Onwards and Upwards - Next Steps!

ImpulseSpender

Hi all,

I’ve been a member since 2018 and these diaries used to be an incredible amount of motivation and support for me. When I first joined around October 2018 and started my diary (if anyone is interested https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5907732/curbing-my-impulse-spending/p1), my debt was at £6967.79 split between 3, 0% interest cards. I worked at getting the debt down to £5442.01 by March 2019. I was on a really good path, developing some really good spending and budgeting habits (YNAB was a life saver) and then my life was thrown around a bit. My long-term boyfriend broke up with me completely out of the blue and my spending and saving went completely out of the window.

I had also saved up Christmas funds, savings funds and instead of keeping them I bought a return flight to Australia to see family. I don’t regret this as it was exactly what I needed at the time.

To keep this story short my spending then spiraled, I moved to London, spent a lot more and as you can expect, my debt went up and up and up again. By the time August 2019 rolled around my debt had increased to roughly £8000/£9000.

I then had (another) LBM around November and became so ashamed that I’d let the debt creep back up when I had been paying it down and I’d lost my good habits. I was determined to pay it off. I started to save and pay attention to what I was spending and pay the debt back off.

In March 2020, I was really lucky that at my position in work I earn a bonus. I had an incredibly good year with my own performance but also with the company’s performance. I was really lucky to get a bonus of roughly £8000. This allowed me to pay my debts down massively and combined with the fact that I’ve been at my parents since March (COVID-19 lockdown) I’ve been able to get my debts down to £250.96

I know this may not sound like a huge amount and why would I need a diary. But I am determined to increase my savings this year and onwards. I am also determined to build up my good habits again and having a diary kept me really accountable. The rest of the forum is such an inspiration to me.

So I’ll be using this diary to track my progress with savings and paying off that small £250.96 debt which luckily is on a 0% interest card.

CreditCardJunkie

Congrats on the bonus! I think many of us on here have had more than one LBM before getting to the finish line!
I'm also trying to work on savings so I'll keep an eye on your diary for some motivation!

ImpulseSpender

CreditCardJunkie said:

Congrats on the bonus! I think many of us on here have had more than one LBM before getting to the finish line!
I'm also trying to work on savings so I'll keep an eye on your diary for some motivation!

Thanks for popping by CreditCardJunkie! Yep I definitely think there has been countless LBM around here...
I am hopeful I've learnt from previous mistakes and I never want to get myself into that position again, the weight on my shoulders is something I never want to feel again.
Ah great about you also working on savings, just saw you have your diary so I'll check that out!

ImpulseSpender

So more about my current situation, as I said I am currently at my parents which is resulting in me saving a huge amount of money at the moment which I know I am really lucky to be able to do. I still have rent to pay on the flat in London and bills etc. I am aiming to go back to London in July, depending on what happens with the current outbreak. 

Like I said I am trying to build up my savings and so I have split them into pots as follows:

House Fund: £1408.57
Holiday Pot: £286.34 

Rainy Day Fund: £81.92 

Sod it/Treat Fund: £0.21

Stocks and Shares ISA: £166.47

The House fund is in a Coventry Building Society Savings Account and the other pots are in a Plum account. I really like the Plum app and the fact it takes small amounts every so often and then splits them between the pots. 

Currently I am saving around £400-£500 a month which is then split between my pots and house fund. I can save this amount now that A. my debts are mostly paid off and B. because I’m at my parents/no more communting

The Sod It/Treat fund was an idea I saw from other users to make sure they’re having the occasional treat which I think is a great idea. It will help me to stop having any big blow outs hopefully!

ImpulseSpender

Today was a fairly quiet day, a NSD. Work was okay, but I was so distracted and couldn't focus for most of the day. Clearly I was having an off day. 

My flatmate paid me £25 she owed me as I paid £50 to our landlords to resign our lease recently. So I've moved that £25 over to Plum where it is split between House Fund - £10, Sod It/Treat - £1.25, Holiday Fund - £7.50, Rainy Day Fund - £3.75 and ISA - £2.50
I've been thinking today about when I (hopefully) go back to London in 6 weeks time. I am looking forward to getting back and getting into some sort of my old routine. Its been lovely being back at my parents but I'm ready for my independence again. I am worried about slipping into old habits again, saying yes to everything and spending just to keep up with others. I just need to keep remembering how bad I felt when I had my debt to make sure I don't creep back into old habits.

I also need to re-evaluate my budgets when I go back now that I'm no longer commuting and probably won't be able to go out as much. Although I'm hoping things start to get back to 'normal' soon!!

Supersaver88

Howdy! Have you considered moving some of your house fund into your rainy day fund? My only concern would be you having to spend on cards or ask family for help should an emergency pop up. The peace of mind knowing you having some money just in case can’t be understated. 

