Start of my journey

efes_shareholder

this was my downfall Jon for many years
I would not open statements and close my eyes at the cashpoint as I did not want to know how much money I didn't have
In fact because of this , when my account was hacked I didn't realise for 4 months as I hadn't looked through a statement
I guess the saving grace was the fraudster didn't extract much as there was never much available !!

JonW1984

efes_shareholder wrote: »

this was my downfall Jon for many years
I would not open statements and close my eyes at the cashpoint as I did not want to know how much money I didn't have
In fact because of this , when my account was hacked I didn't realise for 4 months as I hadn't looked through a statement
I guess the saving grace was the fraudster didn't extract much as there was never much available !!

I know exactly what you mean! It's obvious but confronting the debt head on and knowing where every penny is has got to be the golden rule. I'm determined that this will be the last time I have to dig myself out of the debt hole! Hope all going well for you, will call over and check out your diary :beer:

juliejim

Hi Jon

Just a quick note on doing a balance transfer to a 0% CC, yes you will have to pay a BT fee but that would be covered by a couple of months of the interest you're paying on your o/d and then it will interest free.

You're doing well with keeping an eye on your budget and spending quality family time with your DD.

Jue

UncannyScot

Hi Jon

You're doing grand in your debt busting and enjoying quality time with the family.

Don't know where you are but you and DD could try wild camping (non-site) and save a fortune as well as having a grand adventurous time away.

North o t wall there are loads of good places to camp for free. Just leave site as you found it, as if you'd never been there

In this glorious summer myself and the pupper have had a great few days away with just a basha, a ground sheet n sleeping bag

JonW1984

Pay day is so close... Total spends have gone a fair bit over budget this month but we've done quite a bit of family stuff whilst the weather's been so nice. I know I'm just being impatient in wanting to clear my debt as quickly as I can but I need to remember that it took me years to get to this stage so it'll take a while to pay off. Looking forward to totting up the totals at the end of the month

JonW1984

Checked my online banking last night and the settlement figure on my loan is around £10,500 as oppoosed to £12,197 which is the balance remaining over the lifetime of the loan.

Means that my total debt is (in principle) £13,187.00 rather than £15,384.34 and the settlement figure will go down with each month that passes.

To keep things simple for the time being I'm just going to work off the current loan balance and once I clear the overdraft I can then work towards saving up a lump sum equivalent to the settlement figure.

As my overdraft is currently standing at £2,687 it means that by the time I pay it off (hopefully Christmas) the loan settlement figure will hopefully be below £10,000 as I'll have made a further 5 repayments of £234 (£1172.85 total).

Can't wait to get my debt down into 4 figures rather than 5!!

Still feeling a bit down about this last month. I've definitely over indulged with alcohol and have decided to quit completely for the next 4 weeks. I have a blood test on 14 Sept so that will be a good goal to aim for.

Also not been doing so many surveys so I spent an hour last night catching up on all the invites I'd had. It's so frustrating as you often get routed out of the survey after a few minutes but it's worth it when you build up an additional £20-30 of "free" money.

Resolving to be on best behaviour between now and 18 September!!

JonW1984

Got paid today so time for another month end update.

Today, my overdraft is £2,687.00 and my loan is £12,197.64 (£14,884.64 in total)

Total paid off is £574.34 (£339.77 of which was from my overdraft).

Not quite where I hoped to be but stil a huge improvement. Target for next month is to pay £500.00 off the overdraft. The key for me is to stop drinking alcohol next month!

I was slacking off the surveys last month but had a good catch up of late and have around £27.00 pending so that'll help.

JonW1984

Aagh hate debt so much. Feeling blue this morning. Hugely overspent since payday.

The budget is forecasting that by payday this month (18 Sept) I will have paid the grand sum of precisely £20.00 off my overdraft. I'll have still made my loan payment of £234.57 so at least total debt will go down slightly but not as much as I'd hoped.

Part of it was a necessary spend on some new fence panels and a van hire. We've also had a few nice family days out. I'm just annoyed that so much of it was on avoidable things like a takeaway and the ever present alcohol

Seriously need to stop drinking or at least really cut down.

Enough blueness now, need to get on with work.

SavingAFuture

Hi Jon,

Just wanted to say you're doing really well at your debt busting. Keep going!
Being aware of how much you owe and where your weaknesses are is half the battle.

I know exactly how you feel about alcohol spends. I am always horrified by how a couple of rounds here and there add up to over £100 a month :eek:.
I have had to massively cut down on spends in the pub. We've taken to sitting in the park with a beer from the supermarket, rather than heading straight to a pub garden! As the weather turns, I'm hoping the temptation will reduce.

Wishing you all the very best,
SaF x

Working_Mum

On the alcohol issue - did you see the BBC documentary last night by Adrian Childs - it was interesting on soooo many levels and may give you a perspective (other than cash!) to think mindfully about how and when you drink!