Small Steps Out Of Massive Debt!

GeorgianaCavendish

Naomim wrote: »

Ooh sounds lovely. sadly I have the worlds fussiest 7yo and I don't "enjoy" cooking so the idea of making two meals an evening is a nightmare. What I try and do is amend what we are having so it's either plain or take her things out early so no sauce etc gets added. So if I make a curry, I cook the chicken and she has plain chicken and white rice then we have yummy sauce and rice and samosa's etc. She'd live on chicken nuggets & strawberries given half a chance although she is looking forward to pancake day today.




I never knew you could claim for tube's :eek: I don't use them for work but MrM does. Our overground isn't too bad with delays but they do make it so very, very hard to claim. My season ticket is on my Oyster card so it's not like I can send that off either! Lucky you with the extra money though. Lovely little bonus :T

Naomi x

The tube refund is good because you don't have to send off any tickets, all the details are here https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/replacements-and-refunds/refunds-for-delays

You have to have an Oyster card and a contactless payment card registered to your account to claim refunds, probably so they can send the money directly to your bank (no extra cost with posting vouchers). I've just registered my contactless card and I'm almost looking forward to a delay so that I can claim :rotfl:

I'm looking forward to pancake day too, although I'm working late tonight and will get home around 9pm. Not sure if I'll be bothered to cook pancakes after that ... maybe I'll have a deferred pancake day on Saturday

Bird.Heart.Mouse

GeorgianaCavendish wrote: »

I got a cheque for £100 from First Great Western in the post yesterday :j
There was no cover letter but I think that this is in relation to a claim I put in for a cancelled train back in November. I had completely written it off as I didn't hear anything so I'm really delighted with this! I'll pay the cheque in today and update my YNAB budget to allocate it to an overpayment on my MBNA card.

Great news! Back in Jan a forumite posted a message about how making payments / overpayments on debts can become addictive and it's so true. Seeing that £100 come off your MBNA card debt will help keep motivation high - keep up the fantastic work!

Bird x

lucy-lou

Hi, I have just read your whole diary and you are doing so well at changing your mindset. The first step for everyone definitely needs to be not adding to their debt and once you manage that first win everything falls into place!

GeorgianaCavendish wrote: »

I need to find an online calculator or something so that I can work out how much I'll actually get after tax etc, then I will know exactly how much I'll have available and can plan what to spend it on properly. It would make SUCH a difference if I was able to reduce those highest APRs!

I have always used https://listentotaxman.com/m/ as a tax calculator and it has always been right to the penny and it is simple to use. I had tried many others but this is definitely the best one I have found. Hopefully this will be some help to you.

GeorgianaCavendish

Bird.Heart.Mouse wrote: »

Great news! Back in Jan a forumite posted a message about how making payments / overpayments on debts can become addictive and it's so true. Seeing that £100 come off your MBNA card debt will help keep motivation high - keep up the fantastic work!

Bird x

I can definitely see how it can become addictive, I think I'm channelling my passion for spending into being in control of my finances. I can't even count the number of times I look at my debt spreadsheet or tweak figures in the snowball calculator to see how they affect my debt free date

GeorgianaCavendish

lucy-lou wrote: »

Hi, I have just read your whole diary and you are doing so well at changing your mindset. The first step for everyone definitely needs to be not adding to their debt and once you manage that first win everything falls into place!



I have always used https://listentotaxman.com/m/ as a tax calculator and it has always been right to the penny and it is simple to use. I had tried many others but this is definitely the best one I have found. Hopefully this will be some help to you.

Thanks so much for posting I've started noticing the small changes in my behaviour now (instead of it being a really conscious effort). Yesterday I had a day off for a hospital appointment which finished around lunchtime, and I had to walk past about eleven thousand food places to get to the station. Old me would have grabbed something to eat on the go, and probably a coffee as well, and wouldn't have blinked an eye at spending the best part of £10, but even though I was quite peckish I kept thinking "I've got so much food at home and I can have another No Spend Day"

Thank you for the tax calculator too, I will try that one - I compared figures from my last payslip to the other one I mentioned and it was off by about £50. Not sure what is happening there :huh:

GeorgianaCavendish

1st March was a No Spend Day :j I feel quite energised and motivated to do at least one NSD a week in March, and maybe add a few others.

I had the day off yesterday because I had a hospital appointment in the morning. I spent the afternoon doing a bit more decluttering and eBay listing, I've managed to sell a couple of jackets and pairs of shoes over the past couple of weeks. I'm not making tons of money on each listing but I love how much more organised my wardrobe looks now
I've got a few more drawers to go through with a critical eye and ditch the things I hardly wear, or have been holding on to for "when I lose weight" or "when I next go to a wedding" or "when I start running again". I realised how much of my shopping has been buying things for my ideal life instead of saying "no, I don't need this right now" or "I won't buy this because it doesn't fit perfectly". Getting rid of some of this stuff is quite liberating and I haven't felt tempted to rush out and replace the things I've sold either.

Naomim

GeorgianaCavendish wrote: »

The tube refund is good because you don't have to send off any tickets, all the details are here https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/replacements-and-refunds/refunds-for-delays

You have to have an Oyster card and a contactless payment card registered to your account to claim refunds, probably so they can send the money directly to your bank (no extra cost with posting vouchers). I've just registered my contactless card and I'm almost looking forward to a delay so that I can claim :rotfl:

I'm looking forward to pancake day too, although I'm working late tonight and will get home around 9pm. Not sure if I'll be bothered to cook pancakes after that ... maybe I'll have a deferred pancake day on Saturday

Oh I'll have to register my contactless card. The oyster cards are already registered as I buy the travelcards online. The queues at the train stations are horrendous!

I don't normally like pancakes but this years were lovely. I had chocolate spread and strawberries in one and golden syrup in another. I don't have much of a sweet tooth. :D

kirtsypoos

GeorgianaCavendish wrote: »

Thank you for the tax calculator too, I will try that one - I compared figures from my last payslip to the other one I mentioned and it was off by about £50. Not sure what is happening there :huh:

Mine never quite works either GC, it's always off by a smallish amount (usually £15-20 a month) and it's quite annoying, but I always seem to end up with more than it says so I'm happier to plan for less and receive more. Not sure why it doesn't work though...

mumto2girlsandaboy

Congratulations on the NSD, you are so right about spending and keeping things for an ideal life and not real life.

GeorgianaCavendish

Naomim wrote: »

Oh I'll have to register my contactless card. The oyster cards are already registered as I buy the travelcards online. The queues at the train stations are horrendous!

I don't normally like pancakes but this years were lovely. I had chocolate spread and strawberries in one and golden syrup in another. I don't have much of a sweet tooth. :D

I didn't realise about registering contactless card until I thought I'd better check my Oyster profile had my current address on it. Very glad I found out about the changes to the refund system as they don't exactly go out of their way to publish it!

I have pancake envy now, roll on Saturday!

kirtsypoos wrote: »

Mine never quite works either GC, it's always off by a smallish amount (usually £15-20 a month) and it's quite annoying, but I always seem to end up with more than it says so I'm happier to plan for less and receive more. Not sure why it doesn't work though...

Hmm, my salary was £50 lower than the calculator said it should be, but I wonder if the difference is to do with my taxable benefits (medical insurance). I'll have another crack at it tonight and use some info from my last P60.

mumto2girlsandaboy wrote: »

Congratulations on the NSD, you are so right about spending and keeping things for an ideal life and not real life.

Thank you very much! I think I'm starting to slowly unpick the tangle of issues around my spending habits, hopefully to make long term positive changes