Counting Down from £15K

purplehippo276

@astrocytic_kitten @monz Thank you!  I can only hope that I can be this focused when it comes to saving once all the debt is gone! 

Smashingitnow

monz said:

Started following your thread. You are doing amazing!!!  

How do you follow a dirary???? I can't figure it out

purplehippo276

I can't figure this out either @Smashingitnow

astrocytic_kitten

There’s a little bookmark icon to the left of the thread title, just above the replies / views details - if you click that it will subscribe you and the icon will fill in. Then if you click on your profile, then the bookmark icon, it will show you all the threads you follow. Hopefully that makes sense!

purplehippo276

Been a quiet few days - payday is in a week's time so just counting down the days to that, when my Barclaycard will drop below the £2K mark, so that will warrant a little mini celebration (some kind of cake based treat!).  Being sub 2K on that card feels like being on the home straight as it's always been the card I have transferred a balance to.  Can't wait to cut the thing up! 

Been playing around with the timeline function on the Clearscore app.  I had looked at it before, but never really sat down and properly looked at it.  Over the last 4 years I've balance transferred three times, and each time ended up in a worse place financially as I kept spending on the card that I would transfer the balance from.  Felt quite sick when I realised what I had been doing - feel like I kind of sleep walked into debt. Sometimes I would pay a large amount off one of the cards, but then spend more on the cards, and other times I would pay very little towards the debt because I couldn't afford to pay more than the minimum, but still keep spending.   

Sometimes I get frustrated at throwing a lot of money at a debt that I didn't leave me with a lot to show for (no fancy cars, flash holidays, designer clothes - just petrol, food shopping, kids haircuts, car repairs/servicing - general life stuff really), but I just can't wait to be out of debt so I can move on from my past budgeting mistakes.  

ryanm8655

Sorry to hear about the troubles getting payment, that is so frustrating and one of the things that would put me off being self employed. I had a very short spell as an auditor and even the likes of Tesco would avoid paying suppliers for as long as they could, knowing that they could due to the significant buying power they possess.

Loved the quote re: remembering that you once wanted what you have today. That’s why these diaries are useful. You can go back to page 1 in those moments where you’re beating yourself up and see where you were...it’s easy to forget sometimes. £8k is some crazy progress before your diary even started...

purplehippo276

Thanks @ryanm8655 - yes, it’s very frustrating. The smaller companies I work with are very fast to pay but the largest ones are a nightmare. I’d love to go self employed full time - just now I have a salaried part-time job too that I don’t love - but I would need to build a larger contingency fund in case of late payers. Once my debt is paid off it’s something I definitely want to explore. 

Childcare is over £500 a month. I had already started working on paying down debt but at a much slower pace. When lockdown came in and childcare got cancelled I was determined not to fritter that money away and put it straight to debt. It turned out to be over £2K that I put to paying down debt just from that saving alone! That really helped me along. Now they are back to school/nursery and I’m back to paying full price so progress is slower! But I am able to take on more self employment, so hopefully I don’t lose too much momentum. 

I wish I had started the diary sooner, but better late than never! 

alt80

Following. Re the credit score apps - I check mine monthly never dared to look through it over the years though. 

I've not been sole-trader type self employed which I think is what you've talking about here but have run a ltd company for years. If the company doesn't perform I see less so similar in that regard. My only piece of advice is to treat the business as a separate entity - it's not your money it's the businesses' this has really helped me over the years. 🙂

Good luck. 

purplehippo276

Thanks @alt80 - I really recommend the Clearscore app. The Timeline function gives you 6 years worth of data, and it's given me some good insights into my spending behaviour that I just hadn't realised at the time.  

Yes, I'm a sole-trader. I hadn't ever planned to be self-employed, I was quite happy working away for a boss, but then I had my first kid. When I went back to work, I had to pay for childcare, and ended up with a £400 take home monthly pay after paying for childcare (no family nearby to help out). I got some help towards the cost with tax credits, but it varied so wildly, so I realised I needed something that I could do from home around my kids without the need to pay for childcare to plug a rather large gap in my finances. I do have a business account where all the money goes in to, and I only pay myself once my business costs and tax have been taken into account, but once my youngest starts school next year, and we're not paying exorbitant nursery fees, I will be able to treat it as a completely separate entity that pays me a set wage, and maybe look to grow the business a little.  Just now I work 3 days paid employment, and 2 days self employment.   

purplehippo276

Some little wins for this week. Got £5 off the week’s food shopping at Lidl when I downloaded their app, and haven’t spent anything beyond planned expenses this week so far.  

I’m currently planning some weekend activities with my kids. It’s been relatively easy in spring and summer to do free stuff outdoors (which they love), but now the seasons are changing it starts to get trickier. I might have to invest in some extra warm layers for the kids (and us!) as It doesn’t look like there will be many indoor activities available.  Not a Salopettes kind of girl, but looks like I’m going to have to be! 

We have a holiday booked for next month (a uk break) that I booked in January literally days before my pre-lightbulb moment. It’s all paid for and I’ve been saving up spending money for it since January so I can cash flow all our activities, food, etc, so I’m just hoping that we are able to go. Fingers crossed!

Credit scores have all finally updated for the month and have not budged this month. ClearScore is my nemesis - it has gone up by 2 measly points since I downloaded it in May, and I’ve paid off a few thousand since then. Still sitting in the low 400s. It’s telling me to increase the amount of credit available to me by at least £4K to increase it but they can go and jump!