Our road to recovery-Part 2

Keeping_Positive

One of the reasons we still have sky is because OH is a sports nut. We rarely go out so I guess it our entertainment budget. Did just get rid of movies though.

Glad to hear you are enjoying yourself and able to catch up with mates. Being a DFW can be isolating.

Hope Derby's fortunes change soon the bit Ive heard is it isnt a good start to the season.

ltm07

Thanks KP! I keep getting bombarded with junk mail from Sky offering free Sky + & I have to admit I am tempted to get it! I still like my footy & Sunday is the day that seems to drag without Sky! OH & I allow ourselves £150 each a month( alot I know but if we did have any less we would probably end up overspending & not keeping track IYKWIM) which includes buying our own clothes & if I was to get Sky back it would come out of that budget. To be honest though in general I am only really bothered about watching Derby & England(neither of who are worth watching at the moment:rolleyes: ), so in that respect I don't think it is worth shelling out over £30 a month, even though I do spend much more than that in the months when Derby or England are on the box, but the England games are on Setanta, so I would have to shell out another tenner a month or so for that! My budget does last me quite well but OH just gets by on hers as she smokes. As I said in my previous post I am finding my old self in going for a beer with mates, to the odd footy match etc. but whereas before I was doing all that without thinking about how much I was spending this time I know that once the £150 runs out, that's it til OH's next payday! As for Derby County it has been a long miserable year since our last win in the league & whilst we got beat in our last match against Barnsley we did play well & deserved to win. Hopefully it is going to be a turning point for us!

ltm07

Just a quickie to say that we are below £31k, with just our interest payment for OD of £112 to go out on 30th(unless I've missed something else:rolleyes: )! So hopefully by the end of the month we should just scrape below £31k:j ! I know it probably doesn't seem a big deal but it has taken us so long to crack the £31k. Back on tomorrow, OH just made us a lovely steak with all the works & had a nice bottle of red too(well I had a glass & OH is finishing the rest:rotfl: ) So having a nice night in front of TV before early start tomorrow, will catch up with KP,ISOM & Co tomorrow, all the best!!

Keeping_Positive

:beer: :T :j Great news LTM07 hope the sub 30k annoucement isnt too far behind:j :T :beer:

ltm07

Thanks KP! Sorry but didn't get chance to get on yesterday! It is a small milestone & hopefully we can crack the £30k before the end of the year. I have stepped up a gear regarding overtime again! I think it depends what mood I'm in regarding overtime, sometimes I let things get on top of me & don't do much at all & other times I try to focus on these debts & do as much as possible til I feel it's burning me out! OH spent all day Friday cleaning house & I will try & find to 2nd wind regarding helping out with housework. October will be an expensive month as it's DD's birthday, but hopefully we can continue to make progress & try & have a good month in November to make up for it! Thanks for reading & all the best!!

Keeping_Positive

Its a good plan to do what you feel you can acheive. The slower months will always happen but then better months will soon come along. As long as the balance is a negative debt busting wise then great.

Im struggling since the summer, I have a good six months then along come birthdays, summer hols and before you know it xmas. I just want to ride it out until new year when things should settle down again.

ltm07

I am feeling the same KP! Hopefully we can stay on track too & we have to pay the balance of wedding in January of £1,000:eek: ! Got £250 saved towards it so far & OH's Mum is putting £1,200 towards it( I know I shouldn't say this & don't want to sound ungrateful but I don't think she'll give us the money til the last minute). I am not being nasty but her & OH's stepdad think money is their God & these are the words of my OH. Her Mum has forgotten the days when she was a struggling single mother & can't seem to grasp how others now struggle with money IYKWIM since meeting her OH. I know I shouldn't be saying all this & would never say it to my 'normal' friends & family but sometimes it is nice to get things off my chest on here. That said the money will help out no end & we do appreciate it. God I soundlike a right nasty bar steward:rolleyes: ! Off for a week next month & one day that week will be spent going through everything again regarding our finances again & scrutinising all of Martin's tips. We are confident that we can shift these debts alot quicker than we have been doing by tweaking our SOA again! Thanks again for reading!

lucielle

Hi ltm07, Just read your diary. Keep going you are doing well. It doesn't matter what everybody else thinks, at the end of the day you have to do whats best for you.
L

ltm07

Thanks Lucielle. I know that we can do better & hopefully with a bit of tweaking we will. Don't think we'll quite crack the £31k as water & fuel bills have also gone out of the bank. Half of me wants to start putting in alot more overtime again & the other half of me says don't, you already do enough so I'll take each day as it comes on that score. Whilst it's good to see an extra £40-£50 a week in my wage packet it is just as bad to feel like a walking zombie 6 days a week! With me working my day off as overtime 99% of the time & OH pulling in extra shifts, we have over £600 a week coming into the house, so in reality I shouldn't really need to do any more than I already do. Thanks again & all the best!!

ltm07

Well we just managed to stay under £30k & are well happy:j(cheating a bit as £112 interest on OD not gone out yet;) ) ! Paid off £690.26 this month, which is largely due to OH pulling in extra shifts & also overbudgeting slightly, so we can stay on track of our spending IYKWIM. If we don't slightly overbudget,then if we go over our budget, we tend to lose track of what we're spending, so we overbudget & anything that's left come OH's payday goes back into paying off debts. It does seem to work quite well for us,as we are both quite lucky that we can put in extra hours at work to cover the extra cash we are budgeting IYKWIM. The thing about it is we have paid even more than that off, as recalculated one of our loans & it was £182.64 more than I thought it was. May find next month a bit tougher though, as it's DD's birthday next week & my Brother's the week after, but will be pleased if we manage to surpass £3,000 being paid off, then for a month in November of cutting out going out as much & also less takeaways, in preperation for what will also be a tough month in December in the run up to Xmas! Thanks for reading & here is our new update.

Debt at LBM 1(July 1st 07)-£33,744.48
Debt at LBM 2(July 20th 08)-£32,158.37
Debt Today(September 30th 08)-£30,936.35