What Not to do When You Move House

meerkatpie

Goodness me, apologies for the tardiness!

I'm afraid I have had an awful throat infection which regrettably spread to my ears and affected my balance, but also my concentration when looking at screens so I've hardly checked my emails! 

I must say though I cannot believe how expensive medicine is! I'm finally on some antibiotics but the initial over the counter medicine I got from boots was extortionate! It makes me wonder sometimes whether traditional honey and lemon would have been just as good! 

meerkatpie

Humdinger1 said:

@meerkatpie can i start by saying that this is normal at the start of a journey to shed debt? Yes you have debt but it's nowhere near as bad as it might be; imagine if you'd gone blithely on and only started when everything was maxed out and bouncing? It might be an idea to post your SOA again so that we don't have to go back to the very start of your diary and get confused flicking between pages.  You can do this love Humdinger xx 

That is a very good point, I think once I get into the rhythm I will get there but I just feel very overwhelmed! Especially with me just starting, once things hopefully balance out fingers crossed I'll feel better, but thank you for your words of encouragement! 

Of course, I am more than happy to post my SoA!

Here is how things stand at the moment:

Current Debt:

Barclaycard - £8,501.94

Santander Loan - £8,779.97

Monthly Expenses:

Standing Orders:

Emmergency Fund	£50.00
Car Fund	£50.00
Instalment Plan	£13.00

Direct Debits:

Mortgage	£682.26
Barclaycard	£310.00
Santander Loan	£176.90
Council Tax	£145.00
Gas and Electricity	£135.00
Broadband	£30.99
Water	£22.71
HomeCare	£22.44
Union	£14.61
Pet Plan	£12.50
Pet Insurance	£5.28
Card Payments: Netflix £10.99 Phone £10.00 Spotify £9.99 Amazon Prime £4.99 Google Drive £1.59

Total Expenditure:

£1,708.25

Total Income (Approx):

£2,100.00

Left to Spend:

£391.75

So overall I have just shy of £400 disposable each month, which needs to include fuel, shopping and anything else which may crop up.

Hopefully when I start my overtime, there will be extra thrown to the debt, I just need to wait and see how much of a difference that extra will bring me in after tax!  

meerkatpie

astrocytic_kitten said:

I felt a lot of shame during my debt payoff @meerkatpie, outwardly I had a good career and flat and was a successful adult and I just felt like I had this horrible big shameful secret, and constantly worried about what would happen if I lost my job etc. I’d also gone through a few rounds of debt build up then repayment and felt like I should know better. Especially as my debt was built up via emotional spending and frivolous purchases.

What probably helped most for me was sharing with friends that I was paying off debt and didn’t have much money, and asking to do free or cheap things instead. I was still too embarrassed to share actual figures, but a surprising number of friends said they were in a similar situation and very enthusiastically entered into free plans. I remember one of my closest friends in particular who I’ve always considered pretty sorted in life (and far more grown up than me), and it turned out we had very similar feelings about our situations.

Other than that, as @Humdinger1 says, it should settle down as you get into the rhythm of things and it becomes more routine. You’ve done it before, you know you can do it again, and just be gentle with yourself. 

You know that is exactly how I feel! Like there is a black cloud which follows me around! Especially as on the outside I am trying to portray as though everything is okay, even though a lot of people go through issues with debt, it feels so taboo to discuss it!

But I think that you are right, I need to open up if I can. Last time this happened, I spoke to my family, but I feel ashamed of going back to them saying it has happened again, but I certainly need to discuss it with my friends as I don't want to push them away by declining arrangements. You never know someone may be in the same boat as myself like with your friend and I could be water off a ducks back. 

Thank you very much for your kind words and motivation! I appreciate it!  

Brie

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned your emergency fund. 

Why?  As in, why are you paying £50 in case of an emergency.  I would have thought that this was an emergency now that you need to sort out.  Presumably there's a lump of money sitting somewhere that may very well help clear the Bcard sooner rather than later.  

And if you're trying to not spend why not nuke Amazon Prime.  And maybe switch to Netflix lite - ok it's only a few ££ but if it helps!!!

Hope you're cold feels better soon - I hate it when one gets into the ears!!!

meerkatpie

Brie said:

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned your emergency fund. 

Why?  As in, why are you paying £50 in case of an emergency.  I would have thought that this was an emergency now that you need to sort out.  Presumably there's a lump of money sitting somewhere that may very well help clear the Bcard sooner rather than later.  

And if you're trying to not spend why not nuke Amazon Prime.  And maybe switch to Netflix lite - ok it's only a few ££ but if it helps!!!

Hope you're cold feels better soon - I hate it when one gets into the ears!!!

Honestly earache and toothache are the worst! But thank you, slowly getting there haha!

there is a little in the emergency fund, not much… I have about £300 in there at the moment but I wasn’t sure whether to build that up a little just in case? Some say to have none and some say to put £1000 away first for a home emergency and then put the rest on debt?

