New Year, New start.....

HarrysMummy

Hello Folks

So I've been lurking on the forums here for quite some time and finally decided to join and put my own little mark in.

So not a massive debt and I know exactly where it has come from and was very much needed spends, although could have probably done it a different way round and made better financial decissions. But we are where we are.

As it stands I have 2 CC, one with Nationwide and one MBNA. My balances are as follows:

NW £2788.38
MBNA £962.21

I'm not a hundred percent on the APRs at the moment as both cards were got on special deals through searching around for doing some home improvements, they both started at 0% and then I was offered other deals along the way.

So basically there is me, hubby and little dude (oh and a kitty). We by no means are the richest but we have enough to live on and live a fairly simple life anyway!

At the moment due to just going back to work after maternity I am paying the minimum payments on both cards, this leaves me with a DFD of somewhere near the end of 2019!! The date filled me with dread when I saw it, but then thinking about it that was with paying minimum amounts and that wont be the case once I'm settled back into work properly.

So my aim in the meantime is to de-clutter the house and through all extra money made onto the cards. The amounts above are as of today, (NW payment is yet to come out this month).

My progress so far from selling odd bits is: £46.77, this is made up of
E*bay £3.56,
Cash$Clothes £8.50
MusicMagpie £14.71
Mazuma £20 -

The mazuma sale is the proft I made, I sold a phone and bought a new one outright, so thats the difference in price as my new one was cheaper!!

Any extra money earned will be going onto the cards as and when it hits the bank so I don't get excited and stash it somewhere else. My aim for this year is to have paid off the MBNA card completely and got the NW card down to under £2000. I know it's not the biggest of targets but I know I don't have lots of disposable cash at my fingertips so will have to really stick with the selling things until I'm working properly again. I also have the Little dude, who is no doubt going to need things along the way.....

Oh I won't put up a SOA as I don't really have much to cut out on, don't have sky or landline, already shop very cheaply, compare for everything!! etc plus I would really like to use this as a motivator to get decluttered and 'earn' the extra money and kill 2 birds with 1 stone if that makes sense.

I'll try and update as often as I can and hope somebody may find this useful as I have found so many other diaries very useful!

liltdiddylilt

Hello there!!

Welcome to the forum (properly! ) and happy new diary!

I had a similar amount of debt to you when I started trying to tackle it, and I thought it was insurmountable until I saw some of the figures on here which made my blood run cold. I felt a bit silly the day I went and got on the Debt Free Roll of Honour but we are all doing the same thing, regardless of the amount we started off with. It is a lifestyle change, whether it be selling off decluttered things you don't need but used to keep just *because* or meal planning and listing items for grocery shops etc, or cutting out smoking, moving utilities and gaining cashback etc.

I didn't do an SOA either as there were no flies on me where finding the best deal is concerned. The thing I needed to get a handle on was £400 of groceries a month, for 1 adult, 1 baby and another adult who was here for 3 days a week! :eek:

I found that tax credits really helped me to manage my finances and get rid of the debt, as it was based on my maternity earnings. Are you eligible for anything like that? What are your childcare costs if any? My colleague was paying £840 a month when she came back full time..... :eek:

Well done on the profit from your mobile!! and from your other little earnings. Have you got Topcashback? There is a section for 'free' cashback and I earned £4.30 the other day just by doing home insurance quotes through two of the comparison sites.

Good luck!! Lilt x

HarrysMummy

Thanks for your reply Lilt,

I'm on Quidco and Topcashback and swagbucks just for a bit of fun... I do need to check topcashback as I'm sure I've got something to payout in there.

To be honest I signed up to swagbucks when I started maternity (I had a weeks leave before my maternity actually started and then he decided to be a week over so had 4 weeks of nothingness to fill) but it actually paid for most of Christmas with various amazon vouchers!

We've got our tax credits sorted so thats a big help, without those I think we would be a little bit lost and underwater by now. I'm only back at work part time at the moment so little dude is in nursery for those 2 days which totals £74 a week, doesn't really help parents get back into work when it costs so much!! I was quite shocked when I was looking for places and this is actually one of the best and cheapest ones we looked at, it's literally 2 mins from where I work so handy if theres ever a problem.

I'm pretty much a scrooge in most aspects of our financial life so really have to need something to get it, hubby thinks I'm mad but he's always happy at the end of the day when the accounts are in the black.

