About time I sorted myself out

poppytattoo

Spendy_Spenderson wrote: »

Hi Poppy,


Didn't want to just read and run, especially without saying well done on posting so regularly again! I think you're doing really well (and slightly in awe of you managing to squeeze in a Masters while working) and will subscribe to cheer you on. I agree with a previous poster though that perhaps it's good to have a visual recognition of how you're doing, something tangible to colour in when a chunk of debt is paid off - ie each 1%. Have you created that chart for yourself?


Also is the c/c on 0% so that the payments are directly reducing the balance or is there interest? Which one are you focusing one as the priority debt to pay off first?


Keep going, you're doing great!
P.s - I have also been binge watching GOT and was finishing series 7 over the weekend ;-)

Hi Spendy! Thanks so much for your message, I'm definitely feeling good about posting on here. It's like a weight off my shoulders - I think we in the UK are so bad at talking about money - but here is a community of people cheering each other on and it's so heartening to see!

I've created a couple of charts so far, just with a ruler and pen and pencil for each 1%, because I know that if I did one on my computer I would just save it down and forget about it. And we don't have a printer! I am so bad at maths that it took me a while but it's nice to see each square slowly being coloured in.

The credit card is not 0% interest, I've tried to move to another credit card to get a 0% deal but unfortunately wasn't accepted for any, my credit rating is a bit rubbish at the moment mainly down to constant credit checks (my own fault, but I've never missed a payment on my mountain of debt so at least it's not because of defaults). Basically the monthly payment is a set amount, was set as a bit more than the interest payment, and each month as the balance reduces slightly the interest does too so a bit more gets paid off. If that makes sense?

In terms of priority debt - all of my other debt (apart from the overdraft) are sort of "set amounts" - the loans, car payments etc and I'm not really sure how I could prioritise them because they are all monthly payments that I've agreed too, so I don't think I'd be able to start paying less on some and more on others. Would love to know if that's not the case though? I am a bit confused by that!!

poppytattoo

Scott-Weiland wrote: »

Cashback on a takeaway seems so wrong but so good lol i can remember spending a fortune when the world cup was 10percent offer on Just Eat lol

Absolutely! It was delicious, really enjoyed it :P

poppytattoo

Morning all!

Hope everyone has a relaxing day ahead of the bank holiday weekend.

I've spent more than I hoped to this week - had a wardrobe malfunction on the way to an important work dinner so had to run into Boots for some tights, and then fiance packed a lunch for me that turned out to have an ingredient in I am allergic to, so he sent me a panicked text and I went out and bought lunch instead.

It's been crazy busy and I am very tired but really looking forward to the weekend. Having a few friends round for a BBQ tomorrow but we basically all did a shopping list and have divvied it up so I'm not having to feed loads of people

poppytattoo

Hi everyone! First day back at work this week as we were on the other side of the country for a wedding. We were both a little bit worried but had created a little savings pot for it (it was a 300mile drive to get there!) and I am really happy to say that we managed to stay under the budget that we had saved up for the weekend - including accommodation, food, petrol, wedding gift and card, etc. Full disclosure, I left my OH to do most of the maths, but he did a brilliant job of arranging etc. Even managed to get some fresh air at the seaside before the 6 hour drive home yesterday!

Today I am heading to the gym (I felt huge at the wedding compared to other guests, no idea why) at my lunch break, which is always good because it stops me wandering round the shops and spending. I've got leftover quiche for lunch, and am popping round to a friend's house later who is cooking me tea.

It's also payday, FINALLY, so tonight or tomorrow me and the OH will have our regular "money chat" as we call them, where we look at the month ahead, what we need to pay for, etc. He's off on his stag this weekend, but it sounds like that's pretty much all been paid for for him, although I might pack a tenner in his bag so he can have a couple of drinks on me...

Pip_Boy_111

Hey Poppy! :wave:

Sorry I haven't checked in for a while (have been reading in the background though). Your post on my diary prompted me to return the favour.

What are you like with Excel?? Honestly, the best thing i ever did was create a spreadsheet that covers absolutely EVERYTHING! Took a bit of time to set up and tweak, but it's at the point now, where all i do is input my wages and DW's wages and it does the rest. I transfer what i need to for bills and debts and everything left over is usually what the spreadsheet says it should be (give or take a couple of quid, not quite nailed it on the money yet :rotfl:)

Takes away the need for a "money chat" these days. Input figures, both look at result, job done.

