February!

LAM I also have some people that I will be running for. I'm really looking forward to it, should be good fun and a motivating factor to get fit!

Darn I've run out of time! Will catch up on everyone's diary and properly update my own this evening as I'm having a night off from the gym.

xxxx

FOXGLOVE_2

Good to see you again, EB!

Yay for payday! It's good when you have money left before payday, no matter if its 50p or £50, it means you've stuck to a plan!

I am gonna start tracking grocery shopping too, will update in my diary more about this.

You got any plans for OH's birthday? I'm sure when you get your budget together for Feb you will find savings to be had

dottyanne

Hi:hello:

Hope you don't mind but I've subscribed too, been on and off these forums since 2006 when things were pretty dire and have re-done a new diary for 2014 to boost me along. My goal this year is to clear all credit cards which equate to about 6.5K, we do have other debts too but these are the ones I want rid of ! Hope you are ok and we're in the same boat re payday should be in tomorrow yessssss :money:

LESLAMP

Hi Eyebright

Hope your well.

This week my Hubby and I had our own light bulb moment when I added up for the first time our joint debts and worked out exactly how much they are costing us a month.

Most of it comes from a DMP that I have from when I was married to my Ex (we've been split up almost 8 years). I have been plodding along paying it off but had never really thought about being able to pay it off any quicker current debt free date is Dec 2026. Plus my Hubby has various debts that need paying off from before we were together.

Total o/s is £20178 :mad: and we are paying over £500/ month to clear.

First thing I did was reviewed my DMP and increased the payments. 2nd thing I did was sit hubby down and explain to him exactly what a pickle we were in (think I've been burying my head in the sand and he has no concept of money).

We then worked out an action plan and if we can get our food budget down and forgo the lovely foreign holiday for a few years then we could be debt free by the end of 2017 :j

Eyebright

Hello All,

Thanks for sticking with me, it's been a very busy couple of weeks! I've finally been paid and it was a delicious £1500, £200 more than my budget is worked out from :eek: (due to the bits of OT I put in during December). I've put £100 of that straight into the birthday account to help me give OH a special 40th, though no clue as to what this will be yet! :rotfl:OH doesn't want a party or anything too fancy, but would like to treat him to a nice pressy or something...need to start getting my thinking cap on!!

We came in under on the petrol budget for December, so that helped to offset the mahoosive food overspend, and I've just had to put an extra £30.30 in to balance it. Must do better this month! We have quite a few bits in the freezer, and we are away from Thursday to Monday, as OH is off cycling with his mates in North Wales (and camping one night of that!!! :eek:), and I'm visiting family. So hopefully this will help

The remaining £70 from my extra money will be spilt between the spends for MIL's 70th birthday and trying to make a small OP to the CC. Clearing the CC this year and sorting out the E.ON arrears are my priorities for this year. E.ON will be sorted by May at the latest which is awesome, and the CC will be sorted this year, taking into account what I've allocated each month to pay off it. Very exciting!! Oh and paying back what I owe myself from the joint account. I know I could pay off my debts quicker if I put more of my pay towards them as opposed to trying to build up a bit of an emergency fund and pay for Christmas, but to be honest these things will prevent debt in the future and it's really important to me to start changing my habits around money.

Also in good news I lost 1.1kg last week, which works out around 2lb I think. I like weighing in kilos at the moment as my scales are more sensitive in kg so even if I only lose small amounts it shows up!
However I have been a greedy pig today and eaten a)too much and b)of really bad stuff (biscuits, muffin with fresh cream, buttery mash and sauages...oopsy....:o). So I need to kick butt in the gym tomorrow night!

I had a pretty spendy weekend, so my goals for this week are to put a stop to that. I only want to buy a takeaway whilst away, no shopping, there's nothing I need. I'm visiting family and that thankfully doesn't cost anything! I've transferred all my money to my various savings accounts and paid my CC etc, so that's made me feel a bit better. Hoping to get my CC under 1k this month!! :j

Eyebright

FOXGLOVE wrote: »

Good to see you again, EB!

Yay for payday! It's good when you have money left before payday, no matter if its 50p or £50, it means you've stuck to a plan!

