Disco Dolly V's Debt

Disco_Dolly

Happy Monday DFW's, I hope you are all well today?

I had a very productive weekend, very proud of myself. I cleaned the house top to bottom and in the process gathered loads of stuff to sell on eBay. And I listed 75 items last night, a lot of these are small items so we'll see how they go, fingers crossed.

I managed to have a No Spend Weekend until yesterday evening when I treated myself and DD (just back from her dads house) to a take-away so spent the grand total of €10 all weekend, that almost never happens!


I filled the car with petrol today and have to go grocery shopping after work today or we'll starve. So going to stock up and try to have as many NSD's as possible this week.


Feeling super positive today and the sun is still shining in Ireland (which almost never happens too lol)


Have a good week DFW'S

Disco_Dolly

Hi DFW's,

I've been AWOL from here for a while, oops!

I am still working away on debt, (much slower than I would like to) but the overall total is decreasing so I am happy. I had a friends wedding last week so have wiped a lot of my emergency fund savings and have not been able to pay much extra off debt but all minimum payments are made and no extra debt has been added so I am happy - previously I would have used credit card for hotel, etc but this time the money came for wages and savings so I think I have broken my bad money cycle, I am not spending what I dont have and I am trying my best to clear the debt mistakes I have made in the past.

I have nothing else major coming up in the next few months so I am firmly back on the debt snowball bandwagon now. However, I dont get paid until Friday week so I am hoping to have as many NSD's as possible until then and hopefully then I'll have a little left over to put back into savings and get my emergency fund back healthy again.

My next goals are:
- Build back up emergency fund & Christmas savings!
- Overpay gas & electric to build credit for winter months
- Get car serviced, buy new tyres and get it MOT'd.
- Debt snowball Credit Card #1, hoping to clear by March 2015.
- Pay €10K off debt by August 2015 (40th birthday)


Hope you are all having a nice day. I have updated my signature (16% debt gone!) so I am off to catch up on some other diaries now

Disco_Dolly

Forgot one extra goal

- list, list, list on eBay or facebook groups, get rid of the stuff I dont need!

Disco_Dolly

Hi DFW's,

Hope everyone is having a lovely week. The sun is shining in Ireland today, we are having such fab weather lately, really makes a change.


I have had a lot of NSD's since I posted last so I am feeling proud of myself as I really thought I would be broke after the wedding I went to. I have 150 still in the bank from last payday and I get paid this Friday, happy days! I am hoping to carry on with NSD's until then and hopefully put the 150 plus another 100 back into my depleted emergency fund. And also hopefully paying off 350 towards debt. It should be doable as I have enough groceries and petrol in the car - only 2 days to go!


I've had a stressful few months with DD, she is being bullied by a neighbours child for the past few months, its really sad as they used to be such good friends, literally friends since they were 2. My DD is not around where we live all day as I work and she is minded by my mother and she also goes to a different school near where my mam lives. So she is a bit of an outsider when she comes back to our estate every evening, the other kids would be together all day, it never used to be a problem before but this past few months is different story. A little clique has formed led by her ex-best friend - they make her life a misery every evening, by either being horrible to her or just plain ignoring her. She was very down about it, its horrible, she's only 11 and feels totally excluded from a group of kids she has grown up with. She plays with some of the younger kids but has nobody her own age really as they all seem to listen to this ex-best friend. I am under no illusion that my child is an angel, she has her moments, but she really hasn't done anything to warrant this treatment. For some reason all the others seem to listen to the ring-leader I dont get it. I really didnt think girls could be so b*tchy at this age, they are not even teenagers yet.

So, I discovered a girl in her dance class lives in a neighbouring estate and has also had problems with bullies. We arranged for my DD to go over to her house yesterday evening and they really hit it off and DD met another 2 girls who are friends with this new girl. She was on such a high last night when she came home and the new girl and her friends are coming over to DD tomorrow evening. This new girl will be going to the same secondary school as DD in Sept 2015 so I am really hoping its the start of a good friendship. I am feeling so happy for DD today and I'm really proud of her as she is a little shy with new people. She has dealt with the bullies with her head held high, she hasnt stayed indoors wallowing despite being upset, she gone out there and played with the younger ones. And now she has put herself out there and made an effort to gain new friends, I feel like she has stood up for herself without even saying anything if you know what I mean, socked it to them!! lol


Anyway enough of my rambling, roll on payday and hoping to keep the purse closed til then!

Disco_Dolly

Hi DFW's,

I haven't been on in a while but I'm still slogging away at the debt.


I made all my payments this morning and my total is just over €18,000, I am tempted to pay another €15 just to get it down to 17 thousand and something!


