This really is the end

Determined14

HI all - I'll update totals soon but they make for depressing reading. It's been a hard month, spending has been slightly out of control so unfortunately my total has gone up now down. I've just done a balance transfer as one of my credit cards has partly finished the 0% so this month even though I paid £75 to it, £64 went on interest. So I'm just waiting to see what all the fees etc add up to and then I'll post an update.

I'm starting to really worry about money. There's so many things that we want to do but no matter how hard we try to curb our spending the totals just go the wrong way. To make matters wrose we go away this month (well Sept, and booked before my LBM) so need to do that in the most cost effective way. I'm trying my luck with eb@y again and trying to sell anything and everything to make a few extra £s for our holiday. I'm also thinking about taking all credit cards out of my purse and just leaving £50 in there for emergencies, as I figure if I'm careful with the rest of my spending then I shouldn't need to use my cards.

I just don't know what else I can do to try and make the situation better. I'm trying to set up a freelancing website and get a bit of work on the side but I'm not sure how feasible that is. Again a really pessimistic post but my cup is definitely half empty.....

Determined14

Payday tomorrow - thankfully! This month has been a real struggle but hopefully this month will be better. All debt back onto 0% and had a refund from Np0wer (though that was a nightmare to get!) so that's our spending money for holiday which means we only have 21/2 weeks of September to get through first.

As promised, here's an update:
CC1: 5543.46
CC2: 2686.33
CC3: 3136.28
Total: £11,366.07

So since May my total has gone up £400 but that can be explained by the £400 spent on tyres. I'd really like it to be heading in the other direction so every effort to do that needs to be made.

I've taken a few steps - 5 more items on eb@y, 1 with a bid on it. Plus I did a mystery shop tonight and have another one planned for next week so that's another £15, not a huge amount but every little helps and I need to remember it's about baby steps rather than massive gestures which then have to be undone. I'm trying to be optimistic and hoping that this month will be better and I can see that amount dip back under the 11k mark....fingers crossed

Bobarella

Every little does help. You are doing good things, the balance transfer will help you in the long run. Keep your chin up. You can make a difference.

Jonesy88

Good luck with your DF mission

I'm the same as you - i work really hard to become DF, then life gets in the way and i end up in a similar situation to the one i started with. Sometimes i feel if i could only get a couple of months "ahead" things would be so much easier!

cheerio14

Hi Jonesy! That's completely how I feel, start making progress then something happens and I'm back to square 1. I've read your diary and you're making really good progress.

I'm having a slightly more optimistic Monday than last week. I've got £435 waiting to be paid off cards (want to see what the min repayments which are set up as DDs come out as before I pay more). Then I should have another £20-30 coming my way easily and I'm optimistically hoping to get that figure up to £500 paid off this month.

Also did some mortgage maths yesterday and have up our OPs to £115 a month so that when our fix ends we'll be under £200k which will make it easier to get a better deal next time round.

Then I had loads of thoughts going round my head last night about how big my debt is and really we're going to start TTC #2 this month so I'm never going to get rid of all my debt in 10 months but I'm working on the assumption we get pregnant straight away (I know it might not happen that quickly but better to plan that way) and I think I'd like my debt to be under £7.5k by the time no. 2 makes an appearance.

My thinking is that we won't need to buy that much as we have everything from no.1. So my current debt is around £11.3k which means that I need to pay off around £3800 in 10 months so £380 a month. I currently budget for £325, I think I can increase that figure to £380 by cutting my spends allocation as we don't have many plans for the next few months, Christmas is budgeted for already. Then by June next year my debt would be under £7500 which would be amazing. I can get rid of one card entirely and then hopefully balance transfer both onto one card, I can then cancel the others and set up a DD for an amount a month to chip away at it whilst on maternity.

I know it's ambitious, and that's part of the problem sometimes, but I do think if I'm strict with myself it's doable.

cheerio14

Me again! Still thinking about my new challenge (and procrastinating from work)

So to try and make this more achievable my mini goals are:
October 2015 - Be under £11k
Jan 2016 - Be under £10k
March 2016 (Sri Lanka) - £8.5k
Start of July 2016 - £7.5k or less

If I stick to the £380 a month then that should be doable plus if I try and do a few other bits and pieces along the way. The only one which might be a challenge is March 2016 as I'll need spending money for Sri Lanka (though shouldn't be much) and my spreadsheet forecasts that I'll be at 8.7 so I need to chuck some extra bits along the way. But a challenge needs to be slightly challenging right?

cheerio14

So I've been thinking about how much I can pay off this month. I have £435 waiting to be paid off, plus I have £15 on the fridge to be paid in, I then have £105 in a "spare" account which is there in case I need it but I'm really hoping I won't this month. We go away in 2 1/2 weeks so until then I have £100 to spend and that should be plenty. So if I'm strict with myself I'll have £555 to pay off which would be amazing.

I have just realised that when we pick up our car on holiday we have to pay for extras there which we haven't budgeted for and totals 120.37 euros which is around £90 which needs budgeting for so I'm going to hold back £90 from that total to pay for that so that still leaves me with a minimum of £465 to get the ball rolling which is pretty good going!

cheerio14

Had a slightly spendy weekend but all budgeted for. Though did have a panic on Sat morn as I checked my bank balance and it was a lot less than I thought it was.....then I realised that I went food shopping and used this month's food allowance but then moved an additional food allowance into that account so I'd effectively paid for it twice..duh! I'm still looking on track for this month as long as I'm careful from now. Though potentially looking at being able to pay £500+ off my debt this month which would be incredible. So I'm trying to use that to motivate me to save / pay off as much as possible.

My other update is that I've officially taken all of my credit cards out of my purse! I now have £50 emergency cash tucked away just in case but no cards which is slightly scary but I think the right thing to do in the long run.

cheerio14

Hi all in diary land! So I'm back from my holiday which was very much needed and I'm sad that it's over. The good news is that we came back with about 200 euros so that'll form our spending money for our next holiday. The bad news is that I was only able to pay £238 off debt last month not the £500 I was hoping for, the worst bit is that I can't even tell you where that money went. Poo.

We also had a bit of a scare of a personal nature last week, which highlighted how much my debt is hanging over us. So again a renewed effort to pay off as much as possible. The one thing that I think would help is either cancelling the direct debits to my cards as I never know when they are going to come out or calling up the companies to see if they can be moved to the 2nd of the month so they go out straight away. I'm also going to try PAD and potentially paying for everything in cash, though that might take more thought.,....

cheerio14

It's been a little while since I last posted on here. I've been so busy at work I've barely had time to eat let alone anything else! Good news is that I haven't had much time to spend money....besides a takeaway when it all got too much and the dinner I was going to cook had gone off.

So mid month scores on the doors.....
As of mid August:
CC1: 5543.46
CC2: 2686.33
CC3: 3136.28
Total: £11,366.07

Today:
CC1: 5191.14
CC2: 2599.99
CC3: 3105.67
Total: 10896.80

Reduction: £469.27

I am quite chuffed with that! There might be a little bit more winging it's way over this month but we'll have to wait and see, I'm edging my way bit by bit closer to being under £10k which will be a massive achievement.

I should have some money of a sizeable sum coming my way very soon and I'm hoping I can use a chunk of that to get me under £9k which would be amazing!