Getting out of the vicious circle

outoftheviciouscircle

Not the most productive of weekends in anyway shape or form. DH went on a stag party and was away for the night so I took the opportunity to catch up on all my TV. He's come home this morning a little worse for wear so today has been spent lounging about watching the F1.

I did attempt to do a bank switch to Nationwide yesterday. I already hold a current account, savings account and mortgage with them so will get £125 to switch. DH cannot find his debit card to the account I want to switch so I'm going to have to wait for him to get to the bank and order a new card before I can do that. Hopefully he'll get a move on and do it soon.

Back to work tomorrow after a lovely week off. Won't be able to sit and stare at the laptop hoping a survey comes up this week.

Hope everyones had a lovely weekend.

outoftheviciouscircle

Been a couple of days since I updated. The joys of being back in work.
Not a lot been happening on the debt busting front but I haven't added to it either. I sold a top on Vinted for £7.50 so that will be added to my total and as soon as I reach 1%, I will be paying it off the AO account as that ends in November.

I start work at 2pm today, I hate these shifts, feel like I'm hanging around just waiting to go rather than trying to get things done. Hoping a survey or 2 will pop up while I'm sat here but they have been very quiet the last few days. I have a day off tomorrow so I have some plans to have a bit of a declutter. Not sure I have anything worth selling but it'll feel good to make a start on it. I also need to take DH to the bank to order a new card, if I don't go with him he will never go!!

outoftheviciouscircle

Well what a 48 hours it has been!!
I did a lateral flow test before work on Thursday as I have to do every Monday and Thursday and it was positive!! No symptoms although I have since found out a work colleague tested positive yesterday. I went for a PCR test immediately and had the results back from that yesterday morning and it was negative. It was such a relief as well as not wanting to have contracted covid, I had busy money making day planned. 
8pm last night, I get another text message saying the results of my PCR test were positive!! Long story short, no one knows what's happened and I have to go for a retest at lunch time today but I'm in isolation until them results come back. 
That declutter I'm putting off could possibly happen this week then, thats if I can get off my laptop.

Poor Poppy (thats my 4 year old lab who is treated like a child) is looking at me with hopeful eyes that Im going to take her out for a walk and a game of fetch but is having to settle for me throwing the ball down the living room. Good job there's nothing she can hurt in here. 

This months been a really good month on the money front so far, I've got my head back in the surveys and been picking up extra work when I can. I have everything crossed that I should be able to clear the AO account this month. I'm going to set up a spreadsheet later on to work out exactly what I think I can pay this month. Wish me luck with that one as spreadsheets and numbers are not my strong point.

Right, best get up and on with it. This house won't clean itself. Have a great weekend everyone.

outoftheviciouscircle

So PCR test came back positive so I am now stuck in for another week. So time to completely declutter, get things listed on Vinted, Facebook etc.

I had a nice surprise when I checked my bank account, some work I did on Friday got paid today, I didn't expect it for at least another 2 weeks. I am now about £70 short of paying the AO account off. Someone messaged me about my Nintendo switch I have for sale. They seemed keen but then suddenly stopped messaging but if they do get back in touch then I will have that account paid off by the end of the day.

I don't really have much to report, life is really not going to be that exciting this week but hopefully productive. I suppose by not going out I'm not going to be picking up things I don't want so should save some money on that front.

Have a good week!!

outoftheviciouscircle

Maybe isolation is turning out to be quite productive. Logged onto MSE expert to see the offer to switch to Santander and switched my Lloyds account that I had only ever opened for a switch bonus. The switch is underway and I should receive £130 within 30 days. Also attempted to do DH account but guess what, he doesn't know where the card is to that account either. Thats a trip to 2 different banks he needs to do now. Providing he does that tomorrow then I should be doing well on bonuses this month.

I have also sold my kindle, I bought it last Christmas and just couldn't get on with it. I much prefer turning a page. Thats been paid for in cash so I may put that into my money pot. I have one of them pots you have to break to get the money out. I'm itching to know how much is in it but we are determined not to break it until next April. I haven't mentioned this but we do have a holiday booked to Florida. It has been postponed 3 times now, I'm not even convinced that it will go ahead next year, although I have everything crossed. This is already paid for in full with no credit so this is not a worry to us. We just need to get a little spending money together.

