Drifting in a Sea of Debt

BettyBones

Merry Yuletide everyone :rudolf:
So another payday and another wad of debt cleared...

Debt totals last month:
Tax Credits: £0.00
Capital One CC: £0.00
Santander CC: £0.00
Halifax CC1: £0.00
Halifax CC2: £3,090.00
Tesco CC: £800.00
Total Debt: £3,890.00

Debt totals this month:
Tax Credits: £0.00
Capital One CC: £0.00
Santander CC: £0.00
Halifax CC1: £0.00
Halifax CC2: £2,575.00
Tesco CC: £665.00
Total Debt: £3240.00

Thanks to the £800 I had squirreled away and receiving £160 in expenses and £41 in interest on my (lack of) savings in December, I managed to cover the additional costs of Christmas, weddings, cruise parking and passport renewal and I still have £525 sitting in the bank to cover the extra rent payment when it's due in April. So far so good. The only thing I don't have now is money to cover the cost of Tax, MOT, Service and Insurance :eek: But I think I can wangle a couple of work trips between now and the end of May to get some additional expenses and I could possibly squeeze some extra pennies out of my food, petrol and entertainment budgets over the coming months. With the end in sight and only 5 pay days left until I'm debt free I'm determined not to fall at the final hurdle, or fall back on the credit cards. As Jean Claude Van Damme would say...No retreat, No surrender! :rotfl:

hugglemonster

Wow you've done amazingly well, I know what you mean about the little things that become treats - did you get the draught excluder - I treated myself to new tea towels yesterday! My kids have equally cheap excitements, they love the escalator in M&S.

Best wishes for the final part of your journey, keep it going. H x

BettyBones

Thanks Huggles x I didn't get the draught excluder in the end. That's how ridiculously obsessed I am with getting rid of this debt. Didn't want to part with the £6.99 or whatever it was. I did put it on my Christmas list though and Santa bought it for me. Never have I been so excited to receive something so basic :rotfl:

Orange_Ena

Happy new year Betty. 2017 - the year you get debt free :T:j How very exciting! Wishing you all the best for the year ahead

BettyBones

Super excited today. The balance of my holiday savings has just hit £1,300 which means for the first time ever, I've saved to pay for a holiday in cash! That's a massive achievement for me and tells me that I'm finally on the right road with regard to getting a grip on my finances.

My last holiday in August 2015 was just slapped on the credit card, like every other holiday I've ever been on, and I spent 6 months paying it off (with interest) when I got back. Really depressing to come back from a holiday knowing that you've now got to pay for it. So I deliberately didn't have a holiday last year and have been diligently saving a minimum of £50 for the last 18 months to make sure that when I get back from this year's holiday in June, there will be no ensuing debt to have to mop up.Yay! :j

BettyBones

I'm pretty rubbish at keeping up with my diary but since Christmas I have been busy beavering away trying to get things set up so that the future (debt free) me doesn't fall back into debt... ever again!

So, positive steps taken so far:

1. £1,300 saved in ISA ready to pay off my holiday balance in full off April. Will continue transferring £50 / month until May to accrue an additional £200 for holiday spends.
2. £525 saved in savings account ready to pay April's extra rent/water payment. Once it's paid I'll continue to put £50 / month in here to pay for next year's additional payment.
3. £46 saved in my £2 pot. Whatever is in here by June will pay for DS's birthday present.
4. Opened a separate savings account and will start paying all mileage expenses received into here along with any money left over from my £15 / week petrol budget, to cover this year's and next year's motoring costs (hopefully!) Once I'm debt free I'll start paying an additional £100 / month into here to save for a new car (well it will be second-hand but new to me).
5. Opened a separate savings account and started the 1p challenge to save for Christmas 2017. Started on Dec01st and currently have £8.20. Should have the full £667.95 for Christmas spends come 30th Nov 2017. More than enough. Might actually be able to leave a mince out for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph next Christmas. Didn't happen this year as was too poor. Sorry Santa and Rudolph... but thanks for the presents you left me anyway. I'm loving my new draught excluder!
6. Mystery Pot. I've started throwing any change I have left in my pocket on a Sunday night into a sealed money pot. On New Year's Eve I'll crack it open and whatever is in there will be spent on something I want, rather than something I need. To this end, I've started making my list of wants and this is what I have so far:

1. National Trust Membership
2. Ghost Walk
3. Yo! Sushi workshop
4. Chanel No 5
5. Fawlty Towers Dining Experience

Hopefully there'll be enough in the Mystery Pot to pay for at least one thing! If not, I'll just get a couple of national lottery scratch cards or something.

All in all, not a bad start to the year I don't think. Financially-wise anyway

Happy New Year and Happy Debt Busting everybody... and remember...

"All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them." Walt Disney

leslieknope

wow you've done so well clearing all that debt! start counting down to that holiday cruise :cool:

BettyBones

Thanks Leslieknope... I'm totes excited for me holibobs. It's the only thing that's kept me going these past 18 months. Dreaming of standing on that top deck, pina coloda in one hand, waving my debt goodbye with the other as the ship sails off into the sunset. Aaaa... I can see it now...

Best of luck with your own journey... try to keep away from those Wotsits and you'll be debt free in no time at all Man I love Wotsits, could quite easily eat a 6 pack of those in one sitting!

BettyBones

Had one of 'those' days today.

The Positive: I recently applied to open a Loyalty Saver with Nati0nwide having been with them for over a year now and thus qualified for their loyalty saver paying 0.65% (the rate for having 1 year's membership with them). Once it was opened I noticed that they had given me the 0.85% rate that is reserved for those who have over 10 year's membership with them. So I rang them up to query it and they advised that the 10 year rate is actually correct. Apparently, as I held an account with Portman Building Society when they were taken over by Nati0nwide back in 2007 this still counts as part of my overall membership and thus i am qualified for the 10 year Loyalty Saver paying 0.85%. Result!

The Negative: I was due to go on a 5 day work trip up North today. I got up super early, packed, did my housework, put the bins out, went to the petrol station and filled my tank up, bought some screen wash, pumped my tyres up and headed off without a care in the world, knowing that my mileage claim for the trip would more than cover the £45 spent on petrol and the £5 spent on screen wash and that for the next 5 days all my travel, meals, accommodation, tea/coffee, heating, electricity etc would be paid for by someone other than me. Yippeee! 5 minutes down the road and my boss rings me to say that the trip has been cancelled due to the inclement weather up North. Noooo!!! So £50 spent, no profit to be made from a mileage claim and no food in the house as I'd run everything down knowing that I was going away for 5 days. Boo! One step forwards, two steps back I think what I'm most disappointed about though is the lost opportunity to steal the English Breakfast Teabags, Nescafe coffee sticks, sugar, showercap and bathroom smellies from the hotel room :rotfl:

BettyBones

Today I've taken myself by the scruff of the neck and finally closed my Cap One credit card down. :eek: I've been dithering for months over whether to keep it or not and for some reason, today I just decided to NOT. After about 8 or 9 years of always owing something or other on it, I finally managed to clear it for good at the end of June last year. As it's the longest financial relationship I've ever had (sad i know!) I was going to keep it and just use it for work expenses and clear the balance every month but 7 months on from getting it to a zero balance and I haven't used it once. Yesterday I noticed that it expires next month and I can't stand the thought of a shiny new one arriving on my door mat, with all the temptation that a shiny new toy inevitably brings, so I decided to chop my current one up and send it back to them with a request to close the account and send me no more of these stupid toys. So that's it, another stupid credit card gone forever. :j Woohoo!