This really is the end

Popstess

Hi Cherio :hello:
Just read your diary from the start and I'm going to subscribe to cheer you on. I have a kind of diary thread going on too if you want to check that out on my profile
I'm in a fair bit more debt than you £27000 and I'm single, I share your frustrations about how long it will take to clear but being frank I hadn't had my LBM when I was in the amount of debt you are and I ended up adding to it and before I knew it here I am! So you are definitely doing an amazing job tackling your debt now rather than letting it get as big as I have (bladdy idiot! Can't tell you how mad I am with myself)
Keep going, you will get there the main thing is trying not to add to your current debt. Good luck

cheerio14

Hi Popstess! Thanks for the comments. I still wonder if I've had my full LBM but I think it's as good as it's going to get for now. I did have to put something on a CC yesterday as I have literally zero money to last until payday (Monday), I was doing my christmas shopping and I have the money budgeted but my internet banking is too far behind so I can't tell how much I do (or don't) have and also I think my OD has been removed from my account which is weird, I don't use it but nice to have the buffer. I'm a bit annoyed at myself about the CC as it's the first time in months I've had to do it but I guess the fact I'm beating myself up about it proves I have changed.

So it's going to be a very quiet weekend for me. Hubby is out on Saturday so I think I might attempt to make cakes with the little one, and then the garden needs a sort, weather pending, then Sunday we'd dedicated to doing some sorting so hopefully I won't notice not spending anything! Then Monday's pay should be slightly up on normal as we had a 1% payrise backdated til August so it'll only be around £100 but that's not to be sniffed at!

cheerio14

An extra £80 in this month's pay so that'll pay for my windscreen to be repaired!

cheerio14

I feel quite despondent about money today. I've had a bit of a spendy weekend and I feel that despite being paid on Saturday it's all gone already. I know that I'm being melodramatic and it hasn't but it just reminds me how easy it is to get carried away. Also we've been having some of the house redecorated and now there are a number of interlinked projects to do i.e. we're getting a new washing machine so while that's being replaced it makes sense to insulate under the floorboards and if we're doing that we have to take up the vinyl that's already down and we want to replace so makes sense to do that then too but the same floor is going in the hallway so then suddenly you're looking at a £500+ bill plus carpet for the stairs and it just seems never ending.

Plus I ended up going over budget last month so £100 of this month's debt repayment has gone straight away to bring me back up to £0. So looking on the bright side........I have £100 I can use for that, we're in a position where we're worrying about money to get extras rather than to put food on the table, I only spent £54 on 2 weeks food shopping rather than my normal £80 upwards, we're halfway through Monday and my hallway should be finished tonight.

Onwards and upwards

cheerio14

So I've been doing my monthly sending money places, only because I've got a DD set up for one of the CCs I can't make adhoc payments to it which is frustrating as that was the next card on my list. But I'll cross that bridge. I'm just getting frustrated, like we all do, at how slowly it's going and that I just want to throw money at it but at the same time need to make sure I am able to live. I did keep on persevering with SB but it took so long to get to a £5 payout that I'm not convinced it's worthwhile. I don't have anything left to sell, though might see if I can do a music magpie (or similar) sort of of DVDs etc this weekend. There are just so many things that we want to do to the house or buy or get sorted which we can't. I don't mean to sound all doom and gloom at the minute but the situation does look very bleak indeed currently

cheerio14

The good news this month is that my noddle score has increased from 3/5 to 4/5 though my actual score is still around the 600 mark, so I was reading Martin's guide on how to increase your chances at getting a better mortgage and it mentioned only using around 50% of your available credit and how too much credit is a bad thing so I thought I'd see how much credit I have available to me..........£28,283!!! That is an insane amount for one person and I totally see how it can all spiral out of control.

I have around £8.9k of debt so for me to be utilising 50% I should have as a max £17k of credit. Therefore I've made the decision to close one card which I just have sitting there waiting to be used with £9k of available credit on it. I think I've gotten so used to spending on credit that I've always felt uneasy without having immediate access to it but I don't need it, I don't want to spend on it and if I do have any emergencies I still have £6k on one card I can spend, £1k on another and £3k on another card so hardly short of available credit! I also feel that this is a step in me letting go of the reliance on credit. It has around £100 on it currently which I have the funds to clear but just waiting for all the DDs and SOs to come out of my account so I make sure I don't go into my OD. I'm off on the 18 Dec so that is my aim for then.

It's my last day in the office this week so am determined to make it productive and positive so it goes quickly!

cheerio14

Happy Monday all! So whilst for the most part the weekend wasn't too spendy and I was quite productive, I can feel myself slipping. A credit card has snuck it's way back into my purse and I used it in Sainsbobs yesterday where I popped in for one or two things and ended up spending £54! Now some of that was clothes, such as new underwear for me (needed) and a couple of tops and jumpers for LO, which if I'm totally honest he didn't need I wanted. So clothes probably accounted for half of that spend. When I think that I did 2 weeks worth of shopping in Ald! for £54 last weekend it really was a waste of money and one that I can't afford.

The sensible thing I've done is to order a new debit card for my other account so I can just spend from that and leave my main account for SOs and DDs to come out of as with the slight lag in online banking and transactions showing I find that I never have a true account of how much money I can spend. So hopefully that will help. Right, enough dwelling and onwards to a positive week!

cheerio14

So I'm feeling very all over the place with money. My current account isn't showing my actual total as it's a few days behind and I've got lots of pending transactions and returns I'm waiting for. Which means I've no idea how much money I've got at the minute. I've reordered my bank card so I can use one of my other accounts for day to day spending which will help so for now I'm just trying not to spend anything!

lincs1205

Hi Cheerio :hello:, I've just read your diary from start to finish and just wanted to say you're really determined. My dh is also slightly lagging behind in the Dfw mindset but he's getting there. Will subscribe to your diary. Good luck

diamonds

cheerio14 wrote: »

So I'm feeling very all over the place with money. My current account isn't showing my actual total as it's a few days behind and I've got lots of pending transactions and returns I'm waiting for. Which means I've no idea how much money I've got at the minute. I've reordered my bank card so I can use one of my other accounts for day to day spending which will help so for now I'm just trying not to spend anything!

Glad you done that, should stop a cycle...I have a account that gets £300 a month for everything after Direct Debits from main account, this allows me to whack £300 into savings, if a blip comes up where I need more than £10 that day I borrow it for a few days from the old man even though I have money in the account to cover it and budget the next few days under £10 to pay the personal debt back.

I frown on personal debts so pay back asap but when my account balance is up say up £20 after 3-5 days, I repay the £20...its a hard slog of doing it this way but you are always on the ball and get to grips with debt faster.


You could try it, borrow from your partner any extra and pay it back in a few under budgeted days, days mind, never even a week as thats falling into bad habits and how you got here. This tight fisted approach means when in shops you really do ask yourself is this a want or need item.


I even stopped shaving an bought a beard trimmer (well before the cool kidz started a beard craze lol) razors are a expensive purchase, I shave completely every 4-6 weeks, guard off beard trimming saved me a fortune :rotfl:

Keep grafting Cheerio14, it took me almost 10 years on part time low pay but having not been as tight as a celebrities botox face I not only paid the debt off, I went travelling and lived abroad all whilst still paying UK debts off - being tight made me be able to budget for these things


Keep swimming :T