This Will Be The Year!

CoffeecakePie

Hello there *shy wave*

I thought it was about time I joined. At the moment my debt total is a somewhat scary £7.5k (guesstimated but will sit down tomorrow and work out the definite figure) and this time last year I was almost debt-free, so it’s time to sort it out once and for all. 

About me... I’m 29 years old, rent with my fiancé, was lucky enough to start a new job in a public service role just before lockdown 1.0 so my job has been secure the whole way through and have a little hyperactive furball at home too a.k.a our cat. Mr F also has two children that come to stay a few times per week

We have both sat down over the last few days and looked at where all of our blinking money went last year and, like a lot of people, it went on ‘treats’ to make the lockdown a bit more bearable and a LOT of money actually went on takeaways. 

Thankfully I’ve already taken some positive steps since the new year ticked over, such as.....
- listed my iPad I randomly bought last year and barely use unless I spot it needs charging 
- sold my sewing machine and various bits to go with it that were also a spontaneous lockdown purchase that has gone mostly unused 
- cancelled all of my Boxing Day sale online splurges 
- bought a home highlighting kit and did my hair with a cap! £6.50 rather than £90+ (This will continue for the foreseeable as it’s just too much of a saving whilst paying off debt)
- quit the booze! Costs money, makes me want a takeaway and ends in random online purchases 

We have done a huge declutter today which will get finished off tomorrow, but all in all feels like a positive start to the new year. 

Good luck to us all this year. X

savingholmes

Good luck on your journey. Are you going to post an SOA?

FootyFanDan

Well done on wanting to re-address the debt, the fact you got so close last time should give you the confidence that if you put your mind to it you can do it.  I think lock-down as worked in my favour in some areas but the reality is that due to my job role I have worked throughout the pandemic (which is a blessing of course) but meant savings have been offset slightly. 

Best of luck of luck for 2021

CoffeecakePie

savingholmes said:

Good luck on your journey. Are you going to post an SOA?

I will do once some of my sporadic debt payments are more organised x

CoffeecakePie

FootyFanDan said:

Well done on wanting to re-address the debt, the fact you got so close last time should give you the confidence that if you put your mind to it you can do it.  I think lock-down as worked in my favour in some areas but the reality is that due to my job role I have worked throughout the pandemic (which is a blessing of course) but meant savings have been offset slightly. 

Best of luck of luck for 2021

Thank you for your kind words x

CoffeecakePie

Hey guys!

A productive day so far today - a FB sale I did for Mr F has been picked up and paid for, plus I went to the post office and paid in the cash I've had for the items so far, and transferred Mr F his share. 

Took a New Look return to the post office whilst I was there, I was convinced I'd missed the return window but saw on the order slip you could return until 31st January so back they went. 

The decluttering has continued now into the kitchen, we are looking to free up as much space as possible in the house.

I've worked out how much money I've got for the month with the refunds/sales so I'm just about to calculate my outgoings for the rest of the month and see if I can't make a little overpayment somewhere x

FootyFanDan

Well done on the sales, every little overpayment as little as it is will all add up over time. Have you got a plan in terms of how quick you want to get the debt cleared or are you more thinking about just trying to get back into the routine of a budget and sticking to it?

CoffeecakePie

FootyFanDan said:

Well done on the sales, every little overpayment as little as it is will all add up over time. Have you got a plan in terms of how quick you want to get the debt cleared or are you more thinking about just trying to get back into the routine of a budget and sticking to it?

Definitely need a few months of sticking to the budget before I work out a solid timescale I think  

Sarahwithlove

Welcome and good luck with your journey. I think a lot of us used lockdown as and excuse to buy things to make life easier. Might be worth posting up your budget for us to have a look at and see if can make any suggestions on places to cut back. 

CoffeecakePie

My budget will definitely be up in a few weeks once its tidied up

On rest days now, so currently got my feet up on the sofa under a cosy blanket with a coffee.
I have spent this morning so far chasing up the last few refunds from various cancelled orders, we also had tickets purchased for an outdoor walk event thing this month which got cancelled with the lockdown restrictions, so that will be another £25 or so coming back to me as well  

Budget looks okay for the rest of the month, just about balances out until some of the smaller refunds come back through, no overpayments this month but also no catching up on anything next month so Februarys budget will be a nice, clean one

Not much else to report - just going through things at the minute. In all senses of the word! Still slowly decluttering rooms - I have a date with the tip this lunchtime to dispose of more items, and I'm also going through and working out what outgoings can be cut down or reduced

CoffeecakePie

Hi  

Three refunds paid so far and balancing out the budget nicely - a few more to come and then everything is where it should be. 

I need to email my work credit union and adjust how much I pay into savings from my wages down to the minimum as I am set up with Park for Christmas to save for the first time. I also need to spend some time moving all my of direct debits to my one main account as a few come out of one of my small accounts and I don’t always remember to send the money over they are two jobs for this evening once I have ironed a shirt for tomorrow. 

We almost caved to a takeaway tonight but OH cooked a freezer dive dinner when I had nodded on the sofa so that felt good to know we had not wasted any money

I am currently lounging on my bed after a nice refreshing shower with a face mask on - little pleasures to keep me from spending money out of boredom!