New Year, New me

bigbeff

Over the last couple of years, I have got myself into a mess, but that is all about to change. 

I'm putting a plan in place to get me debt free - not sure how long it will take yet, have about £16k of debt to pay off.... even writing down the number makes me want to cry. But this is the year I get on top of it. 

I'm trying to decide which debt to tackle first - interest order would be best, but for psychology wise, I'm thinking I may pay off smallest balance CC first - so then I feel I am getting somewhere and re-evaluate when I am done with that one. 

In February I am moving in with my partner and will be renting out my house so I will have a little extra income (although not much as rent will cover mortgage and tax). My aim is to get CC1 clear by the end of February (about £728). Overdraft clear by April... and then I'll update on other 2. 

My plan is to transfer a set budget into one account and only spend from that, allowing all income to go into my overdraft account. 

I have started sorting stuff for my move and I have been listing things for sale on facebook. Every penny counts right?
I'm also starting to meal plan and batch cook - both to help my fitness and my finances! Although this seems a lot at the moment, my target is to be debt free totally including mortgage within the next 10 years. 

Anybody got any good budgeting spreadsheets where they keep track of what they are spending?

Thanks - good luck to anyone trying to sort out their financial life  

Coffeekup

Good for you, having this diary should keep your focus.
Spying off smaller debt first helped me keep focus when I was paying mine off, as the money I was paying for one debt when it was cleared went to on to the next smallest debt. I I could have saved some in interest if I snow balled the way through but for me piece of mind of going from 7 to 6 then to 5 companies I owed money to was far more encouraging.

That being said do you have any emergency savings? Also put money aside for things like birthdays and Christmas so you don't have to use borrowed money to pay for these things... Unless you scrubbed everyone off the above lists for the time being.

bigbeff

Coffeekup said:

Good for you, having this diary should keep your focus.
Spying off smaller debt first helped me keep focus when I was paying mine off, as the money I was paying for one debt when it was cleared went to on to the next smallest debt. I I could have saved some in interest if I snow balled the way through but for me piece of mind of going from 7 to 6 then to 5 companies I owed money to was far more encouraging.

That being said do you have any emergency savings? Also put money aside for things like birthdays and Christmas so you don't have to use borrowed money to pay for these things... Unless you scrubbed everyone off the above lists for the time being.

Savings currently being used for tax bill at the end of January, but that has been written into my plan. Im part self employed so I already put 25% of my income aside. Hopefully that’ll be enough!

bigbeff

Day 2 of my plan - refund from autorenewed car insurance (despite me cancelling the autorenew) so that has gone onto debt 1  

Decluttering - I have sold another item for £1 - every penny counts. Put in my change pot, when it reaches £50 I'll take it to the bank and add it to which ever debt I'm busting then! Plan today is to list 5 more items to sell and sort out my wardrobe - I am currently at my heaviest so it all feels tight. I am also going to do a meal plan for the week - any suggestions for healthy recipes - I'm trying to cut out processed sugar as much as possible. 

Already been out for a walk with my brother to start counter-acting the weight gain

Thanks for the support - hope everyone elses new year is off to a positive start!

Tiredbutdetermined

Happy new year and well done on a fab start to the year.
My diet is a car crash so I have no advice there but I hear good things about the pinch of nom cookbooks

bigbeff

Tiredbutdetermined said:

Happy new year and well done on a fab start to the year.
My diet is a car crash so I have no advice there but I hear good things about the pinch of nom cookbooks

Thanks - I think my mum has those, I might see if I can borrow one

WinterWarrior

Good luck. I think the overdraft will probably be more expensive than the credit card, so it might be best tackling that first?
I love Dave Ramsey’s snowball method and would recommend a google if you don’t know about him. The downside is he’s American and rather goddy, but he talks a lot of money sense 😬
I cannot give any advice on dieting…looks down sadly at my unbuttoned jeans 😖

bigbeff

WinterWarrior said:

Good luck. I think the overdraft will probably be more expensive than the credit card, so it might be best tackling that first?
I love Dave Ramsey’s snowball method and would recommend a google if you don’t know about him. The downside is he’s American and rather goddy, but he talks a lot of money sense 😬
I cannot give any advice on dieting…looks down sadly at my unbuttoned jeans 😖

Oh I'll take a look at that. Thanks for the advice Part of me just wants to nuke one debt to feel better about myself, thats the only reason I thought smallest first!

WinterWarrior

That’s how the snowball method works. He would say pay minimum on everything while you clear your overdraft, then save a £1000 emergency fund. The EF is for if anything breaks down, if you need to dip in if, for instance your washer breaks down, you take it from the EF, go back to minimum payments on everything until the emergency fund is back up to £1000. This is your buffer and stops you taking out more debt if something goes wrong. Then you snowball the debts by paying minimum on everything except the smallest, which you hammer until it’s gone. Then you move on to hammering the next lowest. Each one you pay off is a small win which keeps you on track. 

bigbeff

Today I finished clearing out my wardrobe and I listed some items on facebook and made £2! Slowly but surely. 

Went for a run this morning too - hard work, but 5k later and I feel better for it. Already feeling less bloated having cut out all the sugary rubbish in my diet  

And I bought some wool for my next crochet project. I am going to try and make a temperature blanket, a line crocheted each day in a different colour depending on the temperature that day. I'm quite excited to see if I can keep it up!

Hope everybody else has had a good day! 

joedenise

Pinch of Nom also have a website which has loads of recipes so you don't necessarily have to buy or borrow the books.  Another website I like for healthy recipes if Slimming Eats - the blogger is an English woman living in Canada.  She has just brought out her first book which I've bought but to be honest I'd just stick with the website.

Joe Wickes is another one who apparently has healthy recipes online but to be honest I haven't actually used that one.  I'm sure there are lots out there.  Might be a Google - healthy recipes and decide which ones appear to you the most.