Here I go, Step One...

EscapingTheAlarm

Your SOA doesn't look too bad- it's just a case now of figuring out where all the spare money is going! Have you thought of keeping a spending diary at all?
Hopefully with figures like that, you'll soon see a huge difference in your debt totals!
ETA x

EscapingTheAlarm

And yes thank you- DH is all clear now (phew!) we've even got a baby on the way!!
ETA x

HonestS

Hmmm what have I been doing with the money? just generally wasting it I suppose but I have been paying over £400 a month on the CC payments so wasting about £100 a week. I only really put big spends on the CCs, not day to day stuff although I’m sure I’ve done that sometimes in the past.

I’m starting a spending diary today. I got a little book from Poundland yesterday but I’m wondering if there’s an easier way? I’m going shopping to Lidl on my way home from hospital and will be trying to stick to a £50 budget for food each week from now on. This will include pet food.

I also got a load of envelopes from Poundland, I think the easiest way for me to do this is to withdraw the cash once a week and separate it into various envelopes. Not ideal to have it in the house but if it’s left sitting in my bank account I might be tempted to make impulse purchases off Amazon. That’s probably where I’ve wasted loads of it.

Lifeisforliving19

Just found your diary and subscribed. Good luck in your finances and in your health. I know how hard ti can be coping with debts when you are not well, and by the sound of it, you have done amazingly well.
I have found that having a diary on here, really does help. Not just with the financial things, but to give you a boost when you are feeling down.
I will follow your journey with interest and hope to be able to give you some support when you need it.:)

Onebrokelady

I do myself a food budget of £100 a month and I draw the cash when I get paid and use the envelope method,I keep all my receipts so I can keep a check on what I'm spending my money on, using the envelopes had been the best way for me to make my shopping money last because otherwise I fritter it away on coffees with friends and then don't have enough for food
I now try to plan where all my money is going for the month before I get paid then on pay day or shortly after I move it to where I want it to go,so some goes in the emegancy fund,some into savings and food money into envelopes,I pay all my bills via direct debit so I make sure they are covered and I always leave a small amount in the account in case of errors in my maths,this year I'm going to start putting any spare money into my savings even if it's not ear marked for that,I'm doing this because I then have to transfer it back to my current account if I want to spend it and that gives me chance to think about if I really want to spend it or not,if I need it n an emergency then I can just transfer it back anyway but it's not just there in my account being wasted on things I probably don't need

HonestS

EscapingTheAlarm wrote: »

And yes thank you- DH is all clear now (phew!) we've even got a baby on the way!!
ETA x

Excellent! Contgratulations

Lifeisforliving19

Onebrokelady wrote: »

I do myself a food budget of £100 a month and I draw the cash when I get paid and use the envelope method,I keep all my receipts so I can keep a check on what I'm spending my money on, using the envelopes had been the best way for me to make my shopping money last because otherwise I fritter it away on coffees with friends and then don't have enough for food
I now try to plan where all my money is going for the month before I get paid then on pay day or shortly after I move it to where I want it to go,so some goes in the emegancy fund,some into savings and food money into envelopes,I pay all my bills via direct debit so I make sure they are covered and I always leave a small amount in the account in case of errors in my maths,this year I'm going to start putting any spare money into my savings even if it's not ear marked for that,I'm doing this because I then have to transfer it back to my current account if I want to spend it and that gives me chance to think about if I really want to spend it or not,if I need it n an emergency then I can just transfer it back anyway but it's not just there in my account being wasted on things I probably don't need

I agree that the envelope method works really well.

HonestS

Thanks Lifeisforliving.

I really appreciate everyone's support, it shines a light on what really is a gloomy part of life.

Onebrokelady, I like what you do with your money so I'm going to see if I can get a savings account attached to my Nationwide current acc as that's what all of my money will be going through now. Even if I don't end up saving the bulk of it in there, I'd quite like to do the VSP challenge that I've seen on other diaries.

Onebrokelady

What's the VSP challenge,I haven't seen that one

HonestS

It’s the virtual savings pot (I think that’s what it stands for). Once a week you transfer the odd pounds and pence of your bank balance into your VSP, so your balance is rounded down to the nearest £5 or £10 (your choice). I’ve been reading Sun Addict’s diary and she saved around £300 from it in one year and used it for Christmas, it was only a few quid a week!

It’s listed in the challenges page so worth having a proper read if you’re interested as I might have got something wrong.