Ciao Credit Card! My DFW Diary

citygirl89

Hello fellow MSE-ers, I’ve been lurking around this forum for a couple of months now and thought it was about time to start a diary of my own.

I had my lightbulb moment in September, realising I had credit card debt of about £5,000 – spent on living a lifestyle I couldn’t afford – so booze, food and clothes. Or maybe not so much a lifestyle I couldn’t afford, but a lifestyle without a budget and no real idea of what I was spending.

So since September, I’ve paid down the debt a little – it now stands at £4,803.97 – but, more importantly, not added to my credit card at all! I’ve (finally) realised the need to come up with (and stick to!) a budget.

I was using a spreadsheet for October and November and have started the free trial of YNAB this month and already feel much more in control of my spending. Will definitely be purchasing at the end of the trial!

The credit card is interest free but this deal runs out in January (switched it on a 12 month deal last January thinking I’d pay it off, not double it!) so I’ve arranged a balance transfer to another interest free card – this one for 20 months. I could only transfer £4700, so when I’m paid at the end of December, I’ll pay off the £103 and then make 2016 my debt-busting year for the remaining balance.

I live in London, so not the most MSE place, but I’ve been meal-planning, shopping at aldi, bringing packed lunches to work and just generally trying to be a lot more conscious of how I spend my money and not frittering it away.

I earn £27k at the moment, but really hoping for a pay rise in Feb. If not, I really do need to be looking for a new job.. I’ve budgeted £250 per month debt repayment from Jan onwards and planning to top this up with anything left over at the end of each month. I don’t want to budget everything towards debt, because I know I’ll only fail and end up spending a ton more on credit.

I’ll be trying to make a little bit extra through ebaying anything I can, using topcashback etc. I’m waiting on £20 cash back for the new credit card and £150 for switching to First Direct – so that’s a good start.

I’d really like to make a big dent in this over 2016 and (at the very least) have it paid off by the end of the interest free period. I’m hoping this diary will keep me accountable and on track!

Here goes…

knightley

Best of luck luck citygirl! Meal planning and packed lunches definitely help. Curious how you get on with YNAB, I tried it and it seems too complicated for me.

I'm also in (greater) London... my debt is 3x yours though. And also hoping for a pay rise (if not might look for another job).

citygirl89

Hey knightley, lots of luck to you too! I'm a total convert to meal planning, shopping with a proper list etc. We'll see how it goes with YNAB - i'm not very spreadsheet savvy and really like how i can just see where everything is. Writing down every transaction is also a revelation!

Hey diary, this week has been a bit mixed so far. Had an accidental very spendy night out on tuesday - went for a meal with a friend but ended up getting two taxis, whoops. Still well within my budget for entertainment, although that's definitely going to be stretched this month! On the other hand, 2 NSDs and i bought a train ticket to go visit my family using vouchers (my mum very kindly converts her clubcard points in redspottedhanky vouchers for us to use) so some success!

I jiggled my credit card around a bit, so have £4700 on the new halifax and £32.99 left to pay off on tesco after topping up my budgeted payments with a TCB payout. So will get tesco paid off and start making a dent in the halifax one when i get paid at the end of the month.

Nothing extra put on the card and i know exactly where my money is so definitely making (slow) progress!

rainbowskies

Hey Citygirl89!

That's exactly how I ended up in debt! My debt is more than double yours and I get paid £10k less. Really need to find another job myself. Looks like you have a good plan and that's a brilliant start. I tried the YNAB trial and it made my head spin!

I think it's important to not add to the credit card while you're trying to pay it off - so well done for that. I've gone and cut both mine up!

Best of luck with your journey!