SouthernGuy's Debt Free Journey

SouthernGuy

Afternoon all,

Over the last couple of weeks I've been careful (ish) with money and have now been paid so I re paid the £200 I borrowed from my wife.

Last weekend was expensive and I did spend about £100 more than I hoped (£300 total) but it was a really good weekend with a friend at a model show we'd wanted to go to for a while. Some of the money spent was what I had left before pay day (£100) and the rest came straight out of my November pay packet so it didn't go on the card or anything. I just need to be very careful.

I've just gone through and adjusted my budget for this month to ensure I stay in credit. The monthly CC direct debit for £60 has just gone out and I have just paid an extra payment of £43.00 to bring the total down to exactly £4700.

I have also adjusted my direct debit (from next month) for the credit card to make a payment of £150 per month so I'm at least clearing £150 per month without overpayments instead of £60. I find that if I know I have a DD going out for an amount I'm better at being careful with my unallocated money.

I hope everyone is ok and looking forward to Christmas

SouthernGuy

Afternoon all,

Thought I'd drop in for a quickie.

Well the M&S switch has happened but I don't think I'll get the £125 gift card until after xmas. January sales it is then!

I'm trying desperately to stay on budget for Christmas and Mrs SouthernGuy's birthday but this is proving difficult.

Just under 2 weeks til payday and it's going to be close, I might have to sub my account from the joint account until payday but then I will make a conscious effort to curb this 'spending into next months pay packet' habit that I seem to have fallen into..

Car had it's MOT on Friday and passed with no problem which I'm glad about. Cost was £30.00 with discount voucher.

I have booked the whole of Christmas off work so just have to make it until next Friday (19th) before I can rest and get all festive.

Plan for tonight is to put up the decorations

I have also decided that I will make a payment of £200 to the CC once I'm paid as I want to end the year with £4500 or under left on the card.

Calling14

See you in the M&S Jan sales as well. Nightmare switching to them, Halifax was so much easier.

Must be MOT week booked mine Sat together with an essential service. Oil needs changing plus Handbrake needs sorting out before MOT so will be £84 in total. £30 mot included in that figure.

Well done on staying in control of cc. Not sure I want look at mine!!!

SouthernGuy

Afternoon all,

I'm currently still on budget but I have borrowed a precautionary £150 from the joint account until Monday when I'm paid (early pay day due to xmas ). Hopefully I won't need to eat into it too much and can then transfer it back on Monday (I still have a couple of expenses).

I can't wait to finish work on Friday. I've then got until the 5th Jan off work I'll have to be careful not to overspend whilst off.

I've got a model railway item that is surplus to requirements listed on ebay at the moment. It is currently at £30 which is great as I only paid £15 for it originally! I have a duplicate of it also which I shall list after Christmas

I hope everyone is feeling festive and ready for Christmas.

TTFN

SouthernGuy

Afternoon all,

Tomorrow is pay day and it really can't come soon enough. I've got £42 left in my account and I still have a gift to get at a cost of £15.00.

When I log in tomorrow I shall repay the £150 borrowed from the joint account and as long as I'm careful that should put an end to the need to borrow money at the end of each month to sub my account.

My CC direct debit of £150 is set to go out on the 29th and I plan to then pay off another £50 to make the total on the card £4500 before the end of the year.

The item I have listed on ebay ends in a few hours and is still at £30.00, hopefully it will have a few last minute bids before it finishes.

Yesterday I spent hours washing my car which was filthy from all the wet weather we've had recently, I wonder how long it will stay clean?!

SouthernGuy

Morning all,

Well we've woken up to rain so that will be the end of the car looking spotless!

In other news I have checked my bank balance and have been paid. Also the ebay item sold for just over £40 (payment pending) which is a nice little earner after fees.

I've already repaid the borrowed £150 to the joint account so now I need to just be disciplined with what I spend to make sure I don't spend into next months pay packet.

SouthernGuy

Afternoon all,

I hope everyone has had a nice xmas! Mine was hectic but good. I just thought I'd call in briefly before the end of the year to update the balance. I have as planned paid off £200 (150 DD + extra payment of 50) since pay day bringing the total on the CC down to £4500 before the year end.

So far I've been quite sensible regarding my spending so am still on track to break the 'spending into next months pay packet' cycle I've been caught up in.

SouthernGuy

Hi and Happy New Year! I hope everyone has made some good DFW resolutions hehe!

Today I have logged onto my online CC account to confirm that my balance is £4500 as it should be, it is and I have also just got a blinding deal from BT for superfast broadband, TV and phone.

I went through quidco to get £200 cashback and got a reduced price from BT for the services and a £125 Sainsburys gift card. All in all if they deliver a good service I think I have bagged a blinkin good deal... :T
At the moment we just had a 3G Mifi device to access the net and freeview on the TV so this should be a great upgrade!!!

Over xmas whilst away visiting family I bought all my fuel etc on the joint account credit card (which is cleared in full each month) to get the cashback so I will sit down later to check what I owe it and pay that into the joint account ready to clear the card.

Anyway, thought I'd just drop in.

TTFN

SouthernGuy

Quick update, DD of £150 got paid to CC so balance now stands at £4350. It's going in the right direction but I do want to pay more. I will see how this month goes.

:-)

SouthernGuy

Evening all,

I'm so glad it's my favourite time of the week, Friday evening

I've been doing some thinking and I have to admit that I'm really struggling recently with the debt busting, something that you guys must have noticed since my August post when I purchased my new car. It was all going so well...

I'm successfully managing not to rack up any more debt at the moment but I am in no way paying off as much as I'd like to, there just seems to be expense after expense at the moment...

I currently have £157 in my current account to last until 24th Feb! Crazy!! :eek: I do believe I will be borrowing £100 from the joint account until pay day at this rate to keep me afloat, a habit I'd hoped that I'd kerbed.

To make things worse the recent expenses have mainly been social I'm afraid. I've had a lot of expenditure on friends birthday gatherings that have been more expensive than planned and thus my surplus money has been frittered away over the last couple of months instead of debt busting. I'm so cross with myself :mad:

I have to go into London tomorrow for a meal and drinks with my mate who has a big birthday. I shall try and spend as little as possible but know it will set me back at least £70.00 (inc travel). I kind of don't want to go just because I want to save money but I really can't let him down.

I need to get back on the debt busting bus

Currently I pay £150 direct debit off my CC monthly and £266 off the car loan. I know that if I can get back into the frugal living I can pay at least £200 extra off the CC a month, I just need to grab the bull by the horns and focus (and stop saying yes to various blinkin social events)...

I WILL get rid of this £4350 CC balance, I WILL be debt free....

Any motivational advice appreciated