Taking charge of debt

sunshine_raincloud

beanielou said:

Hope your cat is ok 

Thanks! He is happily sleeping after scoffing down the new food so crossing all my fingers he keeps it down. Been so worried about him. Also my carpets can't take much more cat sick! 

beanielou

Luckily I only have a carpet in my bedroom!

sunshine_raincloud

beanielou said:

Luckily I only have a carpet in my bedroom!

Very wise! 

savingholmes

I do an annual budget split by month including when annual bills are due. I try to maintain a minimum float. I adjust each month / when new plans / needs arise and check impact before committing

WinterWarrior

I hope your cat is better soon. 

They do say it takes many months to get a budget working smoothly. 

sunshine_raincloud

Just need somewhere to get my thoughts down..

Spending this month

Things that have been bad

1) Holiday on CC4 
2) Phone needed replacing as screen broke
3) Vast amount of uber taxis when running late for things (I'm very ashamed to say over £100 but this did include trips to and from airport for a weekend away)
4) Expensive bday present for boyfriend and meal out
5) Clothes shopping (needed sandals for hot weather) 
6) Only 1 NSD so far this month 
7) Not doing big shop for groceries 
8) Vets bill 
9) Take aways 

Things that haven't been so bad 

1) Only one meal out 
2) Only been out for drinks once and only had one drink

Pretty terrible state of affairs! I'm going to meal plan based on what I have in my cupboards go to big supermarket today just to get milk and any small things I might need then try to have NSD every day until payday next week. 

Next month's budget already going to be tight so I really need to reign this spending in. 

sunshine_raincloud

So payday is finally here but it is still going to be a very tight month after the mess I got myself into last month!

I have paid off CC4 in full so I am back to having one CC left with £3760 to go, which is just over half of my original debt. 

Determined not to add to it again! 

This month the big expenses will be a friend's birthday and another friend coming to visit for a trip that was cancelled when I had covid as well as one work night out. I have budgeted accordingly though. 

Cat seems to be better on new food but struggling to find something that he will consistently eat so that is costing a small fortune as he goes off things. Can't go back to the one brand he did like because he is obviously intolerant to it! Hasn't vomited once since stopping it. We will get there though! 

This month my focus is not spending any money on unnecessary shopping, no takeaways, no taxis and starting to save towards my non-emergency fund as well as new regular £300/month payment to debt. 

I have sold some old clothes and am due a switching bonus in next couple of weeks so that should ease things very slightly but still need to be extra careful! 

Hoping for NSD today. 

Thanks 

savingholmes

Switching bonuses are fab

sunshine_raincloud

Yes they are good. It takes a little bit of time for the money to come through but with the switches I have made so far I should have made £575. There is another one for a further £125 but getting a bit fed up of filling in applications and had a lot of hard searches on my credit file. But not planning on taking out any more credit until mortgage next year so might see if I can get that one too. Also thinking about changing my spending account to this relatively new account that gives 1% cash back (like everyone else in the world it seems from the waiting list to even complete an application!) and a 1.5% savings account, which isn't bad really. Will see what I get approved for. 

Main thing I need to do is sort my budget though. 

I have meals planned for next couple of days then will head to supermarket next week. I find it hard to do one big weekly shop as sometimes end up with more stuff than I need but going to try to go once or twice a week and plan in advance rather than heading to small shop every night or getting takeaway. I have also carried on selling on vinted, only made a few pounds but is good to get rid of some stuff! I think I am going to shop on there from now as well for what I can rather than buying things new. So much cheaper and better for the environment to buy second hand! I don't need anything at the minute but I have a wedding in September to go to so when the time comes will look for something and just get it dry cleaned. Think it should save quite a bit! 

No other news from me. Relatively quiet weekend just spent with my boyfriend, I cooked dinner on Friday rather than going out and we went for a nice walk yesterday. Today I am visiting family. 

I have been doing dreadfully with NSDs. Might try for one tomorrow. 

Thanks a lot! 

savingholmes

Well done on the switch money. I am considering doing another. How often do you do them and how soon after switching?