Been here before many times 4 November 2019 at 6:00PM in Debt free diaries 74 replies 5.4K views

jbkmum

We're doing okay, I've probably overspent but don't want to look.

We have enough food to last til the end of the month and DS is away from the 23rd to the 31st. I don't get to spend Christmas with him because I had to cancel my christmas annual leave due to sickness so he is spending a few days with his dad and then time at his grandmothers (the exMIL from hell) and then I'll have him for the first week in January. We're having Christmas this Saturday with my partner. We're going to see Star Wars and I MIGHT have his new bike for him by then (and by new, I mean from ebay).

The bike I want is £185 on ebay, I've offered £150 but not heard back. It holds its value well in terms of resale. Dad has offered £75 towards it, so if I manage to get it for £150, it will only cost me £75. He's offered so much as I said I didn't want anything for Christmas, I just want to be able to get DS his bike.

I haven't bought SO anything, I a) can't think of anything meaningful and b) can't afford it. I've bought my mum, two brothers, sister a present each. I do have an idea for SO, his leather wallet is falling apart but thats also expensive. I have loads of things to sell on ebay but I haven't got round to it and I don't want to "borrow" money from January's paycheque when I'm trying to have the money for the month in advance. We're getting closer to not living paycheque to paycheque, about £300 shy from that.

I've had a couple of hairy moments this week with two direct debits that bounced but they're going back out tomorrow.

I also finally started receiving universal credit, I never know how much I will get but I have managed to use the breakdown on the payment page to get a good idea.

My main takeaway from the last couple of months is.....

I can afford my bills, my childcare if I can curb my spending. It is literally just my spending that is the problem. It is the amazon purchases (beeswaxe sandwich wrapping, silicone snack bags that sort of thing). It is the clothes that I've bought that I probably didn't need. It is all the food I don't need BECAUSE I HAVE SO BLOODY MUCH OF IT.

So....January, we need to find a way to stop me spending money. If we can do that I will ALMOST be good in February. Ie, the money I earn in January will be for February. Not the money I earn in February for February.

I have
£420 coming in tomorrow from my rental deposit return.
£175 coming in on Thursday in child maintenance (could be up to £195, unlikely)
£1973 salary 27/12
£400 lodger 28/12
£162 UC 10/01
£82.80 CB 13/01 (weekly but I work out when my last bills are going out, they go from 24th December to 10th January

Total = £3212.80

December's bills
£212.73

January's Bills
Rent £800
Council Tax £87
Childcare £196 and £280 (£280 can be paid by end of Jan but its supposed to be start of Jan)
Water £49
Bulb £80
TV Licence £13
Pet £49.67 and £34
Mobile £92
Home Insurance £7.82
Netflix and Spotify £16.98
NHS £10.40
Virgin Media £25
Itunes £10.47 (subscriptions I need to cancel)
Groceries and Fuel £300
Family Loans £150 + £50

Total £2464.07

Leaves £748.73

£360.28 Car Lease
Self Managed DMP £114 (majority on token payments, ASDA £31 not defaulted, no interest. Halifax £50, charging interest at 19.99% need to get this frozen. Simply Be at £20 per month 59.99%)

Leaves £274.45
£110 DS bike (max)
£50 SO present (no idea what)
£50 Best Friend
£25 Brothers
£10 Sister
£10 Mum

Leaves....£19.45

I need to cancel all itunes subscriptions, all Twitch subscriptions,. XBOX Live Gold. Those are the only incidental expenses leaving my account.

Then I will transfer £300 when I am paid on December 27th to my Starling account and that is the ONLY money I can spend.

I have a £25 Love2Shop Card and a £5 WHSmith card. Just got to work out where to use them.

Need to inventory the little freezer, and eat just from there for the rest of the month. Two drawers of food, I barely eat and DS is away. SO eats like a horse but I'm making him buy the rest of the months food because I always feed him.

jwil

Is there a reason you are paying more to Asda, Halifax and Simply Be? You are spending £100 a month servicing these and SB is crazy high interest. I'd default on Simply Be at least and then lose the ability to use it totally. It will help with impulse spending and you can just replace things as they genuinely need it for the time being. Most of us have loads of clothes we don't wear and could get away with lengthening the life of them significantly rather than buying more.

