A Ditherer's Diary (again) 6 January 2017 at 2:18PM edited 23 September at 12:00PM in Debt Free Diaries 584 replies 40.8K views

Naomim

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I think you need to look at a few things to economise further. Spending more than £100 on mobiles and a further £105 on Sky when you are so stretched seems a bit daft TBH. Can you threaten to cancel sky to get it cheaper or go for a cheaper package? Same goes for mobiles if out of contract. Go for sim only.

Also, while I understand the reasoning behind wanting to save for your children the reality is you cannot afford it at the moment.

Sadly the mobiles are all tied into contracts at the moment. MrM's is due to expire first but his mobile is a really cheap one. He did the deal with EE to get his and 12yo's on same contract but then he got two tablets with it which pushed the price up!

I will call SKY and see what we can do. They're sneaky though as they chuck a "premium" channel in with loads of others you don't want.

I've tried to forward forecast for everything in the next six months but obviously both cars will need to be MOT'd & serviced which I can't account for but all of the regular payments are on there. My hours at work have recently changed so now we are only using one car in the morning and evening so hopefully that will at least be some savings on petrol.

I should really stop saving for the children. I think after this month I'll cancel it for now.

7yo lost a tooth today so the tooth fairy is going to have to make a little visit tonight. I'll have to make sure she has some change to give!

Oh I heard back from the "promising" job interview. Sadly I didn't get the position. It was due to experience in their field rather than my interview skills so at least that was a positive.

I'll keep on looking. If I can work full time we'll be out of the schtuck so much quicker! I keep putting full time pay into my spreadsheet to see how much quicker we can do it.

MrM is also going great guns on the no smoking. He's vaping but he knows we cannot afford for him to spend £10 on a packet of cigs. I found a couple of bottles of vape oil yesterday too when I was having a little tidy up so that's about another £15 saving. :T

Last week I did a big shop with Aldi so this week I only spent £34 in Sainsburys. More than I wanted but a lot better. Now to stop the 12yo & his friends from constantly drinking the cartons of juice I get for 7yo's packed lunches. :mad: I wouldn't mind but I always have squash made up in the fridge so it's not like there's nothing in there.

Oh well, I'm keeping positive on the money saving front. Checking my bank account daily and keeping on top of my spreadsheet and what's due in and out.

Naomi

Naomim

GeorgianaCavendish wrote: »

Hi Naomi,
Just a note on credit card dates - the providers should definitely be able to switch it for you. They might not be able to do the exact date you get paid (if I remember correctly, MBNA gave me the option of 4 different dates that they could take the direct debit on) but they can definitely change it so it is more convenient for you.

Thanks GC, although I have them all on spreadsheet in the right place now. MrM gets paid on the last working Friday of the month and I get paid on the 15th of each month so it's better for me to spread them out a bit. But I'll see if I can shift them from the end of the month to closer to the 15th.

Naomi x

Naomim

When I went through the credit cards the other day, I realised that on my MBNA card, my 0% deal had run out the month previously and I'd been charged £65 interest :eek: Luckily my Barclaycard had an offer on so I've cleared the MBNA card completely and transferred the balance onto my Barclaycard. So my credit card bills now look like this.

July Credit Card Balances

MBNA - £2709.95

NUBA - £5279.02

Barclaycard - £9527.36

M&S - £3515.70

All of them are on 0% interest at the moment. I'm going to put this into the stoozing website and see how far long this will take me to clear. I'm expecting around 52 months. :eek:

Naomim

I've just snowballed the debts. Apparently it will take me 79months and £10,559 in interest!!!:eek: Obviously when my first 0% interest ends I'll hopefully be able to transfer it over to another card to keep the interest down.

I've printed it off so I can cross the payments off as they come and keep it upto date.

Naomi

GeorgianaCavendish

You need to keep a sharp eye on MBNA, their regular interest rates are so high! :mad:
Well done for getting everything onto 0% though, I'm moving some of my CC debt to 0% this month and hoping that I'll qualify for more 0% offers as time goes on. Onwards and downwards!

EssexHebridean

On the issue with the 12 year old and the the juice, tell him that each one comes out of his pocket money with a high rate of interest added. That way he learns about interest rates and the cost of borrowing if he drinks them or lets his friends do so, and you save on pocket money to cover the replacement cost? Alternatively just tell him he's not allowed to touch them?

That 79 month snowball gives you a challenge to aim for then doesn't it! The countdown to reducing that timescale starts now, I'm guessing?

As for Sky - 10k interest over 79 months, -v- that "premium" channel - I know which I'd choose!

Naomim

Oh I do tell him he's not allowed to have them.. it's in one ear and out the other. Deducting from pocket money is a good thing I think!

Sunday was 7yo's school fayre. I made her bring £5 of her own money out of her piggy bank to spend. it certainly made her think about which stalls she wanted to have a go on.

79 months (6.5 years!!) is certainly a challenge! I'm hoping we'll be able to reduce that and pay a bit more off once we're out of the overdraft. My forward forecast has that as being cleared around Feb/March time.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I borrowed the money to pay off 12yo's ski-ing trip from my brother. I've set up a DD to pay him back monthly and it will be cleared in 6 months time.

I've also booked some days off for during the summer holidays so now to start planning what we're going to do and see where I can make savings using vouchers etc.

Feeling positive (for a change!)

Naomi x

EssexHebridean

Maybe a sit down with 12 year old and explain that "you can't touch this" means just that - and that helping ones-self to things from the fridge will result in the fridge AND cupboards being locked so NO snacks are accessible? I'd not have dreamed of just helping myself from the fridge at that age - and I can't imagine you would either! Definitely the pocket money approach though - I don't mind betting just the threat of that might work! :rotfl:

Naomim

No you're right, I wouldn't have just helped myself. Half the trouble is he's home on his own after school for a couple of hours. He often has a friend back and I don't mind if they drink the squash, just not the cartons, etc.

I sent my forecast to MrM today, just so he can see my plan of action for debt busting. He knows now all of our debt, including the credit cards so at least we are on the same page. I've made a small allowance for the end of this month and next month for the kids for the school holidays so they can have the odd trip swimming or an ice cream and I don't have to constantly say no.

Naomi

Chandelier.

Afternoon.

At least you have a clear plan in place to clear the cards and have the visual plan in front of you. It's always better if both of you can work towards that plan.

I can't believe how quick the summer holidays have come round. Hope you have some lovely plans.