Debt, Endo and Reno

birdsfoottrefoil

peb said:

WFH does mean lower petrol bills and less opportunities to buy extras for lunches.   

Definitely helps!

Yes! Think maybe I need to get a cold more often 🤣🤣

birdsfoottrefoil

Quite skint now! Looking forward to pay day. I have a £100 overdraft which I have £12 to last till Friday…. On a more positive note have listed some old clothes on Vinted. I have put on a little weight (8/10 up to 10/12) which I’ve been hoping would go as I’ve been exercising more, but it’s stuck and I need some summer clothes that fit. Plan is not to buy anything until I’ve sold some stuff. I’ve not used vinted before so it’s a bit of an experiment! 

birdsfoottrefoil

Morning! So wage has come and a lot gone out on DDs. 

Done a tot up with a coffee (made at home) before work of where my debts are. My T credit Card hasn’t gone out yet but:
Sant CC paid £15 so it’s now £1377.97
Sant Loan paid £156 so it’s now £5395.91
The balance and purchases L CC are the same card on different rates so I’ve paid £205 which will go off the purchases side (I’ll check when my statement arrives) so down to £3,358.5.
So total is £15,039.9 hopefully after T goes out I’ll be down to under 15k!!! 

I think I’ve been rather head in the sand the last year or so, as I haven’t been considering the Loan as part of my debts so it was a bit of a scare adding it up properly. I think I just rationalised it as how some people have car loans and that generally socially acceptable. My ex as well had no debt and was from a wealthy but odd family and had a very dim view on debt, so I couldn’t really talk to him about it as it gave me a lot of shame. Not sure why though as he definitely had an alcohol and coke/diazepam etc (depending on party or insomnia) problem that he kinda hid from me (would disappear if he went on nights out and turn up the next day and be a paranoid wreck for days afterwards and be quite aggressive at times, or couldn’t/didn’t want to drive his car in the middle of the day). I think it’s that after I found out about the drugs I said I didn’t want that in my life and we could break up amicably but he said he’d stop and I think I wanted to believe that! Anyway that was a few years ago so not sure why I’m dwelling on it. But it’s when I built up quite a lot of debt, as though he was far better off than me (I’d had to change job due to Covid and was on 1/2 my previous wage with a mortgage while he was on twice my wage still living at home and his mother giving him money). I spent soo much on fuel as he wouldn’t drive and if we went out everything had to be 50/50 though he’d have had a drink and I wouldn’t. I seem a bit thick looking back!! Anyway after some NHS therapy and the realisation that if I didn’t leave he wouldn’t just briefly put his hands round my throat in an arguement and that it wasn’t just me that thinks it’s weird to be perfectly functional after drinking 8 cans of cider in the bath…. I got the opportunity to cut ties as he accused me of impacting his mood with my “mental health” and a few years later I can actually admit that, just not to my family yet (my sister is still friends with him and that’s a row I can’t be bothered with). 

Anyway! On a more positive note… I’ve had a go at Vinted and sold a few items. Would put the money against my debts but I’m going away to a wedding (all accom etc paid for already), so I’ll put it towards my spending money as it’s doubling as my summer holiday.

Hope everyone else is having a good start of the month and I haven’t scared everyone with the above.

birdsfoottrefoil

£50 has gone out this morning to T Credit Card. So my total is down to £14,989.9! Chuffed to be under 15k. 

Also saw that on the L credit card I’m down to under 50%. That was part of what got me in this pickle a few years ago, transferred the balance for that onto a 0% transfer but didn’t get rid of the L credit card and ended up spending on it 🤦‍♀️. Hopefully learnt my lesson now and have got rid of all my Credit Cards except the Santander one I used for my car insurance. I have put a temporary block on it though, so I have to go into the app to unblock it so no easy spending! 

Sold a skirt on Vinted but when I was packing it I noticed a fault at the bottom. Have asked the purchaser if they still want to buy it for less money, they’ve said yes but I don’t think you can change the price after a sale? Bit of a pain! 

birdsfoottrefoil

So feeling colossally skint today!

have £20 and my £100 overdraft left for the month. Need to pay a £80 bill and give the neighbours kids some pocket money for watering our plants whilst we were away. Positive I haven’t spent on my credit card. Positive is due a £94 pound tax rebate so waiting for the cheque to arrive and have made £37 on Vinted. 

Do have a slight pickle though as my Sainsburys card has come off the 0% and they’re predicting £29 in interest next month. The balance is about £1,400. Lloyds is offering me a 0% balance transfer at a 4% fee onto that card. Which would be a £56 fee. Seems a no brained but my worry is that I can’t just keep moving things and if I move that to there will I not be offered another when the 0% on Tesco finishes? 

On another worry I need to get finished and my house let before summers up. Bathroom needs doing, it’s tiny but had a look at panels as thought this would be an easier option and they’re over £100 per sqm!!! Thinking instead of tiling it ourselves, (bf has done his bathroom and is a handy guy). Think I may need to put some items on the credit card 🙃🙈 but once it’s let they’ll be money coming in.

birdsfoottrefoil

Also have depressingly worked out that with interest now going on my debts I’ve edged back over £15k…

However I have no more events/weddings/holidays coming up so next few months should be better on the personal spend side and I can focus on the house.

