My Debt Busting Diary 2016

ScattySkewbald

Morning....
Just sat pondering my figures and it's not looking good
Funny how one minute you can feel in control and the next sinking rapidly....

So my dd has gone out for my cc payment. Should be £100 but because I'd already paid £99.15 in this payment period they've only taken 85p. Done me a favour in one respect as its meant I can out the money towards the mini goals which are more immediately needed (cc is 0%).

Big lads meds, I decided to order extra so this takes his total to £202 including the prescription charge. To date I've paid £81.00, so £121 to find there. This is currently on my te5co card so need to make my priority paying this off. The first payment has also been made for the dishwasher. For the remainder of the month I need to fund Father's Day (£30), birthday (£15) and the rest of the meds (£120). eBay here I come!

Had my gas & electricity bill through - my account is £271 in debit :mad::mad: they were wanting to put my payments up by £40 a month :eek:. Did a quick uswitch check and the cheapest tariff is with my supplier, so a quick phone call to them and we're switched onto the cheaper tariff and the dd remains the same can't believe how much extra energy we're using with me being on mat leave.

Followed up with work regarding reducing my hours and have requested a meeting with my manager to discuss. Really really nervous about this but it needs doing.

eBay currently up to £14, not great but still a little time to go, and it'll all help towards my targets.

Right, I best jump in the shower before little man wakes up. Have a good day x

ScattySkewbald

eBay sales for the weekend have reached £38.65 plus £10 fb sales, so not too bad at all.

Been a busy but nice family weekend, made all the better with a big of sunshine.

Spent £36 in asda and will prob need an aldi shop for fresh bits at some point, but still on track to stick to budget.

Not a lot else to report, just checking in really to keep me focussed!

ScattySkewbald

Good morning MSE world.

I'm feeling so frustrated at the minute, dispite my efforts my debt busting seems to be going nowhere :mad:. I received my last instalment of SMP this week, so for the next 4 months I won't be getting paid. I have money put aside to hopefully cover this but it's not going to be easy. I think the focus will be shifting from debt busting to keeping us a float without adding to the debts.

So quick update on my mini goals for the next couple of months...


[STRIKE]Extra for vets bill £40 - due mid June[/STRIKE] Paid
[STRIKE]Green bin payment £30 - due now [/STRIKE] Paid
Family birthdays £40 (£40 already budgeted) - end July £20 budgeted per month for next 2 months
Dog jabs £30 (one will be free under the loyalty scheme our vets run) - early July [COLOR="rgb(65, 105, 225)"]£30 budgeted from next months pay [/COLOR]
Big lads meds £202 - end June [COLOR="rgb(65, 105, 225)"]£120.15 paid £81.85 to find via eBay [/COLOR]
Shettie meds £120 - August (although need to check if it's still cheaper to buy in bulk, as a friend's pony has just been given the same meds by the same vet for £12 per tub cheaper than I was paying :mad:) [COLOR="rgb(65, 105, 225)"]still need to check, although have 3 months in stock so no immediate rush[/COLOR]
Father's Day pressies for Dads (I'll sort OH separately via my spending money) £30 - mid June.
Dishwasher instalments x3 @£56 - first due end June. [COLOR="rgb(65, 105, 225)"]first payment made, next one due by end of July[/COLOR]

It's going to be a slow week on eBay as have no new items listed. Have got another pile of clothes to go on but they could probably do with the iron running over them first. Must make time to get listing.

Plan for today is dogs, horses, quick trip to Aldi, Post office, pick up Internet order and hopefully tidy up a wee bit.

Have a good one

ScattySkewbald

Eek! Not checked in for a week which is usually a sign things aren't going great. Correct!
I'm currently robbing Peter to pay Paul until payday which is 9 days away

Just short of £18 made on eBay this week, not great but better than nothing. Got the last two parcels to post today. I've got nothing listed at the minute as didn't get chance to relist the non sellers at the weekend. I've ironed and photographed a batch of stuff - just need to get the descriptions sorted.

Swagged £5 Amazon card which I was hoping would come through for Father's Day but hasn't so far, so will keep this for Xmas pressies.

Slimming world weigh in this week was 1lb off. Takes me to just 1lb off my target. Would love to reach this next week but have a couple of potential slip up days. Once achieved I no longer have to pay which will save me £4.95 a week

Need to look at tackling the OD as this is the only debt I'm paying interest on and interest is typically £10 a month :mad: will get my thinking cap on.

Anyways it time for little mans lunch so better go.....

milasavesmoney

Good news on weight loss! I finally lost 1lb this morning after two weeks of sitting on the same number.
The money you save on Slimming World would help bring down your OD... Just a thought.:)

ScattySkewbald

Another week gone and no progress to report, just been plodding along to payday (Friday....)

I've listed some new things on eBay which end at the weekend, no bids as yet but keeping fingers crossed. I've got so much to sort through but just never seem to get chance to do it.

