WOW I must be serious this time.....I have a diary
Trixxibell
Forumite 699 Posts
Hi all,
Bit long winded, first ever post, bare with me.....
I have read others diaries for years and every Januray I start clearing my credit card and catalogue account, then one of my kids have a birthday or it's Xmas or there is an occasion and I whack it all back on the credit card or order the lot from catalogue. It's a cycle I would like to end.:T
I am 30 years old, married and 3 dependants I have just finished university and started working in my dream job. I managed to scrape through uni without having an overdraft or student account this was through working ridiculous hours but I did have a student bursary and a student loan.
My debt Totals just under £5,000.
Vanquis £2717.05 is going to be my first to clear as it's my only debt with interest.
Littlewoods £1092.08 is interest free so will be my second focus.
Student Bursary £1110.21 they overpaid me while I was a student so need to pay that back, again no interest. Currently paying £124 monthly via standing order. Original amount was £2343.
Student loan will start to be taken out of my wages from April. So would like as much of my other debts paid by then.
My weaknesses
Fast food and food at work is my weakness! I'm obsessed with drive throughs. I calculated that I spent £160 on food and take aways just for me from November to December.:eek:
My other weakness is not following my budget, I have one written every month and as long as my direct debits go through and I make my minimum payments I just spend the rest on take outs and ebooks and other luxuries . this is a habit I need to stop.
I will do an SOA at some point.
I'm doing well so far this year I have brought my own lunch into work for every shift :-) (thanks to the advice from the bring lunch to work thread) not been to a single drive through, had 15 NSDs and stopped buying endless bottles of water. I have a water filter on my fridge so started filling my own bottles from home.
I have made some big payments this month to my bills so far, and cancelled my online film subscriptions as I realised one main provider came as part of my bank account and I didn't realise! contact lenses contract was also cancelled (never wore them) so I could reduce unnecessary outgoings.
My end goal is in three parts to be debt free and to save for a car. I did buy a second hand car a few months ago nearly new and it got stolen. :-( I was gutted about it but I'm going to just start again. Clear my existing debt and save for a decent deposit for another car. I travel over 100 miles a week for work so a reliable and fuel efficient car is vital. I did get £1000 from my insurance company and they are settling the finance but I want to save for a bigger deposit so my monthly payments will be cheaper.
I would also love to finally have savings to buy a house I have two defaults that will be removed from my credit history in 2015. So I'm hoping to have enough of a deposit saved to apply for a mortgage by then.
I will update here when I can and even if no one reads it, it will give me the drive to keep going. :-)
My signature includes payments made in January.
Been wanting to post for years this is scary:eek:
Bit long winded, first ever post, bare with me.....
I have read others diaries for years and every Januray I start clearing my credit card and catalogue account, then one of my kids have a birthday or it's Xmas or there is an occasion and I whack it all back on the credit card or order the lot from catalogue. It's a cycle I would like to end.:T
I am 30 years old, married and 3 dependants I have just finished university and started working in my dream job. I managed to scrape through uni without having an overdraft or student account this was through working ridiculous hours but I did have a student bursary and a student loan.
My debt Totals just under £5,000.
Vanquis £2717.05 is going to be my first to clear as it's my only debt with interest.
Littlewoods £1092.08 is interest free so will be my second focus.
Student Bursary £1110.21 they overpaid me while I was a student so need to pay that back, again no interest. Currently paying £124 monthly via standing order. Original amount was £2343.
Student loan will start to be taken out of my wages from April. So would like as much of my other debts paid by then.
My weaknesses
Fast food and food at work is my weakness! I'm obsessed with drive throughs. I calculated that I spent £160 on food and take aways just for me from November to December.:eek:
My other weakness is not following my budget, I have one written every month and as long as my direct debits go through and I make my minimum payments I just spend the rest on take outs and ebooks and other luxuries .
this is a habit I need to stop.I will do an SOA at some point.
