Luckylise loves and lives another day

luckylise

So debtbusting..... only mid way through the month so ages to pay day :mad:

Homemade lunch brought to work, twas beaut as well, even if I say so myself.

Had a spend day though £58.98 to be precise, adding a Mr. Lucky as named driver to my car insurance... I have agreed to pay and I cant really complain because he has just paid for my holiday and is on board with the debt busting, helping me out loads despite the debt been entirely mine and nothing to do with him. and as I paid my insurance on my debit card in one payment, rather than monthly payments :money: they have just charged the extra to the same card.

I keep tinkering with the idea of selling, but I confess i must be the only person in the UK who has never bought or sold on Ebay and not sure if I could be bothered (or have time) to do all the packing posting etc.

I have sold things privately before, but usually large items like sofas, fridges etc.....and I've got none of those to sell...clothes I tend to give to charity (after my daughters do a wardrobe raid)...so I guess that its going to be salary that pays down the debt, which will require patience :mad:.

This year, though, I am determined to use my annual bonus and pay rise to clear some more debt down ....so will need a good kick up the backside or slap around the chops in March to remind me of this pledge!

So i mentioned earlier my steps to debt freedom and target dates to achieve them ...well here's Step 1, 2 and 3 (I'm sure this is a song....Showaddywaddy or Elvis :cool:....)


Babystep 1
Goal 1 [STRIKE]Next Gone DONE[/STRIKE] 01/09/2016
Goal 2 [STRIKE]SC 2 Gone DONE[/STRIKE] 31/10/2016 [STRIKE][/STRIKE]
Goal 3 1000 EF 31/12/2016

Baby Step 2
Goal 1 Barclaycard CC1 31/07/2017
Goal 2 Nationwide CC2 30/11/2017
Goal 3 Lloyds CC3 31/08/2018

Baby Step 3
Goal 1 Tesco loan 1 30/06/2018
Goal 2 Nationwide Loan 2 31/12/2018


Not even bothering writing down anymore baby steps until these are achieved, but there are 3 more to come....

so today's positive sign off.....its a lovely warm and sunny day and shall be singing 3 Steps to Heaven all afternoon (think Vic Reeves club style)

[Deleted User]

Hey,

Payday does feel like forever away doesn't it

Glad you enjoyed your homemade lunch, why spend money when you can just DIY.

Aw how nice that he is helping you out with the debt, makes paying that insurance no problem for you at all.

I'm not gonna lie selling on Bay of the E can be a total pain in the tooshie, I do try to avoid it where possible but sometimes needs must & all that.

I will remind myself to remind you that you need to use the bonus & pay rise to reduce the debt in March.

Loving the babysteps system you have going on, how good that you have already marked 2 off as DONE :j:j:j

Dxxx

luckylise

Hi Diary....Well I have definitely missed you as it seems that writing things down on here focuses the mind and keeps me on the straight and narrow....

The weekend has been horrendous spend wise and as a result, I know I am going to hit the overdraft before the end of the month :mad:...although I wont be charged for this and on the bright side I didn't add it to the credit card, but it will still be £100 increase in debt. I had visitors for the weekend and really underestimated the budget (I knew this in advance, but tried to kid myself really).

I had an email this morning advising me that a full refund would be given for last Friday's train ticket due to the disruption caused at Watford Gap by the landslide (at least no one was seriously hurt)....so that's a refund of £126 ...so it seems like I'm even inadvertently money saving for work too. maybe I should ask them to split the money as I spent 8 hours on trains on Friday, not to mention the tube and a taxi and all for a 45 minute meeting. :mad:

Pay day is on the 30th, so just under 2 weeks to go when I can pay some more of the debt down and I've already done my October budgets and spreadsheets...so all prepared.

I need to start a Christmas list and begin to buy bits and bobs, I've been reading a thread on preparing for Christmas on the OS board, which has inspired me to start. I also could do with investing in a new duvet for me and DD2 (DD1 had a new one earlier this year so hers is fine), but will wait for the January sales and hopefully pick up a bargain for us both.

That's all to report for now....so happy debt busting fellow DFW's and today's positive ending. The cupboards and fridge are full of food, the car is full of diesel and no more bills due before payday, so great opportunity to have lots of NSDs :T

[Deleted User]

Hey,

That is a bummer about the extra 100.00 but it will go in no time, like you said though it's really great that you didn't add anything to the CC.

I would totally ask them to split it with you.

Everything seems better when you are organised so good for you for getting sorted for October already.

