Reality Check...

Trixxibell

Hi reality check,

Just read your entire diary in one go! Well done on all you have achieved so far. I'm nowhere close to being debt free and not perfect but here's a few tips:

Cancel M &S card while it's a zero balance.

You seem to do well until you do something with your daughter I'm the same so I now I try to not bring money with me if she suggests we go shopping. she is 15 and has a little part time job earning money on a Saturday if we go shopping she spends what she has earned I don't add to it. Unless it's basic items a mother should buy at this age underwear and sanitary items, school things. Let your daughter know your trying to reduce your debt get her on board. If anything keep the £10 that she gives you towards the dog walker in a jar when she needs extra money give her, her collection of £10 notes back xx by looking at your spending it will work out cheaper xx

Do you need virgin and Netflix ??

I can't comment on the mirror I just went to NYC and I'm swimming in debt lol

With work say no I can't afford it for collections. I used to feel guilty but I found it liberating. Also noticed The girls at work with no debt don't give to collections. Find Dave Ramsey YouTube say no xx

I also love the secret when you cut up a credit card, put it in a jar somewhere you can see everyday and imagine the jar full of all your credit cards xxx

Amazon need to pay up, block an hour out of one day this week and be determined not to move until you have made progress either by sending a letter or email or call to moving the money they owe you closer to you.

Hope this helps and motivates rather than discourage xx look forward to following you to debt freedom xx

Finally keep going lovely diary to read xx

kat328

hi just thought id pop and say hi - don't have a diary yet just lurking at min - subscribed to yours

kat

Huskyrunner

i have too agree with trixxibell re virgin cut it if you can

we took our virgin tele package too the basic basic one and got our bill from 49pm too 23, we bought a now tv box so a lot of the shows we were watching we aint missing.

That extra 20-25 will seem a drop in the ocean with your debts but everything helps

How is the dog you have?

reality_check

I'm back...every time I don't focus and post on this I am out of control! I feel like this is confession i'm at admitting all my sins....

I would love to cut M&S up...but it has crept up to £795 and I still have car insurance to pay. I had to get the card back with intention of putting insurrance on it, but I have since lost my debit card so had to basically use it....I have about £350-400 in my current account, so need to bite the bullet and arrange a new one, was convinced this one would show up!

M&S is up because I went a bit overboard on my daughters birthday - got her a jacket and ended up paying for flights for a trip away she's going on with friends. Flights were cheap and she has free accommodation when she gets there and I do always encourage her to go see as much of the world as she can, but I know in my current state I shouldn't be funding this. I also put some petrol on it and the odd food shop plus had a few meals out and I paid my share of a weekend away...bad I know, but planned before I started to tackle this....i use that phrase lightly as I never seem to get anywhere.

Moral of the story is I CAN NOT BE TRUSTED WITH A ZERO BALANCE CARD AS I SEE THIS AS MY MONEY!!! I am now so conscious of not using my overdraft as I don't want fees and I don't use any other card as I don't want fees. Virgin card is zero balance but i deliberately didn't change the pin when it came to the one I change everything to so can't use that.

Trixxibell - I welcome any comments, I need all the help I can get - they won't discourage me! You are right my daughter is a downfall - she is an enabler when we are anywhere, be it for her benefit or mine, she has def taken after me and loves spending money - not a good thing, but it is mostly my money as oppose to her own lol She actually isn't bad at asking for money, she has a part time job and survives on that fairly well...always out with friends and wearing something new it seems!

I cancelled Virgin TV after a year as just don't watch it. I pay £26.99 I am in a 12 month contract until Feb next year and it is only internet and phone so I need Netflix as I do watch most things I watch from it.

I actually said no last week to a collection in work, someones son running a marathon....I have to draw the line somewhere especially as the going rate is £5-£10

I am off work on Friday - will def call Amazon, they drive me insane!!! but I want my money back.

Hi Kat, thanks for reading and taking time to comment I lurked on here for ages before trying to sort myself out!

Hey Huskyrunner! What do you get for £23, TV and internet? Do you pay a subscription for Now TV? I've heard of it before but not looked into it. My other dog is doing fine...he is 2 in July but still wild!! A cocker spaniel, don't think they ever calm down lol

I nearly signed up to a £65 a month gym!! This was an introductory offer too!! Don't know what I was playing at, too caught up in the moment but called up to cancel! Went for a look and the outdoor pool nearly sold me but I am glad I reigned that in!