As for the feeling that everything is f*****. Well, we all get that. For me, the organisation was the first step. once that's in place, you can control your situation. If anything then pops up that is out of your control (or unforseen) it's easier to cut yourself some slack because you did everything you could. You're doing amazingly well so far. Just knowing your situation and recognising the steps need to be taken is 99.9% further along than a lot of people.

As for the payments, I would get rid of the overdraft first and foremost. As others have said to me before, that can be recalled at anytime. Anything spare, throw it at this. I would then go at the credit card. The way you have it set up now, means you're already overpaying slightly and that will increase every month, so that's good. Maybe as the balance comes down you'll have a better chance of a 0% BT card offer. Then it's the loan and car payments. That comes down to whether you can overpay and which has the higher interest rate, but that's for the future, you know after you've smashed the OD and CC Until then they quietly toddle on in the background.

Keep it going girl, you got this :j

poppytattoo

Pip_Boy_111 wrote: »

Hey Poppy! :wave:

What are you like with Excel?? Honestly, the best thing i ever did was create a spreadsheet that covers absolutely EVERYTHING! Took a bit of time to set up and tweak, but it's at the point now, where all i do is input my wages and DW's wages and it does the rest. I transfer what i need to for bills and debts and everything left over is usually what the spreadsheet says it should be (give or take a couple of quid, not quite nailed it on the money yet :rotfl:)

Takes away the need for a "money chat" these days. Input figures, both look at result, job done.

[...]

As for the payments, I would get rid of the overdraft first and foremost. As others have said to me before, that can be recalled at anytime. Anything spare, throw it at this. I would then go at the credit card.

Hello there!

Thanks for this, your posts about taking charge are really inspiring and I really appreciate the tips

We do have a big spreadsheet (I am terrible at excel, but OH is a bit of a whizz with it) and we're getting pretty good at tracking everything on there, but it sounds like yours is way more advanced than ours! We have to have regular "money chats" mainly because one of us earns a wildly variable and irregular income - could have loads of money in one week, then a quiet week, or an amazing month etc - so we need to be a little bit more hands-on. They're not necessarily a bad thing to be honest as sitting and talking through everything makes me feel a little bit more in control! But it sounds like a higher-level spreadsheet would be really useful. Maybe we can try and give ours a bit of a spruce up!

And thanks so much for the tip on the overdraft. Literally no-one has mentioned to me about paying that off before, and to be honest I have been treating it as the lowest-priority and just living in the ends of it! I'm going to look at how I can start ploughing money into it. I think one of my problems has always been slipping further into my overdraft - I sort of do really well for a couple of months at creeping out, but then the boiler decides to leak all over a plug socket or the dog injures himself running face-first into a bench at full speed (true story) and I slip back up to my limit.

I have got a bank account with Loot and I try and put "spending" money for groceries, birthday presents, petrol and stuff in there so I can leave my main bank account debit card with the overdraft at home and only use my Loot pre-payment card. I haven't quite cracked this as a system yet though as I'll bring the debit card out for a larger purchase and forget to take it out of my purse, or the Loot card is empty and I've not realised so I leave myself stranded in town with no bus ticket (another true story). I think my poor organisational skills are one of my key hurdles in this battle, and I've definitely got better in the past year or so, but I'm not quite there yet. I've found removing temptation helps a lot - ever since I took the mobile payment facility off my mobile I've been spending a hell of a lot less. I'm so lazy that rooting in the back of my rucksack for a purse and my card to buy something is WAY less appealing than if my phone is already in my hand and I just grab a bag of sweets and then use contactless to pay...

Wow, this turned into a bit of a ramble - sorry for the soul-searching! I'm going to try and work out how to plough some money into paying off the overdraft. It might be a bit tricky whilst we're still also making payments to wedding suppliers, but as soon as I'm married and that's ticked off (this autumn) I can start hitting it hard!

poppytattoo

Other wins for the day:

- Meal prepped today/tomorrow's lunches (£1.89 in total) out of a mad tesco run before work. Haven't been able to do a big shop yet!
- Managed to squeeze in a 30min gym session on my lunch break
- Taxed the car. Went for the monthly option of £12.89 because I didn't have the full £145+ to pay upfront now.
- Pulled some cash out of Fivesquids into PayPal. So far I've earned £44 on that site when you take away their fees. I've also just had another order come through for £35. Whoop!
- Rang doctors and made an appointment that I have been putting off for MONTHS
- Rang best friend for a catch up. Haven't spoken lately as we're on opposite shift patterns, but it was nice to have a mini catch up
- Rang brother about his birthday plans
- Bought 4-week student bus pass (£43.50, not bad when I can go anywhere in the region on it!)