I'm going to have a look at my Christmas list next week to plan what else I need to pick up over the next 3 wages.

Dxxx

luckylise

Ok, its pay day on Friday and time to bust some more debt.

Just checked my final balances for month end and very annoyed with myself, as I have not done as well as I had thought. One credit card is much higher than I had thought it would be by the end of the month, so my current situation is only 1.58% of my total debt is currently paid and not 4% as I thought earlier in the month.....:mad: I entirely forgot about a large payment due, this is so unlike me as although I have debt, I am usually aware of expenses to the penny .....it must be the accountant in me

Still, no point dwelling on the past, I now know the exact situation and will have no more unwanted 'surprises'.

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

CC1 4572 £4422
CC2 3642 £4227
CC3 7828 £7748

Loan 1 5874 £5607
Loan 2 12341 £12040

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

Total Debt = £34, 040 :eek: ...so total reduction in debt for September is £546 or 1.58% gone!

Still, i am determined not to focus on the negative, i didn't get into this situation over night so I am not going to clear it over night!


I guess now would be a good time to focus on my next 2 goals::cool:

1. Emergency fund £1000 (target date 31/12/16)
2. Pay off CC1 B/card £4422 (target date 31/07/17)

The plan for October is to pay off £150 off of CC1, £450 off of CC2 and £ 80 off of CC3 :T the reason I am paying off more on CC2 than CC1 this month is there is a small balance on CC2 not on 0% which should then clear that and future efforts will be thrown at CC1.

I am hopeful that i can pay off CC1 a few months earlier that my target date, but have tried to have a plan to tackle the debt without putting myself under to much pressure. All of my CC balances are on 0% or remaining balance low percentage, but I've run them through the snowball calculator and based on the 0% deals ending, I am tackling them in the right order.


I have just read this post back to myself and realised I've started writing fluent [STRIKE]b@llOx[/STRIKE] ahem gibberish......but it does make some kind of sense to me. :rotfl:

The taking my own lunch to work thing is working out very well, saving me a fortune and I have to say much more tasty, interesting and healthier than I normal buy from the shop....and added to the vast reduction in wine consumed, I am pleased to report 4lbs lost in the last 2 weeks, without even trying.

Must must must get focused on sorting out Christmas, I have 12 people to buy for, although some only get a token gift. i have got as far as writing a budget out for gifts and extra food, drink etc. and I do get an end of year bonus at the end of November which will cover this.....Christmas bonus has always covered Christmas and year end bonus in March is normally used for holidays or larger household expenses, although this year the March bonus is definitely debt busting.

Stripes_The_Elephant

Just started your diary and subscribed .... great start, good luck x

luckylise

Thanks for popping by Stripes x

I see your balances are to be confirmed, so I'm guessing you have a journey to? best of luck and thanks for subscribing.


Well I have 87p in my purse until Friday...so I shall be having 2 NSD's whether I want to or not and working away Friday and Saturday so the Hotel will be feeding me and work paying my expenses :T, although i expect a group of us will venture out for a drink on Friday night, so it wont be a totally free weekend and Mr Lucky is taking me out on Sunday for lunch and a treat on Sunday...so it will be a very low spend weekend, which is good as weekends seem to be when I spend the most, I'm actually quite good in the week.

I've started to think about what i am prepared to sacrifice to pay this debt off quicker and what I would really miss. Unfortunately, this is going to make me sound very shallow, but hair, manicures, pedicures and waxing cannot be sacrificed. I don't think I could give it up and i'm expected to look well groomed for work (she says, trying desperately to justify the expense).

What I can give up is buying clothes, I have more than enough for at least the next year in a range of sizes (with the exception of winter boots), I cleared out and re-organised my wardrobe last weekend and I had 43 bras for goodness sake :rotfl:..... I have seriously cut down on nights out and wine, I had got into the habit of a couple of glasses every night and I am now limiting this to Friday and Saturday wine only.

Take aways, normally have one a week, happy to drop this to one a month (none would be fine for me, but daughters would like one occassionally).

Reduced shopping budget, I can live with this and happy to shop at Ald! with the occasional top up at Sainsbobs.

Happy to continue with bringing my own lunch and stopping the lattes etc. and stick to instant (free) coffee at work.

The dog...my pooch does have expensive food, but it suits him and attends 'doggy day care' a few times a week, depending on where I am working.... I cant give this up as its what he is used to and sometimes I am working long hours and it wouldn't be fair to leave him at home

Gas and electric, currently low and on a very good deal (set to end in November so will re-fix then)

Sky, broadband, TV and house Phone package - £49 pounds a month so quite good value for the package I have, and although it wouldn't bother me if the whole lot went...if I tried to cut this any more I think I would have mutiny in the Lucky household.