My part time working application has gone in at work. Just keeping everything crossed it gets accepted. At 3 days, we wouldn't have to pay for childcare which is a huge bonus, but anymore than that and we're talking up to £65 a day which barely makes it worth me working the extra.

Scores on the doors won't be good at all this month. As said in a previous post, over the next 3 months the focus is temporarily going to shift from debt repayment to making sure we don't add to it. Once I'm back at work I'll pick up the challenge again.

I have £160ish in TCB - £122 confirmed so hopefully this should be payable soon to use towards to extra expenses between now and September.

Going to have a good think today and draw out my aims for remainder of the year - hopefully with a bit of focus I'll drag my !!! back on track!

ScattySkewbald

So it's the start of a new financial month tomorrow, so time for scores on the doors.....

Cc was £5571.59 now £5570.74
OD was £793.81 now £800.08
Tesco cc was ??? now £307.87:eek:

Ok I admit it I'm in a pickle :mad: The tesco card has crept up over the last 2 months. This is a combination of vet meds, petrol, food shopping etc. I usually pay this off straight away just so I can get the clubcard points but that obviously hasn't been going according to plan. I'm currently paying 1.3% monthly interest on this.

The overdraft is going nowhere, just yoyoing around the same figure £700 +/- £100. Not sure of the interest rate, but it's currently costing approx £11 a month in interest.

I've had a good think and have applied for a money transfer from TCc to pay off overdraft. I currently have a 0% BT offer on my cc so will transfer onto that. Once paid off I'll cancel the OD to remove temptation. It's going to cost approx £39 in fees, but that only equates to 3 months interest at the current rates. Not ideal, but I think it's the best thing to do at the mo.

Another thought I've had is that I'm in a massive rush to get everything paid off which isn't necessarily working as I'm obviously relying on the tesco card and OD more than I realised. My new approach will be to pay set amount (£150) off each month. Any extra earnt via eBay etc will be placed in a separate account and whatever's left in there at the end of the month I'll pay off the card. Yes it may take longer, but hopefully it'll work better. The focus until I go back to work will be not to add anything to the debt.

I really need to get a grip on the finances and housework etc as I feel like I'm drowning and really need to get a grip before I go back to work. It's beginning to affect my mood and will only get worse once I'm working again.

I've still got a pile of stuff to eBay and my garage is in need of sorting (I'm sure there's plenty of car boot fodder in there!) Need to get cracking!

Right fresh start, let's hope it's a successful one!

milasavesmoney

I really like your plan. It's a great strategy. I'm so surprised how many people on MSE live in OD. It's being used like another CC. Some people are paying over 18% interest. :eek:

Here in the US we don't have overdraft like you do in the UK. What we mean when we say OD is that a check has bounced. When this happens a standard fee of something like $35 is charged to our account. You have to immediately deposit the money for the check if the bank covered it plus the OD fee. If one has good credit then they will cover up to a certain amount. Mine is currently at $700. It causes me to watch my account daily.

I have overdone shopping on Amazon and am now in the red again. Will I ever learn? :wall:

ScattySkewbald

Thanks Mila - ebays my downfall, especially now they don't take the PayPal payment straightaway. Must try and have an eBay free month (other than selling obviously!)

Well all the debt is now officially 0% for the next 23 months and really need to ensure its all paid off during this time frame. It equates to £285 a month :eek: I'm not going to be able to afford that amount whilst on mat leave for the next 3 months, but it will average out once I'm back at work.

Had some eBay sales finish yesterday - only made £12 on 4 items. I was kind of disappointed with it as had lots of nice bits listed. Never mind, I've relisted the non sellers and a lot of other bits - let's see what next week brings. On the plus side all the buyers have paid, so it's off to the post office I go later.

I've shifted the eBay money into a separate account and will aim to forget about it until the end of the month, when everything that needs to be paid has been. Hopefully then I will have a lump sum to pay off the cards.

Managed to go out for a run yesterday and exceeded my 3.1 mile target by 0.5 a mile - well chuffed especially since it felt so good and surprisingly easy I've got 2 weeks left of the course, will be gutted when it's finished, but really need to make the effort to keep running. It's easy to maintain the level of fitness if I keep at it, just so difficult if I end up starting from scratch again.

Hopefully if little man is agreeable today will beat bit of an admin day. One of the cc I'd cancelled months ago is still showing on my internet banking and another needs closing. Also need to book the woofs in at the vets and look into this years home and pet insurance.

Tasks for the week.....
1. Post Office
2. Glass to bottle bank
3. Cc admin
4. Garden - at least get grass cut!
5. Book dog jabs
6. Clear out lttle mans wardrobe of all clothes that are too small.

ScattySkewbald

Morning!
Had quite a productive day yesterday and managed to sort the first 3 items on my list. We have a quiet day today so may sort little mans wardrobe.

I've had £67 become payable in TCB so have transferred this across to forget about until the end of the month.

eBay sales are upto £9 and potentially have £10 in fb sales coming fingers crossed.

Did quick Aldi shop yesterday and picked up nappies etc for the month. Need to get a meal plan in place for the remainder of the week.

Have a good day x