I know a lot might say why are you going to Florida when you have debt hanging over your heads but my SIL and nephew moved out there just before covid hit. By the time we go we won't have seen them for over 2 years. My nephew is 6 now and has changed so much over the last couple of years so it means a lot to us that we are able to take this trip.

Its pay day next week as well so I can't wait to get some more money paid off. Debt started at £14,011 currently at £13,765.49. I know its not a lot but nice to see it jump into the next £1000 bracket.

warby68

Every £1 down is progress as is stopping it going up  

I do note however you are only allocating 'extras' to the debt at the moment such as sales and surveys, rather than a chunk from regular income (unless that's still to come). It could be worth putting your SoA up again to see if there are any suggestions. 

Now you can realistically look forward to your holiday you have a reward for being good so you could also set a target to achieve before then.

Good luck

outoftheviciouscircle

warby68 said:

Every £1 down is progress as is stopping it going up  

I do note however you are only allocating 'extras' to the debt at the moment such as sales and surveys, rather than a chunk from regular income (unless that's still to come). It could be worth putting your SoA up again to see if there are any suggestions. 

Now you can realistically look forward to your holiday you have a reward for being good so you could also set a target to achieve before then.

Good luck

I am going to do an soa one day this week. At the moment I have only put extras towards the debt but the intention is next Wednesday, day before payday I will put in everything that is left in the bank account. It won’t be much this month. Possibly £100 as I has an expensive month because of my sisters wedding. But I suppose at least there’s something left. 

savingholmes

Well done for coming back. Definitely post an SOA it will help.

outoftheviciouscircle

I am getting so bored of isolation now, 4 days left until I can get out and about again. I actually can't wait to go to work on Monday.

Ive done quite well with prolific today, I've had over £12 worth of surveys but I am finding them very slow to approve these days. I have over £14 ready to cash out but will leave it there to see if some of the smaller paying surveys get approved tonight/tomorrow. I also have £18 in valued opinions but waiting to get £30 in there so I can get the MasterCard. Getting an amazon voucher will only lead me to buy something I really don't need.

I sold my switch today, cash payment so think I'm going to put that in the holiday pot. I was reading another diary early and something hit home to me about not having savings and that causing you to take on more debt. The way we are going if we don't start putting away every month for our spending money for Florida next year all that will end up on the credit card. The debt is at 0% for another 20 months so plenty of time even though I'm determined not to have it that long.

I may have a look at an SOA tomorrow, maybe for my own use to see where we can cut back. I'm really good at shopping around for the best deals and changing suppliers and not letting them auto renew so there's nothing that can be done there. Come January we will both me able to change to SIM only contract deals so that should save us a good £60 a month as well as cancelling sky when the contract ends on that.

Well off to get on with dinner, have a nice lasagne in the oven.

outoftheviciouscircle

I didn't post yesterday but I had a very productive day. I sold a couple more things and cashed out from a couple of survey sites and actually managed to clear the AO debt as well as add £220 into the holiday pot. Another £100 and I'll have paid of 5% of the total debt in one month putting me on track to clear the debt by the end of the longest 0% deal.

Spending so much time concentrating on the finances this month has made look further into the future than the next 20 months and I've been looking at more of a 5 year plan. DH has a car on finance, he has done ever since we've known each other. He's big into his cars and changes it at least every 3 years. We've had a conversation and said that this one needs to be the last for a while. Once the 4 year period is over there will be a rather hefty balloon payment so the next step after the credit card debt is paid is to begin saving so the car can be purchased outright. Working it out, we should be able to do that in the following 20 months.

The next 20 months will then be focused on paying a loan back we had from my mother. If you've read further back in my diary, you will understand the circumstances behind the loan. However, I have spoken to my mother this morning and said that I want to be able to pay her back in full, regardless of the circumstances my sister is in. If I can do all this then I'll be in an amazing place to begin making a massive dent in the mortgage.

For the first time, I believe DH is on board and can see the benefits that will come with a long term plan. I think the thought of possible early retirement was a big selling point for him.

Heres counting down to the next 5 years!!