Getting a grip on my life...

FaceHeelTurn

Hello All!

I’ve been a lurker on MSE for about a decade, and after finding myself in debt over the last couple of years, I’ve finally joined up and am starting my Debt Free Diary. At 33 years old, I feel like I need to get a better grip on my life and I hope my diary will help, even if just a little.

Since moving into my own rented place in summer 2012 I’ve had growing credit card debt. I owe the following…

CC1 - £3209.11
CC2 - £1675.83

I also owe my partner approximately £700. Thankfully she is not in any rush for me to pay this back, and I’ve set up a direct debit to her account for £20 per month, so slowly it’s reducing.

I’ve paid off a good whack of my CC debts so far this year, and I was really pleased to see my credit rating jump up a bit because of this. To further improve my rating, I have a 3rd CC which I have used only for small amounts twice and have paid off completely at the end of each month.

After moving into my own place, what really got me into debt was…action figures. I’m a big comic book fan and amassed an embarrassing amount of those little Funko Pop vinyl figures in a short period of time. They’re generally £10 each so didn’t feel like too much of a splurge, which then led to me buying more and more. About a year ago, I finally completely stopped buying them and have been slowly selling them all on ebay. Thankfully, as I was so obsessed with these little figures, I knew the market quite well and managed to sell some for a decent profit. I still own about 30 and am still going through the process of selling them.

I joined up to the following survey sites at the end of May; I-Say, Swagbucks, Onepoll, Prolific, Crowdology, GFK, YourSayPays, and Populous and in about 5 weeks, I’ve earned approximately £20 in Amazon vouchers, and £30 in cash which I’m really delighted with.

Now to throw a spanner in the works…I have 2 big holidays (New York in Oct and Copenhagen in Dec) coming up before the end of the year. You might be thinking “Well she’s a bit of a plonker for going on 2 big holidays while she’s in debt” and you’d be kinda right The holiday to NYC is with my mum. My parents aren’t aware of my financial problems and I really don’t want to tell them. Mum recently received a redundancy package (which she was happy with btw!), has wanted to go to NY for years and thinks now would be a good time while she is fit and healthy. That holiday is now completely paid for; flights, hotel, insurance, coach transfers etc. I’m going to Copenhagen with my partner, who is aware of my debt; after recently coming out to our parents, we’re finally in a place where we can go on a foreign holiday. We avoided this for years for various reasons; what if one of us got sick and had to contact the other’s parents? We couldn’t buy our folks little holiday gifts, or even share holiday photos and stories with them, so we knew we just wouldn’t enjoy it. So although it’s not the best time money-wise, after 5 years of keeping our relationship a secret, we just really wanted to treat ourselves. My partner has paid for this trip (I’ll be paying her back as mentioned above).

So as I'm trying to save a little spending money for the holidays and for Christmas, for the rest of year, I'll only be paying the minimum off my CCs, while trying to avoid running into more debt. It feels like an almost unrealistic task so I’d be really grateful of any advice and support!

Sorry for the long post and thank you for reading!

Clare

GlendaSugarbean

Congratulations on reaching a good place with your partner - that stability must be a huge help.

Re the debt busting, are you tracking your spending? Are there some little things you can do to nudge payments to your CC, to make it less overwhelming when you start to focus on paying them off?

a_silver_lining

Hi Clare, welcome to the forum

Well done with the CC payments so far. Do you have a plan for the rest, or are you focusing on paying the minimums?

I totally get the coming out holiday. My partner was never out, and her mum found out, freaked out and then over time accepted us. Since then we make a really effort to fly over for all family events, weddings, Christmas etc. It's more then I would have visited in other circumstances, and is expensive, but so important and actually really lovely It also coincided with my early 30's finance sort out, but we are budgeting round it.

FaceHeelTurn

Hi Glenda,

Thank you for the kind words; being open with our parents has made for a tremendous improvement in our lives.

I've just recently started tracking my spending at the start of this month, and at the end of the month I hope to have a better picture of what spending could be eliminated or at least reduced. Snacks I think are my main culprit.

I've also switched broadband provider which will save me £21 per month, a TV subscription at £10 per month, a Coca Cola Belfast Bikes subscription at approx £2 per month. I'm trying to get motivated to walk to and from work every day rather than getting the train; that would save me £48 per month which is pretty huge. I've been struggling with this one though.

I'm having trouble figuring out how much per month I should put aside for savings for holidays, and how much to pay of the CCs. Like you say, it would be much better to even pay a little bit more than the minimum repayment each month.

FaceHeelTurn

Hi A Silver Lining

Yes being able to spend time with family without omitting huge parts of your life is so important. Definitely worth spending money on Are you far from your/your partner's parents?

Until the holidays were booked, I was paying double the minimum repayment of each CC every month which was really making a big dent in the overall amount. Now with the holidays...it's just been the min repayment for the last couple of months. Not ideal at all and would love to figure out a way to pay even a little extra on top.

FaceHeelTurn

So today's spends, and plans for the evening:

£2.40 on train ticket to work (really need to start walking but a 50min walk each way in this heat sounds dreadful)
£2.00 into work's milk kitty (won't need to pay that again for a few months)

Shouldn't need to spend any more money today. This evening I'll be putting another item on ebay, doing some dishes, soup for tea (despite the weather; it's the only thing in the cupboard) and making a packed lunch for tomorrow.

Despite only starting my diary today, I'm already feeling a bit more accountable for my spends, and generally feeling pretty motivated!

GlendaSugarbean

Great start!

FaceHeelTurn

Another £2.40 spent on the train to work today, but other than that, no outgoings.

Tonight I'm having a little Mexican feast! I realised I've never really made the most of living alone, so tonight I'll be making tacos, watching some TV, and just enjoying some time alone. Really looking forward to it

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary

FaceHeelTurn

Thanks beanielou

Dodgy start to the day; slept in for work and had to get a taxi in, so that's £6 down the swanny

Thursday and Friday are public holidays here in Northern Ireland but I have all meals planned so hopefully no unexpected spends on the horizon.

SavingAFuture

Wishing you all the luck on your debt free journey.

I am in a similar boat this summer - off on a holiday I can't really afford...
It's only camping in Dorset but still an expense that could have gone towards clearing a debt.

I always feel bad for my OH who is so good with money. He deserves a holiday and shouldn't have to suffer for my bad habits haha.

I've always fancied Copenhagen. Make sure you enjoy every moment so it's worth the cost

All the best,
SaF x