foxgloves

It sounds as though you really are wanting to get on top of your finances. That's the first step. Most of us have quite a few false starts before the true LBM strikes & we finally accept that we HAVE to change our spending/budgeting habits. It does sound as though you cook from scratch, which always saves money compared to buying ready meals. I think it sounds as though you need to cut out non-essential spending. Whatever the item is that you want to buy......have a think. Is it absolutely necessary? Could you mend the old one.......I did a lot of frugal things like 'sides to middle' bed sheets & making gifts when we were debt-busting? If not, can you shop it from home? (As in, is there anything you already have which you've forgotten about? Is there something which, while not quite right. would 'do the job' until you have more money? Can you obtain one for free?
Basically, every single £1 that you can save from your regular spending is an extra £1 towards debt over-payments, Once you see the figures coming down, it becomes very motivating. Ebay is worth doing - I was shedding weight at the same time as shedding debts & found that clothes in bigger sizes sold well - We made a few hundred pounds doing that, but as you said earlier, it is time-consuming & you do have to be organised with it to get the parcels to the post office in time. I always used to pick a day for posting & when I sent the buyer their invoice, I used to add a little message to say "This week, I will be doing my ebay posting on Wednesday" (or whenever) so that they weren't expecting the parcel to arrive immediately the next day & I also had some structure to my week in terms of knowing I needed to get everything sent off within the postage time-scale on my ebay account.
I have also made smaller, but still useful amounts of money doing online surveys & selling books/DVDs, etc, to online firms such as 'Ziffit', etc.
Anyway, I just popped on to wish you luck & to say that maybe January would be a good time to try a good long run of only buying essentials. You will probably find, like I did, that you have lots of stuff lurking at home.
F

jbkmum

jwil wrote: »

Is there a reason you are paying more to Asda, Halifax and Simply Be? You are spending £100 a month servicing these and SB is crazy high interest. I'd default on Simply Be at least and then lose the ability to use it totally. It will help with impulse spending and you can just replace things as they genuinely need it for the time being. Most of us have loads of clothes we don't wear and could get away with lengthening the life of them significantly rather than buying more.

Asda has 400 left on it. They’ve technically cancelled it, froze interest but the account will still show as open on my credit report. So if I pay that off it’s one less default. Halifax is still open but for every 50 I pay I’m charged 30 interest.

Simply Be I have been reducing the credit limit, it started off at 2000 and now is at 500. I dropped a lot of weight, 10 stone and used that 400 to buy stuff in the sale which has kept me going for ages. Obviously I shouldn’t have done that but I haven’t used it in ages and I now look at the prices and go why on earth did I pay 20 for a pair of leggings. Now I’m slim enough that I can shop charity shops. I have a uniform of leggings and whatever tops I can wear, I’m a size 16 and I use one of the size 26 T-shirt’s as a nightshirt so I’m doing ok on that front but I constantly have to buy new underwear and leggings as I just drop the weight. It’s slowing down now I’ve only got 3 stone to lose. I’ve got 4 bin bags of clothes to eBay!!

jbkmum

foxgloves wrote: »

It sounds as though you really are wanting to get on top of your finances. That's the first step. Most of us have quite a few false starts before the true LBM strikes & we finally accept that we HAVE to change our spending/budgeting habits. It does sound as though you cook from scratch, which always saves money compared to buying ready meals. I think it sounds as though you need to cut out non-essential spending. Whatever the item is that you want to buy......have a think. Is it absolutely necessary? Could you mend the old one.......I did a lot of frugal things like 'sides to middle' bed sheets & making gifts when we were debt-busting? If not, can you shop it from home? (As in, is there anything you already have which you've forgotten about? Is there something which, while not quite right. would 'do the job' until you have more money? Can you obtain one for free?
Basically, every single £1 that you can save from your regular spending is an extra £1 towards debt over-payments, Once you see the figures coming down, it becomes very motivating. Ebay is worth doing - I was shedding weight at the same time as shedding debts & found that clothes in bigger sizes sold well - We made a few hundred pounds doing that, but as you said earlier, it is time-consuming & you do have to be organised with it to get the parcels to the post office in time. I always used to pick a day for posting & when I sent the buyer their invoice, I used to add a little message to say "This week, I will be doing my ebay posting on Wednesday" (or whenever) so that they weren't expecting the parcel to arrive immediately the next day & I also had some structure to my week in terms of knowing I needed to get everything sent off within the postage time-scale on my ebay account.
I have also made smaller, but still useful amounts of money doing online surveys & selling books/DVDs, etc, to online firms such as 'Ziffit', etc.
Anyway, I just popped on to wish you luck & to say that maybe January would be a good time to try a good long run of only buying essentials. You will probably find, like I did, that you have lots of stuff lurking at home.
F

My amazon habit is one of the main reasons for debt, it was disgusting. It’s receded a lot and I can happily say the things I have bought I actually use. For instance the beeswax sandwich wraps will have paid for themselves in a couple more months as I’m not using sandwich bags, and the other thing was a mop with washable pads. Needed a heavy duty one because of the dogs. And then the other thing were silicone snack pouches which again has saved money as we take stuff out with us rather than buy stuff.

I find eBay really daunting, I’m so tired and I just don’t have the energy but I try to do too much. I’ve got a label printer and bags so it’s not like it’s really that hard. I’m going to spend Christmas sorting the house out, move all the junk to the summer house and then it’s out of the way. I can bring stuff back in say, three things, list them and post. If I did it quickly I’d pay less interest but I also don’t want to lose my eBay account by not posting things.

I’m currently sat with my thrifty cookbooks, and trying to find a few things I know we can cook. For me, I need to just make cauliflower curry or lentil Dahl, I’ve got three tubs of couscous to keep me going. DS is easy to feed, Bologna’s or pasta does him. I don’t know why I insist on keeping my freezer full but there is just no need.