I'm doing well so far this year I have brought my own lunch into work for every shift :-) (thanks to the advice from the bring lunch to work thread) not been to a single drive through, had 15 NSDs and stopped buying endless bottles of water. I have a water filter on my fridge so started filling my own bottles from home.
I have made some big payments this month to my bills so far, and cancelled my online film subscriptions as I realised one main provider came as part of my bank account and I didn't realise! contact lenses contract was also cancelled (never wore them) so I could reduce unnecessary outgoings.
My end goal is in three parts to be debt free and to save for a car. I did buy a second hand car a few months ago nearly new and it got stolen. :-( I was gutted about it but I'm going to just start again. Clear my existing debt and save for a decent deposit for another car. I travel over 100 miles a week for work so a reliable and fuel efficient car is vital. I did get £1000 from my insurance company and they are settling the finance but I want to save for a bigger deposit so my monthly payments will be cheaper.
I would also love to finally have savings to buy a house I have two defaults that will be removed from my credit history in 2015. So I'm hoping to have enough of a deposit saved to apply for a mortgage by then.
I will update here when I can and even if no one reads it, it will give me the drive to keep going. :-)
My signature includes payments made in January.
Been wanting to post for years this is scary:eek:
3rd LBM July 2014: Debt [STRIKE]£31,416.68[/STRIKE] Down To: [STRIKE] £23,403.43[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]15th July: £25,709.83[/STRIKE] 26th March: £31,229.68
CC £0 :j WFTC £1660, SLC £6600, Car £18,654, Emergency Fund £1,000 :T
CC £0 :j WFTC £1660, SLC £6600, Car £18,654, Emergency Fund £1,000 :T
0
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Today - went to the cinema - did it online booking (saved 10%) went for the offer (Cineworld do a TAKE 2 on a Thursday - film thats been out for a couple of months) but I got 2 adult tickets, 2 small drinks, 1 small popcorn = all in £10.00
Also handy as have a deal on Sky - last time I forgot to cancel it, this time its in big red letters... xx
Thanks for replying, hope you both have a good dfw day today.
Mum2one cinema deals is a good tip thanks when all of us go I end up spending a fortune, I must remember to be more vigilant.
Kbl I'm hoping to join the sealed pot challenge I saw to pay for birthdays and Christmas to stop the cycle of using credit card and catalogues. Easier said than done but that's the plan;)
Got paid today :T didn't get paid as much as I thought considering I worked Christmas Day and New Year's Day I will be reviewing my payslip when it comes. Anyway before I even got out of bed I paid for DS1 school trip of £116, paid £200 off cc and £200 off littlewoods.
I just have to resist temptation now not to touch any of it as the DDs don't go out until the 1st of the month.
Very excited about changing my signature now. :j I can see this is going to become addictive woohoo :-)
I'm doing an extra shift tonight so will be going back to bed shortly but wanted to make sure I did an entry beforehand.
CC £0 :j WFTC £1660, SLC £6600, Car £18,654, Emergency Fund £1,000 :T
You will notice rent, electric and gas aren't on my SOA because my OH pays these as well as a large amount of the food shopping.
If anyone has any advice on where I'm wasting money please let me know. I started my new job end of October so haven't been on this wage for long and looking forward to using it to demolish my debt.
Figures are from January 1st
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1600
Other income............................ 396
Total monthly income.................... 1996
Monthly Expense Details
Council tax............................. 135
Water rates............................. 37
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 56\ includes tv and phone
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................. 0
Car Insurance........................... 144
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0 taking out of wages prior to income figure.
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 150
Other child related expenses............ 168 kids bus passes and lunches
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 23.50
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 15.15
Life assurance ......................... 6.50
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 60 this was going on cc and cat before.
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 0 cancelled netflix and lovefilm use it free through bank account.
Holiday................................. 50 estimate again used to put on cc in the summer. Usually go camping
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1142.27
\
Assets[/b]\
Cash.................................... 1,600 deposit for car.
