Single mum to 5, striving for debt free life

CL21

Jill12 said:

CL21 you are perfectly right about the EF. I had one before but was so gazelle intense that every time I got it to £1000 I chucked it at the debt!! I should have around £1000 left at the end of January. So this will become my EF. I am loving your diary and currently working through it. You have come a long way in a very short time so well done you x I am going to have to take a look at Monzo as love the idea of virtual pots. I have tried the envelop system before but because I dont use cash I found it inconvenient and it therefore failed. So much advice and motivation in this forum x

Yes I tried the envelope system as well but couldn’t get on board with it at all! The monzo pots system works much better for me (although it’s taken a few tries 😂)

The forum for me is an absolute game changer - so encouraging and great advice. Nothing wrong with gazelle intense I think as long as you’ve got that back up in case the washing machine blows up!! Looking forward to following your progress x

Jill12

Cancelled an unused gym membership yesterday at£15.99 a month and have discovered a reoccurring payment for £7.99 which I thought was for Disney Plus or Amazon but it is not. I have no idea what this payment is for but it has been coming out my account for 10 months. Will enquire with bank today about making a claim to get it back. Furthermore, achieved a NSD yesterday. Champion 😊

Strether2020

Jill12 said:

Cancelled an unused gym membership yesterday at£15.99 a month and have discovered a reoccurring payment for £7.99 which I thought was for Disney Plus or Amazon but it is not. I have no idea what this payment is for but it has been coming out my account for 10 months. Will enquire with bank today about making a claim to get it back. Furthermore, achieved a NSD yesterday. Champion 😊

Brilliant steps forward! I hope the bank get you some money back... But even if they don't, you've set yourself for recurring savings in future there! All these steps really add up... 👍

Jill12

Hello Strether2020, thanks for the encouragement!!

Had a look around at other accounts I have and found £15 worth of cashback and £7 in a quidco account, so now waiting for that to clear and I ll apply it to my smallest balance on the natwest card. I have been wavering about having only purchased one present each for my five children for Christmas but I have gave myself a shake and I am sticking to my guns. I think I need to prove to myself that Christmas is more than just spending money on useless presents and I really need to ditch this mum guilt!! Another find was £65 in my bag left over from my weekend of partying there!! All in an £87 bonus so not a bad days work for finding extra cash for my debts x

Jill12

I had a sneak peak at my budget today and I am bang on budget to the penny this month, another plus for today x

Jill12

Another £13 a month saving by switching my boiler cover, slashed from £26, which I know I was being ripped off with, to a delightful £13, love money saving. This £13 will be allocated to my debt repayment x

Jill12

Ok, still going well with the MSEing, have shaved £6 a month off of my life insurance cover, same cover and same company, just £6 monthly cheaper. I am quietly impressed with myself tonight. My next big expense will be car insurance that will be due in January. I usually pay this upfront but now see my budget does not cater for this. I usually just wing paying for insurances and hope to have enough to see me through to the end of the month. So I am not sure what I am going to do this time round??????? x

Jill12

The car insurance has proved far more expensive on renewal than I thought it was going to be and due sooner than I thought. My car is a silly size due to the volume of children I decided to produce!! Add in a claim for an accident back in 2020 and I am looking at £479 to renew, yes slightly nauseous feeling and yes this is best price after shopping around..... However, I have paid the insurance in full and now realise winging it to pay for large bills in perhaps a tad thick and I am going to have to address this with better budgeting skills.

CL21

Perhaps put it on monthly for a year and then carve out some money in the budget to put aside into an insurances pot so that you can pay annually again next year? Or would you consider paying less towards the debt so that you can pay the annual amount? 

Difficult one. I know you probably just want to get cracking on the debt!

elbree

Hi @Jill12👋 You're doing brilliantly and have made so much progress already. Your pots will be great for big bills like insurance once you've got them set up and you're paying into the regularly. For now, you've paid it so just adjust the debt payments for next month and don't worry about it. You're still making great progress even if some months don't see the debt reduce as much as others.