Mrs TooClumsys journey to being on the Debt Free Train!

TooClumsy

Hello NHS worker bee,

Thanks for swinging by! I have not been very good at keeping my diary going. I will strive to do better!

I totally hear what you are saying-sometimes I am totally concerned that he has no idea what he is doing, but really is a responsible guy. Its a sore subject between us, that these charges were on his statement for at least a year and I did not know about them.

I agree that we have been wiping a chunk out and then going into debt more, just to stick to the budget. If you know what I mean, for example hubbie had the company car for like 2 days so he used the car and had to refill using the credit card (because there was no category balance), but he will get the expenses paid so not the best example.

I need to get my glasses updated, because my prescription has changed. I get migraines when the prescription is not correct; this took us 2 weeks of sick days and hospital visits to work out 2 Decembers ago. So priority is to get at least 1 pair updated. This needs to come out of a category somewhere, we have always had an eyecare/medicine category, but use this to WAM the overspending in other categories.

I am now looking around for decent car deals, because I think the one that we have (06 number plate) is not going to last much longer without significant repairs and it will be a major thing to get caught out on. I dont know what to do, lots of people buy their car on finance right?
At the moment, I've explained it to hubbie as $10k (pound sign not working) is the budget for a used car, but that is half a years worth of savings.

It is all confusing and we are finding it rather hard that we will be at our inlaws for such a long time, before having our deposit. The maths all made sense, but forgot that it was us that have to live through it! (not that they are horrible, but everyone wants their own space dont they?)

Yay, glad that its your fave too. I'm wondering what would happen if I ate that veggie pot with Lilt. I reckon it will be like those holiday adverts, I'll have a drink with an umbrella in it before I finish blinking.

7.6% debt paid back. 2 Credit cards and 1 overdraft to go, I really thought it would be more-but the amounts are the highest at the end as per snowball regulations! I'm really looking forward to paying off the overdraft as it is last, but is the most 'visible' debt.

Tally Ho!

NHS_worker_bee

It looks like you're making progress, slowly but steadily is the way to do it. I found this in another thread and it's an interesting read, about the 'Hare and the Tortoise' concept of debt repayment. The moral is that you need a realistic budget but then you've got to stick to it!

http://debtcamel.co.uk/hard-choices/how-far-to-cutback/

Do you need a new car? Can you start saving towards one but not buy it yet? Your existing car might not actually pack up and then you'll have savings which you can use to keep existing car serviced and roadworthy?

Good luck!

TooClumsy

Dear Diary,

I have not updated you for almost a year... *SHAME ON ME!*

So a quick update...

Credit card debt is still on my plate, yes, I know, it was meant to be gone, but we made some investment purchases (mainly a Macbook) that meant our credit card debt has gone up (see signature!)

We have stopped saving after we reached £3k, we paid our insurance outright for the first time and booked 2 holidays (a special trip for DH 30th and my first trip to Paris!).

So we are no diverting money from savings onto the credit card debt.

I have a new CC (Santander 123) which I use for everyday purchases and it gets paid off in full, so no interest, just rewards!

Have just put the credit cards into YNAB, as I was managing them in a separate Excel sheet so they are more 'visible' when we are doing the monthly budget.