Small Steps Out Of Massive Debt!

enthusiasticsaver

Excellent start with the decluttering and meal planning. That will help.

GeorgianaCavendish

JoJoC wrote: »

I've just caught up on your diary - it looks like you're really making positive inroads to understanding your situation and how you got there!

Your description of how you viewed your credit lines before really resonated with me. Like if I had £800 available balance in my bank account I'd think 'great, we've got money so I don't feel bad buying X, Y or Z' but actually, that meant we were already £200 into our £1k overdraft facility and probably had loads of bills still to come out which would swallow that up. It's like I was kidding myself.

I'm trying to totally shift my attitude to the above so will be keeping an eye on your diary to see how you're getting on! Any help is a bonus!

Thanks Jojo! That is exactly how I behaved with credit, especially overdrafts. Last year I managed to pay off my overdraft - it was the first time I'd had an account with no o/d since I was 18! It made a big psychological difference with zero being my end point, not a minus figure. I swear, every time I phone telephone banking, the automated HSBC woman manages to sound surprised reading out the balance and adding CREDIT! at the end :rotfl:

MrsTinks

Yeah she's a bit of a sarcastic mare that automated lady in my view

Cupboard and freezer challenges can actually be really good fun. I did buy meat this weekend but I think I may do another freezer and cupboard challenge and see if I can avoid spending any more other than DD lunches and milk and bread...

We could do a Diary Board Cupboard Challenge for Feb if you like?

GeorgianaCavendish

MrsTinks wrote: »

Yeah she's a bit of a sarcastic mare that automated lady in my view

Cupboard and freezer challenges can actually be really good fun. I did buy meat this weekend but I think I may do another freezer and cupboard challenge and see if I can avoid spending any more other than DD lunches and milk and bread...

We could do a Diary Board Cupboard Challenge for Feb if you like?

A Board Challenge would be brilliant, it would be so great to get some inspiration from other people on the boards.

The ebay clear out took a lot longer than I was expecting but I've made a big pile of things that I'm going to list. I took photos of about 20 items and have managed to list 10 of those so far. I'll keep on with listing the rest over the next few days.

I haven't tackled the cupboards yet but I did find a packet of Animal Biscuits that I bought last time my cousin came round with her kids, so I'm just having a cup of tea and a few of those

GeorgianaCavendish

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Excellent start with the decluttering and meal planning. That will help.

Thank you! Decluttering is much more time consuming than I thought it would be but it feels good to get started. I've got 10 things up on ebay so far & hoping to get the rest up over the next few days.

Bobarella

GeorgianaCavendish wrote: »

I haven't tackled the cupboards yet but I did find a packet of Animal Biscuits that I bought last time my cousin came round with her kids, so I'm just having a cup of tea and a few of those

Thought you were going to end that with, and they've just left school :rotfl:

GeorgianaCavendish

Bobarella wrote: »

Thought you were going to end that with, and they've just left school :rotfl:

Haha! No, still school age but not likely to come visit until the summer. Too late for the Animal Crackers

GeorgianaCavendish

Yesterday I listed 15 things on ebay, I've got another 5 items photographed and ready to upload tonight, and have another little pile that I need to sort through and photograph at the weekend. I put everything on 10 day auctions so no sales yet but keeping my fingers crossed. No listing fees either which is good (but must not forget to factor in the ebay seller fees afterwards!)

I also had a call from one of the focus group companies I registered with earlier in the week. They've put me forward for some research paying £50 later in February, I should get confirmation by tomorrow but I'm not going to count my chickens until I get that. Still, not a bad start!

I double checked all my reward card balances yesterday and found that I have £52 worth of Boots Advantage Card Points and £15 at Space NK (plus a £10 voucher I got for xmas). This is good timing because my mascara and lipstick have nearly run out - probably got a week's worth of product left, so I can buy the replacements using my points & voucher. (Might also book a freebie appointment to get my makeup done at Space NK to coincide with a work party later this month, and buy the lipstick at that appointment).

I didn't get round to tackling all the cupboards yesterday but did check the freezer and found some lamb mince so I'm deciding what to make with that. I've got all the ingredients for moussaka apart from the aubergine so I might do that over the weekend, it's a nice bulk cook type dish that can do dinner plus a couple of day's lunches.

I am in a routine of checking my bank balance several times a day and double checking my pending transactions for direct debits and paypal transactions. I usually just close my eyes to my financial situation until around the 6th of the month when I'll be shocked that I don't have any money left and start counting the days left until payday, so this month it has been a revelation to actually see what is happening with my bank account. I am completely banning myself from using Paypal Pay After Delivery, it just makes me buy things when I haven't got ready cash and then forget what I've already spent.

GeorgianaCavendish

I've spent a lot of time on the DFW Challenges board looking for inspiration of ways to tackle my debt (apart from the spending review).

I worked out my 1% debt figure, which is a stonking £359.23 excluding my student loan. (£511.22 including student loan). That is a shocking amount of money! I keep thinking how upset I would be if I had an unexpected bill of £360, or how delighted I'd be if I received £360 as a gift, it is a substantial amount of money by anyone's standards. And yet, that is only 1% of the amount of money I owe to banks.

The other challenges that caught my eye were the No Spend Days, Make £10 A Day and 1 Debt In 100 Days. I really like the idea of NSDs, I need to have a proper think about how this would work in practice (would I include Direct Debits? What about posting something that I sold on ebay? etc) but as a starting point I'm going to aim for at least one NSD per week in February.

Making £10 A Day is a bit more of a challenge for me because I don't get paid overtime and I can't take a second job because my hours are too unpredictable during the week and I am studying for a professional qualification that takes up most of my spare time at weekends. BUT I am able to sell things on ebay etc, do some online surveys and take part in focus groups, so I think that I will keep the £10 A Day in mind as a soft target each month - hopefully it will inspire me to think of ways to make money!

1 Debt in 100 Days is a really good way of focusing my attention on the most urgent or most expensive parts of my debt and aim to clear that first. I'm going to make my first 100 Day target the highest portion of my Barclaycard debt (£1,106.04 @ 27.6%) - I want to get rid of that interest rate plus getting under 10K on my Barclaycard would feel like an enormous victory!

I am now waiting impatiently for my February credit card statements to be generated so that I can see my new totals. Wow, I never thought I would be impatient to get a bill!

GeorgianaCavendish

Oh!
And I forgot to mention that I cut costs by joining a new gym - no contract, no joining fee, and monthly membership is £24.99 rather than £42 that I was paying. The two gyms are within 5 minutes walk of each other so I haven't "saved" money by joining something that I won't end up using, and most exciting - the new gym has a proper swimming pool!

£17 a month saved on outgoings.