Working Hard Debt Diary - Here goes

WorkingHardDFW

What a numpty I am......

Just posted about the mortgage holiday starting in April and didn't realise that the first payment on the holiday was due out today! Therefore I have been able to move the £975 mortgage payment from the current account to a savings account to enable me to pay it straight off the target CC. When this clears that will take the balance down to £2955 - way to go.

Just checked my cashback sites which I finally got the hang of but have yet to have seen the benefit of...they are now ready to pay out. My quick cals all for: Topcashback £90, Quidco £50, Greasypalm £30 (not using that one again) plus £105 car tax refund on OH's old car, plus £120 ebay sales = grand total of £395 to throw at the CC.:T

My own clear a debt by June challenge has therefore got £945 to go........

WorkingHardDFW

Just posted six items on ebay. None of them high value stuff but every little really does help.

Did a mystery shop today which was good although I only seem to get one to choose from so must investigate the alterntives......

Priorities for the month of April:

• get back on budget with DS's birthdays
• list as much as possible on ebay towards clear a debt by June target (£945 at present)
• ID alternative phone/broadband provider - do the reasearch and action
• get my business off paper and into reality
• keep up the running
• Seek additional mystery shopping sites
• and stay positive........:o :j

Easy...........here goes

WorkingHardDFW

Morning all

I haven't posted since the beginning of the month since I was trying to focus on getting stuff done as per my list in my last post. I felt that my targets for the month were quite realistic but we've had a set back since our PC got poorly.

The PC as all you MSE's will know is vital (although I am sure someone will disagree). Being a true MSE we've sought lots of free advice about how to resolve the issue and finally we may be there. I felt like I had lost a limb although I did get a few chores done in the meantime

As a result my hit list of jobs for April has been set back slightly but half the month remains and they will be achieved.

They were:

• get back on budget with DS's birthdays - went over budget on DS1 but will be on or under budget with DS2. However I booked DD's birthday party for June and that is expensive (I know I was off message for a short while)
• list as much as possible on ebay towards clear a debt by June target (£945 at present) - dug out and photographed lots of stuff but I've not been able to list it on ebay - task for this evening!
• ID alternative phone/broadband provider - do the reasearch and action - ID'd we can move to Sky for Phone & internet and get Sky Sports (My OH is desperate) for the same as we are paying for SKy basic and BT now. I'd rather not have Sky S (I've not even noticed its demise). Now we are back on line I will organise the move but delay upgrading to SS for a month or two (:p )
• get my business off paper and into reality - again stymied by the PC but seeing an accountant next week and got a bank appointment sorted although the business doesn't need financing
• keep up the running - I've run at least twice each week so far but the target is three times
• Seek additional mystery shopping sites - not actioned this yet
• and stay positive........:o :j- trying

On reflection it doesn't look as bad as it felt but like most people I guess I like to see positive achievements each month and time is ticking away for April.

Staying focused................and smiling............:cool:

mancbird

Hi WorkingHardDFW,

Just wanted to let you know I have found your diary very inspiring - you are making great progress

I know what you mean when you've said your DFD seems a long time off but all the things you're doing is helping you get there that bit quicker. It might be a bit corny but if I'm feeling like that I try and remember a quote I heard somewhere (I think it might be Confucius who said it but I'm not sure!) that "Every journey starts with a single step".

Good luck for the future

beanielou

Two & a bit years is not long.

WorkingHardDFW

Thanks for your post mancbird. Like most people when you are in it doing it, it doesn't feel at all inspirational it feels like very hard work. It feels like we have come a long way but we've equally a long way to go. I now know that I am true DFw when I open my CC bills first to see how much they have reduced . Its so good to feel that each month the bills are reducing (i try not to think about the interest we are paying:eek: ) and we are not using the cards. Wonderful.

You are quire right beanielou two years is not too long to get from Deeply in Debt to Debt free but again as most of us find each month is a challenge. So it will be a long two years!!

