Time to turn this around

Drawingaline

You sound happy with your plan,, good luck

FiscalPickle

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been 2 months since I last posted, that time has absolutely flown by. I’m still chipping away at the debt whilst trying not to add to it, without focussing on the numbers I have a feeling that the total is coming down. There are now new things needed in the house unfortunately, one of our cats has peed to oblivion on the dining room carpet so that needs replacing along with the underlay.

I had a trip to London with a friend, I was really pleased that all of the travel, accommodation and activities came within budget. I’d been saving for this since the start of the year and it was such a welcome break. We got a few good deals online for show tickets and dinner at a Michelin starred restaurant during the London Restaurant Festival. There was also a shopping trip, I went in with the mantra of if something really didn’t stand out, not to buy it. As a result I only bought one item, not clothing though as I’m still plugging away with my weight loss efforts. Similar to the debt, I’m not focussing on the numbers as for me that is not a motivator. Instead, I’m going by the fit of my clothes and have recently gone down a belt notch.

After taking a bit of a break and being kinder to myself, I’m feeling much better about this whole debt and MSE thing. I don’t honestly know if I’ll be debt free by this time next year, but I’m much less stressed and if it’s a few months into 2020, so be it.

FiscalPickle

Tomorrow is payday, I'll be sending £825 to the CC balance. I'm ridiculously excited to see my payslip as I'm due a salary increase to the tune of £3k. Now that I'm earning £41k I really feel like I can start making significant inroads into Debt Mountain.

Drawingaline

Lovely to see you back!

Cherryfudge

Congrats on the pay rise - what brilliant news!

FiscalPickle

Definitely feeling the benefit of my payrise, it makes moving job just over a year ago feel like the right decision was made. I'm nearly done with Christmas shopping, so glad I saved each month starting in January. There will be some extra expenses around going away for the festive period, but I have cut back on the overall gift spend to compensate. I have also hand made some gifts this year, including crocheted toys and hats, which is why my diary has been quiet. Hope everyone else's Christmas plans are coming together nicely :T

Onebrokelady

Well done on the pay rise and also well done for making some Christmas gifts,DD1 used to knit me a pair of socks for Xmas but hasn't got time now she has the baby
I'm being very organised this year and I'm on target for finishing my Xmas shopping by the end of next week:j

FiscalPickle

What's the saying.. pride comes before a fall? That is definitely me at the moment. The wheels came off in the run-up to Christmas, I defrosted my credit card and bought extra presents for others, which led into a spiral of buying things to 'cheer myself up'. I need to do the following:-
1. Tot up the damage and come back and post updated totals. I think before I was burying my head in the sand by not focussing on numbers. This is the result.
2. Read through my diary and see what motivated me before to keep chipping away at Debt Mountain.
3. Have a look into shopping addiction/compulsive spending. This might not be a factor, but there is definitely something self-destructive in my behaviour.

FiscalPickle

So, the total damage is £18,985.85, which essentially means no progress for the previous 12 months. The total on CCs is now £10,278.05, about half of it is still on 0% but that is due to end in March. I need to ideally get a decent 0% deal for the lot and shift it over, get it paid off PDQ and cut & bin any credit cards I have. Freezing them just wasn't enough of a disincentive. I don't think I have a proper shopping addiction, but I have very much recently been living in the here and now rather than thinking of the future. I've gone back to my spreadsheet, if I can stick to the plan this time my new DFD will be 26/08/20. Sigh.

enthusiasticsaver

Hope you manage to get some 0% deals. I am not sure the long ones are as easily available now. I suggest cutting the cards up completely to stop you being tempted after you have saved an emergency fund. Do you still have an overdraft too?