Paddington's Debt Free Journey

Paddington75

Had to buy some fresh stuff today, bread, cooked meats for my sandwiches for work, some fruit and yoghurts etc.  That little lot cost me just under £20.00 so I now have about £20.00 in the food budget to last me until payday at the end of this month.  I still have plenty left over from my big food shop the other week so should be ok and if necessary I can always top it up from my current account.  Will just need some more bread next week and a bit more fruit.  Next payday I think I'm going to try and go to Aldi to do my food shop instead of ordering online from Tesco.  I won't be able to do a big shop because I won't be able to carry it all home, but I could do a couple of small shops instead.

One thing I've been thinking about this weekend is life insurance.  This is something I don't have and I've been thinking about it for a while that I should get some for me and my husband.  

I've also been thinking that once the debt is all gone I need to start thinking about overpaying the mortgage.  I ran a mortgage calculator with my bank yesterday and just by making an overpayment of £100.00 per month this would shave four years off our mortgage term.  I could easily afford to make that overpayment and probably more once all the debt has been paid off.  

Two more credit card payments coming out this month, one to Virgin and one to Tesco - £302.00 in total.  Can't believe there are only two more weeks left of February and then it will be payday again.  It's gone so quick!

BlueJ94

Well done so far!! Payday seems so long away after Februarys one came so quick! 

Paddington75

Finally did my meal plan and I'm ok until  the end of this month, and probably into the start of next month as well.  Definitely need to sort my food budget out though as I'm spending far too much.  My food budget does include food for work as well like bread, cooked meats for sandwiches, fruit etc.  It also includes any toiletries and laundry/cleaning stuff I need so maybe it's not as bad as I think.  I think I need to break it down further next month to see what amount I'm spending on food and how much is laundry stuff etc.  If I could drive I'd go to somewhere like B&M or Home Bargains for laundry stuff as it's so much cheaper!

My plan for this weekend is to have a good sort out of my wardrobe and to try and tackle the ever growing pile of ironing!

Paddington75

Been tidying my accounts this evening and emergency fund now stands at £1,310.00.  On track to have about £100.00 left in my current account at the end of this month.  Saving for some home improvements so will probably transfer that £100.00 to the emergency fund as well.  A week and a bit left until payday, not that I'm counting!

Paddington75

Since I've only got two more scheduled payments coming out of my current account this month I've transferred £50.00 over to the emergency fund which now stands at £1,364.87 - I'd tidied my accounts up again before that and had transferred another £4.87 over since the last time I posted on the 16th so that's coming along nicely.  Waiting impatiently for these last two payments to come out so I can update my signature again.  After the next MBNA payment comes out that will also take my debt on that card to less than 50% of the credit limit.

Horrible weather today, went for a short walk but started raining quite heavily so turned around again!  Going to spend the rest of the day making sure all the laundry is washed, dried, ironed and put away (hate ironing) and just have a general tidy up.  I've done the kitchen already this morning so that's one room down!

Paddington75

Oh and I also cancelled my Now TV entertainment pass as I didn't realise my other half had an account with them as well, so that will save me £9.99 per month.

Paddington75

Getting closer to payday so transferred another £20.00 to the emergency fund, so that now stands at £1,384.87.  Have worked out my budget for March and April again, forgot it was Mother's Day in March so needed to factor that in.  

BlueJ94

Paddington75 said:

Getting closer to payday so transferred another £20.00 to the emergency fund, so that now stands at £1,384.87.  Have worked out my budget for March and April again, forgot it was Mother's Day in March so needed to factor that in.  

You're doing so well! I have payday off work so I can sit at home with the dog and budget, this will be my first time in years I'll feel in control! 

Paddington75

jadewest94 said:

Paddington75 said:

Getting closer to payday so transferred another £20.00 to the emergency fund, so that now stands at £1,384.87.  Have worked out my budget for March and April again, forgot it was Mother's Day in March so needed to factor that in.  

You're doing so well! I have payday off work so I can sit at home with the dog and budget, this will be my first time in years I'll feel in control! 

Thanks, it's taken me a long time to get to the point where I can comfortably make minimum payments on debts, let alone overpayments!  Quite honestly if I'd known all about DMP's and stuff like that back when I first got into debt I would have done one of those.  As it was I muddled along by myself, constantly taking payment holidays on one debt so I could afford to pay another one.  At one point I really was in quite dire straits with three maxed out credit cards all with quite high balances, and one that the minimum payment didn't even cover the interest every month!  On top of that I had a loan that my bank pushed on me (relentlessly ringing me at home, at work, on my mobile etc even when I asked them not to but that's another story!).  When I look back at the level of debt I used to have I feel sick.  I don't know the exact amount because I just used to bury my head in the sand and never actually counted it up properly but it would have been between £20,000.00 and £25,000.00. 

Would you believe this all started with a bloody £500.00 M&S charge card way back when I was probably about 19 or 20?!  I was then sent a mastecard by them without asking for me (I believe they got into trouble for this a while afterwards) and every year without fail they would increase my credit limit by £1,000.00 until eventually it was £10,500.00.  How I ever got any other form of credit I don't know but it was like they were throwing money at me and like an idiot I took it.  

It was only after I'd finished off paying the loan to my bank that I managed to make any headway with it.  A few months after my loan had finished I was applied for a balance transfer credit card and to my astonishment I was accepted.  I transferred some of the credit card debt on to that and closed the old ones down, then about six months later I applied for another balance transfer and was accepted for that as well, so that was more debt transferred to 0% and the old cards closed down again.  Eventually I got to the point where all of my credit card debt is on 0% and is at a much more manageable level. 

I learnt a very painful lesson that believe me I will never repeat.  I'm in my 40's now and have been in debt for far too long.  Once these cards are paid off that's it, I'm done and I will never ever own a credit card again.  Sorry for the essay, that felt good to get off my chest!

Sarahwithlove

It's crazy the amount it credit that lenders can get away with giving people without any kind of consequences. Especially at a young age where someone has had no teaching about finances. At least they learn something at school now but don't know if it's still enough really.