My new "debt free in 12 months" challenge

sharronloves2spend

I also have a miscellaneous section in my spending diary (do you keep one of those??) and everything i can't keep find a category for goes in that. For example toast money for the kids, and all the dribbles, you may be surprised at what your spending on. Even though now we are really sorted with our money i still keep my spending diary to stop myself fromm slipping back to my old ways. Your SOA looks fine, and well done for paying off credit card!! Bye for now Sharron

mrsspendalot

keeping a spending diary is the one thing I have not managed to do. I don't know why, but it just never seems to happen. I can do it for a couple of days and then I forget, and then the whole thing is pointless.

I think a miscellaneous category would be a good idea though.

mrsspendalot

Oh, forgot to add on that DD came home from school yesterday with a letter for a school trip in January, so need to save £45 for that. £10 deposit by 5th October, rest can be paid in installments which they say is roughly £2 a week.

sharronloves2spend

Hi mrs spendalot, schools eh!?! We have the same problem, ds1 is going skiing in jan,had a letter yesterday £30 by tommorrow, don't know where i'm going to pluck that from. Anyway my spending diary is in my actual diary, it's A5 size and in the left hand colum i write down my daily spends, then add it all up at the end of the week, then when the end of the month comes, i sit down for half an hour with my bank statements and total EVERYTHING and i mean everything for the month, i then know exactly what i've spent that month and how much came in. I too found it very difficult at first but now it's second nature to me now. It can also be quite revealing of the little drains on the finances!! HTH Sharron

mrsspendalot

Thanks Sharon

mrsspendalot

Posted a letter off to crapital one today to ask them to close hubby's account :T

Posted a letter off to DWP to ask for the outstanding balance and a breakdown of payments made so I know how much to pay them off. I had an overpayment of income support a few years ago which I have steadily been paying off. The amount I think I owe is about £100 less than they stated on their last letter, so need to sort that out pronto. I have never missed a payment to them, and the payments have been a round £20 a month, so it has been easy to keep tabs on. So we'll see :rolleyes:

Downgraded Sky today :T Decided to downgrade for now rather than totally cancel as we have enough disposable income at the moment to be able to keep this on. If things get tighter it will go completely. So the payments will be £18 a month (3 entertainment mixes (kids, variety & knowledge)). Shouldn't have to pay anything next month though as we have switched part way through the month after paying £45. Will see what the letter says when it comes :rolleyes:

Had a weak moment earlier when I very nearly ordered some stuff out of my catalogue but was strong and decided i didn't need those things that badly at that price, so I shut it down :T . I decided that I could get the same things for a fraction in matalan next month out of our clothes budget. I do desperately need some new clothes - I have dropped from a 14 to a 10 in jeans, so you can imagine the state of me with jeans falling down round my ankles :rotfl: I currently only have 1 pair of jeans and 1 pair of trousers that fit me. I also need some practical footwear for winter as I only currently have flip flop type shoes from summer (£3 specials in matalan for my holidays that have lasted me all summer ). My toes are starting to freeze!

I just can't wait for September to be over as things aren't as tight financially next month, and I get my student grant from OU (£250) as well.

My target for next month is to repay my Nanna. We owe her £690, but are giving her a straight £700 for being so patient with us. We have owed her this money for 4 years now and have never been in a position to give her anything back. We never included this amount in our debt total as she had said to wait until we had cleared everything else off, but I know she is wanting to buy a new sofa and she is a pensioner after all. So I really want to give her the money back so she can use it for a new sofa without dipping into her savings. We have planned to pay back £350 in October and £350 in November, but it just may be possible to squeeze it all into October. We'll see! With the £250 coming from OU plus the £350 we have planned to give her anyway, we only need to find an extra £100. Hopefully some quidco money will come through for that.

Gosh this turned into quite a waffle!

mrsspendalot

Am chuffed to bits :j :j :j

I got accepted for AQA :j :j :j

:beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer:

(Land_of)_Maz

Excellent News!!!! Well done you! I hear they are quite fussy too, so you should be extra chuffed!

This will add a little to the pot!

mrsspendalot

Well, down to the last few days of the tightest month we have had financially for some time. We are surviving it .... just

Have £533.75 left to come in this month, with £487.26 left to go out, leaving £46.49 'spare' :T

My lovely Mum has given us £20 to take the kids to the fair :A , thus saving us the £20 we had budgetted to take them ourselves, and we have been invited to a friend's house for tea afterwards as they live just behind where the fair is going to be. That saves having to buy hot dogs and chips at the fair :T

I estimate we will need to spend about a tenner of that 'spare' money between now and Monday on topping up bread and milk, parking the car and buying our saturday night chocolate :rolleyes:

Most of the quidco and topcashback money is now validated/confirmed so that should begin to filter through in October/November.

Then I will have to make a start on the Xmas shopping :rolleyes:

September's biggest achievements:

• Paid off crapital one card (last of our credit cards)
• Got below £7000 in debt

October's aims:

• Pay back at least half of what I owe Nanna - I owe £700 (would be nice to pay back £500 in October)
• Make a start on Xmas shopping

mrsspendalot

Income:
Hubby wages monthly average: £1000
My AQA earnings: £433 (based on £100 per week I have managed this week)
CTC: £487
WTC: £84
Total: £2004 average

Outgoings:
Rent £400
Council Tax £85
Gas/Electric £75 (estimated)
Water Rates £27.20
TV £11.61
Sky £18 (if we reduce rather than cancel the whole thing)
Car insurance £45.40 (for hubby (23) and me on a provisional licence)
Petrol £40
Contents insurance £5.86
Life insurance £8.06
Contact lenses £10
BT £22.50
Mobile £35
Internet £19 (contract due to expire in Jan 08)
Food £150-200 (for 5)
Car budget £25 (tax, MOT, services)
Hairdressing £10
Clothes £50 (for 5)
Birthdays/Xmas £30
Ballet £20
Debt payments £450

£1587.73

Leaves £417 'spare'. Thanks AQA!

If I was to put that spare £400 a month to debts on top of the £450 we already pay we would be debt free in 9 months - June 2008 :j and I would meet my challenge.

Plus we have quidco and topcashback money due to us that I have not counted yet anywhere. Oooh freedom is so close now I can almost smell it.