A welcome wake up call

twiggy86

Thanks clearmydebts!

Had a lovely weekend with my best friend and her two boys and only spent £3.59 all weekend! I also snapped her recent receipts into my apps so earned a fair few points!

I was just reading someone else's diary and they were talking about a 5 year plan, and after spending time with my friends children if I'm honest it's made me think how much I would like children soon. Another friend has also announced this morning that she's pregnant with her second. Over the moon for her of course but also feeling the green eyed monster creeping in. It's even more reason to knuckle down and get the debts cleared!

So next month I will be better with my spending diary which has been rubbish this month and I can see a definite correlation between the number of odd little spends and how much I keep on top of my spending diary. However, we have paid off £639 this month with a few days left! Plus with the various balance transfers I've done, interest will be massively reduced compared to a couple of months ago!

I've also just switched my energy supplier. This means my monthly payments will decrease plus there will be quite a bit due to come back! Can't see final numbers but believe it will be about £115 due back - we all know where that money will be shuffled off to! Thinking ahead, February and March are council tax free months, so that's another easy £300 to throw at the cards!

twiggy86

I have a question - is it worth closing any accounts once they're paid off? The only card I have ever actually used is Bcard and don't know the pin for Vcard so no risk of spending on that! It's just in terms of ways to improve my credit score - is better to have unused open credit or less credit available Alternative to closing them is to reduce the credit limits? Don't know what to do for the best! Between Ne*t, Bcard and Vcard it's over £15k of credit!!!

I would keep Bcard though - I don't have an emergency fund at the moment so that would be my fall back. However, I may put it in a drawer at home rather than in my purse so that it isn't readily available. I like to think I have self control, but clearly I don't or I wouldn't be here!

Andyjflet

Close the accounts, it could be seen as large amounts of available credit that could worry some lenders. Also you wont be tempted to spend on these cards, have an emergency fund and never borrow again.

twiggy86

Thanks Andyjflet - that was my thinking that it may reflect badly that I "need" so much available credit!

Andyjflet

twiggy86 wrote: »

Thanks Andyjflet - that was my thinking that it may reflect badly that I "need" so much available credit!

Also, try and save £1000 emergency fund, by selling stuff and putting some away, you can then cut up all your credit cards.

Once you have cleared your debt then you can add more to your emergency fund to cover major life incidents, maybe 6 months worth.

twiggy86

As it's payday I thought I would do a post reflecting on my progress for October.

The Good
* I paid £677.74 towards my debts, which after interest makes a difference of £478.08 on the debt total
* Total debt payments since LBM equal over £2k and have decreased the debt total by over £1.5k!
* Debts are now into the 11's (currently £11.872.65)
* I transferred £3,900 from 18.33% to 0% - although this cost £115.15 will save in the long run!
* My "pots" are building up

The Bad
* I didn't allow myself enough for petrol, although I did make a few journeys which I wouldn't normally (3hr journey each way to see my nephews)
* I totally ran out of money (savings/pots don't count) - this was partly caused by OH having pay mucked around so not giving me his "share" last week
* The above two points meant I put £20 worth of petrol on CC
* I also was totally rubbish at my spending my diary which was probably (definitely) related to running out of money

Goals for November
* Record every spend in spreadsheet
* Clear remaining balance on Vcard (currently £293.25)
* Close Vcard
* Pay £800 towards the debts - may not be do-able but this was what I previously said I wanted to hit each month (although that was before the lodger scarpered!)
* Take lunch to work every day!!!!

Lemon_Tree

Hi, I'm a returning forumite so will subscribe, I'm in the dfw honeymoon stage but will not be able to clear as quickly as you, but we'll done on the progress made so far.
Whean I was a member before I always cancelled the cards as I cleared them so as to remove temptation.

twiggy86

So my outlook has changed rather dramatically in the last couple of hours. OH has been struggling with his back and has texted to say he's hurt it again today and he's had enough and has quit (again). Maybe it will be a blip like before (which is what led to my LBM) but maybe it won't. I don't begrudge him not wanting to do a job which leaves him in pain and honestly wish I could simply say "that's fine darling, just have a break whilst you decide what to do". But it leaves finances very tight.

I've just re-done my budget for the month and fortunately I can cover everything - but it doesn't leave much for food and life! Will speak to OH later and maybe suggest the idea of taking in another lodger, although we didn't really want another one - didn't really want the last two but we have a tendency to take in strays! lol!

I am just so grateful that the majority of the debt is now interest free/ lower interest! As this will definitely help continue to reduce it, even though it may not now go down as quick.

In other news, I have called and reduced my ne*t credit limit from £5k to £500. Left some limit there because I don't like their clothes and it's handy (not that I can now afford to buy anything!)

Lemon_Tree

Hope your OH's quitting his job is only a blip and that his back is better soon

twiggy86

Whilst I can't deny I'm worried about my finances, I'm determined to look for positives so here are somethings...

* I'm in a better position than I was a couple of months ago due to the steps I've taken, such as reducing the amount of interest and also budgeting forward so with some added from this month have enough for car tax and service (rather than having to find the whole amount this month)
* I cancelled NowTV last night which will save £8.99 a month going forward (unfortunately had just missed out on cancelling before next payment)
* On my wage alone we can cover the bills and CC payments
* I currently have £117.01 credit with my old energy supplier which will come back to me
* I have budgeted based on the old energy supplier taking the dd of £142, as it says to leave it open - either this won't get taken or will but will come back to me
* The new energy supplier dd won't come out until Dec so I haven't got to worry about a double payment and then will only be £93 giving extra room in the budget
* Due to the predicted bad weather, my plans for tomorrow have changed and I will avoid spending approx £40 (best friend's son's birthday and I refuse to miss it)
* I have £21 in TCB which I'm waiting to become payable
* I have £387 in savings which were earmarked for something non-urgent so that is now my emergency fund

This may only be a blip and there are people a lot worse off than me, so I am trying to be grateful but it does feel scary right now.