A marathon not a sprint……

Taking_back_control

I’ve been knocking around this board for a few years now, but never been consistent with posting. I’ve decided to start a new diary to celebrate the small wins and help to keep me accountable. 

I feel like I’m at a bit of a crossroads in my life and feel motivated for change and improvement in several key areas of my life. I need to harness this motivation and run with it! 

Finances 
I’ve been in debt most of my adult home owning life and need to stop this cycle! Current mortgage rate ends December 2026 and would like a massive chunk gone by then. Will be back later with figures.

Work

I work part time in a stressful environment and have come to the conclusion over the last 12 months that I need to move on. The level of stress and pressure is only going to increase over the next 2 years so need to make a move. I’m actively job hunting but have been in this role 20+ years and confidence in myself and interviewing is low. I’m working on it….

House
This is likely to be our forever home and need to do work to feel happy and content with it. It’s in a great neighbourhood, decent plot - we’ve just neglected it over the last few years and filled it with stuff. This summer I’m on a massive decluttering spree which will hopefully generate a few £££ along the way! 

Fitness 
I lost a stone training for the London Marathon and then got injured and was unable to complete it. Almost recovered and itching to get back out running. I still have about 2.5 - 3 stone I’d like to lose, and most importantly I want to be a healthy role model for my son. 

In a nutshell this is the journey I’m on. I don’t want to be looking back in a years time and no progress has been made.

Here we go… day 1 (again 🤣) 

Taking_back_control

Morning,
Much needed day off today. Nothing exciting planned other than a day of housework although sadly I am excited by the prospect of sitting down in a clean tidy house this evening! 

Had a think yesterday, and I think repayment wise, I will be breaking it all down into bite size chunks. I will use the snowball method to target that debt while just paying just above the minimum on the others. First one to tackle for the easy win is my Next account standing at £46. It’s payday a week today but it would be good to clear this via Vinted sales etc before then.

Wins for yesterday……
1. £20 from my mum for some bits she’d sold for me (will go to Next account)
2. £7.30 payable in Vinted account (will go to Next)
3. 2 x Christmas presents (yes I know 🙄) purchased in the Father’s Day offers with Boots points.
4. CV sent off for job I’ve seen

Jobs for today……
1. Housework 
2. Drop bag of clothes at clothes bank
3. Glass to bottle bank 
4. Payment to next
5. 5x Vinted listings

Taking_back_control

Morning,
No post yesterday as a 12 hour shift in the office about finished me off! 

Thursday’s jobs were all completed, other than the Vinted listing. Have a box sat in my dining room that I need to list. I need to be ruthless though - anything that doesn’t sell in a couple of weeks either gets sent to the charity shop or relegated to the garage for car booting. 

Speaking of car boot sales - planning to do one tomorrow (weather permitting). Did my first one in an age the other weekend and made £70 - not bad for a couple of hours work. I have a serious amount of stuff to shift. 

Need to spend some time with my spreadsheet this weekend and map out where I’ll be sending money to over the coming months. It’s going to be quite spendy unfortunately, with  a car service, family birthdays and holiday to cover. And the then it’ll be school holidays again! 

It’s half term here next week. I have a couple of days off with DS. He wants to go to a theme park for his half term treat so will use Tesco vouchers to cover this. Hopefully the weather holds - it isn’t looking too promising so far.

Rud0lf

Snowballing is great and it's good to start with a small balance first to get some progress quickly. Don't forget to check the interest rates and try to pay off whichever is the highest rate next as that will save you the most in the long run and mean your dent is paid off quicker.

Thanks for the reminder about posting things on vinted I'm going to post a few things while I'm off this week.

We had planned Alton towers for next weekend but youngest is now in a boot with a fractured foot so trying to think of other things he can do this week. 

I'll read along and try to keep you company when I can. Good luck x

Taking_back_control

Rud0lf said:

Snowballing is great and it's good to start with a small balance first to get some progress quickly. Don't forget to check the interest rates and try to pay off whichever is the highest rate next as that will save you the most in the long run and mean your dent is paid off quicker.

Thanks for the reminder about posting things on vinted I'm going to post a few things while I'm off this week.

We had planned Alton towers for next weekend but youngest is now in a boot with a fractured foot so trying to think of other things he can do this week. 

I'll read along and try to keep you company when I can. Good luck x

Oh no I hope your son heals quickly @Rud0lf x 

Taking_back_control

Morning,
First of all - wins for yesterday…..
1. Listed 5 x Vinted items 
2. Started bank switch which should bring in £190 over the next 6 months (£100 up front and £15 per month depending on debit card use).

