"The time has come," the Walrus said, "to talk of many things..."

And_Dream_of_Sheep
And_Dream_of_Sheep Posts: 19 Forumite
edited 28 May 2015 at 9:19AM in Debt free diaries
Although, I shall be mainly talking about DEBT! :mad:

Hello!

This is my first post so I thought I'd start with a bang and give a diary a go!

I've had roughly the same amount of debt for the last few years (about £6k) and have never been able to shift it. All I've done is pay the interest and its gotten me absolutely nowhere!

So, at the end of last year I started my own self-managed DMP and managed to get all the interest stopped on my debts so that I was actually able to start paying them off. I've paid off a bit since December (not huge amounts though sadly!) and I'm getting frustrated at not seeing the debt total come down as much as I think it should be. This is because I'm still paying off the minimum that I can afford rather than paying off every penny I can afford.

I think psychologically I like having a bit of money in my bank account that doesn't have a purpose "just in case". In reality, I have never needed this "just in case" money so it tends to get spent on fun things rather than debt. This needs to stop! I'm giving myself a generous amount of personal spends each month (£180) which I can spend on whatever I like (clothes, DVDs, wine, takeaways, meals out etc.) so I don't need to spend the extra that I have leftover on fun things at all!

So, plan of action! I have seven creditors in total and I want to clear three of them in the next three months (small balances of a couple of hundred pounds each). This will give me more money to throw at the larger debts and it will give me a psychological boost to go from seven creditors to four. In order to do this I need to use that "just in case" money.

Today is payday :j so I shall be paying off debt number one tomorrow (standing orders set up to go out the day after payday). I've updated my signature with the amounts already.

So that's that! I'm now down to six creditors and £6221 in debt!

Thanks for reading!
And Dream of Sheep
«1

Comments

  • One area where I really need to do better is food shopping. We do a weekly Tesco online shop which is easy to keep track of and keep to budget but I find myself then buying extra food in the week because we don't fancy the meals we've planned or I want something junky.

    Ideally, I'd like to do a weekly small Tesco shop and a twice monthly Aldi shop for meat and dairy/eggs. I think this will save us a bit of money but how to stop the mid-week junk food cravings?!

    Well, firstly we need to buy food that we actually want to eat. So many times I go all out cheapskate and buy things like sardines (cheap yay!) to have with pasta and a homemade tomato sauce (cheap yay!) but then when it actually comes down to cooking and eating it I get a bit "urgh, sardines?" and pick up the takeaway menu instead. So no more of that! If it means we spend a bit more in the weekly/monthly shops to actually get food we're going to eat that'll save us money in the long run.

    I did an Aldi shop on Saturday so this week's Tesco shop should be quite cheap overall. I'm going to meal plan properly (to include leftovers for me for lunches) and, most importantly, stick to it!

    Today, I've brought in frozen bread for breakfast (toast, obvs, not just frozen bread!), frozen leftover chilli for lunch and some grapes that have been sitting in the fridge for ten days! Tea tonight is some lovely cod with a homemade tomato sauce, brocolli and new potatoes. YUM!
  • I've updated my signature with a groceries target so that I can see how well I can stick to my monthly budget. I hope there won't be any slip ups but if there are I'll add these as well!

    Fingers crossed!

    Also, today should be a NSD! Woop!
  • rockm87
    rockm87 Posts: 847
    Wedding Day Wonder
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    Hi
    just wanted to pop by!

    I know what you mean about the food shopping though, but since we switched from Tesco to Lidl I'm saving a fortune!

    meal planning is key, even if you buy a cheap meal, its not worth it if you then skip it and order a takeaway! haha

    I use pinterest for loads of ideas, have you thought about maybe batch booking? Or a slow cooker.

    Then you can have a freezer full of stuff you fancy whenever you like!
    Total Debt in Feb 2015 - £6,052 | DEBT FREE 26/05/2017
    Swagbucks £200 Valued Opinions £100
    Dave Ramsey Baby Step 2 | Mr Money Mustache Addict
  • rockm87 wrote: »
    Hi
    just wanted to pop by!

    I know what you mean about the food shopping though, but since we switched from Tesco to Lidl I'm saving a fortune!

    meal planning is key, even if you buy a cheap meal, its not worth it if you then skip it and order a takeaway! haha

    I use pinterest for loads of ideas, have you thought about maybe batch booking? Or a slow cooker.

    Then you can have a freezer full of stuff you fancy whenever you like!

