Which to pay against first

amat6219

Didn't quite manage to stay in the £250 OD last month, but have set up a monzo account for 'spends' and on the budget spreadsheet including for every penny I will end up at £-246 this month. £78 left in monzo to last 2.5 weeks - totally doable. 

Started at £16.5k debt and now under £15k already. Hoping to get a little buffer / emergency fund saved over the next month or two then clear the next debt. My CC is only at £170 so that will be the next to go (smallest loan already cleared off at £485), then on to the £4+k HSBC card.

kimwp

Sounds like you are making inroads, nice!! Have you discovered any changes to your SOA?

amat6219

No major changes to SOA, although nursery fees are due to increase in September (£20 a month extra, which obviously isn't excessive but massively annoying when I have plugged every penny into the budget and saved here and there, for it then to go straight to nursery for no good reason!)

Groceries would have been pretty accurate but I have now managed to reduce to around £400/month. 

Never had a budget for quarterly/annual bills before (birthdays, christmas, holiday clubs etc.) but now included in the budget - feel a bit of an idiot for not including for it before really! 

Not even considered a takeaway since this 'journey' began, and I am thoroughly enjoying meal planning and cooking from scratch! 

Blaaaa sorry, rambling!

kimwp

amat6219 said:

No major changes to SOA, although nursery fees are due to increase in September (£20 a month extra, which obviously isn't excessive but massively annoying when I have plugged every penny into the budget and saved here and there, for it then to go straight to nursery for no good reason!)

Groceries would have been pretty accurate but I have now managed to reduce to around £400/month. 

Never had a budget for quarterly/annual bills before (birthdays, christmas, holiday clubs etc.) but now included in the budget - feel a bit of an idiot for not including for it before really! 

Not even considered a takeaway since this 'journey' began, and I am thoroughly enjoying meal planning and cooking from scratch! 

Blaaaa sorry, rambling!

Not rambling at all, lots of good reflections! So many people don't think about budgeting for the quarterly/annual expenses, don't feel bad for not including them, it's great that you are including them now. 

amat6219

There's me thinking we are doing well, we're on top of everything and will be DF in 2 years, then we get a letter through from another CC which I instantly think is a mistake/mixed up the bank name with another. Nope, another £8k CC that my H hadn't disclosed to me.

How do I get complete honesty and transparency?!

Another CC with high interest. Back to the drowning feeling. Now standing at £22,548.16. Sigh.

kimwp

Sorry to hear that. You'd obviously need his permission to look at his, but you could look at your credit files to see what credit you have. Obviously only shows legitimate debt with a company. I think you can get a free/cheap trial with one of the credit file companies.

enthusiasticsaver

Oh dear sorry about the Hs extra credit card.  Needless to say you are still doing well so don't let this derail you.  Has he cut the cards up? 

amat6219

Yes all cut up but this must’ve been purely balance transfer one because no physical card. The dishonesty has annoyed me more than the debt! But I get his reasoning I guess (shame and embarrassment), have made him swear that’s the last of it because it’ll come out anyway! 

Hopefully we can continue as we are but it’ll just take us longer than anticipated. Feels deflating but I’m sure once I’ve adjusted the budget I’ll be feeling more positive in a few days. 

dawnybabes

You’re bound to have a few glitches, hopefully this is it and you now know.  I’d check your credit file (free links are on here) 

amat6219

Credit files are dreadful, guessing we just try to clear debt and get back on track to improve them?