Livin’ on fumes...

emmigrant-immigrant

Well done on the overspend. It must be very satisfying to see the debt free date gradually coming down! Love the idea of a count down timer on your phone!

I forgot to say yesterday, with the washable nappies, see if your councils do a washable nappy incentive scheme. Ours do one where you can either claim 2 free nappies, or get £30 cash back when you spend £50 or more on washable nappies. I took the 2 free, as I thought claiming the £30 back sounded too much hassle (I am really bad at doing the paperwork for things like that ), so I just got them to send me 2 freebees. One of them didn't work for us at all. I have tried it several times, and it still doesn't work for us. I think I would have been better off putting him in a pair of pants :rotfl:. He has never pooed in it though, so I will probably re-sell it at some point. It was a pocket nappy though, so I have used the inserts with other nappies. The orther nappy has been great, and I still use it now.

Good luck with everything.

Em-Im

Avogirly

Well, today I have managed to cash out £15 into paypal for completed My surverys! Hoorah, that should appear in the next 10 days and then will go into my spends budget which is looking pretty healthy at the moment. I don't have any outgoings left for the rest of the month (food is included in hubby's joint account, that I pay into at the beginning of the month!). So if all goes to plan I should be able to make a further over payment of £76.00.

It's hubbys birthday soon, and I have the money saved up, but I am getting so tight now that I don't want to spend it!!!! I'm trying to think of ways round getting his present without having to dip into the savings, but also to make the over payment! Will need to get thinking cap on for that one!

margimoo

I woke up this morning feeling like I could not face work...the level of anxiety due to me being in debt regularly over-spills into other areas of my life effecting my ability to function..hence I decided to call work and ask for a days leave.

Initially I thought I'd use the day off as a duvet day and hide away from the 'real' world...but having read your post and so many others I decided to make today a productive day...I called a free debt management company 'Payplan'...and embarked on a DMP.

On their advice I called my bank to cancel the continuous payment authorities for the numerous payday loans I have ( which were about to swallow my months salary AGAIN!) I then found an alternative basic bank account with a different bank..went into the branch and signed account documents for my new account.
I then called payday loan companies to inform them..as advised by Payplan.

I should be debt free within 18 months which I know is a small feat compared to some people's situations..my debts amount to 7k BUT this time yesterday I would have guessed they amounted to around 4k.....I HOPE to get some restful sleep tonight and look forward to becoming debt free in the future..MargiMoo

Avogirly

Hi MargiMoo,

Really good to hear from you. I'm so pleased that you had such a productive day yesterday and I hope that turned into a peaceful nights sleep last night.

It is so helpful to keep reading and maybe starting your own diary so you can write down all your thoughts and feelings plus how you are getting on with your debt busting.

This site has an amazing wealth of people with all different stories and levels of debt, it is very reassuring to know that you are not alone in this situation and there are many others going through exactly what you are right now.

I really hope that you continue to be part of MSE and that you have a successful journey to debt freeness!

My one piece of advice for you is that it will be a long and sometimes tough journey, especially when you are trying to get by day to day. It can be frustrating to have to wait till each payday to make those payments, and then within five minutes the payments are made and you have to wait again to the next payday! However, please be reassured that it will be soooooo worth it when you get to 18 months down the line and there are zero balances on those outstanding debts - you will feel amazing.

I wish you tons of luck. xxx

Avogirly

Gosh, I am such a debt free wannabe at the moment!

I need to buy something online, I have done my research and found the best price for my product. In the past I would have just gone to the first website and bought it regardless of the cost. Now I quidco and research like you wouldn't believe.

So why am I still thinking whether to make this purchase......I wouldn't mind but its only for £16!!!! In the past I wouldn't have even bat an eyelid at £160 purchases!!!!

Also I have been thinking a lot lately of what it will be like when I am debt free. Of course, it's going to be wonderful to have such a good amount of disposable income, but will I still be as "tight" as I am now. Should I stay as "tight" as I am now and save the equivalent in the most suitable savings account? What do others do? Should I loosen the purse strings a bit to allow myself a few treats now and then, or will I still feel guilty spending those precious pennies? It's tricky, at the moment I cannot justify any unnecessary spending - it brings me out in hives! Hence why I am having a wobble about spending £16 as above! I'm worried that I will always feel like this and that I won't allow myself any treats.

I will never allow myself to get into debt again, this I can assure you - having been in this situation since I was 18 - I'm now 34, I will not go through it again. Therefore any treats will be paid for without using credit and any purchases budgeted for should they be a bit more costly. I just hope that I can treat myself without feeling guilty.

