This Duo's debt free journey

DebtFreeDuo

Not doing well on PA today but total of £57.27 (most of which is pending), all of this will go as an overpayment at the end of the month.

Today will be a NSD, paid my cheque into the bank today which will go over to the savings account once cleared.

My next counselling session is next week, it should have been today but it was pushed back due to some volunteering I signed up for. The volunteering will be good as it will give me a little experience with what I want to do with my degree when I finally get it. I feel like I have a lot I need to talk about next week.

DebtFreeDuo

I really need to keep better notes in my spreadsheet, the total balance in my pots wasn't adding up and I realised I had an extra 141.94 in there that I had added on. I think this was from my energy refund, I'm about 95% sure its that anyway. I have assigned this along with £84 (to cover the caravan holiday so far) to go as an overpayment for the end of this month. Must remember to pay the rest of the balance for the caravan (around £60).

This means that, along with the money from PA, I will have paid a total of £485 from my debt by the end of this month. I wonder if I can manage to get this up to a nice round £500?

ladymay

DebtFreeDuo wrote: »

I really need to keep better notes in my spreadsheet, the total balance in my pots wasn't adding up and I realised I had an extra 141.94 in there that I had added on. I think this was from my energy refund, I'm about 95% sure its that anyway. I have assigned this along with £84 (to cover the caravan holiday so far) to go as an overpayment for the end of this month. Must remember to pay the rest of the balance for the caravan (around £60).

This means that, along with the money from PA, I will have paid a total of £485 from my debt by the end of this month. I wonder if I can manage to get this up to a nice round £500?

:dance: We really need a cheerleader smilie! This is the closest I can find, DFD. I really hope you can find that extra £15, £500 off the debt would be a great achievement, PLUS the holiday is nearly paid for! Didn't take you long to get back on track

EssexHebridean

Also cheerleading here for you to find that extra £15 from somewhere! :T

DebtFreeDuo

Thank you both, will try my best to find that £15!

Struggling a little the last couple of days with my mood, I've had a tough couple of weeks emotionally. Trying to put my focus into my uni work to stop me spending to make myself feel better. I have my counselling session this week so hopefully this will help with my mood this week.

EssexHebridean

Not surprising allowing that you've been under strain with exams etc DFD. take each day at a time and remind yourself that those feeling do and will pass.

DebtFreeDuo

Thank you EH, I've just been plodding on, putting one foot in front of the other.

Updated my finances today, the food budget isn't looking too good but the entertainment pot is looking healthy so I can move some from there if I need to.

Received a bonus payment on PA so I now need to find £13.36 to bring my total debt payment for this month up to £500. Started listing some things to sell, only some old clothes and toys so no big amounts but this will be a help towards that.

Will receive interest from my Help to buy ISA in March, I haven't built it up much in the last year, around £900. Last years interest was a little over £140 so I'm expecting around the same this year, I think I will put this towards the debt in March which will make March's total debt payment around £350.

DebtFreeDuo

3 parts left of the PA research and then I should get the £35, the other £23 has all cleared. 1 item sold so after fees I will probably end up with around £4, every penny counts right! Any money (excluding postage) from selling I will leave in my PP account until the fees are paid for that month, then I will transfer it over to my account and use it for overpayments. The only exclusion to this would be DS' toys, any money I get from selling his toys has always gone into his account so I will continue to do this.

My emotions are all over the place today, I'm not sure if this is because I know I have a counselling session today or whether its just because of everything else I have going on at the moment.

DebtFreeDuo

Feeling a lot better after my session, my emotions feel a little more balanced. Its important that I remember that I am not responsible for other people and that it doesn't matter what other people think of me as long as I am happy with my decisions and I can look at my DS when he's older and tell him with complete honesty that I tried my very best. Uncertainty is scary, staying where you are at least you have an idea of what to expect but will that bring you happiness?

I'm feeling lots of reflection and some decision making coming up in the near future which I think will be good for me once it is all sorted.

Finances are really going to be tough this month. I've put £40 of my entertainment budget into my savings for this week but I think I may regret that decision, the next 3 weeks of this month are likely going to be very small amounts, especially with half term coming up.

I feel exhausted today so I think its going to be an early night for me!

DebtFreeDuo

Been listing some things today, only small value items but I have around 10/15 listings. Hopefully these will sell and I can start crossing off towards my 'Clear an item a day' goal for this year. Will try to find more items to list/clear tomorrow.

One more part to go on the PA research and I will be glad when its finished. Transferred the other £23 ready to go over as and overpayment at the end of the month.

I bought a pair of boots a few months ago that I'm hoping to return as the outer material has started rubbing away which I do not expect for an expensive (to me) pair of boots after a couple of months. I won't assign this money anywhere yet as I'm not sure whether I will get a refund.

My energy supplier will be switched over in around a week and the new supplier takes the payment upfront so I am going to be faced with paying 2 bills in one month. I'm hoping this will be balanced out with the credit I will get through using a referral. Managed to get £100 credit from this which will be a big help and already got one referral myself for £50, total credit £150 provided all goes well.

Aiming for a cheap yet exciting half term for me and DS so will be planning lots of free things where I can take my own food. I will have to use some of the entertainment pot towards the groceries this month so I can't plan anything that will cost a lot. We also have our first holiday coming up in a few weeks so I need to save as much as I can towards this, we have our food included so hopefully I won't need loads but I don't want to have to worry about money whilst away as it will be our first holiday together that isn't in the UK.