Hopefully debt free before Mortgage renewal in June 2026

Tezzadp

No money spent today
No direct debits today

Debt payments 

Natwest CC Daily payment £2.41 Total daily payments made this month £44.08

Total of all Natwest CC payments, including weekly payments made this month £89.08 leaving a balance of £4339.15

*This month refers to 30th April to 29th May (the day before pay day)

Tezzadp

No money spent today
No direct debits today

Debt payments 

Natwest CC Daily payment £2.42 Total daily payments made this month £46.50

Total of all Natwest CC payments, including weekly payments made this month £91.50 leaving a balance of £4336.73

*This month refers to 30th April to 29th May (the day before pay day)

Tezzadp

Tuesday is the day i normally do my weekly food shop, but when i finished work there was a rather big thunderstorm with torrential rain, so i decided to do it tomorrow instead.   

No money spent today
No direct debits today

Debt payments 

Natwest CC Daily payment £2.43 Total daily payments made this month £48.93

Total of all Natwest CC payments, including weekly payments made this month £93.93 leaving a balance of £4334.30

*This month refers to 30th April to 29th May (the day before pay day)

daisy_1571

Good evening tezzadp

I've read through your diary and think you are doing a great job of tackling your finances.   I like your dedication to keeping up routines like your increasing payment a day and finding the motivational quotes.  You seem to have quite a good handle on yourself and your 'money personality' and are working to overcome certain issues but if i may I'd like to give a couple of points from an outside point of view.  Please feel free to think about or ignore as you see fit.

It came over that you have an idea that you will continue with the cycle of run up debt, pay off debt, get clear, run up debt, pay off debt and so on.  That might have been the case at times of your life but I think that this isn't necessarily inevitable for you.   I think the way you have 'over come yourself' or 'outsmarted yourself' with leaving extra money in your fuel account for example, you say yourself you could access that money but would rather leave it there to cover months you might be short or use more fuel.  To me that says a lot.  You've identified a potential problem, consciously or unconsciously,  and put in place a solution that you know you are unlikely to circumvent.  That same logic can be applied in future to 'fool' yourself that you don't have savings.

Being in debt or saving is literally an arithmetic issue.  We all know that finances though are not arithmetic.   There's emotions and feelings and logic and oversights and deserving and reward and loads more emotive words.  I think you might benefit from other ways of this fooling yourself or whatever you wouldcall it (I call it that as that's how I thought about it for myself).  Its a really powerful way until you move into a different mindset which we all do at different times of our lives.  Anyway that's for the future since you are still in debt repayment at the moment,  I just wanted to drop it in for your own perusal. 

The other thing that struck me is you are doing fantastic at saving every penny from your wage, putting each penny to work for you for your goal.  Fantastic single mindedness,  very admirable.   However, there's only so much you can do with the £1700 you earn.  Only so much you can shave off your bills and monthly expenses.   The one thing that isn't limited is earning potential.   I know you touched on why you don't want a lodger,  dont have access to overtime and why surveys aren't for you.  However there's other things - you have your dog so I assume are a dog lover, is there any one you know who might appreciate a dog walk or 2 at the weekend?   You're going out with yours anyway so a second one won't be too much extra but might get a little money in.  Similarly older people often need an extra hand with a bit gardening, simple cutting the grass or tidying a border. Even a bit handy stuff in the house.  If you are reliable, clean, pleasant, take care of their belongings and property word of mouth will get you a few jobs.  Everyone complains about wee jobs they need done and can't get firms to return calls or quote for work.  Stay local so you aren't putting miles on your car, go with folk happy for you to bring your dog so you aren't leaving them alone.  The summer weekends and evenings are perfect for that kind of thing.  You don't have to be a skilled tradesman to wash windows or slap paint on an outside wall.

Just 2 little thoughts, you don't need to answer, just wanted to put the ideas i had out there for you

Daisy 

Tezzadp

I did my weekly food shop today, that came in on budget at £32.04 
I also put £25.00 worth of fuel in the car to get to work and back.

