The Three C's - Coffee, Clothes & Credit Cards

Sarahwithlove

I'm back again and I thought I would start a new fresh diary. 
Life has been hectic for me in the last 6 months with some unexpected expenses that have sadly led to me getting into some more debt. 
Fortunately it is all on 0% credit cards and I plan to tackle it £1 at a time. 
Technically I do have enough in savings to cover it but it's locked away in saving accounts gaining interest so rather not withdraw unless I have to. 

So here is the current situation: 

VIRGIN CC - £3552.50 - DD set up for £50 a month 
Barclaycard CC - £1811.52 - DD currently set up to the minimum payment. This one is 0% purchase and is the one I have been using recently. 
Dad loan - £3500 - repayments of £100 a month restarted last month. 

Santander Easy Access 5.08% - £3000
First Direct Regular Saver - £900 - £300 p/m for 9 more months
Lloyds Bank Regular Saver - £2000 - £250 p/m for 3 more months 

Money is a bit tighter now as mortgage rate has increased from this month. 
Gas and electric fixed rate ended last month as well. 
Broadband increased by £3 a month. 
But did move to sim only plan saving £21 a month from next month. 

I'm due to get £86 back from work in expenses for my glasses. 
I worked 7 hours overtime this Saturday at x1.5 and plan to work some more whilst they are offering it to help clear some of the debt. 
I've opened a TSB account just waiting for my switch to happen to get the £175 and then will use it for my main spends account to get the extra cashback. 

I'm planning to start using prolific again and my receipt scanners. 
I'm also going to start putting clothes on vinted to sell and start decluttering for anything else to sell. 

Hope you will follow me on my new journey. I'm off to update my signature if I can remember how. 

Let the NSDs commence! 

DancingInTheRain

Good to see you back ☺️

Humdinger1

Welcome back! Have subscribed and am looking forward to cheering you on.   Love Humdinger xx 

mark55man

welcome back - looking forward to seeing you smash this £1 at a time!!

floorspeed_2

Hi Sarah thought I would pop my head round and day hello. I hope you work off those credit cards and keep your hard earned savings too. 

I started a new thread on mortgages and I am tackling it hard at the moment. I hope your one isn't too much of a burden and you manage to declutter and use vinted. I used that recently for a purchase for a coin holder antique! It was a steal at £11.20 I could sell it on eBay for more but it's so quirky.

Anyways good luck and I will continue to follow. 

Peace ✌️

P S haven't you been paying back your dad for a while now 😅

Sarahwithlove

Thanks everyone. It feels good to be back. 

Regarding my dads loan it does feel never ending sometimes but I had a 6 month break from payments this year and borrowed extra £2k I'm Nov 21 which shot it back up again. I tend to just ignore that when it comes to debt for now as he's happy with £100 a month. Once I have cleared my credit cards and have a good emergency fund and sinking fund sorted I will have to make a decision about what to do next. Do I keep paying him as is and focus on mortgage which is over 4% or clear the loan. Long way off that yet. 

I've looked at my calender for this week and have no plans until the weekend. So the biggest temptation is going to be avoiding the vending machine in the office on Thursday when I need that mid afternoon pick me up. 
I'm hoping for 5 NSDs and going to see if I can persuade my friend to meet for a coffee on Saturday so I can use my giftcard. I also want to try and do some overtime as well. So either suggest early morning coffee so I can work from lunch time or mid afternoon so I can work the morning. I'll message her and see what she says. 

Sarahwithlove

No spend day for me today, had a few moments of temptation but I stopped myself. Discovered some money in an old account not much £26 so used it to clear off my phone bill. Now starting fresh from November with my sim only plan. Checked my payslip ready for Friday, forgot I had some expenses from August that were owed so that's handy. 

Need to book my car in for MOT and service next month so savings may take a hit as want to move away from using my CC.  Though its still 0% on purchases and my savings are 5% so do I just restrict myself to big expenses that can't be met by my monthly wages. Hmm have time to think about it. 

Been looking at gas and electric prices today. Trying to decide what to do for the best. Seems octopus have the best offers, even their variable is less than my current tariff from 1st October. Not massive difference but you cant see their fixed rates unless a member. Anyone on here with octopus and have a referral code? 

Debsnewbudget

Have followed you across, good luck with it all. 

joedenise

You're welcome to my referral code:

https://share.octopus.energy/sand-may-584

Sarahwithlove

joedenise said:

You're welcome to my referral code:

https://share.octopus.energy/sand-may-584

Thank you I have signed up so £50 will be coming your way once all sorted 👍 

Sarahwithlove

Happy hump day to you all. I'm going to count today as a no spend day because the spend was for my dad. He repaid me and I'm no worse off as a result. 

My friend I'm seeing Saturday has had to cancel due to testing positive for covid. Good news is I can do a full day of overtime wahoo. I worked out its about £10 an hour after deductions. So about £70-75 depending how many hours I do wahoo. 

I also forgot that I was due some expenses back from last month so pay cheque on Friday is actually more than I expected. My work colleague reminded me that we usually get a backpayment of payrise in November/December pay. Just waiting for the unions to close their vote. Will get about £750 based on last year after deductions. 

Going to start thinking about Christmas presents soon. Hopefully get some bits in prime days or black Friday. Got even less people to buy for this year.