Made progress on a few things:

• Contacted Sky and BT to get moved across to Sky for internet etc. However BT came back and said our 18month contract doesn't expire until the end of May so i've another few weeks to wait. How maddening.
• Sold a couple of things on ebay which is good, nothing high value though. I planned to sell more this month but the PC problems have stymied that. That will be corrected in the next week or so. My plan was to have a few items ending each day so that the flow of my work parceling and posting and more importantly the money coming in was gradual. Thats the plan anyway!!

Earlier in my diary I posted about having the opportunity to work extra hours at work. I calculated that working an extra 40% would bring my after costs (extra Childcare etc) £300 pm. Well earlier in the week it became clear that due to company financies this wasn't going to be an option. I was gutted as in 12 months that would be an extra £3600 off the debt.

So I thought about it and vowed to keep going (well we have too don't we) and tried to focus on generating money myself.

However the opportunity to name my extra hours has now come up again via a different route. I discussed briefly with OH and the opportunity for guaranteed income is too good to turn down. I could feasabilty go FT but since my youngest DS doesn't start school until Jan I don't want to lose these last few months I've got with him . Even then with three kids etc I don't want to work FT and I still want to get my own business up and running so working FT will stop that.

Now I've made my mind up to do it I just want to get on with it.

I've not had a payout from Quidco or TopCashback yet but I did have one from Greasy Palm which was good - straight off the debt....

mentat72

Keep going WorkingHardDFW, you are doing a fantastic job. If your OH wants to get another car show them the savings you have made instead and tell them to stop being so silly about getting a new car. He only wants one because he's seen someone else with a shiny car. We men have a tendency of unrealistically comparing to other men - it's incurable, like women and shoes.

Keep going at it, you are doing a truly inspiring job.

:T:T:T:T:T

WorkingHardDFW

Thanks for that mentat72. I think that I have won the battle on OH changing his car for now but I think next year when we start to see the end in sight he will be itching to change his car. My OH and cars are not good news very much like women and shoes - who says we don't sterotype!! Although I have sold my excess shoes and clothes on ebay :A .

Because the last 9 months have seen such a drastic change in our attitude and spending it has come difficult at times. Nights like tonight when we'd fancy a bottle of wine and there is none in - its hard . At other times we both feel that this process we are going through is going to be so good for both us and our children in the long run. :T

Personally I think the key to getting DF is staying positive, enjoying the challenge and taking tips and support from others to help overcome the 'down' days and the hiccups that life will throw at us all.

Saying that I bank with the RBS and live in fear that they will call in our massive OD at any time. Particularly with todays headlines. The OD is the last of the debts to clear on my target list so it won't be cleared until September 2009 if we stay on track. Thankfully since we've paid off one CC now and will clear another in a couple of months if need be we could BT it to a CC if we had too. But I dread getting the phone call or the letter - its a little irrational since we've got an excellent track record with them but stranger things have happened in these strange times.

Got to bake a huge batch of biccies now for DS's birthday party tomorrow pm...what fun....must see if I can find a spare glass of wine somewhere its been a long week.............

WorkingHardDFW

Finally got my act together to get lots listed on ebay.

Managed to list 12 items today, although some are unsold items which didn't sell first time around. Apart from a couple most are low value items but every little bit does help so as long as they sell for something.

One of my colleagues resigned today which will make the poss of extra permament hours a reality hopefully. Fingers crossed.

I need to organise DS's birthday party for the weekend. Very low key, at home, 4/5 kids (4 year olds) still needs to be organised on a budget. I will be quite pleased when their birthdays are over...sad isn't it. I think like one of my posts just before Christmas when you get used to spending the minimum all the time the needs to spend on 'luxury' items comes hard. The other thing with my boys birthdays this month is the birthday fund only started in January and it didn't have enough in it to pay for their birthdays at £50 per month. Let alone the few we have in Jan/Feb. Hopefully now theirs are over the savings account will accumulate and we won't have this problem next year :rolleyes:

Apart from that a quiet day, I've not spent any money (always a plus)....just keep on plugging away at the debts

WorkingHardDFW

Sorry bit of a posting day today. Just updated the figures for this month and our total debt is now £42,881

:T :T :T

Can't believe we've knocked £10k off it since its height at £52k in November.

Wow I really am quite pleased with our efforts......

Thats spurred me on....