Can't think of anything else right now. Tonight I need to unpack my bags from the weekend. I'm feeling good - amazing how a bit of productivity and motivation can give you a lift and then BOOST your productivity and motivation!

poppytattoo

My bank holiday weekend started with a whimper, literally, when I suddenly got some kind of vomiting bug on Thursday night. Not feeling myself yet but am much better and back at work. I've got my appetite back anyway, which is very much a blessing and a curse!

Because I was poorly it was very much a quiet weekend. Watched a load of netflix and pottered around. I was sick in bed (gross, TMI) and once upon a time I would have just binned the sheets and bought more but thanks to my new money-saving outlook I ended up spending a pleasurable (!) couple of hours sanitising and stain removing those. _pale_

I did spend a fair whack at the shop buying food because I didn't know what I fancied, so got a load of bits in, which is naughty, but I was feeling like death and not really thinking straight. OH was on his stag do so not around to pamper me. It sounds like they all had a brilliant time which is amazing, though.

Saw best friend for her birthday, spent about £25 on her pressie and card which is believe it or not a lot cheaper than last year, because we spent about the same on a present and then treated her to lunch, an activity etc, and obviously we were paying for us too. So it's kind of an improvement.

Went to see parents for a bank holiday family gathering but as I was unwell I stuck to cups of tea whilst everyone else was on gin cocktails, so that ended up being a cheaper day than expected!

Back to the grindstone now. Little pockets of cash starting to come in from the bits of freelancing I've been doing. It's literally only a fiver here and there, and sometimes it annoys me that I'm getting a fiver for what can sometimes end up being a few hour's work - but it's pocket money, so...

poppytattoo

Today brings a new dilemma, after years of investigating, dental hospitals, etc, docs have decided I need some work doing fairly urgently to my mouth.

This will cost, in total, just upwards of £350.

I already have an outstanding dental debt of £972, which I've brought down from £1558. This was for some pretty serious work, not cosmetic either, which is irritating as they still look rubbish - but at least I've not had them all out at the age of 25, which one NHS dentist suggested could happen.

I am really stressed about it. I don't know what to do. I could put it on my credit card, but I will resent that so much after having worked to bring my balance down.

poppytattoo

I haven't posted in over ten days and I'm feeling guilty about it. Here's what I've been up to lately:

-Bought my shoes for my wedding day! They were supposed to be £68.99 but I got them for about £45 with student discount and using the Honey browser extension. This does seem steep to me because I rarely buy shoes and if I do they're as cheap as I can find - but I was looking for a very specific colour and style and I'll be able to wear them for work after the wedding...
- Went to support my friend in a charity competition she was doing, I already bought the ticket last month but the petrol cost me a good tenner to get there and back
- Have made a start on next piece of uni work. It's a big essay, due by the end of this month, which seems fast approaching!
- Went to Eurovision party on Saturday. Took three big bags of crisps, (Aldi), peach schapps (my cupboard), and made vodka/tequila jelly shots (just had to buy jelly, got a pack of three from poundland, the alcohol was lying around since I've been given it for Christmases etc.) Had an amazing night with friends.
- Have started going make-up free one day a week to cut down on usage. I know this may not sound like a big deal, but to me it really is! I was really spotty aged about 13 and I started wearing a full face of makeup then. I have not really been confident enough to get my bare face out in public since, and especially not at work! However I did it last week and no-one commented or threw up at the sight of me, so I'm barefaced again today. Hoping it will kickstart a positive cycle of confidence, help my skin clear up, so in turn I won't need as much makeup etc...

Am absolutely drowning in work at the moment which always makes me anxious and when I'm anxious I tend to go a bit manic which in turn leads me to buying stuff I don't need etc. Money's really tight until payday which is the 31st, so I'm trying my best to be sensible...