Road To Financial Recovery

vampirotoothus

Hi Dan, great to see you back on track. Re the  CC have you thought about putting your planned spends through it as a way to reduce interest? Ie add petrol today (due to be paid in 56 days) pay the petrol off the card today. This will reduce the amount on interest you pay, without you increasing your debt. Good luck V x

FootyFanDan

vampirotoothus said:

Hi Dan, great to see you back on track. Re the  CC have you thought about putting your planned spends through it as a way to reduce interest? Ie add petrol today (due to be paid in 56 days) pay the petrol off the card today. This will reduce the amount on interest you pay, without you increasing your debt. Good luck V x

Thank you

I did think of doing this and I just need to determine whether I have the discipline to do this 

FootyFanDan

Hey, hope everyone has had a good week. We are getting close to payday and the funds I have remaining have now been allocated to see us through until payday.

I have made another overpayment on the CC, it is crazy to see that this month i have managed to pay £336 without it causing too many issues. I am hoping that if we can keep that level of progress it will be off quickly. I have also managed from the remaining funds we have put some funds in my YNAB budget to some of next months expenses, although its only a minor amount it is definitely a step in the direction I want to go.

Hope everyone has a great weekend

alt80

It’s good to read that you’re doing well mate. Remember to have some fun over summer as well as the money saving.

FootyFanDan

alt80 said:

It’s good to read that you’re doing well mate. Remember to have some fun over summer as well as the money saving.

Cheers mate, yeah I do think it is about me finding that right balance. As much as I want to be debt free I also want to make sure we do have enough to be able to enjoy some family time as well. 

today is likely to be a spendy day, although it is personal spends. I am meeting bro and sis for drinks and food this afternoon, I think I am going to take the opportunity to do a bit of retail therapy as they call it haha.

Hope you are doing well - be kind to yourself if you can

FootyFanDan

Evening all, hope everyone is doing well. Payday has arrived  and I got a bit more than I had expected but having seen my payslip I have seen this is due to not paying pension. I need to keep an eye on this as I had a letter saying the deductions into this would commence on July 1st. Anyway, I will see how that goes, also did a few hours overtime, nothing to write home about but a little bit extra.

I haven't had a chance to sit down and go through my budget and properly allocate funds to pots, although a rough idea of what it will look like. I plan to do this tomorrow but we shall see, I have been feeling a little bit off and really not sleeping well at all. Sunday I fell asleep at 3am (due to be up at 5am) but overslept and then was rushing about. Last night was a little better but not sleeping right really affects my mood and motivation. In other news despite my positive work review I am still very much feeling like something just isn't right, and I maybe overthinking it but it is demoralising. I need to find the courage to be honest with management about how I am feeling if this is to become something I chose to keep at. I put it down to initial new job nerves but something just feels off.

Unfortunately Sunday a spend had to be made that wasn't accounted for, missus train was cancelled so only way for them to get back was purchase new tickets (crazy given the circumstances) a refund has been claimed on other tickets so it will balance back out and luckily we had plenty to cover it without too much issue. I do sometime reflect on how far we have come, there were times we were literally having to change 1ps and 5ps for me to get to interviews, so I think I do need to remember just how hard our struggles at times were and put it in perspective.

FootyFanDan

Time to sit down and pop on a podcast and do the budget and update some numbers, the little extra that I put aside as helped a little too

Debt Balances

CC Balance £1250. I am unsure if there will be any extra payments made to this through the month of August, but will see how that goes.

Monzo Flex Balance £2108.80. I would like to stick an overpayment in mid month but we will see how the month progresses.

Savings Balances

Xmas: £50 - This is the monthly amount we will put away for now, so far we have managed to get some really good early deals, and this category balance will fluctuate more than others due to spending from it when required.

Car Service / MOT - £100
Emergency Fund - £50
Other - £50

Also put £100 into investment account.

I will speak with HR at work regarding the pension contributions as the last thing I want is to be missing those out. 

