Half a world away

Karonher

Its good to see that you have a long-term plan. With regards to food shopping, have you looked online at any of the sites that offer out-of-date or close-to-use-by-date items? They can be hit and miss with what is available but if you are not worried about dates you can save a lot.

no1disneymum

That's a shame you haven't been paid back the money you are owed. I hope they pay soon so you're not left short. Great news that you had some leftover money to transfer to your emergency fund though. It might only be £12, but it's better than nothing at all. Every penny counts & it will soon add up, I'm sure of it.

Fingers crossed Lowell will at least consider a full & final payment. That will be a weight off your mind to get rid of all of those little debts.

Good luck with this week. Hope it goes better for you

no1disneymum

Hey @cybertortoise how's it going? This week has gone so fast hasn't it! Hope you're doing well & plodding along with the debt busting.

Squirrelz92

Hellooooo and congrats on starting a DFW diary!
You definitely have a plan which is super awesome in itself!
Food shopping is so difficult isnt it? I had the habit of never planning any meals and throwing into the trolley whatever I thought I MIGHT make end up making for dinner. Majority of that stuff ended up wasting away in the cupboards. Saving on average £20 a week now feeding a family of 4 on £40 a week! It's definitely doable, you just have to be firm with yourself and PLAN PLAN PLAN!

Very best of luck to you and I have subscribed to cheer you on x

cybertortoise

@Karonher ooh thanks for the reminder I used to get the kids snacky stuff from a website like that. I'll have to check again.

@no1disneymum things are going ok thanks, this week has just flown by you're right. Lowell haven't replied to me yet but Cabot got back to me and said no to my offers and counteroffered a settlement figure on each account which was only a small amount below the balances so they can continue to get their £5 a month each for now. £15.49 in the emergency fund now. I've followed your example and set it up to receive roundups so it'll grow a little faster. It is annoying when I was counting on the money coming back but it's from my daughter so I know she's being honest and will pay me back as soon as she can.

Hi @Squirrelz92 food shopping is the worst! That's agreat saving, I definitely need to keep on top of my shopping. I've got 2 large teens who will cook in the middle of the night. I need to make sure they have pizzas etc so they can stop using the stuff I was planning to use as a meal during the week Not helpful when you think you know what's for dinner only to find they've eaten it already

cybertortoise

I've got old YNAB working so I'm making a new budget to start from October 1st. My planned subscription fee to new YNAB is due on the 3rd October so it will save me about £70 if I can stick with the old one. I've got a few days to make sure it's running ok.

A few hours later and I decided to take the plunge, I've deleted my new YNAB account and created my budget on the old one. Subscription payment is cancelled so £70 saved. I wish I'd been saving up for it, it would have been nice to pay that money off a debt but oh well.

I'm hoping to buy a second hand car tomorrow. So I'm checking on topcashback for insurance quotes. Might be able to earn a few pence searching through them.

I'll write my shopping list tonight as it'll save me time in the next few days. The cupboards are pretty bare so I need almost everything. I'm working all weekend though so wont have much time to batch cook anything unless I just do extra of whatever is for dinner that day.

I will need to pay for lunch out tomorrow as I'll be at uni all day but that's budgeted for.

We'll also do a cinema trip this week to see my favourite all time movie which is back in cinemas in preparation for the sequel. I've never been so excited for a movie to come out. I've turned £7 of my Tesco clubcard vouchers into triple their value via their deals. That'll make the trip much cheaper.

Council tax: I don't think we should have to pay the whole amount as I'm a student so exempt and the only other adult in the household is on a small amount of universal credit, I'm waiting for them to review my claim for second adult rebate as it was rejected first time. But I have requested them to set up a direct debit on a 12 monthly basis rather than 10 months. That will decrease my monthly outgoings and mean I'm paying the same each month. I'm budgeting for it anyway just in case it turns out we have to pay the full amount.

no1disneymum

That's a shame they rejected your offer. Hopefully if you just continue with your small amounts for now, they might reconsider a lower offer in a few months time. Always worth trying!

That's not so bad if the money owed is from your daughter. At least you know her, so it's not just somebody trying to fob you off.

Topcashback is great. Hopefully you will be able to find a decent insurance quote & get some extra cashback too.

bigbeff

Welcome, looks like you have a plan in motion! Best of luck! 

cybertortoise

Finally managed to find a second hand car that didn't seem likely to fall apart after a week. Such a relief to know I can get to work, shopping etc without using taxis.

I'm waiting for my latest UC statement so I know how much I can expect each month. With my student finance it really reduces my basic payment as it's £1 for £1. But I've just heard they are increasing the earnings threshold from £344 to £494 so after 55% of my wages have been been deducted I should have a little extra money each month. I plan to pay this off my debts.

I've been trying to get in touch with Creditspring to pay off the balance on my account but they have passed it to a DCA. I've called the DCA but until they send me a letter I can't do anything, apparently they cannot search for my case using anything other than the reference they'll send on the letter. Sounds like nonsense but who knows. I just want to pay the money, I don't know why it has to be so hard. I've transferred that payment to my debts account so I don't spend it by accident but I need it gone.

I'm planning on tripling the dinner I cook for the next few nights to start buidling up a freezer stock without actually having to spend hours batch cooking. I've got a busy week ahead, working both weekend days and then uni all week. I'm dreading the fuel costs for next week as it's about 80 miles each day. Fingers crossed my new parking permit comes through before the weekend so I can reduce my parking charges for my work days, then I'm back on placement for 6 weeks so really need it done by then it's £5.30 a day otherwise.

I'm wondering how much the gas and electric DD will change after the 1st. It's currently £265 a month, but my bills have been closer to £200. Unfortunately I had to miss a couple of DD payments so I'm still a bit behind rather than building up a buffer. Over the next few days I should be able to recalculate my budget and know how much more each month I can pay to my debts.

cybertortoise

Creditspring got back to me and have been paid off! Another debt down. Their £5 per month will go towards a different debt, probaby the smallest one. Any overpayments from October will go towards Capital One 1 & 2, CCI and Studio as these are active on my credit file. I'll continue to make all monthly repayments to each of the other debts.

My UC has gone up slightly so I should have a little extra to pay towards my debts from next month. I've got 2 extra days of work in October too.

My aim is to get my debt below £30k by the end of 2022. That lets me hit 12.5% of my debt paid this year, my target was 12%. I'm almost at 8% as I had a few bad months where I couldn't pay as much. Over the next few days I have £600 coming in that I haven't budgeted yet. That will be a big boost to my debt repayments.