I’ll be watching with interest 😊

ImpulseSpender

Supersaver88 said:

Howdy! Have you considered moving some of your house fund into your rainy day fund? My only concern would be you having to spend on cards or ask family for help should an emergency pop up. The peace of mind knowing you having some money just in case can’t be understated. 

I’ll be watching with interest 😊

Hi Supersaver88 - I think you're right. I just became so obsessed with "right I need to buy a house ASAP" and so thought by saving the most money for a house it would get me there quicker but you're right. I need to build up the Rainy Day/Emergency fund up.
£1100 of the house fund money is in my Coventry account which I can't access at the moment (paperwork is back in London). So I will move over the amount in the Plum House Fund Pot which is £316.85 to the Rainy Day fund. 
I think I will amend the % split when I move money over to Plum so a bigger % is going into the Rainy Day fund until I build it up to £1500. I'll still save in the house fund pot but just a bit less. 

Phew reading that back makes my pots sound so complex but I understand it so I guess that's okay 

ImpulseSpender

Today I received £112.14 from my flatmate for her share of the bills. I pay the bills and then she has a standing order for me each month. I won't transfer any of this yet over to savings as I like to keep it to cover any potential outgoings until I get paid on the 21st. The only things to come out are my phone bill (budgeted for) and possibly £20 to give my mum for the shopping (budgeted for) seeing as I'm back at home!

In other news I switched our Energy supplier from BG which was costing us £77 a month (flat is only Electricity) to EON which is going to be £57 a month saving us £20 a month. However, I got our annual water bill through (which we pay DD monthly) and our water bill is increasing by £10 a month. Apparently we've used enough water for a family of 3 or 4 which is so bad  !! My flatmate was off work for 3 months earlier this year and for 2 months in 2019 and she is a big bath lover. So I think this is why our usage went up, I don't think she realises how much water she actually uses! Anyway we're still saving £10 a month even with the water bill increasing.

ImpulseSpender

I caved today and decided to buy my mum a gift. She (and the family) have had a tough time recently, my nan died (her mum) at the start of May, then her and grandad caught COVID-19 and it was just one thing after another. To top it off my dad fractured and dislocated his elbow! Anyway, my mum has recently gone back to work but she’s struggling a bit so I thought I’d buy her something. I have reusable make-up remover pads which she was admiring so I’ve bought her that along with two mini gin bottles from local companies. All this was bought from a local shop too so feel like I’m doing them some good, this came to £26.46. Can’t wait to give it to her!

In other news I closed down my capital one credit card account now that is all paid off. That had a £1,500 limit on it. Feels so good to close down an account. The only credit card accounts I have open now are Santander 0% credit limit £6000 with nothing on it and MBNA which is 0% with the final £256 debt.

The only other news is Plum took £8 for my 52 week challenge I started so that has been split between Rainy Day - £1.20, House Fund - £3.20, Holiday Fund - £2.40, Sod It/Treat fund - £0.40, Stocks and Shares ISA £0.80.

ImpulseSpender

Weekend has been pretty quiet, nice and relaxing. Friday was a NSD other than my phone bill which was budgeted for.

Saturday the only spend was an impromptu dessert takeaway for me, my sister and mum which was £16.50. We’ve been taking it in turns to order dessert for each other every 3/4 weeks and tonight was my turn. Wasn’t budgeted for but still have money to allocate on YNAB so it worked. Mums gift also arrived and she loved it 

Sunday - NSD. I had a nice surprise today, I checked TopCashback as I had a few smaller amounts waiting to go into my account. Anyway I noticed a payment of £28 was confirmed which I didn’t expect so I checked and it was from moneysupermarket for contents insurance in April! It was showing as £0 until today so I assumed it hadn’t gone through so that was a nice surprise 

ImpulseSpender

Nothing to report from yesterday other than a NSD. Today an automatic saving of £4.57 was moved over to Plum and split between my pots. So the pots as they stand right now:

House Fund: £1105.83
Holiday Pot: £296.92
Rainy Day Fund: £404.06
Sod it/Treat Fund: £1.97

Stocks and Shares ISA: £168.66

Work is really busy at the moment, I have two people furloughed and I could really do with bringing back one of them if not both to support me and the my team. Petitioned my manager today to try and get one of them back from furlough and he's asked me to write a mini business case to convince his boss to bring them back 
Also, found out today that the pay cap we've been on since April (10% cut for me) is being lifted for July's pay. Which is great for me as I get 10% back meaning extra money going into my savings every month. Part of me feels a bit odd though that they're removing the pay cap for everyone (including senior exec's pay cut of 35%) while they're still people on furlough. I do think those people will think WHAT?.