I’m chuffed with DS Christmas present though, I managed to get a £350 bike for £118. As long as it’s looked after this brand will hold its value. I need to drive to get it so really it’s £150. I received £95 from family towards it which means net cost to me is £55.

jwil

That's an amazing weight loss, well done :T I know how difficult it is to find cheaper clothes when you are plus size.

My thinking about the cards is that if you get them defaulted, then the clock starts ticking for a clean slate on your credit report, 6 years from the date of default. If they are in an arrangement, then the problems will stay on your record until 6 years after whenever you clear the account. If it's not going to be long that's one thing, but if it's going to take you years to clear it, you might be better off in the long run defaulting.

It also really helped me with my frivolous spending when I didn't have an available credit card to use as back up.

jbkmum

In fact the net cost of the bike is now £22.01 as my mother has said I don't need to pay her back for my brother and my boyfriends christmas presents. She had ordered something for my brother as I didn't have time and then also picked up a wallet for my boyfriend as she was horrified that I planned on spending £50 so she found one for £20 (leather) in the local market. So she has said instead of paying her back, but that towards the bike.

@jwil, Okay so the issue is - neither of those cards are in an arrangement. It "sounds" like they're in an arrangement but they're not. They've just cancelled the account and want me to make more than the minimum payment.So when the last payment is made, the account will show as closed

Thats ok for the ASDA one I'll keep paying the £31 a month. Halifax, wellllll not too happy about the interest but I also am holding on to that idea that I don't want to default on it. Mainly because I am not even sure its cancelled. On the mobile app it says available credit, on the website it says £nil so who knows!

Simply Be, I have plans to get that paid off asap. I am going to ebay my !!!! off over January and February to clear it. And as all the close I have to sell are plus size, I think I'll do pretty well on that front.

I'm so glad I can now fit into cheap clothes. I prefer quality but I'm making do with primark leggings and long tops that I can keep wearing as I lose weight (they just get longer) until the point comes where I can justify a new wardrobe. I'm definitely going to go with a capsule wardrobe!

jbkmum

Christmas is done, ended up spending a little bit more than intended. Wasn't too bad however, as total cost of presents came to £155.28. I've started using YNAB properly as well so i can see where the money is going.

My groceries and fuel has totalled £385.86 = can't quite work out the split of fuel versus groceries although I did spend more on fuel due to picking up bike and going to mums at Christmas. My budget is £300 for both usually.

I've had a look through the cupboards and bought some things I know I can cook with what I have. So for instance I went to Lidl Christmas Eve and bought ALL the reduced beef mince because DS eats bolognese, and I can stretch that quite far. Bought rice, lentils, 4kg of risotto rice. Risotto rice because I can use a lot of freezer foods in the risotto - DS loves risotto.

My job for today and tomorrow is to sort the house out, move stuff to the summerhouse that I know won't be damaged by moisture and repack my cupboards etc

I have three bags of carrots, a brocolli, a cauliflower, two butternut squashes and two bags of potatoes to use. I'm going to make soup and a fair amount of mash to freeze. Then I'll roast the squash and freeze that in 400g batches to make butternut squash cake. I have a ton of milk as well because DS is away so I need to make things with that and freeze if I have room.

I'm making a shopping list for this month, my plan is to use online delivery as if I go to Lidl or Tesco I buy things I don't need!!!

Finally, I'm working on my Simply Be Debt first as it has a disgusting interest. It's at £399.91, whenever I sell something on ebay I'm paying the fees straight away, buying postage and then making a payment to Simply Be. So far I've brought it down to £399.91. I have 4 bin bags of clothes to sell, they're all plus size so that should sell well. I've just got to remember not to overload myself. I also need to go get my label printer out of the shed and set that up as it makes life so much easier.

My aim, pay £399.91 + interest off by end of February. I am going to do it!

jbkmum

Food for January.

Breakfasts: Shreddies/Oat Cheerios/Porridge

Lunch: Cheese Sandwich/Apple/Frube/Cake/Crisps and Soup for Me/Leftovers from dinner

Dinner: Bolognese/Roast Chicken with Potato and Carrots/Chicken and Rice/Fish Cakes with Veg/Chicken Biryani/Tuna Pasta Bake/Bacon and Broccoli Pasta/Beefburgers and Chips/Turkey Meatballs and Pasta/Pizza/Mac and Cheese/Risotto

Snacks:Fruit, Banana Flapjack

Also will make cauliflower curry today and freeze that. Going to go through the freezer today and throw some stuff out thats unusable.

Shopping list
Pesto
Broccolli
Bacon
Mozzarella
Carrots
Tinned Tomatoes
Passata
Chicken Stock Cubes
Potatos
Cheese
Bread
Apples
Frubes
Self Raising Flour
Crisps
Butter
Bananas
Olive Oil
Toilet Roll
Shreddies
Oat Cheerios
Shampoo
Dog Food

jbkmum

My lodger just announced he is leaving in two days, I'm not arguing about the money with him he just won't get his deposit back.

However...£400 down. That means I have to make £400 savings a month. Bummer