No More!

Drawingaline

Sounds like you are doing fab. I too started debt busting in October but I owe a bit more than you. Good luck and I look forward to the updates.

Bobarella

Hope your day out tomorrow goes well

hamiltoes

It was great Bob thank you! I used to go to the same place as a sprog and it was quite surreal being back there, the kids had a ball!

Off work today with my oldest who isn't very well. Shes still in bed so I'm enjoying the peace and quiet with a coffee and a read on here. Its so nice to not have to get the three of us up and out by 6.30am!

When she wakes my plan is to throw some clothes on the youngest and get her off to nursery. I fancy taking this unexpected mid week day off as an opportunity to get caught up on the house so I can hopefully have a more chilled out weekend.

Our bins still haven't been collected, they are 3 days late now and we have a tiny bin for general waste which is emptied every 3 weeks, its a nightmare and the rubbish is piling up and stressing me out! Could really do with a run to the tip but don't want to drag big one out again. Will see if bf can go at the weekend, he has the bigger car!

Did my totals for last week £94.49. So under budget thankfully but was hoping for a bit more than that as it was the week where I only have to put £25 of petrol in my car rather than the usual £40!

£30 of the above went on vaping stuff. I got a new one as the prices have gone up for the disposable part of the one I have now. I really need to cut this out, its my only vice really as I don't drink at all or gamble or eat much and I suppose it is better than the £10 a day smoking habit it I gave up! Next time I order liquid I think I'll cut the nic level and see how I fare.

Plan for today is to get caught up on washings. I changed the beds last night so have a load of that to do plus was a bit lax at the weekend due to day out on Saturday. Spent Sunday visiting bfs mum and dad (meeting for first time, they're lovely!) so must catch up. Will thoroughly clean my bedroom and the kitchen and tidy up the living room and hall. Its not too bad as I do generally keep on top of it but living with two girls it gets dirty very quickly! Must crack on x

Bobarella

How annoying on the bins. You pay for them to be removed don't you, so why aren't they doing it?

hamiltoes

So annoying isn't it Bob! They have basically cut the service by 75% over the last couple of years as they went from weekly to bi-weekly collections and have reduced the size of the bin massively.1 black bag fills it and leaves room for only 1 carrier sized bag on top. I just got by before by being careful with recycling but with one still in nappies and BF staying a few nights a week its hard. A couple of days late just seems to throw the whole system!

I blame the big companies who over package everything. Council is reviewing monthly collections and if it goes through I can see the city turning into a rubbish pit, completely unsustainable :mad:

hamiltoes

PAYDAY!

Its actually not that much different to any other day as I still have my £100 weekly budget, but it is nice to have a full bank account.

Pretty much everything goes out on or before the 1st so will update my monthly stats then and can see my progress.

I feel like I'm still doing OK and sticking to budget. Spent a bit in boots yesterday as needed hairdye, deo and treated myself to some eyelashes. We are off out tonight to celebrate my payrise by spending it :rotfl: I do feel like it's ages since we have been out just the two of us so I'm really looking forward to a nice dinner and a bubblegum frozen cocktail! The BF has kindly offered to drive since I am paying. My rise was £55 after deductions so I don't intend to spend any more than that!

Looking forward to a quiet, relaxing weekend! Hopefully BF does skip run for me and I can just stay in, chill and not spend any money :rotfl:

Bobarella

Hope you have a lovely evening out. Treats are important.

hamiltoes

Well our romantic meal out actually ended up in KFC :rotfl:

I felt a bit of a sore head coming on and just couldn't find the motivation to get ready, so all in all a nice night out and ended up pretty MSE.

Came home and watched the film "Miracles from Heaven", it was heartbreaking and a real tear jerker but very good!

Had a nice chilled morning catching up on the diaries here. Goinv to post an update and then get my bum into gear with housework before my little angels come home and tear it up again!

hamiltoes

So as I mentioned this month I took a huge leap and paid off the fridge debt (was £400 Jan 1st) in full.

To even not be in my overdraft in January was a huge achievement for me so I was thrilled to be in a position to do something like that.

Today I have done it again! On payday I usually allocate £300 to debt. I played around with my app and looked at how much I could afford to pay without going near my overdraft limit the rest of the month. TSB CC was sitting at £750 Jan1st and managed to get this down to £600 by making payments here and there. I just made a payment of £400 bringing the balance to £200. I am expecting £200 in maintenance this weekend which I had earmarked £50 for buffer, £50 debt and £100 savings. I reckon I am just going to ping it over and clear the TSB CC completely! Paid £100 also to the biggy CC which now has £5700 outstanding.

This will have got me from 7 debts in October 16 to just 4 debts in January 17. Almost £14,000 and my new total will stand at £11,100.

This has been bl**dy hard work but starting to feel like real progress has been made. At the same time it's pretty scary because I actually had no idea until Oct that my debt was ever above £10,000!!! So I feel like I should be further on than this rather than just creeping towards the starting line IYSWIM?

So, if I can stick to my plan then next month the priority will be to get rid of the £350 0% very. Then I can concentrate on my 3 debts still outstanding

Loan -£4100>£3620
Car: -£1500>£1450
Card: -£6100>£5700

The card is 0% until Summer 2019 so I plan to bring this down at £100p/m while overpaying the loan (around 10% I think). Loan is annoying in that it sends me a letter every time I overpay so I reckon I will throw everything into savings and then make a big payment once a month, still aiming for the £300 as well as my normal £125 monthly payment. There is no huge pressure on the car, I am going to try to pay this off asap though as I hate it hanging over me. Feeling very proactive indeed!

Bobarella

That is amazing progress. And you are putting the hours in to sorting it out which is what counts too. You've made that move to be proactively wanting debt freedom.

Don't beat yourself up about last night either. It was still a nice evening I'm sure.