Direct Debits

£10.50 EE Mobile monthly bill

Debt payments 

Natwest CC Daily payment £2.44 Total daily payments made this month £51.37

Total of all Natwest CC payments, including weekly payments made this month £96.37 leaving a balance of £4331.86

*This month refers to 30th April to 29th May (the day before pay day)

Tezzadp

daisy_1571 said:

Good evening tezzadp

I've read through your diary and think you are doing a great job of tackling your finances.   I like your dedication to keeping up routines like your increasing payment a day and finding the motivational quotes.  You seem to have quite a good handle on yourself and your 'money personality' and are working to overcome certain issues but if i may I'd like to give a couple of points from an outside point of view.  Please feel free to think about or ignore as you see fit.

It came over that you have an idea that you will continue with the cycle of run up debt, pay off debt, get clear, run up debt, pay off debt and so on.  That might have been the case at times of your life but I think that this isn't necessarily inevitable for you.   I think the way you have 'over come yourself' or 'outsmarted yourself' with leaving extra money in your fuel account for example, you say yourself you could access that money but would rather leave it there to cover months you might be short or use more fuel.  To me that says a lot.  You've identified a potential problem, consciously or unconsciously,  and put in place a solution that you know you are unlikely to circumvent.  That same logic can be applied in future to 'fool' yourself that you don't have savings.

Being in debt or saving is literally an arithmetic issue.  We all know that finances though are not arithmetic.   There's emotions and feelings and logic and oversights and deserving and reward and loads more emotive words.  I think you might benefit from other ways of this fooling yourself or whatever you wouldcall it (I call it that as that's how I thought about it for myself).  Its a really powerful way until you move into a different mindset which we all do at different times of our lives.  Anyway that's for the future since you are still in debt repayment at the moment,  I just wanted to drop it in for your own perusal. 

The other thing that struck me is you are doing fantastic at saving every penny from your wage, putting each penny to work for you for your goal.  Fantastic single mindedness,  very admirable.   However, there's only so much you can do with the £1700 you earn.  Only so much you can shave off your bills and monthly expenses.   The one thing that isn't limited is earning potential.   I know you touched on why you don't want a lodger,  dont have access to overtime and why surveys aren't for you.  However there's other things - you have your dog so I assume are a dog lover, is there any one you know who might appreciate a dog walk or 2 at the weekend?   You're going out with yours anyway so a second one won't be too much extra but might get a little money in.  Similarly older people often need an extra hand with a bit gardening, simple cutting the grass or tidying a border. Even a bit handy stuff in the house.  If you are reliable, clean, pleasant, take care of their belongings and property word of mouth will get you a few jobs.  Everyone complains about wee jobs they need done and can't get firms to return calls or quote for work.  Stay local so you aren't putting miles on your car, go with folk happy for you to bring your dog so you aren't leaving them alone.  The summer weekends and evenings are perfect for that kind of thing.  You don't have to be a skilled tradesman to wash windows or slap paint on an outside wall.

Just 2 little thoughts, you don't need to answer, just wanted to put the ideas i had out there for you

Daisy 

Thank you Daisy for such a in depth comment. When i am in debt, which i have always been for pretty much all of my adult life, i can get myself into a routine to pay it off and not miss bills and somehow move money around/find money to pay things somehow even when i dont have much/any money to my name. But when i do have money, im not used to it, i cant seem to save it, i waste it, i feel like i "shouldn't really have money come the end of the month" for some reason, probably comes from the fact that i dont normally have money so it's just "normal" for me to feel that way. I do have some other major personal reasons/problems for this also, that i may touch on in future posts, if/when i get out of debt, that could help me to focus on saving my money and not wasting it and hopefully building up some savings or saving for a holiday or something like that. 

Yes i totally agree with the "fooling yourself" idea. I think that would work very good for me in my situation and i will definitely have to look at some ideas along those lines closer to the time when/if i get myself out of debt this time.

 Yes i agree with the only soo much you can shave off your bills line, i literally do nothing, go nowhere other than work, use hardly any energy consumption, live off minimal food and consumables and live virtually hand to mouth as much as i can to try and save as much money as possible at the minute. 

