Seriously?! Again?!

Rosylee

And that's what I have been asking myself. Along with "what the hell is wrong with you?" Mentally slapping myself at the same time.

Over the past 9 months, I have increased my debt by £7500 (with very little to show for it).

I started out so well at the back end of last year, I was in a mess anyway, but things had started looking up. I had managed to pay a chunk of debt with a small windfall thanks to a bank error in my favour, moved my significant CC debt to 0% finance and then it all went to hell in a hand basket.

Instead of closing the credit card I had transferred a balance from, I kept it open for emergencies. I mean seriously?! Emergencies, if only! The bank sky rocketed the credit limit and what did I do...yep, you guessed it.

So instead of decreasing my debt, I increased it and now am worse off than before I had the small windfall. What an idiot!:mad:

And of course the CC I was spending on was not 0%...But, on a whim decided to see if I was eligible for another 0% card...didn't hold out much hope so was shocked when I realised I had been approved for another CC at 0%...41 months.

So I have been given another lifeline, most people don't get a second so I had better not screw it up - there will not be another!!

I think I self sabotage myself..I do the same with my weight. I lost nearly 4 stone, but have nearly gained it all back.

Anyway, I am going to do my best, and take it one day at a time. I need to accept that I have to live more frugally and eat less - that will help the budget and my waistline...

I am just so cross with myself...

little_miss_spendtoomuch

Good luck with your new journey. Don't be so hard on yourself. I've made the same mistakes as you.
At least you've realised and now trying to put it right x

Rosylee

Thank you little miss for popping in. To be honest I don't think I have been hard enough on myself. I am so undisciplined, ruled by my emotions. Denying myself has never been a strong point. Anyway onward and upward. I am just going to take it one day at a time.

So today will not be a NSD. My daughter has maths tuition which will cost £37 :eek: But a necessary spend I'm afraid. She needs the help coming up to GCSE. As it's out of town I will need to hang about for the hour and a half. To save money I will take a thermos of coffee. Probably will have to pay parking charges though.

Then off to M &S as she needs some intimate apparel. I have a £20 gift card which I got for my birthday which I will use. I may have to pay extra but less than I would have paid.

Need to get some fruit so off to aldi. Although I sometimes think their fruit is false economy as it goes off so quickly. I am intending to spend no more than £5. Don't need groceries this week. I also have a muscle food groupon voucher which I bought weeks ago but not yet used. I am saving it for when food runs low. I really need to spend less on food.

Have booked a holiday with slimming world today so that will save a fiver. Had to pay £95 yesterday for car repairs. Thanks to YNAB I had the cash but now my car fund is wiped out and its going to take a long time to fund again as I have so little disposable cash.

Right must get on with the day...its wet and miserable outside. Winter is on its way.

Poor_Single_lady

:hello: :Hello. I think a lot of us feel the same as you, i was agreeing with all of your post. So true for me too. Good luck with everything. Hope your diary helps. xx

Rosylee

So a little update...

Planned to spend a fiver at Aldi but ended up paying £18.79 as there were a few things I forgot we needed in addition to fruit. So while more than I intended I only bought essential items.

Marks and Spencer bill was £60, but with special promotion and my gift card I only paid £30.

I used Boots points to pay for toiletries so this did not cost me a penny.

My daughter has decided she likes the tutor so now will have to sign up for the rest of the sessions. I will have to scrape together £165. It's £200 per half term. :eek: Time to rejig the budget.

Rosylee

Morning!

So an update from yesterday. Looking at food stores I realised we are lower than I thought. So I decided to use the muscle food groupon voucher I had been holding on to. So that should arrive on Thursday. It's an 85 piece hamper so should do us quite well. I really want to keep grocery spend as low as possible, using what we have.

Today is planned to be NSD. I nearly fell into the shopping trap a short while ago...I ordered Tassimo pods from Amazon to the value of £54 on the CC of course thinking I better stock up before I do a balance transfer. As soon as I placed the order I thought what the heck am I doing. So within 30 seconds of placing the order I cancelled it. And felt a huge sense of relief. I will have to make do without it.

I do not plan to go out today at all which will prevent spending too.

I made a PAD of £0.35 to MBN@. I tried to change my DD to a fixed amount as I was just making minimum payments but they don't do that. I suppose that's how they keep people in debt. Too much effort to make extra payments or the money gets used up for other things. So I have decided to pay £1 a day extra or skim to the nearest pound. It's not much but it's a start.

DD265

I think a lot of us have racked up additional debt by clearing a card but not closing it or similar. I managed to do it to the tune of £4k since April. Don't feel bad about it - learn from it

On the MBNA front - I do minimum payments with extra debit card payments for the same reason but you could set up a standing order for a fixed amount.

Good luck!

Rosylee

Thanks DD265. As soon as I have moved the balance I will be closing this CC. I just can't be trusted with unused credit. Besides the interest rate is massive, 29.9%. My only worry is once I have closed it I really won't have access to a CC if in the event of a real emergency, e.g. have to fly home for a bereavement. The cards I have are balance transfer cards and Martin says not to use these for purchases. There isn't much spare cash to put away for emergencies once the bills and debt payments are made.

Just waiting now for my card and balance transfer to come through.

Money is extra tight this month as I have pay the tuition fees. Which was an unexpected expense but one which will become regular. I think we have enough food to get on with especially with the groupon order from muscle food on its way this week. So will bite the bullet and pay the fees up front as you save 10% as opposed to paying session by session. It's around £22 saving. Will just have to make sure food stretches till the end of the month.

Rosylee

Declaring a spend of £15.99 at @sda. Essential spend so not too upset by that.

Just wish the balance transfer would happen.

illustrateddame

I'm in the same boat of keeping a card open for "emergencies". Nothing that I have spent on it so far has been an emergency though! I pretty much agree with your whole post!

Good luck with your debt free journey! x

enthusiasticsaver

I would put £50 in your budget for emergency fund then you wont be tempted to put it on a credit card. I agree that closing cards when you balance transfer to a 0% needs to happen to prevent the temptation of spending on a nil balance credit card. Just think to yourself that this is not your money and whatever you were going to buy will cost you sometimes up to 30% more. Often by the time you have worked out the true cost of something the impulsive, emotional response to wanting to buy something has disappeared. When I was budgeting very tightly I would equate whatever I proposed to buy (whether clothes, holiday, dvds, makeup or whatever) to something essential like mortgage or food or gas/electric. Hence a holiday was equivalent to 6 mortgage payments and I would often either choose a cheaper one or forego it altogether and pay a lump sum off the mortgage. Saved a fortune.