Working Hard Debt Diary - Here goes

WorkingHardDFW

As promised I am trying to keep up my debt diary although the last few weeks have been very difficult.

A cash flow problem meant that there wasn't enough money in the bank to cover a cheque which was written out for the car tax. I'd withdrawn the money from the savings account (in a different account) but it hadn't arrived at the bank in time. As it turned out I'd put the wrong account number it and the money went back to the savings account

It just feels like this debt clearing is such an endless task. I tell myself all the positives about how much better we are now than when we were overspending etc etc and how we are now in control. This massive :eek: debt of ours didn't happen overnight and it won't clear overnight either so we just keep in plodding on.

Christmas is the worse time as well since you always seem to be spending here and there. Although we've got a very generous budget for Christmas (which has now been substantially reduced for 2008) when you are used to only buying what is necessary it comes hard to spend. I am quite pleased that I've managed to get 12 presents with 'free money' - clubcard vouchers, gift vouchers, offers etc. So I'm hoping to have a couple of hundred left with which to throw at the CC's. Part of me just wants Christmas over with so that we can get on with the normal not spending policy - how sad is that

I tried to move by BT broadband to Sky last week but i'd signed up to an 18month deal with BT. They could reduce the cost of BB but I'd have to sign up for a 12 month contract - no thanks! We'll just have to live with the cost until May.

Good news though - Managed to get DH to agree to cancel the Sky subscription and just remain on freeview. What a great saving that will be. I'm not sure he realised how close to the edge we are and now he does he's Ok with it going. Can't get him to move on the holiday though although i'm sort of with him on that one though.

I've now fully embraced the cashback/survey culture. I'd not really got the hang of this before but I'm on the case now. Our car ins are due in Jan so I'm sure I'd get some cashback on those plus we've gone for the low cost reclaiming breakdown cover which will save a lot. It all helps...

I've joined the clear a debt by April challenge and I think I'll join the long haulers club since from where I am now it feels like its going to take forever to get out of this mess we are in

falady

Hi WorkingHard,

Welcome to the board from a newbie!

It sounds like you are taking really positive steps to change your situation and become DF - well done! The first steps are the hardest they say :-)

I'm not as far on with swtiching suppliers etc as you are, so i'll need to get going with that over the next few weeks - you've inspired me, thank you!

Think I might have problems with persuading OH of my need to be debt free when he comes back from Australia in February - he manages his money better than me, and might not appreciate my attempts to cut down the food shopping bill :-( Any tips very welcome!!

Keep at!

Ali x

WorkingHardDFW

Thanks for that Falady

All help gratefully received and given

As you said its all in the small steps but every so often I look at the blinking great mountain in front of me :eek:

My only tip at this early point my journey is too keep such a tight grip on everything. Its almost as if you can't ever take your eye off the ball or it will all fall down. We are in a seriously bad position where there isn't any room for error any more. Our cash flow problem last week was an indication of our state.

Looking at other sources of income is quite fun as well. Ebaying anything thats no longer needed in the house - its feels like a part time job to me now always running down to the PO - but I do love banking the cheques. Mystery shopping is good fun especially plus getting cashback all helps.

Keeping this diary, after months of lurking, has really helped me. It sharing your problems with others in the same situation particularly as apart from my OH no one knows about our situation. Great support :rotfl:

Good luck on your journey. We can wait each others progress

WorkingHardDFW

I've been been flicking through the threads and I am so amazed at the motivation of people out there.

The last couple of weeks have been quite hard for me with our cash flow problems etc etc. On the positive i've now, finally, got the hang of quidco and greasypalm although pigsback seems to have eluded me so far. I'll aim to get that sorted over the Christmas holidays.

My questions is how people track their spending. Much of our problems have come from not tracking (and noticing believe it or not) how much we've been spending particularly in relation to expenses. I've seen a few threads in the past on the subject but have been unable to find them again.

In summary both my OH and I have to drive a lot for our jobs and as such claim this money back on expenses. We were putting the petrol on CC's and using the expenses as income but clearly that hasn't worked. :eek:

Now we are putting any expenses income into a seperate account and paying our petrol out of that account. We've been doing this for a few months now and it seems to be working. So as a control freak I feel in control of this and our debt is not increasing.

My concern now is the daily spending. When I'm at work I spend nothing which is great. However when I'm at home with the kids I have to spend money and its the tracking of that which I've not got my head around yet. I've seen mention spending diary but (dim moment for which I apologise) how does that work. Is that listing everything you spend so that it can be allocated from the required pot accordingly? Any help or ideas would be appreciated since over the Xmas holidays I want to do the budget plan for 2008 and I want to get it right so that I can see our debt's reducing for the first time!!

Also joined the Long Haulers Supporters Club - Yippee!!

Strangely looking forward to 2008 and getting the debt's down significantly although I'm sure the task will overwhelm me at times

WorkingHardDFW

I must say that I am really getting hooked on these boards - its like meeting friends - thanks to all.

Joined the DFW Long Haulers Club (Member Number 74) and feel like I am officially here now. Can't say I pleased to be in this situation but who is. It is entirely of our own making so no one to blame but ourselves.

I've updated my signature to reflect my number (simple things) and my debt free date, and total debt. The later has gone up since we received a very nasty demand from the Child Tax Credit who had overpaid us a year or so ago. My checking of the figures meant that I agreed since my OH bonus was not part of our forcast salaries. So looking positively the only way is up, or down I should say.

