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meerkatpie

Thank you! I needed a little nudge but it was the best thing to do!

I have cancelled my MBNA card completely and reduced my Tesco Credit limit to £250 which was the lowest.

My plan is to cancel the Barclaycard as soon as it is paid!

I have turned off automatic credit limit increases too.

Hopefully this is it! I need to stick with it!

anjyeah

I seriously think that was a good move. At the end of the day you have to work with what you're most comfortable with. Well done! 

meerkatpie

Definitely! And it's a sure fire way to make sure my debt doesn't increase, if it isn't there I can't spend it! 

It's less tempting for me and my credit score will hopefully go up as the Barclaycard balance reduces 🙏

Aspiration

Just looking at your signature Meerkat you’re definitely doing all of the right things!! Well Done, you’re making huge progress!!

meerkatpie

Aspiration said:

Just looking at your signature Meerkat you’re definitely doing all of the right things!! Well Done, you’re making huge progress!!

As with yours! Thank you! 

The main thing is we are all trying! This is probably one of the few goals in my life I've been determined to stick with!

meerkatpie

Good Afternoon Everyone!

 

I really can’t believe how fast this year is going, how it has been a month since I last wrote my update I’ll never know.

 

But still, I’m trying to keep positive even with the ups and downs of the weather and I’ve just finished a great book – ‘Talking to Strangers’. I’d say it’s 100% worth a read! 😊

 

I’ve been trying to keep in with my budget, but I have certainly noticed that since lockdown is easing, my spending is slowly creeping up (especially on eating out). I’ve decided to really cut that down for August by limiting my budget and writing down everything that I spend that isn’t essential. I am trying to take items off my budget before I buy something to really see the impact it might have so I don’t spend frivolously.

Most importantly I’ve had a conversation with my closest friends so that they know my budget is tight, that way we can still make plans to do things without it costing the Earth.

 

On that note, I have a trip to London booked for September. I put some money away this month and I have budgeted to do the same in August to give me about £500 to go down with for 4 nights. I think this will be enough to cover food (mainly) and any other things I need, but I’m trying to plan now for taking cash down there so that I don’t have to use my credit card and it be taken from my September pay the moment it lands. The train and hotel is already paid for as it was a rescheduled trip so that makes things a little easier.

 

Unfortunately, someone also bumped into my car in a car park and scratched all down the side. ☹ On the one hand I wasn’t hurt and I have managed to buff most of it out so you can’t really tell from a distance. I was going to get it fixed at the garage but that’s an expense I can do without. It is cosmetic at the end of the day and the car is fine so that’s quite far down on my priority list. There aren’t any cameras that cover the area otherwise I would have claimed against the other driver.

 

I mentioned last month that I was planning on saving for a little which I have done! My plan is, just like last year, to fill up my LISA as fast as I can so I can forget about it and then all I need to focus on is my debt. My LISA now has £6,512 including my bonus and I can still put away £2,600 of my own money before April 2022. With the overtime I am doing, my estimates are that this will be done by my November payday (assuming all goes to plan).

 

Of course that does mean that my debt hasn’t really been touched this month, here is where I stand at the moment:

 

Barclaycard - £6,076.48

Car Finance - £12,209.10

 

So my total debt is now at: £18,285.58. At least it is going down instead of up and after November, I will stop at nothing to get that Barclaycard paid down. On another note, I have also cancelled my Tesco credit card! I know I reduced the limit, but that’s not good enough for me. I wanted it gone. So that has been closed and I only have my Santander credit card and my Barclaycard now in terms of revolving credit.

 

Hopefully this month I can really stick to my budget. I am going to cut costs wherever possible and make sure to think about my choices before I spend anything. Fingers crossed this will keep me on track!

 

Take care everyone. 😊

meerkatpie

Hi All, 

I hope everyone is doing okay! 

Unfortunately, I am a very indecisive person, so this is going to be a complete contradiction on what I wrote last month!

So through my last update, I mentioned I was going to fill up my LISA… that’s all well and good but I just didn’t get a ‘buzz’ from it like I do when I am paying off my debt. It felt like my money was almost disappearing rather than it going towards my goals. So I have moved back to paying off my debt. 

This is what this whole blog was about in the first place, so I might as well crack on with it! 

With London coming up this month, I have saved £800, which I’m more than happy with. Of course, I don’t expect to spend all this, but it is one of the first times I have gone away without knowing I will be reliant on my credit card for all my expenses. 

It came with a challenge though, I limited myself to £200 spending money last month, to get by for it. Which I achieved! I had 43p in my spending account by the end of it, but that didn’t matter, because it was only my own money that I used. 

So at the minute, including my bonus, my LISA is at £6,762.17. A decent amount which I think can stay there for now. My credit card is the beast that I just need to tackle down. 

This month, here is where my debt stands:

Barclaycard - £5,326.48

Car Finance - £11,916.95

So my total debt is now at £17,243.43 and £1,042.15 paid off this month. I am unbelievably proud considering last August I had a total debt of £27,100… That’s nearly £9,900 paid in 12 months. If I can keep this up, 2022 will be promising. 

Reflecting, it has been hard and so many times I have just wanted to give up. But I got myself into this mess, I am sure as anything I can get myself out of it!  

I guess we will see what September brings.

meerkatpie

Good Afternoon,

I hope that everyone has had a nice September and is having a good weekend. 

The weather is finally starting to cool down, which I am very glad for! As much as I have enjoyed the summer, the heat has been a little much. I’m happy to have my jumpers and hoodies back out again.

I spent quite frivolously on my trip away so I am very glad I budgeted, I went a little over, but that’s okay. This was my last trip until my debt is clear and I buy a house so it was nice to let my hair down a little bit. 

This month, here is where everything stands:

Barclaycard - £4,326.48

Car Finance - £11,624.80

So that is £1,292.15 paid off! I was quite happy to get my Barclaycard under 50% of my utilisation so that was a milestone for me. 

Now my current debt is at £15,951.28 which is another step in the right direction. 

I am doing everything that I can to get there, although the overtime is catching up with me at work. I am taking it back down to normal (ish) hours. I don’t want to overdo myself and burn out so I am taking it steady for a couple of months so I can keep my momentum going. 

I really am aiming to have my Barclaycard to be in the ‘two thousands’ before the new year. That is my personal goal and I am hoping that I get there! 

Anyway, I hope that everyone is doing okay. I’m starting to get prepared for Halloween and practicing my baking skills for some spooky treats so we will see how they go. 

Take care, all.  

meerkatpie

So, I know this is a little before my usual update, but I feel like I have finally had a weight lifted from me!

Tonight, I sat down and I actually spoke to my family about the mess I got myself into with money. 

I even read some extracts from my first few updates on here so I could show them that I was serious and that I wanted to be debt free!

On the one hand I did feel a bit of shame, I never really speak about money and I have been so reluctant to share anything. I just wanted to be rid of it and carry on like it never happened. But now I can be transparent with where I am at and they were actually proud of me for deciding to pay it off and do something about it. 

So yeah, nothing too crazy, but I am very happy tonight and I hope that this leaves a clear path for me to be open and honest about how things are going for me money wise!  

joedenise

Well done.  It can't have been easy.