Stronger, Smarter and Saving

loobidoo

Made it through to payday 
Sorted YNAB 
Transferred money from Vinted and paid it straight off my CC before I had a chance to allocate it anywhere else.😉 
Listed 3 things on Vinted. 🤞
Free entertainment in the form of a jigsaw, free book, bike ride, duolingo
Got 25% off 0cado after cancelling deliveries with them a few weeks ago - so hopefully that'll help keep us on track this month. 

Wanna_Bee_Free

Well done on making it through to payday Loobidoo! I hooe you enjoyed sorting YNAB. I love that part of the month. Well done on the zero cc balance and Vinted listings and free entertainment, a great set of stuff there you are on a roll!

loobidoo

So, after saying OH and I both have 2 credit cards each... 🥴 I realised that there are other lines of credit open - he's just cleared his £160 paypal credit account and I've got £157 on a spending credit card that's set to clear each month. So they'll both be gone by Monday when the DDs come out. 

I then have ANOTHER 0% purchases card that I sort of didn't consider as it's one I've ringfenced for 'home improvements' (bought new curtains and need an EV charging point), so in my head that was a separate bleeding budget and not debt debt.🤦‍♀️

So the trick next month will be to not to put anything on the card that comes out in full next month! So far so good. 

It really eats into what we could be paying off our balance transfer cards. 

The biggest killer at the mo is OH's car loan @ £419 a month - 3 months left to go. I keep thinking maybe he could pay that off with a 0% deal or something but I'm holding firm. It's only a 2% loan and if we do move it it'll free up money each month but we definitely won't clear it in 3 months. 

So overall this month with all the min payments plus the 2 debts paid in full we'll be paying £1,171.29 to debts. 

I honestly don't know whether to feel happy about this or to feel sick! 

Definitely a wake up call writing it down. 

In good news stories, we can afford it, so down it goes... 

Off to update my snowball calculator... 

Wanna_Bee_Free

I remember that happy/sick feeling so well even though it's years ago. Well done for getting clear on it all. That car payment will make a huge difference in 4 months time. 

If you can't face cutting up the lines of credit I remember watching an American TV show who had an idea for stopping spending on a credit card. It was to literally freeze it. Wrap it in a couple of plastic bags and then pop it in water in a takeaway container anf put it in the freezer. It can be defrosted and used but takes time and effort with a hairdryer. I cut mine up as I knew I couldn't trust myself so never tried this. These days I have a cc but pay off in full so no interest and I get vouchers. Using it less at the moment in August. 

Afdaff

You’re doing really well facing up to the situation. It will feel good when the car loan is cleared soon!

loobidoo

Wanna_Bee_Free said:

I remember that happy/sick feeling so well even though it's years ago. Well done for getting clear on it all. That car payment will make a huge difference in 4 months time. 

If you can't face cutting up the lines of credit I remember watching an American TV show who had an idea for stopping spending on a credit card. It was to literally freeze it. Wrap it in a couple of plastic bags and then pop it in water in a takeaway container anf put it in the freezer. It can be defrosted and used but takes time and effort with a hairdryer. I cut mine up as I knew I couldn't trust myself so never tried this. These days I have a cc but pay off in full so no interest and I get vouchers. Using it less at the moment in August. 

Ha, I love that 🧊🥶

loobidoo

Afdaff said:

You’re doing really well facing up to the situation. It will feel good when the car loan is cleared soon!

Yes, definitely - it'll really help. 🙏

loobidoo

I couldn't sleep last night for facing the reality of us being down £2k a month - OH has taken a massive salary cut and finally enjoys his job. But the reality is that a circa £35k pay cut has hit us hard and with me not having a salary for 9 months it has really taken its toll. 

Any little wins we have aren't really scratching the surface. 

A year ago I had no debt and £10k of savings, all my little pots topped up so I could meet all the yearly bills like insurances etc. How easily life can change. 

I really hate being back here. 

I've had to change some annual bills to monthly payments this year and it honestly feels like we've gone back about 10 years to the last time I was scrimping and scraping. 

I guess I better stop moaning and start working so I can bill them for my time today. 🥴

Sarahwithlove

You need to give yourself a break. You were poorly and there is no price tag on your health. Look forward not backwards and focus on getting debt down and yourself back into a good position financially. You're working together on it, that's what counts. 

NeverendingDMP

loobidoo said:

I couldn't sleep last night for facing the reality of us being down £2k a month - OH has taken a massive salary cut and finally enjoys his job. But the reality is that a circa £35k pay cut has hit us hard and with me not having a salary for 9 months it has really taken its toll. 

Any little wins we have aren't really scratching the surface. 

A year ago I had no debt and £10k of savings, all my little pots topped up so I could meet all the yearly bills like insurances etc. How easily life can change. 

I really hate being back here. 

I've had to change some annual bills to monthly payments this year and it honestly feels like we've gone back about 10 years to the last time I was scrimping and scraping. 

I guess I better stop moaning and start working so I can bill them for my time today. 🥴

The little wins will add up I promise. Slowly but surely. The biggest win is that you are dealing with it now not in 2-3 years when it would have probably got much bigger. I totally get it that scrimping and saving is a pain in the xxx and a bit boring as well but stick with it and it will be worth it. For now just focus on how things will ease when the car loan is gone. Once that is paid you will have more choices with the bit the mortgage doesn't use. And if you had those pots and savings before you were unwell it shows that you are a better budgeter than I was when I started this journey. You have had a rough time and it's okay to take a while to recover from it.