Day One, yet again.

monetxchange

So it’s day one of properly trying to tackle my debt. It’ll come as no surprise to all of you that I’ve been here many times before, but as a wise woman once said “Fall down nine times, maybe you should reassess your walking, because something’s wrong!” But here I am, scrabbling my way up.

I’ve had persistent debt for many years. I’ve lived at the upper end of a maxed out -£2,000 overdraft since I was a student, over 15 years ago. I’m persistently owing HMRC thousands as I never have enough saved.

I’ve just paid off a relatively small £1.5k Capital One card (which, unsurprisingly, they’re making it difficult to close down, but which will be done this weekend). The Vanquis card which has cost me thousands in fees over the years will be gone in the next three months too. The Barclaycard, which was once paid off by an unexpected £5k rebate, is back up to its max of £10k. HMRC I’ll just have to chip away at - it’ll shoot back up again in July and again in next January, but plan to have something set aside for it then, and then after next year I’ll be solvent with it in future.

It’s just me and I work a lot, sometimes 16 hour days, and make a pretty decent wage. This has increased a lot in the last year and I’m grasping the opportunity to throw it all at the debt. I thought I was doing well, but adding it up last night, I’d been slowly chipping away at my extra income by wasting money on buying lunches, breakfast, wasting food, ‘treating’ myself to a monthly treat for working so hard like a Kindle or new camera and a smart watch. Not too much in the grand scheme of things, but I can’t do that when in so much debt.

Last night, I cut up my credit cards and deleted them from online payment methods to stop me using them. I then took out a 0% balance transfer to clear the overdraft and those hair raising £50 a month charges. It also helps get a view on how much I’ve got in the current account for expenses. Believe me when I say that little card will NOT ever be leaving the house!

Have become obsessed with checking my Accounts app to see how I’m doing paying it off and looking at budgeting for the future.

Little DFW things planned for the next few days - have raided the cupboards and have loads of stuff in there I could stretch out for dinners and packed lunches and breakfasts for a couple of weeks at least. Going to have a meal prep tomorrow. Main dish will be a ‘things going off in the fridge’ fried rice.

Off to a friend’s today and instead of wasting £20 at the corner shop buying armfuls of snacks to take that never get touched, have found a nice bottle in cupboard to take. I’ll pay her back by providing her with a meal next time she visits me.

Have realised I can’t justify the £40 a week station car parking and have found a £6 day Just Park driveway to use, just an extra few minutes walk away. Will use this whenever I’m unsure if I’ll be working the full 5 days and won’t waste money paying for days I won’t use.

Have also told myself off for dreaming of a brand new car on £200 a month finance. My little 11 year old car runs perfectly, is cheap on tax, insurance and petrol, is owned outright and will be with me for at least a few years yet!

Have just cancelled my Audible subscription, because even though it was £3.99 a month trial, it was about to jump up to £7.99 and I have so many audiobooks on there it’ll take me months to listen to them all.

Going to have a clear out to see what I can sell the old camera etc I’ve replaced on eBay. Sure there’s some unused shoes too. Won’t be a huge amount, but a few quid for the coffers definitely won’t hurt.

Wish me luck as I stumble forth! 😊

in_need_of_direction

Absolutely wishing you luck. It’s luck and support here that sustains us all. You’ve made a plan and have started to execute. I’d say you need to post regularly, it helps get on track. I’ve subscribed and can’t wait to see your successes.

pidge04

My goodness, you are off to a flying start already! Do you have an approximate debt free date in mind? All the best.

findingthisdifficult

monetxchange wrote: »

Have become obsessed with checking my Accounts app to see how I’m doing paying it off and looking at budgeting for the future.

Have also told myself off for dreaming of a brand new car on £200 a month finance. My little 11 year old car runs perfectly, is cheap on tax, insurance and petrol, is owned outright and will be with me for at least a few years yet!