I hope that makes sense, or could it be baby brain speaking!!! :rotfl:

Rebus81

Hi Avogirly,

Just read through your post and know exactly where you're coming from and how you feel. Your first post rang so many bells with me as I've been in the situation more times than I ever want to believe where I have been so low on petrol I just don't know if I will ever make it to my required destination! I travel about 55 miles a day and petrol doesn't come cheap any more so I've always struggled to keep my poor car fed for the whole month. I've got to the point where I just don't know how I'm going to make it to work but amazingly, something has always cropped up to see me through. Usually it's through the sale of personal items or draining the last pennies from my Nectar card.

You can see from my thread that I have recently become debt free after being in debt since the start of adult-hood. I'm now 33 and can't believe I'm actually through it all. It's not been easy and I've had to make some life changing decisions over the years, neglect the ones I love (including my Son) and sell pretty much all I've ever owned. I was just over £10k in debt but after facing up to my problems I've managed to have some serious heart-to-hearts with my Fianc!e and work with her to get these cleared. I know you can do it too as you seem to be motivated enough (and what better reason than a new born bambino?!) and I seriously feel you've had your official LBM.

Over the past 2 debt free weeks, I've really been able to manage my money better and ensure that there is ALWAYS petrol money available. I'm still allowing myself slight treats, without feeling guilty, as I believe it's important to reward yourself occasionally. I've treated my Son a lot this month too and I'll be making it all back up to him as he is the most precious bean in the world and shouldn't have had to put up with me being in debt and miserable. Things are on the up now though and we'll all feel the benefit. Isn't it crazy how controlling debt can be and how different it can make a person?

I'm going to be subscribing to your thread and read with interest in your quest for a debt free life! :-)

Avogirly

Hi Rebus81, thanks for stopping by. It's great to read such success stories such as yours - it's a great motivator when things are feeling a bit tough. Thank you so much.

This week I have managed to cash out £20 from mysurveys. This should be winging its way to my paypal account over the next 10 days. This will then stay in my spends budget till the end of the month, then it will go to make an overpayment to Raymond.

I have already worked out my budgets for August, I wanted to get organised as that's the month the bump is due to make an appearance.

I hadn't planned to go on mat leave until I was 38 weeks which will be 11th August, but I am finding things a bit tough so may bring it forwards. The other option I have is to use up some holiday, so I may drop my hours if I'm struggling a bit. We shall see.

Having checked YNAB I noted that I have managed to pay over £1k/month for the past two months to my debts. This is a great feeling, and I love the fact that I am still working within my budgets. Hopefully I should be able to maintain this whilst I'm having a bit of leave with the baby.

I have been so lucky that we have had to buy very little to get us going with regards to having a baby. My sister in law has been so amazing and has seriously kitted us out with everything we could need and more! Plus my Mum has bought our cot and Nan has given us £250 to put towards anything else we may need. Plus my in laws bought the buggy. I am so grateful to everyone as this is such a help.

kindofagilr

Hey Hun, how u getting on xx

kindofagilr

Hey Hun, how you getting on? How is bambino? Xx

Avogirly

Wow, I can't believe how long ago I set up this diary. Although I failed to write in it every day I have stuck by my ways and am cracking on through.

I cannot believe that my daughter who was born in September is now nearly 11 months old. It's great being a Mum, just the best thing ever. It has put my life in such a perspective that means there what was important and consumed my thoughts now doesn't bother me.

I have managed to pay off quite a bit of my debt, and although I had to add to it a few months ago, this has all been done using 0% credit cards, so although I still owe money it is nearly all on 0% cards and I'm budgeted to pay these off well before the rate runs out! How good does that feel.

Yesterday I got a letter from Lloyds to say that I am making my last payment on my loan in August. This means that for the first time in about 15 years I will not have a loan! Yippee! I will have one more payment to make on my FD credit card which has got interest on it, and then all my debt is at 0%.

Summary for July:
Start running schedule - not achieved, hence below!
Loose 6lbs - not achieved, but no weight gained
Pay off Lloyds CC - achieved! Hoorah!

Money owed as of 31st July: -
FD CC £1,561.52
Tesco CC £742.45
BCard £6,147.36
Santander £1,313.20
Lloyds loan £202.29
Next £133.95
TOTAL £10,100.77

Aims for August:
Stick to running schedule
Loose 7lbs
Pay off Next AC & Lloyds Loan