Sarah's Debt Diary

LoadedIWish

Hi I'm Sarah, and I'm in debt.

I've been reading the posts of this forum for a while now and they are inspirational.

I have been attempting to reduce my debts, I've been selling stuff on eBay, daily clicks etc, but also not stopped spending, my debt has gone up from £14k to £17k in the last 6 months.

The spending needs to stop NOW.

My aims for the next 12 months are:

• Paid off an extra £200 every month.
• Fill in a spending diary.
• No spending on DVDs, books and magazines.
• Reduce the number of take-aways in a month to 2 (from too many to count - will help with waistline too)
• Take a packed lunch to work.

I'll update tonight with accurate debt figures.

Thanks for reading.

Sarah

lunar

welcome to the site, i will look out for your SOA later on. well done on having you LBM, keep on posting you will get loads of support on here.

Little_Pickle

Good luck to you Sarah and welcome!

We are here for support and advice should you need or want it. Even just for a hug when you really, really want an out-of-budget take-away!

I now save approx 10.00 per week by taking my own packed lunches... that's a massive 40.00 per month (or 480.00 PER YEAR!!!).

The little things make as much difference to your monry flow as the big things... believe me!

again, good luck!
LP
xox

iamashoppingaddict

Since I started bring packed lunches into work I've saved loads of money. I am naughty though and every now and then - perhaps once a month - I do buy a sandwich from Tescos! Just as a treat so I can have a morning off making them!! Makes me realise how much I like making my own as well! LOL

LoadedIWish

Costs a fortune nipping into town for lunch, normally it's a £2.99 Boots deal and it mounts up over a course of a month. Of course, I end up spending on over things as well. Trying to limit time I spend in town.

LoadedIWish

Loan - £2,659.86 - paying £126.66 a month with 21 payments to go
Flexible Loan - £8,890.00 paying £200 a month - APR 15.9%
Credit Card 1 - £4,290.00 (Was £4,290.00) paying £100 a month - APR 0% until May-08 then 16.9%
Credit Card 2 - £1,398.14 (Was £1,398.14) paying £120 a month - APR 13.52% but paying 21.95% for part of balance due to cash advances

Total Debt - £17,238.00
Estimated DFD - Feb-11

Will pay credit card 2 then credit card 1 and then tackle the flexible loan.

I've got another credit that has a zero balance and credit card 2 has a credit limit of £12,500. I'm wondering if it's worth transferring the balance to my spare credit card and then ringing them up to see if I can get the interest rate reduced idealy for the life of balance. What do you think?

meyore

The worst they could say is no-I'd ring them and try definately.

LoadedIWish

Incoming

Wages - £1,380

Outgoings

Loan - £127
Flexible Loan - £200
Credit Card 1 - £100
Credit Card 2 - £120

Rent - £120
Savings - £100
Sky Subscription - £33 until 14/02/08 then £34
Gym Membership - £32 will cancel in January
Gym Membership - £70
Setanta Sports - £10 will cancel in December
Car Insurance - £37 will look at this when up for renewal in March
Car Tax - £10
Groceries - £150
Misc - £200 for entertainment, petrol, hair cuts, birthdays, mobile etc

Incoming - £1,380
Outgoing - £1,309
Surplus - £71

Notes

I'm living with in-laws so I pay £120 towards our keep and my husband pays £120, this includes all bills.

The savings are for emergencies really and towards Christmas (this year's presents are already paid for). If I don't manage to make the extra £200 per month I'll take some of the savings to make up for it. Hoping to eventually have enough to pay the loan off with it.

The second gym membership is fixed for 12 months and was only taken out last month.

The misc amount I want to start reducing that month by month, will try and stick to £200 in December.

Think that's everything.

paddingtondoo

• No spending on DVDs, books and magazines.

Have you considered your local library for books and DVDs?

So long as you take them back on time books are free and if you really must read that new bestseller the reservation fee in my local library is 75p

Good luck

SarahNeedle1872

Hi Sarah, welcome to MSE....

Sarah x

LoadedIWish

Yes I'm going to venture into the local library (have a library at home with the amount of book I have but haven't read, same with DVDs that I haven't watched too).

I went into Waterstone's today cos I wanted a book on dogs, but thought better of it and I'll be trying the library instead at the weekend.