Bit of a lazy day yesterday. DS had football in the morning and then we pretty much just chilled for the remainder of the day. 

Did manage to get some Vinted listing done and one item has sold already for £10.

Spent time going through my spreadsheet and have got a plan of action! I’m focussing on one debt at a time whilst keeping the other payments to just over the minimum required.

My first target is my Next account - was £46 now £18.64. Hoping to have paid this by payday at the end of next week.

My second target will then be Cc1 with a balance of £391.08. This is the only card I’m paying interest on and much of the balance has come from my breakdown cover auto renewing on it 🤦‍♀️. A chunk of this will be paid off from next months repayment pot, but will leave a balance of approximately £140. Will hope to fund this via Vinted / fb / car boot sales over the course of the month. 

Plan for today:

1. Post vinted
2. Find the bottom of my laundry basket 
3. Load car for car boot this afternoon (weather permitting)
4. 5 x Vinted listing
5. Hoover
6. Start sorting through toys in DS room

rachmac3

Sounds like a good plan!
I hope you managed to get to the car boot sale and made some good money. 

Taking_back_control

Morning,
Car boot went ahead, albeit a bit blustery. Came home with £60 and a lot less junk! Pleased considering most things were only 50p. Will have a sort through the remainder and send some to the charity shop. This year is as much about decluttering as it is about raising funds and I can’t hold on to it all indefinitely (there is also plenty more to go at 🙄).

Nothing planned for today. Need to pop and do the food shop but that’s it. The remainder of the day will just be spent pottering around the house catching up on a few jobs. DS is under the weather so will benefit from a quiet day to try and get him back on track for the remainder of half term. 

Happy Bank Holiday x 

Taking_back_control

Morning, 
Decluttering efforts continued yesterday. 2 x bin bags of long outgrown clothes deposited in the charity clothes bin and a big bag of cook books (I have no idea how I have so many - I’ve very little interest in cooking 😂) in the boot of my car to drop in the charity shop collection at work. 

Did my daily Vinted listing and 5 out of the 6 items have sold 😊 - takes my pending balance to £30, so the Next account will be taken care of. Need to get these on their way today.

Food shop yesterday came in slightly cheaper than usual. Need to cut this by quite a bit still though. It’ll be work in process over the coming weeks. 

DS should be at football camp today - may pull in a tip run when I go to pick him up. We ideally need a skip to help clear the garage, but I’m desperately trying to get away from paying out for one!  

Jobs for today….
1. Clean bathroom
2. Post vinted
3. 5 x daily Vinted items
4. Tip run (?)
5. Chop and freeze sweet potatoes before they go off! 

Taking_back_control

Morning,
Just typed out a post and have managed to lose it all 🤦‍♀️ - nevermind, here we go again…….

Wet miserable day here yesterday and today looks to be following suit. Typical half term weather 😢.

Made another Vinted sale yesterday- only £4 but every little helps as they say. Didn’t manage to get anything else listed but will spend some time this evening after work on it.

Decluttering continued- one tip run done, another bin liner full to the clothes bank and 2 x coats gone onto the Vinted pile. Little and often and we will get there eventually! 

Payday tomorrow and I cannot wait. Budget has been drafted for the month so we’re all good to go. I’m going to keep a spending diary this month to track where everything goes, as each month what should happen theoretically v what actually happens are completely different. 

Right - cuppas finished so better spring into action.
Have a good day x 

Taking_back_control

Morning,
Pay day at last!!!!! I’ve sent all payments off to the necessary cards / accounts. Next account has been cleared, so that’s one down! 

Next target is Cc1 - there is £224.30 left on this after today’s payment has cleared. I’m currently paying interest on this. 

I need to build up a bit of an emergency fund as this is what cc1 has tended to be 🤦‍♀️.  With that in mind, I think Vinted sales etc will go to build a £500 buffer in the first instance to then allow me to press on with clearing cc1.

Had another couple of Vinted sales yesterday - my pending balance is just short of £50, so 10% of my emergency fund.

Weather is miserable once again, planning on taking DS swimming this morning and then just potter round the house this afternoon. Hopefully get more Vinted listings done.

Had an offer through from Quidco to reactivate my account with a £20 bonus. Purchased some toothbrush heads I needed to order anyway, so should hopefully have £20 winging its way to my Quidco account.

Decluttering wise, dropped the cook books in the works collection bin. Have a load of plastic toys to bag up and take in when I’m back in the office tomorrow.

Have a great day x