CreditCardJunkie's back again...

katsu

Good advice on survey sites in the up your income forum. I like swagbucks as it has usually a lot of surveys when you have randomly log in as you have some time to complete them.

Moneywhizz

I agree with all the points made by Positive Balance, especially working out a proper budget that covers everything and start putting the money away when you get paid. Good advice also to stop using credit cards and pay cash for all your daily/weekly spending. It's definitely the best way to control your money and your spending.

CreditCardJunkie

Thanks all! Really value your honest opinions...regarding pots...are these done physically or in several different bank accounts?

I have also signed up for the mystery shopper and have my first one on Monday. It pays £12 and I pass on my way home anyway. How do I go about telling HMRC about these? Do I have to do a tax return in addition to what my company does for me?

Finally pay day today. Have transferred all the money for bills into the relevant places, bought father's Day, 70th bday and mum's birthday presents including cards and gift wrap as well as necessary toiletries for the month. This combined with making up what I overspent during may meant I had less money to pay off debt.

PAYMENTS

Paid £54 off Barclaycard - £2336 to go
Paid £245 off NatWest card - £380 to go (£30 difference came from lunches out)
Paid £75 off car (owed to family member) - £75 to go

MAY RECAP

- Trying again to get my !!!! together
- Lunches are definitely my weakness for spending money I don't have. I really struggle with ideas for lunch
- Paid off £374 of debt
- £30 left for one planned lunch out (might get away with hot chocolate and a bun) and anything else. Second lunch outing was cancelled by my friend.

JUNE OUTLOOK

- Aim to not spend one single penny on NatWest card (this would be a big improvement for me)
- First mystery shop
- Find better lunch ideas
- Scratched my glasses so badly that they need replaced, have already ordered trials from glasses direct and will be using birthday money from DH to order

Moneywhizz

Pots can be done in various ways. keeping the cash physically is one way but probably not the best as that means keeping cash at home, which can be too tempting and also a risk of losing it. You can either open different savings accounts or you can have one account and keep a spreadsheet, or running total of what the money is for. For example if you have £100 in the account keep a note that £50 is for car insurance, 20 for presents, 20 for clothes and 10 for dentist/optician. The key is to a good budget is to include absolutely everything so that nothing comes as a surprise. it is amazing how quickly these pots will build up and you will have money there to cover these expenses that don't happen every month. Good luck.

CreditCardJunkie

Thank you Moneywizz.

Forgot to add the V12 finance figures in, I got a refund of £50 because the delivery on this was extremely late...and the monthly payments are now 34.71...so that's down to £173.55.

Also ordered bedding for the little ones cotbed today...it was £22 and had a voucher for £10, DH and I split the remainder so £6 out of my kitty for the month.

Worked out my debt total is now £2839.55 (was £3393.22 in May).

Louoffofsparkle

Creditcardjunkie you are doing well.
I changed my bank account to one online and it lets me set up folders for mini goals so I can save in them what I need. And it’s good for me to see how close I am to my goals.
I’ve also been trying to use cash rather than just tap my card as it makes me more aware of what I’m spending.

princesspennies

CreditCardJunkie wrote: »

Thanks all! Really value your honest opinions...regarding pots...are these done physically or in several different bank accounts?

r

Just found your diary and will be following along, Congratulations on the baby on the way!! :j:j

I found someone on youtube (what has my life become):rotfl: Who cleared £15k of debt on a £30k salary in one year, she was advising to pay all your household bills (exc food) Then split whats left into savings/debt repayments and a monthly amount to cover your everyday expenses and food................Then to take an envelope split into 4 equal amounts (or 5 depending on how many weeks in the month)....Whatever your weekly budget, set how much you have for food and at least a small amount for "other" ....You can borrow from side to side, but not from the next week otherwise at the end of the month your likely to have nothing left.. I'm going to give it a go from my next payday!

I would of just linked her video but i cant remember for the life in me what her name is lol so sorry if that makes no sense whatsover, it was very simple when she explained lol :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

princesspennies

Ahhhh here it is, might be worth a look ?

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+jordan+page+budgeting&view=detail&mid=75480C7C6FC11BB8A22A75480C7C6FC11BB8A22A&FORM=VIRE

PositiveBalance

Hello CCJ (oh dear - an unfortunate acronym round here! :rotfl:)

First of all, well done for taking all advice/criticism on the chin (especially mine)! We all want you to win - sometimes it takes a softer or harder prod to get us all there!

CreditCardJunkie wrote: »

Thanks all! Really value your honest opinions...regarding pots...are these done physically or in several different bank accounts?

Hmm...it depends. At this early stage, it's probably not a good idea to do it in physical pots as the temptation to take a bit here or there will be too much. Personally, I have 1 bank account separate to my current account and I have figured out exactly how much I need to transfer each month and do the transfer when I get paid. (I could set up a BSO as well, but never seem to get round to it!) Then, if I buy something from one of those categories e.g. a present, I have to transfer the money back to my current account. This makes me think twice about if the purchase it truly necessary and as the account I save the money in has a better rate of interest than my current account, it earns me a few pounds every month, too!

CreditCardJunkie wrote: »

I have also signed up for the mystery shopper and have my first one on Monday. It pays £12 and I pass on my way home anyway. How do I go about telling HMRC about these? Do I have to do a tax return in addition to what my company does for me?

I think you have to do this as you are technically self-employed as a mystery shopper. I've never done it myself so I couldn't advise you, but lots of people on these boards have; check out the Extra Income board and someone will be able to help, I'm sure.

CreditCardJunkie wrote: »

Finally pay day today. Have transferred all the money for bills into the relevant places, bought father's Day, 70th bday and mum's birthday presents including cards and gift wrap as well as necessary toiletries for the month. This combined with making up what I overspent during may meant I had less money to pay off debt.

Maybe, but at least the amount you have paid off is at least *accurate* and based on your actual numbers. This should mean that you don't need to reach for you CCs as much/at all as you haven't underestimated how much you would need to spend on presents. This in itself is massive; you need to have an accurate idea of what you are spending as opposed to what you *think* you are spending in order to be able to produce and accurate budget and honestly, at the beginning of this journey, the difference between reality and what you are thinking you are spending is massive! (For all of us - not just you! )

Moneywhizz wrote: »

it is amazing how quickly these pots will build up and you will have money there to cover these expenses that don't happen every month. Good luck.

Yup! It really adds up! Mine has really quite a lot sat in it now after starting the pots process a while back! :eek: :A It's absolutely mental when I think about it as my current account doesn't look as happy the day after payday! :rotfl:

Word of warning: pots took me a while to master. In the beginning, I thought really hard about what I needed pots for, then make a pot category for all those things, then the month after I would realise that I forgot to create a pot for something else, then the month after, another thing (some of them were small and trivial but they were coming around annually anyway, so better to get them in a monthly pot than not). It might take you a few months to remember everything, but don't look at it as failure - you are improving the process every month and getting it a bit nearer to perfection. :A

I would really REALLY encourage you not to use your CC this month, even if things get a bit hairy. The sense of achievement you will get from this will be massive and really drive home to you that you can do this. It will also help you to lay foundations for building wealth after debt.

Drawingaline

I use ynab which is like using pots but all the money stays in my bank account. I find this easier than lots of different accounts, but not everyone likes it.

Whatever way you do it, having savings seperate for house/car maintenance, things like haircuts, any annual bills, clothes etc is the way to break the credit card reliance.