Becoming My Own Best Friend Instead Of My Own Worst Enemy

ChangingMyWays89

Hi there everyone!

I came across this forum whilst searching for wanting to be debt-free and I have spent a few days browsing other diaries before deciding to sign up and start one myself

My diary name came about because at the moment I feel like my own worst enemy - I set a budget, I don't stick to it. I clear a credit card, then I rack up the debt again. I'm sick of it to be perfectly honest, so I want to become a friend to myself instead of an enemy! 

Here is a breakdown of my debts:

CC #1 - £3000
CC #2 - £750
CC #3 - £600
CC #4 - £500
Very - £884.94
NewDay Finance (AO) - £124.81
118 Money Loan - £740.69

Total: £6600.44

This has all come around pretty much from trying to keep up with the Jones's, especially as my OH has a taste for the finer things so I tend to have racked up debt buying him nice stuff for his birthday, Christmas, Valentine's Day and our anniversary but I have sat down and told him that I can't keep up with his tastes and he was actually quite upset that I'd gotten myself into debt trying to make him happy so he has given me strict instructions to NOT splurge whilst I have debt, he'd rather I focus on getting rid of that.

We are hoping to buy a house in just over a year so I have opened a LISA today.

I finished one job a few weeks ago and I start my next one next week, so will be able to make some real progress then as it is a salary increase from my previous job. I had planned to throw hundreds into my LISA but it makes more sense to make a token payment and overpay the debt by hundreds each month. I will do an SOA once I get confirmation of my take-home pay after pension etc. For now, my two main targets are paying off the NewDay which is a £30pm payment and the 118 Loan which is £117.67 but I know the settlement figure is a few hundred lower than the balance, so should be able to clear that relatively soon, too. That frees up nearly £150 per month. The Very is all BNPL for nearly a year so I can get that paid down before it accrues interest. All of the CC's are interest bearing so once the two first debts are cleared, I will hammer those one by one.

I have signed up to Prolific this morning as I have read good things about them  

blue_eyed_girl123

Have you looked at different budgeting tools that might help you stick to a budget, lots of people like YNAB or app banks which allow budgeting. Good luck on becoming debt free 😊

ChangingMyWays89

blue_eyed_girl123 said:

Have you looked at different budgeting tools that might help you stick to a budget, lots of people like YNAB or app banks which allow budgeting. Good luck on becoming debt free 😊

I am working through a budget on my free YNAB trial for September as we speak - video tutorials are a godsend thank you  

enthusiasticsaver

As you say focusing on Newday and 118 is wise as they are usually very high interest rates as is Very once you are past the BNPL date. Best to close these accounts as you clear them if you will be tempted to spend again. 

ChangingMyWays89

enthusiasticsaver said:

As you say focusing on Newday and 118 is wise as they are usually very high interest rates as is Very once you are past the BNPL date. Best to close these accounts as you clear them if you will be tempted to spend again. 

Yes I think it's safer to err on the side of caution and close the accounts down!

ChangingMyWays89

Hi all x 

Payday this morning so caught up on a few payments and made some manual ones, my direct debits will all come out across the next week or so. 

Just had a ditsy moment and tried to input this mornings transactions onto YNAB then after much googling found out it’s because it’s not September yet and it’s a September budget. Oops. 

Just having a cup of tea in bed and then I need to put a wash on and get on with tidying the house. 

Did a couple of studies on PA yesterday so enjoying that site so far. Not much else to report, going to join some more debt free challenges I have already joined the debt free by Christmas hoping to pay off £2k and a Ninja Saving Turtles one too  

ChangingMyWays89

Oh I forgot to say I am trying to build an EF through selling and surveys and round ups of my bank account so at £7 in there so far, better than nothing  

abba1772

If you're going to buy a house next year i would try and get rid of as much debt as you can as when we bought a house the mortgage provider put conditions on our offer saying we had to clear certain debts before a certain date.

ChangingMyWays89

abba1772 said:

If you're going to buy a house next year i would try and get rid of as much debt as you can as when we bought a house the mortgage provider put conditions on our offer saying we had to clear certain debts before a certain date.

Absolutely - it should be smooth sailing once I start the new job so should not have any left and a good bit of savings behind me when it comes to looking to buy

ChangingMyWays89

Ciao forumites

Just starting to compile the shopping list for food shopping tomorrow and looking for tips on one thing in particular for when I start the new job - the holy grail that is a tasty, healthy and easy to prep lunch I can take into work. Some weeks I am grand with marinating and cooking off lots of chicken and having it with brown pasta and vegetables, it would just be nice to have a variety to choose from, I guess. It gets very repetitive making the same thing over and over.

I will try to get out early doors to get that done so I am back home and ready to crack on with trying to make some extra money as early on as possible. Need to factor in that my step kids will need packed lunches for school and lots more dinners than usual as OH is also off of work for the week, so looks like it will be a more expensive shop than normal. Oh well, that's the beauty of Aldi!

Just put some items on Depop that haven't sold on eBay, I've never used Depop before so we will see how that goes. I am also going to spend some time this evening looking at Christmas crafts I could possibly make and sell whilst OH is on his Xbox. I'm not a master whizz or anything with sewing but I can muddle through with most things I try

[In the space of typing this, one of my items DID sell on eBay after I accepted an offer so I removed it from Depop, then got a cancellation request through on eBay, !!!!!! )

Right, time to look at potential craft projects and keep a watchful eye on prolific  

blue_eyed_girl123

For lunches could you batch cook good freezer meals - chilli, stews (P1nch of N0m do one called Chicken Cacciatore, so good) and take one of them if you feel like it. Also, look at bento boxes for cold lunch options? Or soups, although I never find soups on their own especially filling on their own.