On a good note I've just had an email from my energy supplier and they're lowering my payments by £20 a month :j we're in credit by £140 after the bill has been taken. I always argue with them that the payment was too high, I'm a big believer in putting on a jumper and snuggling under a blanket while watching TV so the heating isn't on very often or is on low if it is. So pleased with that little saving.

HarrysMummy

Updates so far...


I've posted 2 days in a row, that's a good start. I've spent a ridiculous amount if time on here subscribing to various diaries and reading them through from the start!! Very interesting reads and lots if useful information and motivating.


This morning I've got up, dressed and sorted little dude out. Also got a box of things ready to list on eb*y and even listed a couple of items. Mainly baby stuff at the moment, clothes and toys. He grows out of things so quickly that most of the clothes ate like nee. Even though I already bought them second hand!!


hopefully they get some bids and make a little money. I've already bought the next size up in clothes for him from eb*y so he doesn't need anything else at the moment meaning minry can go straight to the cards.

jwil

Good luck I'm with you on nursery fees being a killer, ours are the same as our mortgage!

October_Starter

Welcome to the forums! Good luck with your journey

October xx

HarrysMummy

Thanks fir dropping by Jwil and October.


nursery fees are ridiculous, I do kind of understand why they are so high but doesn't make it any easier. Little dude does love it there though, I was quite impressed that they have a chef and home cooked meals everyday! To be fair I wouldn't mind attending myself! I dropped in before he started and it happened to be lunch time, they didn't know I was coming as I wanted to see the 'real' deal and the food looked brilliant!


anyway i'll stop getting off topic haha. So yesterday was a bit of a spendy day that wasn't really planned or budgeted in a sense but was needed.


we bought a rug and a throw for hubbys office. He works from home now amd the carpet is starting to get marked by his chair so rug is to save carpet. Throw is for a chair we were given from parents old house. Its a little tatty so throw will make it look nic until I can dig out the sewing machine and make nice covers for it. That came to £30 which was a surprise really as rug was supposed to be £29.99 on its own and we bought a couple of cupboard foody bits as well!
next spend was a new changing bag. Its been ordered and should be here tomorrow. Bigger than my last as I was struggling to fit everything in it and the old one is falling apart under the strain. The old one is the free boots one though so this is the first changing bag I've bought and will do as a nice bag for me after if it lasts that long! Little dude is in cloth nappies, again to save money (so I need to stop looking at pretty prints) and these take up a fair bit if room in the bag, especially now he needs snacks and toys taking round everywhere!


so that was another £20, but I have bids on a couple if eb*y listings so at least I've got a little coming back. Still not blown any budget as had lots of food in after Xmas so not touched this months budget yet. We work from the 15th as that's pay day for us so there's still time to need food shopping in the next couple of weeks.

debtfreeoneday

Nursery fees!! Urgh.. I have twins so it pretty much killed us until they were 3 and we got funding.. we still pay a silly amount per month though and get very little tax credits now.. I am living for September when they start school!

Well done on taking control of the debt and however small the amounts may seem, it's debt and you are doing well to take control and start to clear them! Will subscribe!

HarrysMummy

Listed a few more bits on ebay, washed up, done a wash load of nappies and done ironing and put it away. Little dude eaten his way through toast, banana, yoghurt, half my bowl of couscous and is now munching in one of the biscuits that I made yesterday! Really don't know where he puts it all. He's 14 months and on the lowest percentile on the chart and eats like a horse!!


just need to ring mortgage company now to see how we go about making overpayments and if there are any penalties to do so. After the cards are gone I want to be able to lower the mortgage a little so we might possibly be able to move at some point in the future!

HarrysMummy

Oh I just notices your post, nursery fees and twins! I firstly couldn't imagine twins, which actually was a huge possibility as I'm the one in line from my dads side and my mu. Also has twins on her side. Missed t ok hat joy though, phew.


so today has been a lazy day due to poorly little boy. He's totally snuffly and i fear a tooth may be appearing. He's 14 months and only actually has his bottom 2 teeth!


little shop this morning, had a voucher for £8 off a £40 shop so that's exactly what I did. Got a fee store cupboard Thi gs and a but of fresh and also picked up a new du cover set for little dude

kdalwayskint

:hello: hey!

I haven't got much in the way of debts either but it was starting to get me down, 3 weeks into the new year and I'm feeling much better about it and tackling it head on!

I wouldn't say we live a completely frugal life as I'm sure we could save more if we did but I'm trying to cut down on the food shop, sell more on Eb@y and use top cash back where I can just to get rid of my nasty credit card as quickly as possible.

Hope you have a lovely weekend xxx