My debt busting diary 2015

ScattySkewbald

Happy New Year!!!

So, I thought with the start of the new year I should start a new debt busting diary. 2014 hasn't been a great year financially or emotionally, but if it's taught me anything it's that life's too short and to make the most of it. At the minute I feel as though my life is on hold until the debts sorted and whilst I was pretty focussed through 2014, I just seem to have gone round in one huge big circle - making good progress until the next little emergency crops up and sets me back to square one. Not anymore - 2015 is a time for change. I'm determined not to be sat here this time next year in the same position.

So time to draw a line under 2014.....

Financial aims for 2015
1. Pay off all debt by the end of the year.
2. Get saving - aim to have saved at least £1k by the end of the year

Personal aims for 2015
1. Make time for those I care about and don't lose site of what's important.
2. Lose weight and exercise (my weight like my finances has yo-yoed over the last couple of years - approx 1.5 stone to lose)

So my current position is as follows......
£643.84 overdraft
£223.59 card 1
£2264.53 card 2
£746.33 card 3

Total £3878.59 :mad:

Time to get cracking.......

ScattySkewbald

My biggest financial downfalls (the ones that I'm aware of anyway!)

1. Overspend on food shop - budget £200 for 2 of us but always end up going over. This could be a lot less - need to meal plan and make full use of my slow cooker
2. Getting caught out by insurance renewals - these happen same time every year so with planning there's no excuse to be caught out. Want to pay these in lump sums in order to cut monthly outgoings.
3. No emergency fund - if it hadn't been for several car / pet / house emergencies last year the debt would be long gone. Would like to get £500 buffer in place ASAP so that focus can be solely on running the debt down.
4. Birthdays & Christmas - love buying pressies but need to make sure I don't go OTT. Swag$ helped out massively with keeping last years costs down and intend to do the same this year.

MrsR68

Good luck on your journey in 2015

ScattySkewbald

Thanks MrsR68

Goals for January......

1. Pay off card 1 in full - this is the only one I'm paying interest on.
2. Swag at least £15
3. Sort out house insurance and pay in full.

I've paid the min payment of £50.95 to card 2 so time to put all the focus on card 1.

I've got a few bits that need listing on ebay which I intend to do tonight. Fingers crossed they'll bring a few pennies in.

ScattySkewbald

Managed to get a couple of items listed on eBay last night - already got a couple of watchers so fingers crossed bids follow soon!

Had a letter from the student loans company a while back saying my loan was almost repaid and to contact them to set up a repayment plan as rolling it on into the next financial year would result in me over paying. Need to drag out my wage slips for the year and give them a call. Once I've got confirmation of how much is outstanding I will add this to my other debts and treat it in the same way.

It's back to work on Monday so I'm going to spend today having a good tidy and home and at the yard. Tree and decs also need to com down for another year

ScattySkewbald

Good morning!
Have just managed to sort my insurance out saving £36 on my renewal and hopefully bagging £84 cashback into the equation - well happy with that

Had a good tidy yesterday and it's made me feel so much better, just need to get the decs down and packed away this weekend.

Meeting a friend for a cuppa and post christmas catch up later which will be lovely and also need to pop to Aldi and grab some bits for my packed lunches for work. Also need to brave the scales and see what the festive damage has been so I can get cracking with the diet from my first day back at work- it's not going to be good

Right better walk the woofs and get over to the yard. Have a good weekend :beer:

MrsR68

Well done on the insurance, hope the scales are kind to you later, I was suprised when I got on mine, not as heavy as I thought.:)

ScattySkewbald

Nice suprise, the cashback for the insurance has actually tracked at £99.75

ScattySkewbald

Been quite a productive day today. Filled all my haynets for the week in preparation for going back to work on Monday and managed to clear the field for the first time since the boxing day snow. Did a quick shop in aldi (£23), filled up with petrol (£53) and met my friend for a cuppa.

One of my ebay items has sold on buy it now for £40 so have paid it straight off card 1. Got another couple of items to list - will do this tomorrow night as always find things sell better on Sunday evenings.

cazmanian_minx

Helloooooooo Excellent news on the cashback and the eBay sale

I got on the scales for the first time in a fortnight this morning and got off them again very quickly. On the plus side, I now know why my running speed has dropped dramatically this last week!

Cwtchie

You sound so much like me!
I hate insurance renewal time, I need to get my but into gear because I tend to think oh ill just go with it, it's just easier, then ends up costing me a fortune.
I need to lose about ...well was one stone but reckon it's more like one and a half since Christmas, I am sooooo angry with myself because I worked like mad to loose the weight and all for a load of chocolate which left me feeling sick anyway I've put it back on, an idiot I think!
I used to open a hay or haylage bale and promptly net it all up, I had over 40 nets at one time! Now I put it on the floor to save time,and I also find it hard to lift the nets but to be honest I could have killed the lot of them today, he just trampled it everywhere and promptly lost me about a fiver of wasted hay at least, need go re think, may put hay boxes on the floor ...hmmmm
I think I may try to do the swags thing,I joined up but havn't done it for a while, I do watch the free postcode lottery though,i watch that daily, never know! Cheerio