It is 15 more days until pay day, I should have enough petrol to last me as filled up yesterday...Next month I will clear M&S for good and maybe take the plunge and close the card down, I can't trust myself....which is ridiculous at my age but needs must. So next month will be minimum payments to the other debts.

From May's wage I will def start an emergency fund to avoid the need for credit cards in the future...unplanned and unexpected spends are what mess me up. My wage is more than enough to live on but I don't plan for the annual extras. I feel like I repeat myself, all the gear and no idea springs to mind lol

I have decided not to move banks, £150 for switching would be nice but until I have a backup fund I am too scared to let go of my £2500 overdraft. I have finally clicked that this money isn't mine and dont spend it like I used to but I want to keep in case of a total emergency ie boiler packed in, car died etc but I don't treat it as my money like in the past...that's a positive since starting this diary.

I better go now, i have wrote more than enough and probably makes no sense to anyone, but like I said before this is like my debt therapy writing it all down xx

Trixxibell

Hi Reality check it all makes sense to me xx

It may be worth saving for your emergency fund first. If you have £1,000 in case of emergency it will make you brave enough to get rid of the overdraft and cut up the credit card. Then clear the cLear the credit cards. When that's all done you dan build up the emergency fund to a higher amount.

It's the Dave Ramsey way of thinking its the only three baby steps I like and agree with. I know I felt better with the emergency money sitting there because I couldn't use the excuse of what if....

Hope this helps xx

reality_check

I do want an emergency fund, but i need to clear £1250 on Barclays and £2000 on Santander before i get interest, which is December. I also would like my daughters money of £1350 paid back ASAP.

April's wage will only be minimum payments to everything to get rid of M&S again.

With Barclays i have 7 months, direct debit is set to £50 per month so that is £350 until then covered leaving me to pay off £900.

Santander i have 7 months to pay £2000, direct debit is set to minimum which is £20 so that covers £140 leaving £1860 to pay.

Basically all together I have 7 months to pay back £4110 which is a total of £587.14 per month.

Hopefully I will be able to put £100 a month away to help towards my MOT and car tax when that comes up.

Bad news about car insurance. I misread the price match and 10% - it is regarding to having had a claim in the last 12 months, they will match any quote on that to keep you for another year after a claim. They said would do it for £395, I got a quote online for £303 but didn't include legal cover so would be £335. My current insurer gives breakdown cover and they have been good when I have used them before, so they are £60 extra...might stick with them...need to call by tomorrow! Will have another look on comparison sites today.

I have a frugal weekend ahead planned, not doing much...working today and then home tonight to do nothing and tomorrow meeting who I went out with last week to go a walk, so shouldn't cost anything either.

Hope everyone has a good weekend xx

reality_check

I have also decided because yesterday was 1st April and a new tax year, I am going to attempt to see how much I spend each month.

Will keep track of:

Energy
Food
Petrol
Insurances
Car
Entertainment - should be 0, but shall see lol
TV package
Clothes
Beauty

Be good to see the figures over a year....I am hopeless at this kind of thing so fingers crossed lol I would love to be able to track every penny for a year!

reality_check

Me again! I am going to set up a standing order every month going into my daughters bank account every month for £50.

I am not going insane and offering out money, I will get her to create a separate savings account and my £50 x 12 gives me £600 so that next year car and home insurance are more or less covered. Creating my own sub account in my own account won't work for me as I am about 99% sure I would dip in and out of it constantly!

I have also decided I will def be doing the £100 per month emergency fund - but I have a feeling I will need to use for car related expenses and then hopefully by the end of the year I can start building it up for actual emergencies. I might need to create a standing order for this too....how bad that I can't trust myself!!!

note3

Just a quickie but instead of transferring to your daughter, why don't you set up a tesco current account or a branch access only savings account (so you can't just dip into the money online) and put it in there. Takes the pressure off your daughter and gives you the satisfaction of being in control and managing money

reality_check

Will I be able to open a bank account without them doing a credit check? I don't really want anything else against my name... I think I am going to be taking out a buy to let mortgage towards the end of the year....not for me, for my sister. Went and got an agreement in principle which is valid for 6 months so don't want to do anything that might mess up with this. She can't get a mortgage, so this is the only way really.

Ended up paying £395 for my car insurance, not a great saving but my renewal was £440 so better than just accepting it. Spent £20 on shopping yesterday, that should last until the end of the week and have no plans really to spend this week.

Still no cheque from Virgin....still not called Amazon, this week!!

10 more days until pay day!!