Small Steps Out Of Massive Debt!

GeorgianaCavendish

October 2021 Goals & Debt Totals


Debt £749.00

Virgin - £749.00
0% until March 2022
(3 more payments to go!)

Deposit Savings

Total Deposit Savings: 67.51% 

NSDs
15/12


I'm happy with how MSE things are going, but otherwise feeling quite exhausted. Work has been so busy over the last few weeks with no sign of letting up, and there has been a lot of drama at home over the weekend caused by a power cut and losing all the food in the fridge & freezers. We spent a lot of time clearing stuff out, taking inventory for the insurance etc and sorting out food for the weekend. Power is back on now but it was a real pain in the neck. 

I've already done a chunk of Christmas shopping - taking advantage of discount codes as they come up. I've spent half the money in my Christmas pot and sorted just over half of the presents (plus MrC's birthday present for early 2022 and an anniversary present). I did feel a bit out of control while doing the spending, but much better now that I've reconciled all the spending and transferred the money from the savings pot to pay off the credit card. I've got a Christmas spreadsheet with a list of things still to buy, links where I've found the specific item and notes about any discount codes (at the moment just the general ones for signing up to newsletters but I'm ready to pounce!) 

The good news is that I already have the money I need in my savings pot, so I can either switch the monthly savings in Oct & Nov to a different target or get a head start on next year. 

EssexHebridean

I’m envious of your Christmas organisation, but eek to having a power cut long enough to take out all the fridge/freezer food! 

astrocytic_kitten

That sounds like a very exhausting time! Do you have any breaks or anything coming up?

Well done on the Christmas spending too. I love a good spreadsheet 😂 I’m sure the more you (and me) spend sensibly, the more we’ll learn to trust ourselves that we’ll continue to be sensible and accountable.

GeorgianaCavendish

EssexHebridean said:

I’m envious of your Christmas organisation, but eek to having a power cut long enough to take out all the fridge/freezer food! 

Haha - I still feel a bit incredulous that I've got Christmas covered (financially) and I won't be having to use a big chunk of my Nov pay to cover it! 

The power cut was such a nightmare - and an extra drain on food expenses (until the insurance claim is approved and paid anyway)

GeorgianaCavendish

astrocytic_kitten said:

That sounds like a very exhausting time! Do you have any breaks or anything coming up?

Well done on the Christmas spending too. I love a good spreadsheet 😂 I’m sure the more you (and me) spend sensibly, the more we’ll learn to trust ourselves that we’ll continue to be sensible and accountable.

No breaks until Christmas, I'm trying to be frugal with my annual leave so I can carry over the maximum amount to 2022 - I think I'll need it with moving house, and hopefully being able to go on holiday somewhere! 

The trusted spending is a work in progress, I think I'm struggling a bit with unplanned spends - ok, Christmas was a planned expense but for some people I just had a vague idea of what to buy and it felt like I made a lot of purchases very quickly. Perhaps just being more mindful and allowing myself some time to sit on buying decisions would be a good call.
I think I said a while ago, sometimes it feels like I'm using "legitimate" spends to channel that destructive urge to buy something/anything. I guess all I can do about that is keep aware of it, and try to dig a bit deeper to see if there is something that has set me off and to make sure that I don't start finding excuses to spend when I'm feeling a bit emotionally fragile. I know that its easy to set off a spending binge by using the gateway spend of a present for someone or something "essential" and it snowballs from there! 

Perhaps there is something about being just around the corner from debt freedom, while at the same time staring down the barrel of borrowing an enormous amount of money to buy a house. Hmm! Lots of food for thought there! 

another_casualty

All looking good Georgiana 😼
Good point about hanging onto the annual leave . 

Doing that helped me change my notice  period from 4 weeks to one . 

Try not to focus too much about your new way of doing things . It's working just fine ..

Abz12

I have spent the last days catching up on your diary and all I can say is wow! You have done so well over the last few years and your determination to become debt free and save up is amazing. 

Just starting my journey for what feels like the sixth time so have subscribed! 

GeorgianaCavendish

another_casualty said:

All looking good Georgiana 😼
Good point about hanging onto the annual leave . 

Doing that helped me change my notice  period from 4 weeks to one . 

Try not to focus too much about your new way of doing things . It's working just fine ..

Thank you AC! Focusing on the small steps 😊

GeorgianaCavendish

Abz12 said:

I have spent the last days catching up on your diary and all I can say is wow! You have done so well over the last few years and your determination to become debt free and save up is amazing. 

Just starting my journey for what feels like the sixth time so have subscribed! 

@Abz12 - really appreciate you take the time to comment and for sticking with me through so many pages of my rambling! 

Good luck with your journey, you can do it 😊 

GeorgianaCavendish

Off out for a very MSE friendly day today, meeting up with some friends we haven’t seen for 2 years +. We got free tickets to a local attraction so will go there, packed lunches are all ready to go and I have dusted off my Costa points card. I haven’t used that for ages but I’ve got a lot of points on it (a shameful amount really, means I spent way too much in there in the first place!) so that will bring down the cost of a coffee break. 

Also got a bunch of McD’s monopoly vouchers for free food, in case we are coming back really late and just want to pick something up for dinner.