Starting Over - Debt and DeCluttering

ClutteredWife

Hello :wave: I'm the ClutteredWife.

My little family consists of my handsome husband who has more clothes than me and technology hoards, a crazy three year old who is insanely curious and hoards the garden in the house, two crazy cats who like to sit on the computer/my herbs etc and think that everywhere is their bed and then there is me. I have a rather large collection of make up and other beauty products, craft stuff and paper stuff (magazines, leaflets etc).

We owed £11400 when we started repayments in January 2014. We have paid off £262 since then. Which isn't bad, but isn't great either.

So I have joined here, in the hopes that I can gain some tips to pay off more as well as declutter.

Sylvia1982

Good luck on your journey ClutteredWife

pickle_me

Welcome ClutteredWife :hello: We have a similar amount of debt, I'm subscribing to follow your journey. Good luck!

ClutteredWife

Wow, thank you both for the welcome! It really means a lot.

I am feeling a bit useless today. So I suppose I should explain that.
I have anxiety, ADHD and am under assessment for Autism (although they have made it pretty clear that it's more a case of HOW Autistic). I also have a few physical problems. I was born with weakened muscles and clicky hips. But I also have problems with my back and have for about 10 years now.

Today I have woken up with a bit of back pain, didn't think much of it. But unfortunately every time I cough, sneeze or breath I get a crippling pain through my back. Which has meant I am sofa bound.

My to do list for today was:
Bake bread
Do a load of washing
More decluttering
Clean kitchen
Clean living room
Ironing

And all I have managed was some laundry.
I am going to clean the living room because really there isn't a lot to do. But the kitchen will kill me so husband is going to end up doing that and will probably help me declutter but he is at work until 3pm and I just feel so damn useless.

On the bright side I had two letters today that made me smile. One was about a debt. I thought I owed £700, but apparently I only owe £585! So I want to confirm that, but if that is true that brings our debt to £11022!

And on Thursday my doctor said she wanted me to see an Occupational Therapist to sort out a care plan. Today my letter turned up to say I have an appointment for June 2nd at home. And as that is during my husbands week off work that is perfect!

So I feel a bit useless but I can see a light at the end of the tunnel at last.

So since I am sofa bound here is my revised list for today.
Do some online surveys
Nectar adpoints
Meal plan
Shopping list
List a couple of items for sale on facebook
Compare vegetable, fruit and meat deals
Design a household chore wall art thing
Sort through DVDs and books (keep vs sell)
Make a list of what channels we actually watch so we can try and save some money there x

ClutteredWife

According to our current spreadsheet if we pay the minimum this month our debt should be just under £11000! Exciting!

Minimum repayments would get us to £10,780 by Christmas.
So I am going to set a target of £10,500 instead. Which means repaying an extra £40 a month starting next month, not sure how possible that is yet.

mismatch

Welcome to the madness clutteredwife. I'm subbing to it thread as I'm also early in my journey to debt free and u seem to have a handle on decluttering which as an ocd hoarder in a 2bed house I'm hoping u can inspire me along a bit. Best of luck with it all :-)

ClutteredWife

Do some online surveys Done a few, will check some more out
Nectar adpoints 150 points (approx 75p), not a lot but every little helps
Meal plan I need to work out what we have in that needs using up
Shopping list As above, I need to work out what we have in that needs using up first
List a couple of items for sale on facebook Listed, but need to add pictures
Compare vegetable, fruit and meat deals Done
Design a household chore wall art thing Started, but need a few tweaks
Sort through DVDs and books (keep vs sell) Got a rough idea, but not many will go I don't think
Make a list of what channels we actually watch so we can try and save some money there Not even started yet, going to pick hubbies brain

ClutteredWife

mismatch wrote: »

Welcome to the madness clutteredwife. I'm subbing to it thread as I'm also early in my journey to debt free and u seem to have a handle on decluttering which as an ocd hoarder in a 2bed house I'm hoping u can inspire me along a bit. Best of luck with it all :-)

Thank you, I really don't have a clue what I am doing. But I am attempting to be brutal with things which has helped. We basically say "Have we used it in 6 months?" If yes, keep. If not, why not? If there is a valid reason, keep. If not, sell/give away/dump.

And then we have the time rule for things we decide to keep, that they get an extra 6 months and failing being used in that time they get sold/given away/dumped.

Also there is a nifty thing I found online that we plan to do. Which involves facing your coat hangers the wrong way in the wardrobe. Then putting them the right way after wearing something. After a season or a year, depending on if you switch out seasonal clothes or not, you sell/give away/dump anything still facing the wrong way as you haven't used it and so don't need it.

Divingmad

Hey there ClutteredWife
Welcome and good luck with your debtfree journey. I have just started myself, so if its OK, am subcribing to your diary to keep up with you

mismatch

What a fab system for decluttering without decluttering I'm stealing the hanger idea right now!!#

ClutteredWife

Oh thank you ladies. It means so much that you all think I have something to give!

Well I have fiddled with a new spreadsheet for us. Done a little formatting and now if we make a £0 payment then it colours itself red, if a debt reaches £0 it colours itself green and when a debt is under £50 it colours itself amber. That way we can throw money towards the smallest debts AFTER our minimum repayments. And can see where we need to pay more.

No fuss needed, takes a moment to set up and now all I have to do is pop in what I have paid and it will colour itself, update debt remaining and calculate how much we paid each month and what the total remaining debt is.

It was actually quite fun, so if anyone wants me to set up something similar for them just let me know.

Next I want to set up a spreadsheet that we plan to begin using next month that documents where our money goes (petrol, rent etc) and what we should have left over. Then we can add in what we actually have left over. I don't know exactly what formatting I will do, but I know that I would like to see at a glance how much we can throw at debts, how well we are doing compared to previous months.

Also, we plan to pop a little into our savings account as and when we can then we will move our car insurance to yearly as that will save us £50-£100 AND one less thing to stress about (: x