Small Steps Out Of Massive Debt!

Homegrown0

Thanks for sharing that idea Seaside - I need to re-adopt the 15 minute approach to get things going. It has worked for me in the past!

GeorgianaCavendish

That is a great idea Seaside! I'm working from home today so I'm going to make a start on this today ... 15 minutes every couple of hours

thegirlinthegreenscarf

Hi! Back after a bit of a hiatus. Wanted to say hi as you were very supportive last time. I will go grab a drink and catch up with your diary xx

thegirlinthegreenscarf

Hi


I had a free trial last year. I don't think I used it properly though as I didn't get anything out of it.
Whats it like?

GeorgianaCavendish

Hi Green - nice to see you again! I’m still finding my way with YNAB but the thing I find the best are the videos that challenge my thinking about money. I guess I could watch those on YouTube even if I wasn’t a member!

If you are interested it might be worth trying to sign up for a free trial again. I had YNAB about 18 months before I let it lapse and they gave me another free trial this time.

GeorgianaCavendish

Breaking News
I have found a free app that does the Cher Wardrobe thing from Clueless! The one I am using is called ClosetSpace which was free to download (iPhone anyway) and also has a desktop version which I find easier to use for uploading photos. The only drawback so far is that it is a bit slow.

I am in the stage of uploading photos of my clothes (mainly I am using photos from the retailer websites). I have not tried the Outfit Creator function yet but am very excited about getting to this stage - time to party like it’s 1995!

PositiveBalance

GeorgianaCavendish wrote: »

Payroll confirmed that they received the Stop Notification re: Student Loan Contributions from HMRC and that my February pay will be free from Student Loan deductions :T

The Student Loan Company confirmed that my first Direct Debit payment will be taken at the end of April, so this means that I get the next two months "off" my Student Loan repayments with the last deduction being at the end of October.

I could make manual repayments to the SLC in Feb and March but I think it would make better sense to make a payment of the same size to one of my high interest debts instead. Does that make sense to everyone else?

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

I absolutely think so, don't get used to having the money, so spend it on something useful.

DrSpendLittle wrote: »

Absolutely! Throw that cash at the high interest debts for the next two months and then you can look forward to doing the same again come October!

I fourth this! The problem that a lot of people get into is 'lifestyle inflation.' It's so very easy to think 'Oooh, now I've got an extra £XX.XX per month at my disposal and find new ways to spend it.


The trick is to dispose of it before you get the chance to let it burn a hole in your pocket so ABSOLUTELY throw it at your debt, preferably by standing order or some other automated method so it has gone before you have even had the chance to think about it. :A


P.S. I need to declutter as badly as any two other posters on this thread put together so perhaps 15 minute slots is the way to go for me, too. I'm planning on starting in March as well (but I bet Ebay will have put their final seller fees up since they aren't getting the listing fees any more. In some ways, it's still better as if we don't sell we don't pay anything, so it's less of a risk for us listers.


Anyway..enough waffling. Remember: lifestyle inflation is the enemy and must be punished!

Seasidegal58

GeorgianaCavendish wrote: »

Breaking News
I have found a free app that does the Cher Wardrobe thing from Clueless! The one I am using is called ClosetSpace which was free to download (iPhone anyway) and also has a desktop version which I find easier to use for uploading photos. The only drawback so far is that it is a bit slow.

I am in the stage of uploading photos of my clothes (mainly I am using photos from the retailer websites). I have not tried the Outfit Creator function yet but am very excited about getting to this stage - time to party like it’s 1995!

I'm very interested to hear how you get on with the app. The idea of taking photos of all my clothes demoralises me from the outset though.:( Let us know how the Outfit Creator function goes!

GeorgianaCavendish

PositiveBalance wrote: »

I fourth this! The problem that a lot of people get into is 'lifestyle inflation.' It's so very easy to think 'Oooh, now I've got an extra £XX.XX per month at my disposal and find new ways to spend it.


The trick is to dispose of it before you get the chance to let it burn a hole in your pocket so ABSOLUTELY throw it at your debt, preferably by standing order or some other automated method so it has gone before you have even had the chance to think about it. :A


P.S. I need to declutter as badly as any two other posters on this thread put together so perhaps 15 minute slots is the way to go for me, too. I'm planning on starting in March as well (but I bet Ebay will have put their final seller fees up since they aren't getting the listing fees any more. In some ways, it's still better as if we don't sell we don't pay anything, so it's less of a risk for us listers.


Anyway..enough waffling. Remember: lifestyle inflation is the enemy and must be punished!

I completely agree re: lifestyle inflation! In fact what happened to me in the past is that I would have lifestyle overinflation because I'd get weirdly panicky about having extra money that I'd just spend and spend and spend way past the original income boost and go racing towards those credit limits again. I haven't got very far with listening to The Soul of Money audiobook (going to try again when I finish my current book) but one thing that did stick with me was the idea of being scared of having money. It seems bonkers to say because I'm so preoccupied with my debt that in my daydreams about winning the lottery I think how fabulous it would be not to have to devote such a lot of mental energy to administering the debt, but actually I have had some form of debt from almost as soon as I was able to sign a credit agreement. I've been living this way for pretty much my entire adult life, so no wonder the idea of change is scary.
I fear that I'm getting confused while writing this post, so god knows what it is like to read!, but I'm going to dig into this idea a bit more offline. I have two big financial commitments ending this year (student loans and personal loans) and it suddenly seems feasible that I could make read inroads into my other debts, feasible and scary ... like who decided to put me in charge! I know from bitter past experience that this is a danger time for me, so I'm going to keep checking in about this. Hmmmm ... I'm really confused now

GeorgianaCavendish

Seasidegal58 wrote: »

I'm very interested to hear how you get on with the app. The idea of taking photos of all my clothes demoralises me from the outset though.:( Let us know how the Outfit Creator function goes!

I will report back! So far I've just been using photos that I've found online of some of my clothes, they look much more attractive in the professional photos than hanging on the back of my wardrobe door It is quite time consuming though so I haven't revisited this since I last posted.

Also, I need to do photos and descriptions of the things I need to list on ebay so I'm saving all my photography for that I thought I was going to be having a quiet weekend but it seems to have filled up quite a lot (annoyingly!) so I am going to aim small and get 5 items listed.