My journey to happy and debt free 5 January 2019 at 12:54PM in Debt free diaries 85 replies 6.7K views

Scott-Weiland

Louoffofsparkle wrote: »

So happy to be home and in my bed after nightshift. Feeling some panic and anxiety due to how my shift ended so just trying to relax and not let myself get carried away with it.

I’ve been reading other diaries to get some ideas and I like the idea of lifting my money for the month and separating it into weekly amounts. Going to take enough out for 5 weeks so I’ve then got a free month after 4/5 weeks depending on length of month.
Need to budget properly but was thinking of £50 per week to cover public transport as well as ‘me’ spends. I just need to stop mindlessly tapping my card!

Because my wage changes depending on what I worked, I have used my lowest normal wage as a benchmark and any extra will be plowed into paying a card.
I’ve also got £22 due to be paid out via top cash back so that’s going to a card as soon as it’s payable.

Just a thought i dont know the area you are in but could you not buy the public transport as a monthly ticket. I use buses for work and its 110 for a monthly ticket and the ticket goes on my phone as a QR code on an app. I work nights too 4 on 4 off if i bought weekly tickets it would be 35 a week or around 10-15 a day.

Well done on the cashback earnings, i use top cashback alot i have even recently sold some bits on musicmagpie just books and old cds and xbox games. They offer cashback for even sales too music magpie.

Louoffofsparkle

Just a thought i dont know the area you are in but could you not buy the public transport as a monthly ticket. I use buses for work and its 110 for a monthly ticket and the ticket goes on my phone as a QR code on an app. I work nights too 4 on 4 off if i bought weekly tickets it would be 35 a week or around 10-15 a day.

Well done on the cashback earnings, i use top cashback alot i have even recently sold some bits on musicmagpie just books and old cds and xbox games. They offer cashback for even sales too music magpie.



It’s not worth me getting monthly or weekly tickets as it works out more expensive.
I need to get the train and bus to work but the bus offers a daily deal and as I only use it 3 days a week it’s cheaper than the weekly.
With the train it’s only worth getting a weekly ticket if I’m out more than 5 days at peak time.

Louoffofsparkle

Just had a £16 payout from top cash back so that’s gone into my cashplus credit card.
And today is a NSD so a good day so far.

Scott-Weiland

Haha result re topcashback. I dont know if you know this re them but if ever your doing any house decluttering clearing ie selling old dvds/books/fones/cds etc etc Ziffit/music magpie and preloved are all on top cashback. Its mad not too get paid for selling stuff its a small amount but every little helps.

Louoffofsparkle

Struggling with this 5 week month without full pay! And I’ve checked what my next pay is but it doesn’t seem right either! So I need to try and figure that out next week.

My Debenhams credit card has been paid off and I’ve cancelled that, only 6 to go. Eek.


Did a meal plan for the week and got the shopping done today. Went to Asda for a change. £50 for the weeks shop.
Will try Lidl next week and do a comparison.

Scott-Weiland

Try the discounters that are out there home bargains and poundland and b and m they sell alot of toiletries and food at decent prices. And a tiny tip have you heard of an app called Shoppix???

Louoffofsparkle

I haven’t heard of shoppix but will look into it.
We bulk buy a lot from Costco do do save in the long run on toiletries and cleaning products. But I do need to use b and m more than I do.

Louoffofsparkle

So today is payday!!! But that really means payout day.
This is my first month following the snowball calculator so £585 has gone towards my highest interest debt and paid a couple of pound over minimum to the rest.

One doesn’t come out till the 18th March so I’ve put that money aside into a separate folder within my account.

Going to lift my money for the month tonight and only use my card for train journeys- no cash accepted on ticket machine.

This I hope will make me more mindful of my spending rather than just putting everything on my card and not really thinking about it. My bank account also does a monthly breakdown of spending and last month I spent £60 on snacks/ coffees etc. I didn’t realise I’d spent that much, but having to properly account for all the pennies will stop this.

It’s trying to get the balance of being more frugal but still having a life isn’t it!

enthusiasticsaver

Louoffofsparkle wrote: »

So today is payday!!! But that really means payout day.
This is my first month following the snowball calculator so £585 has gone towards my highest interest debt and paid a couple of pound over minimum to the rest.

One doesn’t come out till the 18th March so I’ve put that money aside into a separate folder within my account.

Going to lift my money for the month tonight and only use my card for train journeys- no cash accepted on ticket machine.

This I hope will make me more mindful of my spending rather than just putting everything on my card and not really thinking about it. My bank account also does a monthly breakdown of spending and last month I spent £60 on snacks/ coffees etc. I didn’t realise I’d spent that much, but having to properly account for all the pennies will stop this.

It’s trying to get the balance of being more frugal but still having a life isn’t it!

Sounds like you are doing well and as you say all the odd coffees and so on add up. £60 could have got you a meal out for 2 at a reasonable cost restaurant or a new outfit or hair and nail appointment but if coffees etc is what you enjoy then maybe set aside some weekly spending money for treats etc if you can build it into your budget. You will soon get the hang of spending mindfully rather than mindlessly. You are right though in that you have to have some balance. Life cannot be all about debt busting. Paying £1000 a month to the debt is a lot though so you should see it come down reasonably quickly especially if you can get any 0% deals as the cards get closed and the total debt figure reduces. Are you getting to grips with saving too for things like annual bills, holidays, xmas?

Louoffofsparkle

Enthusiastic saver yes I’m putting some money into savings for holidays, birthdays etc. We also have money from rewards account that we will use for summer holiday spending. Going to go camping in uk and will make sure we use deals for days out.