foxgloves

Re you not thinking of your loan as a debt, I know where you are coming from on that. I've been debt-free for a good few years now, but back in the Spendy Era, I didn't really regard credit cards, general loans or car loans as 'debt'. I'm sure this was a lot of the problem. I could always pay my monthly payments, my partner could always pay his, & as we didn't bother budgeting at all, I think in our heads, all these payments were simply filed under 'bills'. I did regard my overdraft as debt, but really only because the bank would stop my debit card & cashpoint withdrawals once I breached my overdraft limit by a certain amount. This attitude stopped when after a period of whinging about why when we had 2 full-time manager-level salaries coming in, we couldn't afford to buy a campervan. For the first time, I sat & looked at where our money was going & actually added up how much we were paying out each month on all our debt repayments. That was the moment. Enough! After that I lived by the following mantra:
"If I have to put it on a credit card, take out a loan or extend my overdraft to buy it, then I can't afford it, because that's somebody else's money, not mine". Credit has become such a mainstream part of life during my adult lifetime that you're right, it's possible to have a bank loan & not regard it as debt at all! Borrowing has become utterly normalised & I think many people my age will be entering retirement with a collar of unpaid debt around their necks.
Best of luck with sorting out your debt-busting. I can tell you from experience that there is no feeling as good as making that final repayment & realising that all your money is now your own.
F

birdsfoottrefoil

Thanks Foxgloves! Yeah I think when everyone seems to have new cars on finance etc you sort of don’t view your debt as a real issue. It’s only really now when I’ve needed to get my house sorted and I’ve been struggling to save the money to do anything as I’m paying debts, that I’ve really had to focus on it. I’m finding the diary is helping as it’s holding me account and making me be honest with myself! Also I know my cars at 160k mileage and I may need to change it next year, so want to be in the position where I have some money to not be caught out! Need to sort the house first as it’s just a burden currently!! 

birdsfoottrefoil

Pay day tomorrow!

I’m going to write a slightly dull list of positives/negatives and to dos for the next month. Mainly so I have some priorities and points to reflect on through the month. Hopefully it’ll help hold me accountable to myself, and not just be abstract thoughts in my head… 

Negatives:

Have £-2.68 in the bank 😬

Savings are down to £290

Have a £750 joinery bill to pay on pay day. A lot of this was to re do some work by the earlier builder, slightly frustrated I didn’t have a harder chat with him at the time about the quality of his work…. I’m generally quite handy with things, I’ve ripped out, plastered in parts and repointed the house; but I am no where near enough for joinery! 

Positives:

Haven’t spent on any credit cards

Work by joiner for the bill is really good and he got more done then was expected, so less bill in the long run. 

Need to chase up £200 I’m owned for some freelance work

Worked out plan for the bathroom with boyf where he’ll do/help me with the tiling and fitting. Minimises the costs for me and speeds up getting it ready to let out!! I did look at doing the “shower board” stuff as it’s be quicker, but the cost per SQM was pretty much double tiling. 

Got most of the garden sorted last weekend and had a good tidy and sorted the floor in the kitchen at the house.

Boyf is after a special type of composter (wild I know, feel we’re slowly turning into the good life) it’s £250 new but found one on EBay for £50! 

This month will be cheaper, as there’s no holidays or other costly items… slight lie there as they’ll be house stuff, but if I can get it done then I won’t have all the outgoings and no returns. I think I’ve been prolonging my debt by not getting it sorted. 

Neutral/to do:

Need to put some more stuff on Vinted

More painting at the house and price last bits for bathroom, so I can book in the plumber.

Need to get it pretty much ready for August, no excuses otherwise I’m prolonging the skintness (I’m going to pretend that’s a word).

In 2-3 weeks I want to be at carpeting stage. Once I’ve typed that I’ve immediately started second guessing myself but I need a target. 

……..

Anyway I’m nearly running late now for work. I’ve been trying to think of something engaging to end on, but between checking the clock and the dog grumping at me to go out nothing will come to mind.

I might add a few things to the lists later.

birdsfoottrefoil

Was having a read through of my diary whilst I had lunch. I’m not sure if the title with the Endo mentioned scares people off? I wanted to mention it when I started as I don’t think women’s health is spoken about. Maybe this is why!

Ive been struggling with feeling rather like an imposter or that I don’t fit recently. On the forum I worry that as I’m wishing to spend money to get the house done I don’t quite fit? Maybe I should have started the diary after I’d got the house done, but it has been good to record what’s happened each month. I’ve been trying to not spend any money the last 6 months and save to do work, but with the debt it just never seems to happen as you can’t save. Thus the deadline for getting it done and let out so even if it costs me another grand of debt, I can start to clear the debt rather than the cycle of not being able to save. 

Also identifying as a landlord, it seems like being the devil in a touristy area. That said I can’t see how else you’d get up to the next step on the housing ladder here, I worked out the other day in our village and the next 2 each side there’s only two families living in a detached house (and ones the son of the local estate owner). All the rest are couples who’ve retired here in their 60s, I got tutted at by one for the holiday let plan the other day. I mean it’s fine if you have a million to buy a big house with but if not then best make the most of what you can. I might just be justifying this as a landlord version of “internalised misogyny” instead “internalised landlord”. A friend lives in her van all summer and AirBnBs her house so it’s not just me I guess. 

Works proving trying currently, I’m the only women in my team. Which working in a male dominated industry I’ve not found that much of an issue in the last 10 years, but my current team are all older men and though I don’t wish to generalise it’s been quite trying. Two are not trained in our field of work and are just “co-ordinators” or managers, they’re lovely but at times unaware of some issues or technological advancements. The other guy loves to tell me how he “chose” not to do the degree and quals my boss and I have as he doesn’t agree with charter-ship but “the school of life”, which is fair enough but he’s so argumentative and sits and reads out recruiters emails or lectures me on what a waste of time being Chartered is to me. It’s all a bit odd and at times I miss the small office I worked at previously! I get on with the other teams we share the office with though which really helps.  

Anyway! I wasn’t as late as I thought this morning, but the dog has come on heat so it feels a little endless!