Flo's Debt Free Diary

Florence_J

I do feel a bit like I am going through a break up. It will not be easy, but my mental health comes first.

Florence_J

Bit of a bad spend day, spent 1.60 on a bus that if i had got up on time i wouldn't have needed and 2.99 on a sandwich at the station because I was hungry. Will hope for a better day tomorrow.

reality_check

Your health does come first, so I am glad you've left that job if it made you feel that way. Onwards and upwards!

Most of us are in it for the long haul (I have over £17,000 left to pay :eek:) so if it takes some extra months for you to feel happier every day then so be it xxx

Florence_J

Thanks Reality

Realised I've been so focused on the idea things could get worse if I leave my current role that I haven't entertained the idea things could get better!

Time to do some planning for the next month's expenses.

DISPOSABLE INCOME FROM MAY PAYDAY TO JUNE PAYDAY = 71.99 (Very precise)

Payday work drinks- 20 quid (i suspect this is actually a leaving do for me )

Bus after payday work drinks - 4 quid

Gig in cardiff - 7 quid

'Bat and Moth Night' - 8 quid (this looks like a really fun night at our local wetlands)

Lunch in Swansea - 15 quid (before we see the manics at liberty stadium!!! so excited)

which leaves 17.99 miscellaneous spending, and believe me i will probably need it!

Will have to be careful, may skip the gig and bat and moth night. Don't want to spend up to my limit.

Florence_J

Just heard about an interesting new book. The old Flo would have been straight on amazon. The new Flo simply does a search for it in her local library online and lo and behold they have it. When I have paid off my debts I'm going to make a donation to my local library, to thank them for all they have done. I've read about 20 financial management books this year already because of them!

Grandad's_Offspring

Hello Flo,
I have only just come across your diary. I think you're doing brilliantly
I too have started recently learning about finances and et a real buzz by not spending, but saving.
I don't have CC debts, I have finance for a car and (hopefully soon) a mortgage to pay.

If I may suggest: paying the minimum on a credit card is a long way of going about it.
If the minimum payment is, say, £38, try paying £40-45. It's got to do with how the interest is calculated and then taken. Basically, (and I hope someone will come along to explain this better), by overpaying by just a few pounds, the amount of interest is lower. In effect, you'll pay it off quicker.
Any chance you could transfer it to a 0% interest card?

Please look into opening a 'help to buy ISA'. You'll like that. You need just £1 to open, the max you can deposit in the 1st month is £1000, but that's not important now. What it does, it gives you 4% interest from the bank, plus 25% interest from the government if you chose to use the help to buy isa for paying a deposit on a house. I did that in December last year, when it opened. I am in the process of buying a flat. I had the £1000 initial deposit and I have done overtime to pay the max amountbyou can put in, £200 a month. Which means that as we speak, I have £2000 in my H2B isa. When the solicitor gathers the money for the deposit, they'll ask for my 25% interest from the govt. Which brings the amount to £2500!!!! Nobody in this world gives you £500 for saving for 5 months!!!
Please look into it and put a few pounds here and there in it, it will help you in the future.

Florence_J

Hello, thanks for the kind words

I have considered both a 0% balance transfer card and right to buy savings account. My problem is at this current moment in time (for about the next two paydays) i will not have any disposable income to save, and i would love a balance transfer card, the trouble is my credit rating is currently so low that i am ineligible to apply for them

I was paying the minimum or just a little bit extra on 4 of my credit cards, and throwing as much money as possible on the worst credit card, which has been working for me, but i have noticed on the other four cards that the minimum payment is going down but the interest isn't, so i had decided to pay more.

Thank you for the advice, will hope to implement it soon. I use clear score for a monthly credit rating for free, and each month the offers for balance transfer cards and loans get a little bit better, so i will keep waiting until i am eligible for a good one

Florence_J

PLAN FOR SATURDAY

1. Go for a long overdue run. Typically it would be raining. :mad:
2. Go to library and pick up my reserved book, hand back old books, and maybe sit and have a read of the newspapers.
3. Go to EE store and try to sort out my phone very cheaply. (Aiming for free) :rotfl:
4. Apply for several jobs over the weekend (this will keep me distracted from my impending interview)
5. Learn how to use Microsoft Access.
6. Update spreadsheets.
7. Do a very frugal food shop as we are already over budget.
8. Watch Daredevil :rotfl:

Florence_J

Hoooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrraayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Tescos have just delivered to me a 3 pound clubcard voucher, that will help ease the overspend on the food budget this month.

I also got an offer to join Very in the post which, as always, is going straight in the bin. I have never liked the way they do things and my sister had a very bad experience with them where a mistake on their part hurt her credit rating and she was unable to re-mortgage her house. I have always thrown away letters from Very and today's is joining the rest of them in the recycling bin :rotfl:

Florence_J

Today is my second day on my new medication and already I have noticed that I viewing things on the positive side. For instance yesterday my boyfriend and I were walking home (in the rain) when a car drove past and splashed us a little. The old Flo would have been on a rampage of 'why does this always happen to me/what an idiot/how dare they/why is life against me?' and instead yesterday when I saw my boyfriend was upset I said that I didn't think it was deliberate. I will have to keep an eye on it as there was a lovely long list of side effects listed, but currently I feel like I'm the Flo I should be/try to be/used to be.