PeppaCoin's bid for financial freedom

PeppaCoin

I think the reason I sometimes feel disillusioned by the whole thing is because I see others shifting their debts saying "I'll pay £200 off this, and £200 off that" and I'm scrabbling to pay off an additional £10 on top of my minimum payment. Roll on better salaries!

PeppaCoin

Oh I have revived my old One Poll account. It had £12 in it, which I've bumped up to £13 today. Can't believe you can't cash out till £40 though - bloody hell!


Why is money so much easier to spend than earn??

elfy1807

Thanks for reminding me about onepoll. Just logged on and had £30.10 in my account. Just need to work on that last tenner and that £40 will cover the new set of drawers in planning on buying at the weekend.

You've got some good goals for November. Keep up the good work and you'll be able to complete them.

And I totally understand when you're watching others pay off larger amounts that it gets you down. £10 may not seem much, but £10 is better than £9. £10 will get you there just the same as £200 will, just at a different pace. You never know, those people paying off £200 might be living by candlelight to save electricity, or eating baked beans without the toast (cuz they've put the bread money into the debts).
You're doing brilliantly well. The numbers are going down. Who cares how much by?!

Good luck. Subscribed.

jdjd83

Hi, I have subscribed to your diary, am in a similar situation, currently job hunting as my temp contract ends. My husband took ages to get on board but is now there!! Good luckmon your journey every pound makes a difference xxx

PeppaCoin

Thanks guys - its nice to hear some words of encouragement

We've hit a bit of a stumbling block.
1) Husband has been put on emergency tax as he has just changed job, so have been over-taxed this month leaving us short.
2) Also I am changing to a 5-day a week job this month from a 4-day a week job, which means I also need to increase childcare, which is fine but I pay my childcare in advance and won't get paid my higher salary until the end of the month, so I'm short that way too.
3) Husband has also not been paid his bonus from his previous job
4) And just to round things off even more his childcare vouchers weren't set up in time so childcare will cost us another £75 this month

HUMPH!!

elfy1807

On no. That's awful.

However, my boyfriend always sees tax as a mini savings account. Well, when we've overpaid it at least.
You know that it's overpaid, so you should get it returned to you at some point. But until it is returned, it's gone, and ends up being forgotten about. You struggle through with what you've got. Then bam! Extra money that can be put straight into the savings pot.

Fingers crossed you'll make it through the month until your monies get sorted.
It'll be tough, but you're determined enough that you'll make it through.
Make a game of it if need be. See how little you can spend each day. See if you can beat today's amount tomorrow. Dive down the back of the sofa for coins. Look for roadkill (money people have dropped, not the run over animal kind lol)

You'll make it through. I believe in you!

PeppaCoin

Thank you Elfy. You're right, we do need to treat this as a game. At least that way it appears marginally more fun being poor! I have seen people mention roadkill on this site before and genuinely thought they were referring to dead animals. I always thought that was maybe taking it a little too far in the quest to save moolah! Glad you've explained


Because of our stumbling blocks, I've asked my mum if we can hold off car payments for the rest of this year and she happily agreed. Although it means the debt will take longer to pay off there's no point in us struggling to buy food for the sake of paying my mum back and she definitely agrees with that. I'm so lucky to have such understand family.


It was a relatively cheap weekend. Friday I ended up going to 2 softplays with my son which cost me £10. Saturday I was with my family and only spent £4 on moisturiser and Sunday we spent nothing. Husband had to withdraw £10 today to make a bus journey which is a pain but it could be worse.


Husband has his job interview today (hence the bus fair). Please keep all your fingers and toes crossed for us. It would be brilliant for us.


Hoping for a very little spend week!

PeppaCoin

Oh I tell a lie - I did my food shop online with Asda (click and collect) on Saturday morning. I spent £78 but was really surprised because I felt like I got a lot for my money. I was able to re-stock the freezer fully, we have a fridge full and the cupboards are looking less like Mother Hubbard's! I bought only things that were a brand down or on offer. It felt good to be making savings!

PeppaCoin

Feeling in quite good spirits today. We're doing ok. We're going to be ok.


I may not be able to throw £100s at our debt every month like others can but we'll work it down in our own way. I see reaching each new thousand as a real personal goal. It's great. Can't wait to get down to £13,999 now. I can't even say how amazing it will feel to get to £9,999 of debt, under £10k would just be fabulous! Hopefully if we keep paying at £325 a month, that will be in 12 months time (ish). That will be my goal. To get to under £9999 by Christmas 2016. Not as fast as some, but still progress all the same.


I'm sure a lot of this is psychological. I literally feel as though I have the dreaded black cloud of debt sitting over my shoulder a lot of the time. It's hard to stand up tall. I do feel closer to husband though through discussing the debt with him. We've only been married 4 months so should still be in our honeymoon period. We were still sniping over debts all the time but that's all come to a head now and we're working together to get our debts down finally

Badpenny2015

One of my favourite sayings is How do you eat an elephant? In bite size chunks! I try to remember this when I'm feeling overwhelmed! Some days will be slower than others and I find it helps if I measure my progress in other ways when I can't physically pay off any cash, such as a no spend day, leaving the heating off a bit longer ect! You'll get there!