A spoonful of sugar (or sweetener in my case)

busybumblebee

I don’t intend for this to be a negative themed diary (I’m far too cheery for that), but I will start by saying that I’m slightly ashamed to say that this is my third diary and my third LBM.

However, this has been a slowly growing LBM that has been flickering away for some 6 months and has finally fully lit the room before Christmas. Apologies for the really long first post!

I’ve been completely aware of my actions since at least October, but not taken any real action about facing the total cost of debt or how I’m going to pay it, but I have changed a lot of my behaviours, so although I haven’t paid any of the debt off since October, I haven’t got myself into any more, which with Christmas to pay for, I’m pleased about.

This time it feels different too for a lot of reasons, last year was a difficult year (I’m not making excuses) and I feel like I’ve been on a bit of a spiritual journey and discovery about myself. I’ve discovered mindfulness, lots of habit forming techniques (I’m slightly obsessed with SJ Scott), living more simply and most importantly enjoying the simple things in life – stuff really isn’t important!

I changed jobs 4 times last year, two through choice and two through redundancy – the result is that I’ve taken a massive wage cut, but for the first time in 12 months I am actually happy and have something called work-life balance, which I thought was a possible myth!

In my previous debt triumphs, I’ve paid off £15k the first time (very young and even more stupid), about 5k the second time and then for the last couple of years it’s been around 3.5k (I’ve paid some or most of it off and then let it build back up again).

In my journey of discovery, I realise that all this debt is hanging around my neck like some sort of dead weight. None of the ‘stuff’ brings me any particular joy and although I’ve had a couple of lovely holidays’ and have some great memories, I’ve not a lot to show for it. I’m not extravagant, I’m just bad at budgeting and staying within my means and like a lot of people I’ve read about on here, just a fritterer! But I'm sick of living a 'half life'!

So here I am (again, I hear you say) looking to face it properly this time, deal with the root of the problem and pay it off for good. I’m in a different situation, as my wages are a lot lower, so I don’t have much extra to throw at it, I know it’s going to be a long and probably hard path, but I need to change my life! I have a young child and don’t want him to learn the rubbish habits of money I have now, I want to influence him well.

I was going to do this on NYD, but decided I needed to do an action plan, so it was committed to paper. I want to be accountable, I want someone to nag me and say, why did you do that!! How are you doing, even well done (further down the line of course!), but unfortunately can’t do that with the people around me, as they just don’t get it (I’ve tried it before and all I got was shouted at, disappointment and the ‘deal with it’ attitude, but no real support, so not going there again – I’ve never defaulted, so as far as I know I still have pretty good credit – always getting offered 0% anyway), so going to deal with this on my own, and maybe some of you lovely people along the way.

Going to stop there, I’ll post my debts and outgoings on the next post and my action plan.

For anyone reading, thanks for stopping by and bearing with me

busybumblebee

Ok, the total debt at the minute is £3606.44
This is across two credit cards at the minute, one at 0% until January 2016 and one that is attracting interest at normal rate (18.9% I think).

With this current situation, I know I could make minimum payments to the 0% and target the 18.9% one, but in all honestly, with my wages, this is probably still going to be over 12 months to pay off (£1500 owed on 18.9% one) and I’ll still be left with the 0% one, which will start accruing interest from next Feb.

What I’m thinking of doing is, (applying for and hopefully being accepted) moving all of it (0% too) to one of the Halifax cards which is 33 months at 0%. There is a 2.8% charge, which will be just over £100, so does increase my debt slightly to begin with, but I’m currently paying about £15 interest each month on the one attracting interest, so over the life of it, it’ll have paid for itself.
What do you think? Does this seem like a sensible option (if accepted)?

I’ve read a couple of posts about people being unhappy with the treatment from the Halifax, which is the only reason I haven’t done it already. Any thoughts advice appreciated.

busybumblebee

Here’s my SOA, the salary is a slight estimate, as December included a pension (which is just too much at the minute, so I’ve cancelled it, until I’m in a healthier financial state)

Salary – 1208.43

Outgoings

Transfer to joint account (this pays for all bills, childcare, mortgage, food etc, this is currently non-negotiable, it is in credit, no debt issues and does have a savings account attached) - £850

£16 bank fee (only reason I have this is for the breakdown cover, mobile insurance and potentially holiday insurance – holiday’s are paid for from joint account, not increasing the debt)

£29 mobile phone – in a contract until September 2016

£20 slimming world (I know this isn’t an essential, but without it, I slip straight back into bad eating habits which consequently means me buying lunch instead of making it, costing a lot more than £20 a month, more like a week!)

£6.11 life insurance

£50 petrol

Leaving 237.32 each month

I’ve not included my bill repayments, these have been about £25 and £35 (min payments) per month. My plan going forward will be to pay a minimum of £100 each month, which will leave £137.32.

