The mint makes it first, I have to make it last...

dd1981

Happy new diary to me :j

Time to be back on this forum, I find it massively inspiring and it keeps me focused! A little about me, it's me, DH, no kids (yet- but trying!!) 2 crazy cats and a beautiful house that we love. Both of us are terrible with money and need to reign it in. We were debt free but have recently added to our credit cards and have just received a massive bill for elec and gas which has given us our LBM.

So our debt looks like this....

Credit card 1- £0 (did a balance transfer today, will prob have some interest to pay)
Credit card 2- £2,307.90
Evil gas bill- £1181.72
Very- £35

Total- £3,524.62 :eek::eek::eek:

Everything is on 0% until December so that is the target for paying it off. We do have enough money in savings to pay the gas bill, it was mostly earmarked for the credit card but that's life! Once we have paid that, the focus will be on the credit card and Very to pay off and this is the best place to be to do that!

Feeling focused and determined to do this

Jcooh

Good luck dd1981, looking forward to reading about your progress! Quick question - was what you purchased/paid on your credit cards recently unavoidable?

dd1981

Thanks Jcooh for the welcome! I'd love to say it was unavoidable but it was poor planning mostly Car costs, Christmas, holiday that was meant to be paid with savings is the majority of it. Think there was some random things on it that were only put on to get the points that the card offers but never paid off?! I probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the evil gas bill, that has brought me to my senses and I've realised that I just don't want to be in debt!!

I see you are new here, what brings you to MSE?

dd1981

Going to try and post my daily progress and what I've done each day that is :money:

Today's main one is LBM :T Finally it has arrived good and proper! I have also....

*Called CPP people- I got sent a form but wrong name and address so needed to get it changed. Got the address to send new details to, now just to send it....
*Balance transferred £930 onto 0% card
*Did some sums of bills and budgets
*Finally sent boxes to music magpie- been meaning to since January!!!
*Returned jacket to Very

Would love to say it's been a NSD but I bought packing tape for £1.80 to send stuff to MM. Otherwise it would have been! DH is right on board and took his dinner to work tonight

Onwards and upwards!

Jcooh

Tbh it seems that from reading most debt free wannabe diaries most problems stem from poor planning. That has certainly been one of my biggest problem in the past. But at least its an easily rectifiable problem.

Yeah I am a newbie, though I have been stalking these forums for quite some time. I just got in a bit of debt at uni and then came out got stuck in a dead end job with poor prospects and ive finally thought enough is enough. So once I got a break into the industry I really want a career in I thought enough was enough time to sort everything out!

Some of the best advice I have seen on here has come from being analysing the OP SOA, may be an idea to post one?!

dd1981

Thanks Jcooh, I think an SOA is definitely in order! I will do one this weekend This forum is great for getting ideas and tips. Well done on deciding what you want as a career- making the decision to break away from routine is the hardest part!

Today's progress...

*No money spent at work- NSD!
*Dinner taken in to work- was lovely too
*DH adjusted thermostat, more economical which will help evil gas bills. We had heating and hot water on WAY too much

That's it for today, am happy with that! Have got a friends party tomorrow night, is one of those host product parties so will need to be good and not spend too much, probably not anything! Up early for work so will need to make sure I take breakfast and lunch with me instead of running out the door.

Day 2 has been successful, roll on day 3 :j

dd1981

Right, back to diary land for me! Need to get rid of this debt and FOCUS! Spent this morning reading diaries and getting inspired.

Updated figures below....

CC1- £485.48
CC2- £1925.03
Total= £2410.51

So over £1k paid since last post which was evil gas bill but have had approx £2k in bonuses which we have spent on that plus doing our garden :mad: Don't regret it too much (although garden not finished!) and we were as :money: as could be (barring not doing it at all and putting it towards our debt!!!) but is time to get this sorted once and for all!

The grand plan!

*Stretch the money we get by keeping to a budget and not spending money on silly things
*Put stuff on eBay, Gumtree
*Get back into doing surveys
*Stop smoking
*Lose 4 stone by stopping buying rubbish and meal planning which helps save on grocery budget

So that's the grand plan, this weeks plan...

*Send eBay item and withdraw money- put straight to CC2
*Withdraw quidco money- approx £8- put to CC2
*Get CC2 online banking set up- will need to phone them as can't seem to register online
*Sort out clothes- put on eBay if sellable
*Gut DSS room and see if anything worth selling.

Had a bit of a LBM today when reading diaries. I would love to go abroad on holiday but just don't have the spare cash Have been looking online over the past week and is just not affordable. I booked for us to go to Blackpool last night for 2 nights with DSS. He is with us for 2 weeks soon whilst we are on holiday and wanted to take him away somewhere. Now realise that we really didn't need to but is booked so will make our money stretch for it! Was very :money: though and getting £24 cashback for hotel

Am off work today so will get started on to do list. Have got an online delivery coming so will get a meal plan sorted too...

So glad to be back and focused :j

dd1981

A wee update.....

Need to keep myself on track so an update every few days will help me do that!

Have paid £24.24 off from eBay sale and quidco money :j Small steps

Have looked through all my clothes, my problem is I have LOADS of clothes that don't fit (and I love!!) and hardly any in size I'm at. Really need to get healthy eating so I can wear them!

Gutted DSS room, didn't find anything to sell though. Will wait till he's back and see if there is any games he is happy to get rid of.

Got MIL coming round today to put up wallpaper. Am hoping she only needs two rolls so I can return the one for pennies

Plans for this week....

*Buy bottle for MIL birthday then make it pretty- I put glitter on it- looks fab
*Think of and buy gift for nieces birthday
*Research how to lower energy costs
*Find out about Nectar double up and think what can use for

That's it, not too much as have a heavy week work wise. Finish up for holiday on Thursday :beer: :j so super excited about that!

Hope any readers are well Off to update signature (addictive!)