I am gonna start tracking grocery shopping too, will update in my diary more about this.

You got any plans for OH's birthday? I'm sure when you get your budget together for Feb you will find savings to be had

No plans yet! Probably take him out for dinner and/or go out for some drinks, or better send him off out with his mates! Drinking really isn't my thing!
I really recommend tracking your grocery spends, even (or especially) when it''s a bad month. Better to be honest and face up to it, then plot and plan how to deal with it!
Will pop over to your diary in a bit to catch up on your news!

dottyanne wrote: »

Hi:hello:

Hope you don't mind but I've subscribed too, been on and off these forums since 2006 when things were pretty dire and have re-done a new diary for 2014 to boost me along. My goal this year is to clear all credit cards which equate to about 6.5K, we do have other debts too but these are the ones I want rid of ! Hope you are ok and we're in the same boat re payday should be in tomorrow yessssss :money:

Hi Dottyanne,

Welcome aboard the good ship Eyebright, destination Debt Free! My goal it to get rid of the nasty CC too, it's always a good place to start! I will go noseying for your diary in a min and subscribe. I'm guessing you have been paid now, so have you sorted out your budget???

LESLAMP wrote: »

Hi Eyebright

Hope your well.

This week my Hubby and I had our own light bulb moment when I added up for the first time our joint debts and worked out exactly how much they are costing us a month.

Most of it comes from a DMP that I have from when I was married to my Ex (we've been split up almost 8 years). I have been plodding along paying it off but had never really thought about being able to pay it off any quicker current debt free date is Dec 2026. Plus my Hubby has various debts that need paying off from before we were together.

Total o/s is £20178 :mad: and we are paying over £500/ month to clear.

First thing I did was reviewed my DMP and increased the payments. 2nd thing I did was sit hubby down and explain to him exactly what a pickle we were in (think I've been burying my head in the sand and he has no concept of money).

We then worked out an action plan and if we can get our food budget down and forgo the lovely foreign holiday for a few years then we could be debt free by the end of 2017 :j

Hi LESLAMP!

First off, hats off to you and well done on having your LBM and adding up the debts. It's such a sucky feeling to see the figure, but you know what, now that you have the only way is up. You are doing all the right things, contacting the DMP company and upping your repayments. Looking at where you can make savings. 2017 is only a few years away. Now the challenge is to compete with yourself to bring it forward even more!

Your OH sounds just like mine! He is oblivious to money, and it's half the battle with him to stop him from spending willy nilly, using his OD and chucking things on his CC. He is a time bomb waiting to go off in the future, as I think he will always owe money on his personal CC, he has no private pension, currently no savings, and I doubt he will ever make an effort to accumulate any either. It will be down to muggins here, who squirrels away what she can, has a pretty decent pension, and wheels and deals to keep all the bills as low as possible. I think we are due yet another sit down to try and explain to him that he needs to make some changes...meh!

Happy thoughts!!!! I will get fit and lose weight and pay off my credit card and build up a nest egg and be a kick a$$ MSE'er!!! :money:

milann

Sounds like you are doing a great job BrightEye. January is alwas the toughest month for me.
I have been on and off the boards a few years but we were burgled in the summer and weren't insured - I have only just managed to get a reliable computer and have really missed reading inspiring stories like yours to keep me motivated.
I have let finances get sloppy and intend to take the bull by the horns and sort things out. I'm starting a spending diary (again) and a store cupboard challenge this week. Back to basics
Love the walking challenge........ I never have any luck with pedometers - I always manage to lose them!!!!
Milann

Eyebright

Thanks for stopping by milann!

Over the years I have come and gone on this site, but this time I am determined to stick with it through to the bitter end. I'm like a bad penny and I always turn back up! I agree though that it is really inspiring and motivating to read other people's stories/diaries. Also humbling as I end up realising my life could be much worse.

My problem with pedometers is I keep forgetting to put the darn thing on! I'm fine once it's attached! Right best head out for work.

Toodles all, be back later!x

milann

Help - can someone remind me how to subscribe to a thread - thanks - technophobe here