I also think I should put £30 away each month for my car, I know it’s not going to pay for everything car related, but better than I currently have, which is panic and pay on credit! Leaving just over £100 a month for day to day stuff.

Now, in my own head the term ‘day to day’ stuff sounds awful and I don’t mean to continue frittering. I mean, being able to have my hair cut every 6 to 8 weeks, being able to buy an icecream for my little one at the weekend at the park, the occasional night out with friends and possible bits to make gifts (that’s in my next post, the action plan!)

Any advice or criticism, gratefully accepted!

busybumblebee

Ok, last post, I promise! (I said it was a long one).

My action plan is:
Write down everything I spend and what on – I’ve been doing this since NYD and stuck to it every day. I’m going to take this as a huge step in the right direction, firstly, I’ve never stuck to it for more than 3 days on prior attempts. Secondly, in my habit forming reading, it takes 30 days to develop a new habit mentally, so I’m seeing it as that I’m a quarter of the way there!

Look at my accounts every day and log everything! Every penny! No more ‘I’ve got £25ish, I think’

Stick to my budget! (obviously as a result of first two options)

I have an old CC with Barclaycard, I’m going to close that and get rid of the NW one once I’ve paid it off – I’m going to keep the MBNA one for dire emergencies (as they are always offering 0%rates), but it’s going in the freezer, not to be used, unless vital.

Make my own gifts – I have stacks of fabric in the attic, literally bags full. I never budget for gifts properly, so this year, it’s homemade and personal. I’ve already started making gifts for next Christmas. The exception will be my little one, but I’ve set up a SO from the joint account for gifts for LO and family at Christmas, so Christmas will be paid for by December too.

Make the most of the joint account – at the minute, me and OH have a very healthy joint account, but nothing ever happens with it. In a way it’s another frittering account, just not on the same scale as me. It’s never in debit, but I never use it for anything personal, only house related stuff. So I’ve set up a few linked accounts, one for holiday, one for gifts and one for extra mortgage money so we can make capital payments every few months. I’m also going to budget for the food from joint account, so I know how much is there. I think I’m also going to use it for day’s out for child related costs, so if me and LO go swimming, I’ll pay for it from there. At the minute I pay for everything we do and I just can’t afford it going forward, I have to be honest with myself.
Does anyone think that’s wrong?

Have a wish list on amazon, so people have gift ideas for me at birthday/Christmas and I get the things I need, rather than people just buying me more ‘stuff’!

De-clutter and get selling

Try to boost my income through other activities – mobile phone apps, consider selling handmade stuff, look at online data entry jobs on click worker – my only reservation is registering as self-employed for tax purposes, that makes me nervous.

Join some MSE challenges!

Other goals for this year are to de-clutter the house generally and lose 2 stone in weight!

Happy 2015!

If anyone has any other bright ideas, please do share

busybumblebee

I know I'm only a few days in, but got to celebrate the small things. I've had very low spends this week, 50p on a raffle ticket and £2 for a birthday collection at work, but that's it! I've taken my lunch to work daily and logged every penny. I'm working tomorrow, so will get time and a half for February pay, which will go straight towards a debt.

I will have to spend a bit tomorrow, as I need petrol, but that's all I'm planning for the weekend. Feeling super motivated...

in_need_of_direction

You're doing so well. Stick with it.

busybumblebee

Quick update from the weekend. I had a ridiculously busy day at work on Friday and my lunch went out the windows, so ended up at the shop to buy crisps and chocolate. Decided to get a lottery ticket, totally impulsive spend, so 3.29 spent. Saturday I had to get some water whilst working at an event and there were no refreshments until lunchtime, so another 1.05, plus 20 on petrol but that was expected. A couple of unplanned spends which have annoyed me, but all in all, a mainly positive first weekend.

busybumblebee

Sorry diary, not been here for a week or so, but certainly not forgotten about you. Been progressing quite well so far, so here's what I've done and stuck to:

- Transferred all my balances onto a Halifax card for 34 months 0%
- Set up a DD payment for £100 for each payment and will be making any extra's I can do along the way. Now I have the card, I'm going to set it up as a known payer on my banking app, so I can make any small transfers along the way, I did the PAD challenge previously and it's amazing how those little payments have an impact.
- Been writing in my spending diary everyday, every single penny!
- Only spent £4 in cash this week, had to pay for parking, otherwise I wouldn't have had to do that
- Took my lunch to work everyday
- One of my balance transfers overlapped with a payment, so I now have a positive balance on one of my CC's, so I paid for petrol using that card so that it didn't come out of my bank account. I'll be doing the same next time, so the money isn't going to NW!

Also lost another 2.5lb in weight and had a good week this week, so staying focused and hoping the scales are good to me next Monday :-)

I've realised that this money saving can get quite obsessive, I've starting looking at the mortgage too and got a MFD in mind too (although might go back as hoping might have a second baby at some point in the future, which will slow DFD and MFD, but this time it will be in my control!)