Always check I'm getting a good deal for insurances and use comparison sites etc. :money:

Mobile - free :money: its a work phone, but my work allows me to use it for personal use, I only have to pay if I exceed my contract limits and this hasn't happend for over 6 years (even when its used abroad).

Gym membership - cancelled cannot justify the expense at the moment, but I got a fitbit for my birthday and I'm enjoying walking much more and a bike is on my list to Santa so if this works out the gym may be gone for good.

I should add that the above is not why I got into debt, and all are things I could afford when the debt is gone...currently my minimum debt payments are £800 and I am trying to overpay by between £500 and £600 per month to clear them faster.

Well bye for now, time to get some work done X

luckylise

Whoop whoop....pay day as at last arrived and the debt balances have been reduced.

I have been doing a bit of juggling around since i last posted, as although all debts were on 0% some were due to finish soon and revert to hideous rates.

So I have gone from 2 store cards, 3 credit cards and 2 loans
to 0 store cards, 2 credit cards and 2 loans and the situation overall now looks like this.

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

CC1 [STRIKE]4572[/STRIKE] £[STRIKE]4422[/STRIKE] £8330
CC2 [STRIKE]3642 £4227[/STRIKE] Gone
CC3 [STRIKE]7828[/STRIKE] £7668

Loan 1 [STRIKE]5874[/STRIKE] £5340
Loan 2 [STRIKE]12341[/STRIKE] £11,739

Unfortunately the emergency fund is not increasing this month, because the shower has broken and needs replacing. However, I am using what I was going to save in my emergency fund to buy a new shower....so I guess in a nut shell my emergency fund savings, have been used for an emergency. and I have a friend who going to fit it for me at excellent 'mates rates' ie. for the princely sum of a cooked Sunday lunch :T :rotfl:

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


As I've moved balances around, targets have shifted too.

Current targets are;

1. £1000 emergency fund by 31st Dec 2016
2. CC1 (Barclaycard) to be paid off by 30th September 2017

I also cant wait to get under the £30K of debt too, which I am hoping is sometime early in the new year, I think this will psychologically give me a huge boost.


I have also budgeted this month to start Christmas shopping..... so I have £100 which needs to sort out mum, dad and eldest DD's boyfriend and Mr lucky's mum if possible...I am aiming for £30 each for 'mums' and Dad (£90 total and £15-20 on DD's Boyfriend).....yes I know this is slightly over the budgeted amount, but I'm sure I can shave the difference off of this months shopping budget if I stick to my meal plans.


Today's positive ending ...4.39% of overall debt kicked into touch since 30th August :dance:

[Deleted User]

Darn it about the shower but like you say you used your emergency fund for an emergency!

I'm having to work out budgets for Christmas now too, calculated how much I still have to buy & was like eeeeeeeek better stop spending money on myself LOL

Well done on the 4.39% paid so far.

Dxxx

luckylise

Well it seems like a lifetime ago since i last posted on my diary ....

It is finally payday...and what a long month it has been for me, one of my CC balances has increased by £46, despite me paying £300 off of it :mad:.... stupid me in the eagerness to get everything 0% for as long a period as possible, I forgot to take account of the transfer fee.

Current Debts
CC1 - £8376
CC2 - £7588

Loan 1 - £ 5073
Loan 2 - £11,438

Total Debt - £32,475 :eek:


Emergency Fund - £880


and.... i have finished Christmas shopping :T:T:T totally finished and I have even got the wrapping paper etc. (just need a wrapping volunteer as my wrapping is dodgy at the best of times...no patience and tend to end up with sellotape everywhere except where if should be). I've Paid a £30 deposit on the M and S food order and got a free bottle of wine for ordering early, and ordered the forerib of beef from the butcher (we dont like turkey) so always go for beef on the big day. I had only budgeted £100 to start Christmas shopping this month, but I earned some extra money I wasn't expecting and whilst it was tempting to use this to clear more of the debt, it is a huge relief getting Christmas sorted.

So although debts haven't reduced much, i have prepared for Christmas and will not do what I usually do and stick it on the CC. and the debts have gone down, albeit less than I was hoping but I have now paid 6.1% off.

I really want to get to 10% paid before the end of the year, so hopefully if i keep focused, that will be doable.