    Hi! Thanks for reading! :)

    Batch cooking is a great idea - I bought a second lasagne dish the other day to do this at the weekends - haven't actually done it yet though...! Must try harder!

    I used to do it with soup a lot, especially tomato and pea and mint but haven't done that in ages either.

    That's my plan for a few hours at the weekend sorted!
  • enjoyyourshoes
    enjoyyourshoes Posts: 1,093
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
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    1. Meal plan, check cupboards and add to shopping list (have shopping list on kitchen wall to add items when run out), shop as little as possible, scratch cook once week for the whole week (tea, lunch and desserts) and freeze, also freeze every day essentials (milk, bead etc) and take out when needed (avoid mid week distressed shopping trip)
    2. Freeze kids sarnies for the week to.
    3. Don't pay insurances monthly as they charge you interest
    4. pay off highest interest debt (if more than savings interest rate) first
    5. deal with the psychology of shopping
    6. analyse the need for the monthly spending on luxuries
    7. Work out what you want to achieve in your life linked to finacnes and set this as objective
    Debt is a symptom, solve the problem.
  • Hi enjoyyourshoes! Thanks for taking the time to give me some advice - much appreciated!
    1. Meal plan, check cupboards and add to shopping list (have shopping list on kitchen wall to add items when run out), Fab idea, I do tend to do a weekly list but jotting things down as they run out will make this much easier! shop as little as possible, scratch cook once week for the whole week (tea, lunch and desserts) and freeze, also freeze every day essentials (milk, bead etc) and take out when needed (avoid mid week distressed shopping trip) - just started freezing bread in packs of two slices, means I can have toast for breakfast at work!
    2. Freeze kids sarnies for the week too - really? Can you freeze sandwiches?!
    3. Don't pay insurances monthly as they charge you interest - have only one insurance (contents) and will definitely look into paying yearly.
    4. Pay off highest interest debt (if more than savings interest rate) first - luckily they are all on 0% (self-managed DMP)
    5. Deal with the psychology of shopping - what do you mean? The food shopping stuff I was talking about? Yep, totally need to change my behaviour here!
    6. Analyse the need for the monthly spending on luxuries - gah. I knew it was too much! I'll have a think about this.
    7. Work out what you want to achieve in your life linked to finances and set this as objective - obtain mortgage, have children, not be a poor pensioner. The children will be before the mortgage (I'm 30) but that's the goals.
  • rockm87
    rockm87 Posts: 847
    Wedding Day Wonder
    Forumite
    Where else are you looking for advice or inspiration?

    Obviously these boards are awesome, but I also listen to the Dave Ramsey podcast and read the Mr Money Mustache blog, keeps me focussed and gives me good ideas, as well as changing the way I think about money and what is important.
    Total Debt in Feb 2015 - £6,052 | DEBT FREE 26/05/2017
    Swagbucks £200 Valued Opinions £100
    Dave Ramsey Baby Step 2 | Mr Money Mustache Addict
  • And_Dream_of_Sheep
    And_Dream_of_Sheep Posts: 19 Forumite
    edited 28 May 2015 at 9:21AM
    rockm87 wrote: »
    Where else are you looking for advice or inspiration?

    Obviously these boards are awesome, but I also listen to the Dave Ramsey podcast and read the Mr Money Mustache blog, keeps me focussed and gives me good ideas, as well as changing the way I think about money and what is important.

    I've just googled Mr Money Mustache - he's interesting isn't he? Apart from starting from a place of privilege (healthy childhood attitude to money, no student debt, getting a well-paid professional job out of university, finding cheap rental accomodation when he was younger - he wasn't living in London was he?!) he does have a powerful message!
  • rockm87
    rockm87 Posts: 847
    Wedding Day Wonder
    Forumite
    I got completely addicted, and just read ALL the posts from the start, I know love reading the forum too.

    He does have a 'bad-!!!' (his words) attitude, and it just changes your perspective on money, he may have had it, but he doesn't spend it like you'd think!
    Total Debt in Feb 2015 - £6,052 | DEBT FREE 26/05/2017
    Swagbucks £200 Valued Opinions £100
    Dave Ramsey Baby Step 2 | Mr Money Mustache Addict
  • rockm87 wrote: »
    I got completely addicted, and just read ALL the posts from the start, I know love reading the forum too.

    He does have a 'bad-!!!' (his words) attitude, and it just changes your perspective on money, he may have had it, but he doesn't spend it like you'd think!

    So addictive! brb just reading my millionth MMM post :rotfl:
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