I suppose it would take me that long to get to £1,000 anyways I might as well just scrap that and up my Barclaycard direct debit!

and eve try little does help! Have you used Netflix lite? I keep seeing it advertise and I wouldn’t mind switching! I’m just not sure if you’d get all the same shows and I pretty much have Netflix in lieu of normal cable TV?  

joedenise

You're paying for the Netflix more than one screen package; do you need it for more than one person?  If not cut back to the standard Netflix at £6.99 for one screen.  If you can put up with the adverts then the Netflix Lite shows exactly the same as Netflix standard - personally I don't want to watch loads of adverts so no way would I reduce my package to the Lite!

You could reduce your package to the Lite and see how you get on with it and if, like me, you can't stand all the adverts, then you to up the package again to the standard for £6.99.

Whichever you reduce to will save you a few pounds.

astrocytic_kitten

I went for the building up an emergency fund while also paying off debt option, because I knew I’d find having to add to the debt for any emergencies really dispiriting and demoralising. 

What’s your current projected debt free date? One thing that helped me stay motivated was constantly hitting mini milestones - every time the debt went down into a new 1k bracket, and when I hit various percentages of debt paid off. I think I did every 10% plus quarters and thirds, it meant every 2 or 3 months I was hitting some kind of milestone or target and it broke it down into manageable chunks and stopped me hitting the ‘sod it’ button when it seemed I’d never pay it off.

meerkatpie

joedenise said:

You're paying for the Netflix more than one screen package; do you need it for more than one person?  If not cut back to the standard Netflix at £6.99 for one screen.  If you can put up with the adverts then the Netflix Lite shows exactly the same as Netflix standard - personally I don't want to watch loads of adverts so no way would I reduce my package to the Lite!

You could reduce your package to the Lite and see how you get on with it and if, like me, you can't stand all the adverts, then you to up the package again to the standard for £6.99.

Whichever you reduce to will save you a few pounds.

That might be a good plan to be honest! I certainly don't need the two screens but I can always give Lite a try!

I am similar, adverts frustrate me! If they were short like YouTube ads I could maybe cope, however. 

Good plan to do a trial run I think!

meerkatpie

astrocytic_kitten said:

I went for the building up an emergency fund while also paying off debt option, because I knew I’d find having to add to the debt for any emergencies really dispiriting and demoralising. 

What’s your current projected debt free date? One thing that helped me stay motivated was constantly hitting mini milestones - every time the debt went down into a new 1k bracket, and when I hit various percentages of debt paid off. I think I did every 10% plus quarters and thirds, it meant every 2 or 3 months I was hitting some kind of milestone or target and it broke it down into manageable chunks and stopped me hitting the ‘sod it’ button when it seemed I’d never pay it off.

I'll be honest I think that is why I have still been paying into one! I know I don't have much in there, but especially now I have this house if I needed some cash urgently it is nice to know I have a small amount tucked away... Putting it back on the CC would not do me much good, but I also see the flip side of being debt free even just a little quicker, it is a juggling act.  

Currently I am aiming for March 2025... This would be assuming I am able to keep my overtime consistent when it starts at the end of this month. It would mean me paying as much as possible onto the Barclaycard and then once that is paid, I will add this existing payments to my loan too! 

I think that is a good idea, celebrating the small wins, they all add up! I still need to factor in that life may happen, but as long as my debt is going in the right direction that is the main thing, if I celebrate as I go, hopefully it'll keep me on target!  

LittleMonkey1985

You know that is exactly how I feel! Like there is a black cloud which follows me around! Especially as on the outside I am trying to portray as though everything is okay, even though a lot of people go through issues with debt, it feels so taboo to discuss it!

But I think that you are right, I need to open up if I can. Last time this happened, I spoke to my family, but I feel ashamed of going back to them saying it has happened again, but I certainly need to discuss it with my friends as I don't want to push them away by declining arrangements. You never know someone may be in the same boat as myself like with your friend and I could be water off a ducks back. 

Thank you very much for your kind words and motivation! I appreciate it!  

Friends will still be there whether rich or poor. In my girl-friend circle over the last ten years we have been through multiple breakups, divorces, births, deaths, house purchases, redundancies blah blah blah the list goes on because life does. One friend, when she lost her husband was struggling so much due to the huge rent prices round here she was struggling to put food on the table for her daughter - did she push us away, no, but was she ashamed and embarrassed - of course. But once we worked out what was going on, without making a fuss, we changed how we saw her - we would go round with a bottle of wine and watch a movie, we would cook a course each and hold mix and match dinner parties, we would use 2 for 1 cinema deals, made the most of free activities and the National Trust, we spent weekends helping her sand down furniture (and once got so drunk re-painting her daughters bedroom after her ex had trashed it that 5 of us slept on the floor under towels lol). Your true friends will still love you and wont judge you. They will probably surprise you with their resourcefulness, encouragement and an uncanny ability to make you laugh whilst keeping you on the straight and narrow. 

(also - where do you get your pet insurance for that price as its amazing!! My hound sets me back £80!!) 

Much love and the best of luck x