DD is getting on great with her new friend, the two of them are thick as thieves lately. I have two weeks off work at the moment so they are spending loads of time together. I am delighted to see her so happy.


Happy Saturday to you all!

Disco_Dolly

Happy Friday DFW's!

I really have to get into the habit of posting here more. I seem to only post when I make my payments for the fortnight!


I got paid today so have paid off all I can, I find it better to make the debt payments first and then live off what I have left, if its gone I cant spend it .

My new debt total is 17,695.75, I have paid 4050.59 off my debt since January! I am very pleased with that, 19% of the debt gone forever :j. I cant believe that I have paid over 4000 off debt and not added anything to my total, I am in control of my money for the first time in my life, I am determined never to go back to how I was. I even have a little bit of savings, mind you I really need to work on building these up a bit to have a proper emergency fund in place.

DD is going to her dads until Sunday so I am hoping to do a major decluttering exercise over the weekend, I never seem to get far with this but hoping to change that this weekend. I also hope to identify a few more things to sell, my house is so full of crap, which probably explains my debt total, buying stuff I dont need, time to get rid!!

I want to reduce my debt by 25% by the end of this year, I would like to get down to 16000 if possible, I'll see how it goes with Xmas and all that jazz though!

Signature updated and feeling uber positive, I can do this!!!

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend

in_need_of_direction

Of course you can. Nearly a fifth of the way through

Disco_Dolly

Thanks "in need of direction" - one fifth of the way sounds good to me!

You are going great with the mortgage, once I'm debt free I hope to do the same.

Disco_Dolly

Hi DFW's,

Oops haven't updated this in ages! I am still here, still slogging away at debt. Signature updated today and debt total stands at €17352.18, 20% of my debt officially now gone - whoop!!!


I am working on building up savings fund for Christmas, its only at €200 at the moment so need to work a bit harder on that. I am also still hoping to reduce my debt by 25% by end of this year. I am not doing very well on my goals though. I still have to get my car sorted with tyres service and MOT, and I was supposed to overpay utility bills. I need to get on track with these. The main thing though is my debt snowball is on track. I am listening to Dave Ramsey most days to keep my motivated and also reading diaries here!


Myself and a friend have a little Christmas craft opportunity too, her dad owns a shop and he is having a Christmas craft area. So we are busy making tree decorations for our little area. We'll see how it goes, we haven't made the tree decorations for anyone outside ourselves and family, so we'll see what others think of them, it will be interesting if nothing else. If it works out we'll have a nice little bit extra for Xmas. And if not we have lost nothing only the time involved in making them as we had the materials already between us. My friends dad is not charging us for the area in the shop or any commission. Also my 12 year old DD is making kids bracelets which she hopes to sell as stocking fillers, she is sticking to Frozen, One Direction and Princess theme so hopefully they will be popular! And she will have a bit of extra money for Xmas shopping, she'd be chuffed. Hope it works out ok for us.


Hope you all have a lovely Friday and a great weekend

Disco_Dolly

Hi DFW's,

Apologies again, I havent been here in so long, I'm more of a lurker than a poster! I have however still been working on reducing debt! Christmas has put a bit of a halt in my overall plan but I have managed to pay a little more off - my new debt total stands at €16576.03 which is €5170.31 less than it was at the start of my journey earlier this year! :j


I didnt make my 25% less debt goal which is where I hoped to be at the end of this year but I'm at 24% which is not that far away, I hope to get to 25% by next payday. I am pretty proud of how far I have come and have broken bad money habits that I had for years and years. I can actually save and for the first time ever have not used credit to pay for Christmas, this is amazing for me! And my car has new tyres and passed the MOT with flying colours, which is great as I need this old banger (its 13 years old) to last me another year or so until I get debt free.

I should have slightly more money next year due to increase in child benefit, small payrise, reduced house insurance and extra person car pooling with us! Also DD starts secondary school in September so from then I will have no childcare fees (dont worry not leaving her alone, just have new arrangement with a neighbour as DD no longer will need to travel for school, secondary school on our doorstep!) However I realise there will be other expenses that go along with seconday school but I'll cross that bridge when it gets here. So on the whole the future is looking bright!


New Goals for 2015 are:

• Build Emergency fund back up!
• Start savings plan for next Christmas - possibly 52 week savings plan?
• Save for DD starting secondary school.
• Get rid of Credit Card 2 debt (card is long gone, only debt remains!)
• Get car serviced again.
• Declutter my house!
• Use work bonus to pay off at least €1,000 debt.
• Pay an extra payment every month off 1 debt.
• Aim for debt figure of €10,000 by end of this year.
• Aim for at least 50% overall debt reduction by yearend.
• Overpay utility bills to be ready for next Winter
• Lose weight!

Happy New Year to you all :beer: