My debt-free diary

thepinklady

Hi Laura

I have just read your diary and it sounds like you are doing great - well done.

As the money was a gift, how about spending half on yourself & then the other half putting it towards your debts?

If people give me money as i gift i usually spend in myself - i do feel bad about if after though.

Good luck with your diary - i will be following it.

Hayley
x

laura2481

In a really bad mood now because i deceided to spend 1/2 of the money on a few things in Lush (love that shop! ). Came to £7 odd altogether. Then left the bag on the bus. :mad: So now I have no money and no nice bath stuff either.:mad:

Still, someone got a nice surprise on the bus, i just hope they appreciate it. :rolleyes:

laura2481

Not a great week this week. Didn't really stick to my budget. Ok, I didn't stick to it all!
Spent £12 in Boots on stuff I didn't need. £28 on some trousers and a shirt for work and £30 on a stereo/dock type think for my I-pod. On top of money i'd set aside for general stuff like food etc. It's my birthday next week so i'm kind of hoping that i'll get some money off my parents which will cover this. But feel pretty bad that I couldn't even last 1 week without going over budget.
So next week I WILL stick to my budget. I WILL. I promise. :A

laura2481

Well, I was really lucky. I was given £160 for my birthday so I put £80 into my current account to cover my splurging last week and have used the other £80 to buy myself a few bits and pieces- a couple of books- a handbag, some pyjamas. And still have £30 left And have stuck to my budget this week Going away next week with family so i am expecting not to have to spend much (parents etc usually cover most things! yay!)

shopaholic2008

Just wanted to say well done!! Ive been reading your thread and think you are doing really well, just got to keep at it!!
Im in a similar situation, just had my lightbulb moment as they call it and am trying to stick to a budget and over pay everything.
Hope everything goes well for you and i will be following with interest

Mark85_2

Well done so far :-)

The more I read on the more I thought to myself I need to take a leaf out of your book and get my affairs in order.

My biggest problem is I make a precise budget before I get paid, and when pay day comes I blow a lot in the first weekend.

Hopefully reading this will be an inspiration.

Keep up the good work :-)

laura2481

Oh my god. I'm sooooo depressed.

Because i have just changed jobs (I started at my new place on monday) I only got paid 3/4 of my sual wage today. And i have 5 weeks to go until I get paid by my new place. I have only £140 left and still have all my credit cards and stuff to pay. And travel is about 3 times more than it was as i have to travel futher. Aaaaaarggh! I can't even afford to think about spending money this month.

On a slightly more up note i am going to be paid 6 weeks worth of wage. and i am doing some overtime just to add in a bit more...

Maybe if i sell my soul to the devil (for cash!) that might keep things going. I might get £10 0r £20 (It's not that good quality! lol )

laura2481

Anyone got any advice on whether it's worth considering getting a loan to consolidate all my little bits and pieces of debt to get it all into one payment. And maybe a little bit extra to get my head above water? Advice welcome! Thanks.

laura2481

just a quick message to put me further up the board so someone might see my last message!

trulymadlydeeply_indebt!

Personally, Laura, I would advise you against consolidating. I've now done that twice and then taken my foot off the pedal thinking I was okay and ran up debts again - many times over I might add! - and the loan is still there. I'll show you my figures to give you something to think about. Here goes:-

£14000 consolidation loan taken out August 2005.
Been paying £152 every month since then.

I thought the balance would be around the £11500 mark. Rang for a balance the other day. Answer £13,380 :eek:

They'd front-loaded all the interest so the total loan was almost £19000 and all I've been doing for the last 3 years (ish) is paying interest. I'm gutted.

Maybe my advice isn't sound and you may be offered a better loan (mine was with northern rock), but I'd rather give you a warning than see you make the mistake I made.

Now that you've gotten rid of the original CC 2, your credit rating may have improved some more. Have you taken a look at the credit card market to see if you can get a new card with another lender at a 0% deal or a Life of Balance deal. LOB's are getting rarer now, but if you get a decent one, at least you know the rate isn't going to rocket up and you can still overpay.

Just a thought.

Loving your diary by the way - you are so SUNNY over there in Sunny Leeds.

TMD xx