:hello: I could have written these 2 sections of your post myself! It looks like you've made a good start, I'll cheer you on from the sidelines. :j

monetxchange

Thank you all for reading. It’s really great to find a support network, because I feel like debt is one of the final taboos where we’re supposed to be silent and ashamed. Feels excellent to get it off my mind and on to the page!

Not much of an update, but: the Capital One card is gone! They closed it within a day, only had to send them a secure message and they automated it - and not speak to any pushy sales people. Next goal is Vanquis to go by August too.

The balance transfer to clear the overdraft is on its way. I talked myself out of increasing it to cover it and instead am going to just pick up any and all overtime and extra work there is going to have a few good months of wages instead.

Had a big meal prep last night too. Managed to make a week’s worth of veggie chilli and fried rice for lunches and dinners, a Spanish omelette type thing for breakfasts (all made by clearing the fridge of sad looking veg/other scraps), some ugly yet tasty enough muffins made out bananas I'd neglected, and a bonus selection of rice cakes for snacks made out of the claggy rice I messed up the first time I tried to make fried rice!

Had a no spend day yesterday for the first time in a very long time! My friend made us lunch and we had a walk in the park with the little ones and resisted any urge to buy ice creams (or more like coffee in this weather). Hoping to have another one today - don’t plan to go out again. Was going to do a top up of some fuel but I’ve decided I’m actually okay. Resisting the urge to go out for some chocolate by distracting myself by clearing through some cupboards to see if there's anything eBay worthy...

Have a lovely Bank Holiday, all

monetxchange

pidge04 wrote: »

My goodness, you are off to a flying start already! Do you have an approximate debt free date in mind? All the best.

I'd like to get all the cards cleared by January 2021 at the latest. The sticking point for me at the moment is the HMRC debt, as I've just got so far behind with it over the years and every time there's a new tax bill, I'm playing catch up. Currently on track for the end of 2021/beginning of 2022 to have any outstanding cleared PLUS have enough in savings to pay the following bills!

pidge04

Absolutely fantastic organisation!

monetxchange

Just a quick update. I managed Sunday and Monday as NSDs (is that the right lingo?!)

Yesterday my work cancelled annoyingly, which meant a hit in income for the day, but I took the chance to visit a friend who hasn't been doing so well. Instead of letting her talk me into a £30+ takeaway (bloody Deliveroo is such a rip off round here), I bought some things for lunch and all day grazing snacks for a grand total of £7 - plus we both got a couple of dinners in leftovers from what we cooked.

I'm worrying a bit about income this month. I'm self employed and it has been a bit of a slow start to the month. I really want to keep out of my overdraft in the next few months without being tempted to borrow more. I could do with an extra £700 in overtime this month alone to top it up. I've cancelled a day off I had on Monday as I'd rather have the income instead.

On the plus side, I did a meal plan and shopping list for next week and with household essentials too it comes to a staggering £10! That is low because of running down the store cupboards though. Sure it'll jump in a couple of weeks, but saving where I can.

I always enjoy being frugal to start with, but I soon start to feel the pinch when I get tired. It just seems like such a massive mountain still to climb...

in_need_of_direction

Maybe think of budgeting for and planning in some low cost treat activities. The day spent with your friend is a brilliant example of this, even though it was kinda unplanned

monetxchange

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

Maybe think of budgeting for and planning in some low cost treat activities. The day spent with your friend is a brilliant example of this, even though it was kinda unplanned

Great idea. Am doing a free course type thing that has a workshop on Saturday and got us free tickets to a talk on Tuesday night, so have a few things in the diary. Will just cost me petrol money, but my car is quite efficient for an oldie so that's not too bad. Am thinking of driving over to visit my mum next weekend - what I lose in petrol I always gain in her giving me free food and clothes to take home!

Managed to pick up £60 worth of overtime yesterday, Was a long day but worth it in the long run. As I worked so late, I only paid off peak travel, so that saved a couple of quid. Took in my pre-made packed lunch and breakfast. My one treat was a bag of Quavers on the way home :rotfl:

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary