A new debt free journey

lcc86

Work has been hectic, travel has been even more hectic. Haven't had a chance to catch up with any diaries since the weekend. Hope to sit down this weekend and catch up with things. Am off to visit the parents with my sister this weekend as it's my mum's birthday on Monday. We're travelling together to save fuel (mum's insistence, bless her).

My commute is pretty tricky atm. I got the train for my first two weeks, which was fine, but have driven in this week to keep costs down, and it's been very testing. It's made me think about looking into alternative forms of transport, such as an electric bicycle or a scooter. It's something I'll have to put a lot of thought into because of any potential cost. It would be good to have an additional form of transport for those days when trains are up the creek and the roads are clogged up too. But there is always the initial outlay to consider. Still, it could be a goal to aim towards. I almost don't want to spend the money on anything because it will inevitably delay my debt free date, but sometimes, if you're spending money for the right reasons, there is no reason to feel guilty. If I can cut a decent amount of time off my commute then I will feel it's been worth it. It would also save money on commuting so even though there would be an initial outlay, I would start to recoup some of that money, so I need to consider it from that perspective. I also feel it would be rewarding to save for a form of transport myself for the first time in god knows how many years. I have always borrowed money for cars :mad: so there would be something very rewarding about actually saving up for it.

Other than that, no news. I've finalised January's budget today as well. I want to try and be very strict in January as there are lots of things I want to save for and some overpayments I want to make too. This weekend shouldn't be spendy with the exception of petrol (I'll be giving my sister £20, she wants to drive her juicy motor but it would cost me less than that to get to my parents' so I feel I'm being generous!).

My standing order for my credit card goes through tomorrow, so I will officially hit my 25% target! :j

I also forgot to add that I officially came off my anti depressants at the end of last week. I am keeping an eye on my mood and my thoughts. It doesn't help that I do find myself at a loose end sometimes at work which gets me thinking about things. I almost signed up to a gym yesterday, which was unnecessary. Luckily I didn't. Then I began thinking about the electric bike/scooter idea. I'm worried that my moods are a little changeable and that I could be prone to being a little more impulsive than I should be. Must reign myself in and ensure I don't do anything silly while my body adjusts.

Orange_Ena

Congratulations on hitting your 25% target :beer::j:T Have a brilliant weekend

lcc86

I hit that target this morning :beer::j:beer: woop woop!
On another positive note, I left my house at 6.55am and got to work at 8.15, so may have solved the traffic issues if I just work out my timings a bit better. Signature updated onto the next goal!

lcc86

Well I planned a lie in this morning but am sharing a room with my sister at my parents' house and was woken up while it was still dark by her snoring! :mad: Couldn't get back to sleep as it was an ongoing issue shall we say, so I got up at 7. Have been reading various diaries on different boards on here since then lol.

I was looking at my updated signature just now and realised how my debt now seems much less daunting. This time last year I owed closer to 10k, now I owe closer to 5k (although I still have a way to go to get there).

Although my focus for the next few months will be on saving, I'll still be able to clear my remaining credit card to give me debt on just one front. I'm going to put aside any extra money I have after my outgoings in January and see if I can make an overpayment at the end of the month. I have a tendency to do this at the start of the month (or worse, spend it!) and then find I need said money towards the end of the month for something. So I need to practise delayed gratification!!

Yesterday was a NSD, today I need to give my sister £20 for petrol but no other spends planned.

I'm kinda annoyed, the fitbit I bought two weeks ago has a massive issue with the battery. It's meant to last 7-10 days but is running out completely within a day despite me fully charging it. I really, really like the device itself but can't be dealing with the issues! I've contacted them and they've given me a wishy washy response about trying things to make the battery last longer... I'm pretty sure there's nothing in the world I can do to make it go from lasting one day to the supposed 7 it should last! So I've contacted them again saying that clearly there is a problem. Hopefully I can get it resolved asap.

I've also been thinking about my credit cards. I have two, one with £500 available, one with £2,500. I want to close one of them but can't decide which. Interest rates a similar for both, and I would only want it for an emergency. This makes me lean towards keeping the one with the bigger credit limit, because in my head, I think what if I have a huge emergency and really need that money... But then, when was the last time I had such a need for anywhere close to £2,500??? I've wanted that kind of money, but that's a whole different story haha :rotfl: Definitely not an emergency! I guess there's no rush to decide, I should just be happy I have two cards with £0 on one and £137 on the other! Not seen balances like that for a long time!

lcc86

Over the weekend I read through my diary from start to finish. Interesting to see the change in fortunes and mood etc. Things have definitely gone in the right direction in the last 12 months despite many ups and downs!

I've made an error in my budget this month and have left myself short. So I'm having to use some of the money I'd put aside for course fees to cover things. Reading back through my entries, I think I've let things go over the last month or so, I really must get back on track as soon as I get paid in December/January.

My hair dryer packed up this morning, I've had that thing for about 15 years and it's my lifeline! Will wait until I get paid to replace it. I had to transfer my £10 unallocated allowance into my bills account to cover bills as I've messed up this month, so for the next week I have £0 to my name. Ah well, perhaps it's the wakeup call I needed.

lcc86

Woke up today worrying about money. I've made life much more difficult than it needed to be this month by not keeping a close enough eye on my budget. It's made me feel quite fed up if I'm honest, in the sense that if I wasn't in debt and slightly messed up it wouldn't be an issue, but because I am, it is an issue.

It's just made me want to get rid of my debt so I want to use that to my advantage and use it to motivate me to get back on that wagon! I've jigged my January budget around a bit and aim to pay £50 extra off my loan, plus £25 extra off my credit card. It's not loads but it's better than nothing. Depending on what I get paid, I may have more left at the end of the month to throw at it. If my service and possible repairs comes in cheaper than the £200 I've budgeted that can go towards it too.

OH's car has broken down so he needs to borrow my car, which means I have to get the train to work. More expense. Ugh, the sooner I am debt free the better!

Fitbit have offered me a new product, but I'm inclined to just get a refund. I looked online and they seem to have a lot of problems. Typically I didn't look at this BEFORE I bought it....

crazy_cat_lady

I have found myself out of cash completely this month - my first debt free month. I'm angry with myself too - I was so determined not to go mad in the run up to Christmas (and I don't think that I have) but I seem to have overspent somewhere. Ah well...
Can't do anything about it now. Draw a line under it - you're doing the right thing by planning for January instead. That's what I intend to do - enjoy my holiday and make the most of my time off work. Budget will still be there next year.

lcc86

crazy_cat_lady wrote: »

I have found myself out of cash completely this month - my first debt free month. I'm angry with myself too - I was so determined not to go mad in the run up to Christmas (and I don't think that I have) but I seem to have overspent somewhere. Ah well...
Can't do anything about it now. Draw a line under it - you're doing the right thing by planning for January instead. That's what I intend to do - enjoy my holiday and make the most of my time off work. Budget will still be there next year.

For me, this month was the first month of higher salary! Albeit higher outgoings as I've not yet been paid a full month's salary, but still. I've almost run out of grocery money and am having to dip into my course fee fund (although having had my instalment plan through today, this now isn't the end of the world but that's not the point).

But as you say, the budget will still be there. There's nothing we can do anyway now that the money is spent, we can't magically unspend it! Just need to learn not to repeat again next month!

lcc86

Okay so I have done something a little brave/crazy/rash (delete as appropriate).

I was reading through Martins weekly email a while ago and saw a credit card offer, 0% for 40 months on a Virgin card with a 4% handling fee if you transfer money to your bank account. I did some maths and worked out that a card like that could save me a lot of money in interest in comparison to my loan. I didn't think that I would be accepted if I applied as my loan is still quite high, in the region of £6,700. But I decided to apply with a limit of £7,000 after completing Martins eligibility calculator, and they accepted me with a £8,000 credit limit. :eek:

I feel good because this saves me money in interest but it also commits me to clearing my debt quicker. Overpayments will be easier as I'll have easy online access and I won't have to worry about waiting for silly letters from Sainsbury's telling me I've saved 0.01p in interest :rotfl: Most of all I like that I'll be able to view my debt in its entirety in one easy place.

This really remotivates me to start paying off as much as I can wherever I can to get rid of my debt quicker. I will definitely clear it even with normal repayments within 40 months, but my target will be MUCH sooner than that. I'd like to be debt free by February 2017 if at all possible. My loan repayment term still stands at 48 months so even if the very worst happened I'd still repay a full 8 months quicker!

Anyway, now I just have to wait for the card to arrive, the money to hit my account, and then I can call Sainsbury's to confirm the current settlement figure and get it all paid off :T

I was going to clear my other card which has a £137 balance over the next two months, but will try to clear it in full now in January. Then I can close the two credit cards I currently have and just keep this one card account while I clear my debt. Hopefully I can reduce my credit limit as my debt goes down easily.

lcc86

Did a bit of thinking. Now that I've shifted my debt onto a 0% credit card, I will want to up my payments and plough everything I have into it in order to clear it quickly. So all these thoughts I've had of moving at the end of next year can go on the back burner. I was thinking that with the way house prices are in my area anyway that my plans were perhaps a bit ambitious so it's hardly a knock. Plus realistically I DO need to focus on being debt free before considering any kind of move in the future.

I'm returning my fitbit at the weekend, I'm entitled to a refund. They offered me a replacement but I declined as I don't want the same thing to happen again a few weeks down the line. That's £49 to throw at the debt once it's refunded. I also have £26 in my current account. I'll keep it there until I get paid but if I don't need it (and I don't anticipate that I will), I can throw that at the debt too.