I'm going to be totally honest here, i live a very lonely life, i literally dont see anyone other than people who i work with, my sister and her partner a couple of times a week, and my daughter maybe once a month if that. I have no friends and i don't leave the house other than to go to work and food shopping on the way home. I think i have anxiety and depression to be truthful (i may even have ADHD or autism i dont know). I don't like meeting or talking to people as it makes me anxious and nervous. I prefer to just stay at home and not do anything. I have zero confidence and just worry about everything so staying in a routine helps me to stay calm and not worry/be anxious about anything. All these stem from a number of things in my life from bad past relationships, upbringing, bereavement and other loss, and my other major problem that ive been working on that i may share in this diary at some stage in the future. As much as i'd like to earn extra money i feel it would be too much for me to attempt any of the things you suggest right now. I'm hoping that once im out of debt that will take some of my worry and stress off my shoulders and maybe lift my mood/confidence a little to enable me to do more things in life. We will see how it goes when it comes to the time though.

Thank you once again for your really in depth reply, i love how you spent so much time and thought reading my diary and giving some really helpful advice and comments. I really do appreciate your time and thoughts.

Thank you 

P.S. Here is a pic of my little dog ... 

daisy_1571

Thank you for sharing your lovely pup, I cant believe for one minute you can take that wee cutie for a walk and not pass the odd word with other dog walkers.  Generally dog folk are happy to chat about the weather, the health of their dogs and what cute/annoying/wonderful/clever things they do.  Stick to those topics and you can fill an hours walk around the local park with a random stranger and their pupper 😆 🐕 

You don't have to share anything on here, we can read between the lines at times and none of us get into debt and problems without some sort of back story so generally everyone is very understanding but its still your own private business.  Meanwhile just do you and when you are ready you'll find the outside world will still be there waiting for you.

We used the fooling myself technique without knowing what it was.  We always felt skint because we knew the money in the bank wasn't just free money,  it was all earmarked for future things therefore not availablefor random spending.  Its a great way of keeping yourself from going wild with money that you know you will need in a few months for Xmas or car insurance or something else that needs to be paid.

One way we did it is different bank accounts.   Salary into one, weekly standing order to another account to pay for day to day stuff and leave the excess in the first account to build up ready for the annual expenses.  That includes things like stuff for the house or garden.   Its all very well saving to pay off debts or running up debt buying everything in sight but there is a middle ground  - save up for specific things, check around for best price and buy it when you are ready.  If you do that you aren't 'wasting' money, you are simply 'using' it to enhance your life or others' lives.  Once we got that system up and running we then moved on to each also having a pocket money account  - that was for anything we wanted without having to justify it to ourselves, a magazine, a sweetie,  birthday or xmas presents for each other.   At the start it was only a tenner a month, even now its not a lot more but its important to have 'mad money' from time to time.

Anyhoo, ill sign off for now but no doubt will pop on from time to time.  Feel free to ignore anything,  its only a few thoughts in the hope it may help

Daisy 

Tezzadp

Hastings Loans have sent me a whopping 19p back as they worked out (somehow) that i had overpaid them by a massive 19 whole pence. Whoooooop BONUS   

No money spent today
No direct debits today

Debt payments 

Natwest CC Daily payment £2.45 Total daily payments made this month £53.82

Total of all Natwest CC payments, including weekly payments made this month £98.82 leaving a balance of £4329.41

*This month refers to 30th April to 29th May (the day before pay day)

Spendless

Lol. Do you intend using the 19p to make an additional payment off the debt just for the amusement of knowing you did this? I mean its not even going to buy you a freddo otherwise. 😅

Unsure if this has been mentioned before but in the future would having a savings account where you can label the pots with different headings help? 

in_need_of_direction

i have to agree with Daisy, i'm sure that walking that wee dog generates interactions - so cute.  i'd be the mad one wanting to engage!  also, i believe dog interactions are so much more uplifting and consistent than human ones