Slow and Steady Wins The Race

Daisychain1

Nice to meet you :j

My name is DC and I have been here many times before, starting diaries, not seeing them through, you know how it goes! If I'm honest I think in the past I went in too fast trying to do everything at once but I'm beginning to see from other peoples diaries that those who are most successful seem to have the 'slow and steady wins the race' approach. As per previous diaries of mine there will be no big plan of action this time ( other than the ultimate goal of clearing debt) just simply just taking each day as it comes and making small changes that hopefully over time will make a difference.

So here goes. A bit about my situation. I have two credit cards and a loan. Both cards are 0% interest as balance transfers were done recently. The first one I would like to clear has a balance of £920. Like I said, no plan to see how quickly I can do it lets just make a start and see what happens.

I will post again shortly with a 'what I will do today' post and hope you will continue to follow me and give me a virtual kick up the bum if I need one to keep me on track!

DC

Daisychain1

So seeing as it's a gorgeous sunny Saturday I think I'm going to make the most of some free outdoor activities and to catch up on lots of things to do around the house to keep me occupied.

Put some washing in the machine then out on the line to dry.....i will not use the tumble drier!
Clean out animals
Weed veg patch
Send some emails
Grocery shopping. Must keep spends as low as possible.
Relax and not charge around at my usual headless chicken pace.
Read more diaries and get inspiration on MSE :money:

First I must get off the sofa and the computer if I going to achieve anything today!!

Doris17

Happy Saturday Daisychain.

Daisychain1

So today has been a good day

Washing was done and put on the line to dry. Just about to go and pick it in because the suns gone in, iron, fold and put it away. Animals all cleaned out and it seems I have enough bedding and feed to last at least another 2 weeks, maybe even 3 so that's good.

The big job of the day ended up being in the veggie garden. I only planned to go and pull a few weeds but when I saw the carrots were ready I picked them all, washed and diced them ready to go into a stew tonight. I didn't stop there though. I noticed the blackcurrants were all ready to be picked as well so that's 5kg of blackcurrants all sealed in bags and put in the freezer. Also picked tomatoes to make a salsa for tonight's tea. I'm hoping that by preserving what we have I can slowly start to reduce the food bill.

Talking of food bills I then went shopping and overspent :mad: I hopefully have all the ingredients and enough food to last 2 weeks with only a little top up shop of fresh fruit and veg needed in between. If i can manage to make it lasts nearly two weeks then it works out that I have only spent £33 a week (she says trying to justify herself )

Despite not rushing around today which is normal for me, I feel like I've achieved loads. Is the key not to write lists and not have big plans?

So I end today on a positive which is the first time in ages. Loads done, only budged spends and feeling relaxed. Roll on tomorrow, hoping for my first NSD.

Daisychain1

So far this week has been really good and Monday I managed an NSD :T

I also then planned to have an NSD on Tuesday but then one of our kitchen appliances broke so I had to fork out £34 for a replacement part much to my annoyance :mad:

So today I plan for my 2nd NSD of the week with no foreseeable spending and a full day at work this is definitely doable.

My debt decreased by £141 this morning as my loan payment was taken from my bank account but I'm in that lull until payday on Friday when I can start to make a dent in credit card 1. At the moment if stands at £920 so I'm hoping I can get it down to the low £800s maybe even the £700 mark if I try hard. Feeling motivated at the moment so fingers crossed this will happen.

Have a lovely day

Daisychain1

Today has been a really good day as i had my 2nd NSD of the week. Hopefully another one tomorrow and then payday on Friday yippee.
Also today I managed to exchange some gift cards for cash as a friend of mine happend to be buying something in a shop for which I had unused gift cards left over from Xmas. So now I have £45 in cash which in turn can now be paid off my credit card. I will make sure I do this tomorrow which means credit card 1 will be down to £875. So pleased to have got down into the 8s already roll on the 7s:j

Daisychain1

Sometimes I am so stupid. I forgot I had a small balance of £20 left on a credit card which I am ready to cancel. So tonight I have paid this off :j Therefore I will class this as credit card 1 and the credit card with the £875 balance as credit card 2.

Going to create a signature now so I don't forget where I started from.

Daisychain1

Just played around with the bank accounts and made a little token payment of £6 to credit card 2 :j

Daisychain1

What a good week I've had money wise, well after the kitchen appliance fiasco that is!! Thursday ended up also being an NSD and Friday I managed to only spend £4.50 on some lunch out with friends. So pleased with this Today will not be an NSD though because a food shop is much needed but I am going to try and keep it minimal and stick to my list. Therefore only money spent today should be from the bills account and I will try hard not to make any personal spends.

I have been reading the Not Buying It thread over on the OS boards and it has really struck a chord with me. I have so much stuff in this house that can be used up or enjoyed without going out and buying more yet I just can't seem to help myself. So I have made it my mission that during this pay period (got paid yesterday) I will only spend personal spend money (not including bills money) on what is deemed absolutely necessary. Everything else will be used up and worn out before I buy anything else. It will be interesting to see how much money I can still have in the bank at the end of the month to pay off my credit card. I started last night by making a lovely card for a friend instead of buying one. That probably saved me £1.50- £2.00 so I'm off to a good start. Now I just need to trawl the internet for handmade gift ideas. I'm a crafty person so I should be able to make something up with the supplies I already have.

I hope you all have a lovely day. I'll report back later to let you all know how aim getting on

Daisychain1

With a bit of bank account shuffling I've managed to pay off another £25 :j I'm so motivated at the moment and really hope to meet the £700s by the end of August.

Off to update my signature now.

Bobarella

Well done Daisy chain. You sound very motivated to succeed. All the best.

Bob