Luckylise loves and lives another day

luckylise

Well for a long time now I've been lurking and reading and lurking and more reading and I now think its time to 'come out' and pop my diary cherry.


A little about me ...well I'm in debt (lots and lots of it) and as I am not getting any younger I kinda figured its time to get rid for good. I know this is not going to be a quick fix, but after running the debt though the snowballer its not as bad as I first thought.


I have 3 wonderful DD’s (although the youngest is now 22, so not exactly little...but my babies anyway), I got divorced a few years ago (which explains a lot of the debt) but I’m very happy now and in a newish relationship with Mr Lucky. Despite how it looks, I do know how to budget, cook from scratch and can be very resourceful if needed.....so no need to panic! I just need to focus and finally do this for me!

My debt stands at 'big gulp' £34, 586 and I have a very small emergency fund, which currently stands at £600. I also have a mortgage of £155,000, which although is a huge debt, I am parking to one side until the rest has gone.


this is made up of:

Next 111
Store card 2 218

CC1 4572
CC2 3642
CC3 7828

Loan 1 5874
Loan 2 12341


Ok....deep breath, you know why you are in debt and you know it was so worth it and now it’s time to get out of it!

I have mini goals set for myself, kind of following Dave Ramseys 7 steps (although slightly adapted for me)...but will save those for later as just getting the total amount owed out there in public is about all I can manage right now. My aim is to retire in 10 years so as you can see I have a lot of debt slashing and saving to do before that can happen. I am lucky in some ways as I have no problem in servicing the debts and can overpay them at the moment, but things have got to change ....the lightbulb is glaring brightly and I am oh so aware how quickly things can change!

I have decided to pledge to always sign off my diary post with a positive....so here goes. Today I paid off the Next account, so day 1 of determination and one debt of £111 gone.



.....if anyone reads this, how do you make the emoji's work and how can I update my signature (both of which are extremely important to my debt busting strategy) 'smiley face'

little_miss_spendtoomuch

Hey luckylise

Just want to wish you luck on your new journey! I've recently started mine and it's amazing how quickly I'm getting in the habit of debt busting.

For the emojis if you click on 'go advanced' the different ones come up. Or if it's just a smiley you want you do : ) next to each other without the space

X

[Deleted User]

:wave:

Hey luckylise,

Welcome to the DFW boards.

Love the fact that you ended on a positive with paying off your next :beer::beer::beer:

Well done you, off to a great start.

I think you need to have a certain amount of posts for your signature & I access the smileys when I go to advanced post?!

Dxxx

luckylise

Thank you so much for reading my diary and the fab welcome to the forum Little Miss STM and Dolly Rocker :wave:

I think I have sussed out the emojis and the signature so thanks so much for your help, I have found your diary Dolly Rocker and plan to have a good read later. I couldn't find your Little Miss, have your got one? I have found looking at the diaries on here have given me so much motivation to sort out my own debt problems.

Ok....so drum roll (tan tan ta ra ra raaaah), yes its pay day !!!!

So I have just cleared store card 2 £218 and paid £150 off of CC1 and £80 off of CC3 and I have £400 all ready to pay off of CC2 when the statement comes in. Loan payments are paid by DD, later in the month, and I've put another £100 in my emergency fund.


Next [STRIKE]111[/STRIKE] PAID GONE :j
Store card 2 [STRIKE]218[/STRIKE] PAID GONE :j

CC1 [STRIKE]4572[/STRIKE] £4422
CC2 3642
CC3 [STRIKE]7828[/STRIKE] £7748

Loan 1 5874
Loan 2 12341

Emergency Fund [STRIKE]£600[/STRIKE] £700


It feels good to have sorted the payments before I go on holiday tomorrow, although holiday means i probably wont update my diary for the next week (unless I can slope off for half an hour at some point) .....then again I wont be paying debt and i definitely wont be adding to it while I am away. :cool:

I am so looking forward to a week away, it was booked much earlier in the year and even better it was a birthday pressie, so isn't costing me anything but a bit of spending money, which I have already saved up for. Even better, when I got my suitcase out last night I found 300 euros which I brought back from my last holiday and forgot i had to take with me, so have plenty of money and I am leaving all credit cards at home! Holidays, I am afraid are my weakness, so will probably still have one each year while i am on this debt busting mission. Ironically, i have always had a couple of holidays abroad every year, but have never used credit for this.....still I suppose if i hadn't had the holidays, i wouldn't have needed credit for other things IYSWIM.

So diary, I'm off to eat my homemade lunch of tuna salad, fruit and a piece of banana bread(no more popping to the shop for me).....which reminds me, i need to sign up to some DF challenges when I get back . I'm sure I've seen one about taking homemade lunches instead of spending on quite frankly expensive and no where near as nice shop bought sandwiches.

...and today's positive sign off .....my total debt has decreased by 1.5% since yesterday :T:T:T and I can still fit in last years bikini's and holiday clothes...just!

Misty_Blue

Good luck! I've been hanging about these forums for years now,, and at one time had more or less paid everything off. Then, it crept back up again... :eek: and I've just had another Light Bulb Moment and determined to start tackling it head on. I look forward to reading about your progress.

Enjoy your holiday!

luckylise

Thanks Misty, good luck with your debt payments ....you can do it girl!

[Deleted User]

2 debts cleared already :T:T:T

You are doing fab.

Oh I am so jealous, have a fab holiday & even better it was paid for :money:

Dxxx

little_miss_spendtoomuch

Wow amazing work well done!

Yeh my diary is called 'must stop spending' It's just me rambling on about how I run out of money :rotfl:

DD265

Two debts cleared already is great!

You've inspired me to go rummaging through my suitcase for holiday money now but I don't fancy my chances

luckylise

Well back to work and reality, although on the plus side I am feeling very chilled and relaxed after what was a really lovely holiday.....

So bank account checked and happy to report the debt has reduced as some Direct Debts have gone out while I've been on holiday.
and although I've got visitors coming to stay later in the month, I think I am on track to stay within budget. (note to oneself, must check whats lurking in the freezer before hitting the supermarket tomorrow). No real plans for the weekend, except catching up on cleaning and washing /ironing etc. and popping to my friends on Saturday night for a few drinks and a girly gossip....so weekend spends should be low except for a bottle of vino.

Next [STRIKE]111[/STRIKE] PAID GONE
Store card 2 [STRIKE]218[/STRIKE] PAID GONE

CC1 [STRIKE]4572[/STRIKE] £4422
CC2 [STRIKE]3642[/STRIKE] £3400
CC3 [STRIKE]7828[/STRIKE] £7748

Loan 1 [STRIKE]5874[/STRIKE] £5607
Loan 2 [STRIKE]12341[/STRIKE] £12040

Emergency Fund [STRIKE]£600[/STRIKE] £700


So today's positive sign off ......back home to no leaks, fires, burglers or other disasters which could happen when I'm abroad :rotfl: (erm is that positive, probably not but something I start to fear when I'm within half an hour of home)

4% of debt gone and day 3 of no cigarettes, I didn't really smoke much, but had decided that a) For the sake of good health and b) due to the extortionate cost ...the ciggies are been kicked in touch.

clearmydebts

Hi!


Well done on clearing 2 debts already! You're off to a great start


Hope you had a lovely holiday too. Holidays are also my weakness although we've just come out of a 4 year period where we didn't go abroad at all (apart from the UK). I think it's important to live a little while clearing the debts as well