Overall I am quite happy with the numbers this month, it feels good to have made a big dent in the credit card balance. I am hoping to keep up the progress on getting this cleared ASAP as this opens up new opportunities to increase savings and not be so worried about salary I am on. The monzo I think I need to come to terms with the fact this is here for the foreseeable future and acknowledge the reasons why I got stuck in just sticking stuff on the card. 

There aren't any major purchase or stuff expected this month, although a nice day out with the family would be good so will see what the budget can allow. We do also have some new school shoes to purchase before little one goes back to school, but this should be easily funded from the savings on lunch and bus passes that we are making.

Personally, this month has been a real struggle trying to come to terms with some of decisions I have made and I think this is something I need to address and there are some serious choices I am going to have to make. I have started to struggle with sleep again, so need to find a way to work through that.

An extra category as been added to YNAB for holiday, I know holidays when in debt are a bit of a debate but having not been on holiday abroad until this year and the fact of how much good it did us all then I am happy to sacrifice other stuff if needed to ensure we go abroad even if for 1 week! I just need to make sure it isn't funded on the card!!!

This month I am going to trial putting my fuel spends on the CC and paying it off straight off and see how this impacts the interest situation. I have also decide that I will fund my additional learning course, this was a course I was going to do when I was in my old job but never actually started it. The last few weeks I have realised that long term that is the career I want (I know!). So I will see when I can maybe start looking at this course and it isn't a lot.

Here is to August and whatever that brings!

BlueJ94

Evening @FootyFanDan

I've followed from your previous diary, wasn't aware you were back again. Welcome! 

As far as changing jobs go I don't blame you, I was at my previous job for 5 years on the same wage of 19k without and progression or achievements. I now work for euro car parts although I dont love the job, it pays much better and I actually enjoy going to work these days! I love the people I work with and last week we got to donate £500 of our community fund to a dogs home and actually go visit and walk them!

Debt wise, I'm in the same boat. In a blink of an eye you could be budgeting saving etc and then next minute woops £500 spent which wasnt budgeted for. Don't beat youraelf up it happens!

Anyway only popping in to say hello again and following along

Sarahwithlove

Well done on the debt busting, the credit cards are coming down nicely. Shame about the interest. Keep checking though for balance transfers as you'll find the more you pay off the better your chances are. 

I saw your Leeds supporter, they are playing my team 1st game of season. I'm fully expecting you to thrash us lol

FootyFanDan

BlueJ94 said:

Evening @FootyFanDan

I've followed from your previous diary, wasn't aware you were back again. Welcome! 

As far as changing jobs go I don't blame you, I was at my previous job for 5 years on the same wage of 19k without and progression or achievements. I now work for euro car parts although I dont love the job, it pays much better and I actually enjoy going to work these days! I love the people I work with and last week we got to donate £500 of our community fund to a dogs home and actually go visit and walk them!

Debt wise, I'm in the same boat. In a blink of an eye you could be budgeting saving etc and then next minute woops £500 spent which wasnt budgeted for. Don't beat youraelf up it happens!

Anyway only popping in to say hello again and following along

 
Hey - Yeah I was away for a bit trying to get my crap together! haha. I fell off the debt busting and despite many attempts to re-engage with a new diary it took a while to get back on it. 

Work wise is a little bit bitter sweet if I am been totally honest, I spent a long time / training and efforts, getting into the place / role I wanted and I probably got there a little too early, and wasn't fully ready for certain aspects of what it would bring. In the end it just got a little too much, but having been away and reflecting on it I do think there was certainly elements I contributed to that made it difficult. Funnily enough I bumped into my old boss yesterday in the local pub (I work near my old place and normally go for a drink on Friday if weather suits and she was there). We chatted a bit as friends rather than co-workers and think we both understood why it got to the stage it did - and I think some of this was my own internal pressure. The new job is higher paying but some early signs worry me, but we will see how it goes

Debt wise, I had convinced myself its fine I can afford the CC payments, and tried justifying it with ah I need this or its nice to have this. It is insane how easily it creeps up, some of it was essential (car repairs) but only because I planned badly

Thanks for popping by