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0 my car was stolen insurance is settling with finance at the moment hoping to reapply once sorted. Using OHs car not very fuel efficient.
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1600
No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts[/b]\
\
Unsecured Debts\
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR\
Credit card....................2717.15...200.......not sure how much the apr is
Catalogue .....................1092.08...200.......
Bursary overpayment............1110.21...124.......
Total unsecured debts..........4919.44...524.......
Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,996
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,142.27
Available for debt repayments........... 853.73
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 524
Amount left after debt repayments....... 329.73
Personal Balance Sheet Summary\
Total assets (things you own)........... 0\
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0\
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,919.44\
Net Assets.............................. -4,919.44\
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Once again constructive comments/questions welcome be gentle lol:o
CC £0 :j WFTC £1660, SLC £6600, Car £18,654, Emergency Fund £1,000 :T
I found you and you're doing really well so keep going!
Which mobile company are you with? Most of them you can ring after your contract is about 3 months old and ask them for the best deal for you. I was told this by a manager of the local Phones4U just before he left, tried it and got my bill reduced by £9 a month. It's worth a shot
Cat1: PAID :j Cat 2: Paid :j Cat3: Paid :j Cat4: paid :j Family: paid :j CC3: paid :j M/A: Paid :j.
Yesterday I definitely kicked an old habit, I had to pick my kids up and drop one to a sleepover and the other two to their dance performance usually if I have to get to work and want to be quick I would treat them to a drive through to speed things up. (the kids usually have a dinner cooked from scratch from the OH when he gets in from work and yes even though I was coming home to a cooked meal I still used to go through drive throughs on the way home :eek:) But yesterday I pre planned and cooked like a normal person would do. I had a plenty of time and I even took the left overs into work with me.:D
Before starting this diary I would have thought nothing about spending £20 plus on a drive through now I'm like nope that could go towards my debt. One day at a time my mental attitude is getting there.
One more mini celebration, the staff last night all chipped in to buy a takeaway for lunch....I resisted and had my leftovers. Another successful LTW shift and I didn't cave to peer pressure.
Good night/day to anyone reading xxx
CC £0 :j WFTC £1660, SLC £6600, Car £18,654, Emergency Fund £1,000 :T
CC £0 :j WFTC £1660, SLC £6600, Car £18,654, Emergency Fund £1,000 :T
As well as debt busting, last year I started de cluttering I'm trying to live in a more clutter free environment it took two skips, a car boot sale and endless trips to charity shops, given old toys to family and friends but I finally got there.:j What I didn't realise was that it's a constant daily struggle, with the kids coming home with endless letters from school and OH's addiction to bringing things home for his many ongoing projects it can sometimes feel like I'm losing the battle. But I keep persevering by doing a least one thing a day to keep clutter free. So as well as updating my diary with my debt reduction I'm also going to put my mini things to do list on here too, mainly to make sure I do them.:rotfl:
I will also put little changes I made to gain space in a hope I help someone else. One of the biggest things I did was put all my DVDs in a DVD case which holds about 500+ DVDs. I did need two cases :eek: A lot of them are tv series that I do watch regularly and I sold a few we didn't watch anymore to a local exchange shop. Yes I was addicted to buying DVDs this habit stopped when I started uni.
I'm starting think why am I saving for a deposit on a car to then apply for finance? Would it not make more dfw sense just to save for a car........food for thought while I'm on shift tonight.
Comments always welcome xx
CC £0 :j WFTC £1660, SLC £6600, Car £18,654, Emergency Fund £1,000 :T
It is wonderful being able to do without the credit card.
You are worried about a present for your OH - why not make something instead of buying new?
You are doing really well!Maybe if you meal plan you will feel less tempted to go through a drive thru too, oh and use a slow cooker for busy days
As PP said, do something with your credit card!Also leave your debit card at home and carry small cash if popping out.
I don't take my purse to work, or take small change if popping into town and only need a few bits.
Good luck
Total [STRIKE]7036.54[/STRIKE] 5076.92 :eek: !!!