On the road to a debt free life.

Spuddy27

Hi all,

Have been on the forum the last few hours since making my first post and decided to start a diary also that i'll try to update on a weekly basis. I think by doing this i'll feel a bit more in control of my debts and it'll keep me on track.

As i'm a newbie it won't let me post links, but I had a post titled: "just typed my last post..." if anyone wishes to read it.

So today was payday, I got up early and paid £100 off my overdraft, £50 off my Very account, £80 off my Barclay account, £70 off my Virgin account and put £150 into my savings. I also paid back the £50 that I owed my other half. Normally i'd have less savings but i'm going on a trip to Belfast in March for the OH's birthday so i'm saving up in advance for that.

Today has been quite an expensive day but all necessary expenses I think. I made another few purchases which aren't necessary at all but something I wanted to do.

I decided a few weeks ago I wanted to start a scrapbook this year (lame as that sounds) as this time last year I didn't think for a second i'd be where I am now...new flat, job promotion, new partner etc. So I decided i'd like to start documenting this year.

I bought a scrapbook from hobbycraft for £19.99 - it's one of the folder ones that you can add to rather than just a book as I want to be able to expand and not have lots of scrapbooks lying around. The inserts for the folder cost £29.99 but I managed to find them on eBay for £6.99 so I got those ones instead.

As part of my scrapbook i'm aiming to print off pictures from my iphone/instagram etc each month. I like the idea of having physical pictures rather than everything being online, i'd like something to look back on in years to come.

I managed to find an app which allows you to prints off 47 pictures a month and you only pay the £1.50 p&p. Seemed too good to be true but I checked the reviews and it's actually legit! As an added bonus the first order of 10 pictures was free and had free p&p. I've chosen 10 pictures and they'll be here within the next few days so i'm looking forward to that, be good to see how they turn out before I actually spend money on them. It'll be nice to take pictures at parties/days out etc and save them all up then print off a batch at the end of the month.

Todays been quite productive, well as productive as it can be sitting behind a laptop spending money! All for a good cause though - that's another month of debts paid that I don't need to get in a tizzy about

Hope you're all having a lovely evening.

Lx

Golightly72

Good luck, I've subscribed to your diary! I think the scrapbook is a lovely idea.

Spuddy27

Golightly72 wrote: »

Good luck, I've subscribed to your diary! I think the scrapbook is a lovely idea.

Thanks :-) i'm going to subscribe to some diaries actually, that's a good idea :-). Looking forward to starting my scrapbook! :j

Lx

Spuddy27

10pm and i'm still researching debt free solutions etc. Just signed up for Noddle which seems to be quite good. I now have a wee list of things to do after seeing my report, namely:

1) Close down a Clydesdale bank account that I had as a teenager which is apparently still open. I'm going to go to the branch tomorrow, I have no proof that I ever had an account there so i'm not sure how they'll find it but i'll try.

2) Take name off joint account with ex-partner. Will go to the branch tomorrow and find out how to go about that.

3) Found an EE account which I closed and paid in final in October so i've emailed to let them know about that, will hopefully have that changed on the account.

4) Electoral roll hasn't updated but I only changed the details on Hogmanay so it might possibly be still updating, will keep checking this.

And that's it. I'm going to subscribe to some diaries then i'm off to bed, feeling so much relaxed today and like things are going in the right direction. Long may this feeling continue!

Lx

Spuddy27

Today was quite a productive day again. I popped into the Doctors and picked up my prescription, they're free here so that's a bonus.

I went into town and got my form for my driving licence & pictures, got that sent away via recorded delivery - I'm terrified it gets lost! That cost me £6.99 for the pictures though and £24.25 for the renewal and postage, bummer.

Managed to close down my old Clydesdale account though and got a wonderful 41p from that, wahey! :-P Also closed an old savings account (gained another 2p) and got the paperwork to take my name off the old joint account. Glad I got that Noddle account because I forgot that Clydesdale account even existed!

I put £10 in the gas and £10 in the electric too which actually lasts us a good two weeks and there's still about £4 in each meter so that's grand.

All in all it's been quite good, we had to get some food shopping in but I definitely went bargain hunting. We've decided to use up all the freezer food this month first and just get things like bread, milk and fruit when needed.

I've got my NMC payment of £120 coming out, which is ridiculous, so this month is a little tight but still - I paid more off my debts and added to my savings so I can't complain too much

Time for some steak pie and baby potatoes for dinner!

Lx

Spuddy27

Today's debt free move - sold my iPad mini on envirophone i'm getting £110 for it which is good. I also cancelled my monthly sim with 3 for the iPad which saves me another £15 a month.

Last night the other half and I went to Aldi for some shopping. Spend £42 and got 5 very full bags of shopping so that'll last us a while.

I'm really getting into this! Love seeing where I can make savings and getting this debt gone for good.

The next few years are going to fly by if i'm having this much fun already :-P

Lx

Spuddy27

Made some more debt free moves today. Cancelled my weightwatchers subscription and signed up myfitnesspal, saving another £12 a month.

So my ww subscription (£12) plus my 3 sim for iPad (£15) plus my photobucket account (£2) which I downgraded to a free account means i'm saving £29 a month from direct debits.

Feeling fab!!

Lx

Fruity_Dragon

Hello Spuddy,

You sound like you're belting along with your money saving and organising. It's quite addictive once we get that light bulb moment, isn't it?

I've subscribed and look forward to your updates.

January2015

Hi Spuddy

Thank you so much for mentioning myfitnesspal - I had never heard of it but desperately need to lose weight and this site looks great.

Spuddy27

Hi all,

Haven't updated in a while. Debt free plan is still going along swimmingly. I had a blip (which I posted about in the forums) in which I considered going for a Trust Deed but i've now cancelled the appointment. I think I was totally sucked in by the sales pitch unfortunately. I'm going to batter on as I am, I sat down and had a look at everything and it's looking manageable. I'd rather just get my head down, get rid of everything and better my credit score, not slash it to bits even more.

I figure that my Very account and overdraft will be gone by November, my couch is paid off in April 2016. Once that's going I'm going to call up Barclays Partner Finance and get a settlement figure for my laptop, hopefully save over few months and pay that off in June 2016 (two years early)

In January next year i'm going to apply for a new balance transfer credit card and will move my Barclaycard amount to it and as much of my Virgin to it as I can. If I can't move it all its ok, my Virgin card is interest free until October so I can throw money at that to get rid.

If everything goes to plan, by October next year (June if I get a big enough credit card limit) then i'll only have my loan payment and one credit card payment to make.

I hope it works! I wouldn't transfer my credit cards but half of the amounts are gaining interest and when the interest free periods finally end that'll be crazy.

Hope everyone else is getting along great

Lx

Spuddy27

January2015 wrote: »

Hi Spuddy

Thank you so much for mentioning myfitnesspal - I had never heard of it but desperately need to lose weight and this site looks great.

I love it! You can sync a load of apps to it aswell to track exercise.

Lx