I've just discovered Eager Learners spreadsheet - Just what I was asking for earlier in the week. I'll need to play around withit a bit to get our info in right but this should be just the tool I need to manage our finances to the minute detail which is clearly what needs to happen.

I'm not sure that I've got the hang of Pigsback yet though. Has anyone seen a link explaining how to use it properly?

It feels strange not ebaying at present. All my sales ended at the weekend and I don't want to start anything that ends over Christmas. No doubt there will be a splurge of things in the New Year on Ebay but to be quite honest I could do with a week or so's break. I've still got lots to post out, they are all wrapped up, since I take payment by Cheque/Po to avoid Paypal charges. Its only a little but it does all help.

belfastgirl23

Just spotted your thread. Well done on your LBM

I started a spending diary at the beginning of this year. At least for the first month you need to write down EVERYTHING you spend. I bought a little silver hardback notebook from WHS that fits easily in my handbag but is fairly solid and used that. At the end of each day I note what cash is still in my purse. So then I can easily see if it doesn't reconcile at the end of the next day. Since it's only for me I can mostly remember what I spent but in your situation I'd advise noting it at the time. I then categorised it in the following:

Food (not grocery, mostly eating out)
Clothes and cosmetics
Newspapers
Miscellaneous (esp books, DVDs etc)
Gifts

But it was via the diary that I came to these categories which do cover pretty much all of my own day to day spending. Yours might well be different. it does mean that you see everything you spend on - I was in the habit of going out to eat at least once a week with a workmate but we mutually decided to go for a walk instead saving about £6 a week.

I like to go back and do it again periodically. It does make you ask yourself if you really want something or not. I also now set myself a target of spending no more than £400 personal money in a month. Don't always manage it but it's good to have a sense of having a target.

Hope that helps, good luck on the DF journey

WorkingHardDFW

Thanks for that its really helpful.

I don't think I've ever actually written down everything I spend and with a family of five its hard to keep track of where it all goes.

I am definately going to adopt that after Christmas. I think I'll use a combinatin of notebook and spreadsheet. Its so difficult if you go into a shop for A and see B&C on offer (so MSE worthy) and buy them. Either if you use cash or debit card the spend can just disappear.

I take sandwiches to work which is good although we do have a fairly cheap 'canteen' of sorts. I go with colleges and just eat my own lunch there which is far healthier. I like the idea of a lunch time walk though. I might adopt that when the new year and tighter clothes hits me in Jan!!

WorkingHardDFW

Its been a while since I posted since work and home has been manic over the Christmas period.

The good news was that I managed to bring Christmas in just under budget. :T However looking at the spreadsheet of what I've spent shows that there is significantly more room for improvement for next year. I used all the 'free money' I had available - Clubcard vouchers, book tokens, nectar & boots points but I still think that I spent too much. Its hard but I'm much more focused on being a MSE for next year. Particularly since I'm now into the swing of the cashback sites so my 'free money' should significantly increase next year.

In some ways I'm glad that Christmas is over since the extra spending has been so against the grain since our LBM.

Aim for the next week is too get my paperwork mountain under control and to organise the budget and spending for next year. I've been trawling through Eagerleaners spreadsheet and I've got loads of ideas for managing and tracking our daily spending for next year. This is where we go wrong so now every thing else is under control this is the next area to focus on. Next week I've got two days when the children are at school to get myself organised and in control. I'm itching to get started on it but since my OH is off as well we are fighting to use the PC. I can wait though.

My car is going for an MOT next week and we've got a family visit to the Dentist which will hopefully be cheap. Next month we've got both car insurances due for renewal. This will sound so sad but since I'm now in full MSE mode I'm looking forward to seeing how much cheaper I can get them and how much cash back I can get as well :rolleyes:

Next week as well I'll be back in Ebay mode as well. I've got a pile of bits ready to sell but I wanted a break from selling over Christmas. I do enjoy doing it but at times I get fed up wrapping and trapsing to the post office.

I think generally I'm looking forward to having a full one MSE 2008. I've joined the clear a debt by April 2008 challenge which will be hard work but FAB if we can achieve it.

NovaPost

You asked about tracking your daily spending. I started using wesabe to track my accounts. The best part is you can setup a cash account and you can add everything from your mobile phone as you spend any cash.

You can import your accounts into it and use it to track all your accounts. I've tried several of these accounts website and this is the best so far. Oh yeah its free!

You can tag each transaction like in gmail, so if you bought some sweets you could enter it on your phone and tag it sweets, junk etc...

Enjoylife_2

Hiya, WH-DFW - good to read your diary. Please don't beat yourself up ... turning your financial situation around from increasing debt to increasing credit is a slow process with lots of habits & values to change. It isn't going to happen overnight. You sound as if you're on the right track ... and six months from now, you'll wonder how on earth you used to spend the money you did. Also, once you manage to put a stopper in the overspending and start paying off your debts - just think how wonderful that will be (no more bounced cheques). Just a thought: have you had bank charges/claimed them back?

I seem to have been working for months or years on changing my spending habits and there always seems to be room for improvement ... this week has included meal plans using what's in my freezer and based on Slimming World principles.

Good luck in the coming week & look forward to reading how things go.