DD's Journey to Financial Freedom

Divingmad

Hi Everybody,


I have been lurking around the forums for a while now after having my LBM and decided that my finances need sorting. Admittedly, it is my second LBM, I had one last year with some debts that needed resolving and managed to shift some of them and move another onto a 0% deal, which I thought was a success, but now I am determined to get the remaining stuff sorted and get these debt monkeys off my back!


So, as a means of motivating myself into getting my finances back on track I have decided to start a diary, and ashamed as I have to admit, I am going to plagiarise as many of the great ideas that are in the various threads as I can.


So onwards we start. My plan of attack is as follows:
Do a SOA
Monthly budget to find out where I am leaking money
Start saving!


Right...I think this was the large step towards getting my finances back in order and have them working for me, rather than me slaving to keep things in order...wish me luck.....

Divingmad

OK diary....


So, since I started this commitment (Not something you usually hear a man say!) to get out of this debt hole that just won't seem to disappear, I am starting to make progress.
I reviewed my SOA and that showed I had a underspend of around £190 pounds a month! Hurrah, but why then was I always into my overdraft? And was I panicking whenever the bills come in...in theory there should be enough money available to pay for these as I budget for them.......Answer...a rather hefty vet's bill in December had pushed my account into overdrawn and since then I have been continually bouncing in and out of it! It's probably been my head in the sand attitude that caused me to ignore the issue and just deal with things as they arose, and then panic when the bills come in as they would push me into overdrawn again!
However, no more! I have managed to budget enough to stay out of the overdraft this month, so no interest charges this month (take that, you awful bankers!)


So I have now decided that I need to split my money up and stop it flitting through my fingers. I'm going to open separate accounts and put the money away each month, initially this will probably be within my own bank (I can access my account on line and open separate accounts that way) or maybe look at opening one of the cashback accounts, although the return would be small (but enough to cover the charges).


However, this may have to be put on the backburner as our eldest dog, a lovely laid back collie, has had a cluster of seizures and is presently in the vet hospital having all sort of checks done...me thinks that the bill is going to be upwards of £300...vet says he has been comfortable all night and can come home for a fuss and cuddles. Looks like my small emergency fund that I had built up is going to be used sooner than I thought!


Right, time to go and see the vet, hope they are as gentle with me as they are with our lovely dawg! I'll keep you posted as to his well being!.


TTFN

bettyruth

Best of luck!
hope your doggy is doing ok, best wishes

chevalier

Welcome to the boards. Good luck with your debt busting journey. Hope your lovely dog pulls through
chev

giblet1979

Hi,

Really sorry to hear about your dog - sending get well wishes.
Lots of luck on the debt journey x

Divingmad

Hi there


Thanks for the welcome. Pooch is doing OK at the moment, he's spending a lot of time sleeping with bouts of restlessness, so we are waiting to see how he gets on with his medication.
I haven't had his bill yet - I may have to sell some body parts!!


OK, time to get this debt monkey sorted. It's pay day on Wednesday, so hopefully I'll be able to make some inroads. I have been doing this payments thing all wrong. I was concentrating the highest amount rather than the highest interest, so this month it's the minimum on the b*rclaycard (that has the higher amount at £1600 but 0%) and a higher payment on the MB$A (£840 at some ridiculous percentage).


Time to start looking at ways of generating some additional income too.

giblet1979

Glad that doggy is doing ok, bless.

Sounds like a good plan for OP'ing the card with the highest percentage - will definitely save in the long run, and it'll be good to see that one gone completely (and cut up / locked away) before starting OPing the next one

There is a great thread on here about boosting income. So far (as I'm relatively new) I've taken on extra work (jobs 2, 3 and 4 - sounds more impressive than it is as the last two are occasional lecturing/marking). I also joined Valued Opinions (surveys - now at £9 in two weeks or so), swagbucks (haven't 'got' this yet), total cash back (ditto) and have maxed out potential rewards with clubcard points and Nectar (including adpoints - watching vids).

I'm sure people will be able to offer much more advice....

Gib x

Divingmad

I've signed up with Onepoll (amassed the princely sum of £6 so far) and with ipsos (got £3 as a running total). Next is pinecone, but need to find a recommendation to get in with that one.


I have tried asking for overtime at work, but they will only give time off in lieu, so I'm amassing the hours there as days off (at least I can reduce my petrol spend that way).
I'll have to look into part time jobs, I live in the south west so it's just coming upto the holiday period...could be worth a look at some weekend work.


Right, bed time and looks like I am on dog watch tonight...so may be a little foggy and bad tempered tomorrow :eek:


Nite all

Divingmad

Hi Diary,


I have managed to register with the following survey sites:
Ipsos (and accumulated a princely sum of £6.35)
Onepoll (have a couple of quid started with them)
Valued Opinion (so far only 50p - but have only just started)


Am starting to look at part time work, or maybe even a lodger as we have a spare room, however have to weigh up the pro's and con's with the latter as this could be good or just a nightmare!


I've also decided that I should start sorting out all my blooming paperwork! We moved to the southwest 3 years ago and sorted most things, but some other just got lobbed in a box and planted in a spare room for sorting at some point...anyway, I found my old money jar which had £30 in change...so that's bagged up ready for the bank and then to go off old of the debts.


Right, off to continue the sort out,


More later

giblet1979

Sounds like the extra income plan is going really well - it'll all add up quicker than it seems x

Divingmad

Hi diary (and anyone reading)


They say that having a sort out is good therapy...well looking through my CC statements I noticed that I had a payment protection insurance on one of my credit cards until Jan last year! Cue a look at the CC company website and hey presto, I may be due a refund...paperwork printed, filled in and ready for posting tomorrow morning on the way to work. Their website says it may take upto 56 days to decide, but hey, it's worth the stamp I suppose (nothing ventured nothing gained huh)!


I cancelled it during a dim LBM last year, and thought it would reduce my outgoings a bit, until the following CC bill came in and they just increased my interest instead ...cheeky beggers!


I am looking forward to getting these debts sorted, then I will be able to concentrate getting back into scuba diving, been a couple of years since I got a wetsuit on, I really miss the peace and quiet of a nice bimble on a reef wall somewhere warm (saying that, freezing my personals off at the bottom of a quarry ain't so bad :rotfl:)


More soon


DM