Taking my finances seriously- about time!

zeppelingecko · 30 June 2019 at 3:40PM

Hi everyone,

I felt very reluctant to start a diary on here; my life just isn't that interesting!!
I have been lurking on the DFW boards for a long time now, picking up lots of hints and tips which has enabled me to set a proper budget for the first time ever

I have fairly recently, around 6 weeks or so, started taking my finances seriously. At 29, I have always been a 'YOLO' type of girl..... you only live once so lets spend all the money within 4.3 days of payday and spend the rest of the month poor :rotfl:. This then causes me to live the last week or so on the credit card :eek:

Well, me and my Husband got married just 3 months ago, and, now all the drama and excitement of that has passed, its time to knuckle down and sort my finances out!!! These debts/budgets etc are purely mine- my husbands finances are completely separate from mine ( he transfers me 50% of all bills on payday so what he does with the rest is of no interest to me lol)

I consider myself lucky in a way... myself and my husband live fairly comfortably paying the minimum amounts on our credit cards, and we only have one each. I am also paying off my Currys credit account that I used to pay for a laptop for my husband 30th.

I have created myself a very complicated spreadsheet which even I cant figure out half the time, and that's why I thought I would start a diary to run along side it and keep me sane!!

I have no debt free date in mind as such, but the barclaycard repayment calculator reckons 3yrs 5 months to pay off with a fixed payment of £150.

I do currently pay interest as the 0% term ran out :mad:. I have of course looked at balance transfer cards but, as I moved home in February, then married and changed my name in April, i have found no one will touch me!! I reckon another 3 months or so I will try again as I would have been at my address for 6 months and all my accounts would have updated with my new name. Once I have balance transferred I am hoping it will shave a good few months off of the DFD.

Balances as of 30th June 2019-
Barclaycard £4591.18 17.9% (fixed payment £150 DFD September 2022)
Currys £547.05 (7 payments of £72.27 DFD January 2020)
Barclays Overdraft- £300 (hoping to reduce this down £50 a month for 6 months)
Total debt £5438.23

Anyway, I hope to get these numbers down with sticking to a weekly budget for food shopping, petrol and miscellaneous. Anything from a glass of wine to a birthday card comes under miscellaneous- my spending money for the week. I will also complete as many NSD's as possible and am looking forward to the 'bring your lunch to work' challenges :T

I also generate a small amount of extra money from Top Cashback, Swagbucks and selling bits and bobs on Ebay.

We are renting at the moment, owning a property isn't a priority for us right now ( I know, I know not very MSE). We would like to try for our first child in the next few months so want to clear as much as I can now whilst I have the chance and earn a decent wage!

Anyway, the washing machine has just pinged so off to put washing on the line (how very MSE of me :rotfl:)

K.

Toni'sfriend · 30 June 2019 at 4:15PM

I

I felt very reluctant to start a diary on here; my life just isn't that interesting!!

Everybody's life is interesting. It's just that that we don't always realise it.

You'll get lots of advice on here to help you move on. Welcome and good luck.