I complained to Boots last week as one of their staff was rude to me, and I got sent a £10 gift card today and an apology in the post. So thanks for being so lovely, Boots Customer Service Team! It always feels good when a complaint gets taken seriously, and as a bonus, I can add that £10 to my target of £5 a day of course.
Also I took a packed lunch into work, and made the OH one as well. So I only spent £2.80 today on a train ticket to work and back. And I get paid from one job tomorrow, and from the other on Monday!
Yay non-spendy me!
Although I do have £100 to find for a monthly CC payment this week. :rolleyes:
It must be my lucky day - I've just found out I've got another £10 through recommending someone to Saros research! It's going into my Paypal account, what a nice surprise!:j
Another day, and another diary entry for thevinternet. Sometimes I just think it's nice to have someone to talk to and stay on target, even though I know there's about a billion of us diary-writers out there!
Stayed in today, no work or college, so a no-spend day. Also transferred £50 from a high interest CC onto one with a BT offer of 6% for the life of the balance. Unfortunately, it has a very low limit on it, so I'm stuck just transferring a few bits and pieces onto it when I can. But at least it's something, and may bring my DFD forward by a few hours! lol
Incidentally, I updated my snowball calculator yesterday, and now my DFD is December 2015. It's still far too far away for my liking, but much better than the original figure of May 2016. Ideally I'd like to have the lot cleared by about 2014 but I know that there's only so much I can do at a time.
Played free bingo tonight but no win sadly. I saw that some lucky sod won 88 k on there tonight, I wish that had been me - I'd have the whole debt cleared in one go AND a load to stick in my pension...then buy a cheap car and take a holiday with the rest!!
Oh well, back to reality with a bump! Going to stick a film on now and sort through my college notes for tomorrow.
If you wanted to admit to these companies and hurt your credit score a little you could write to them asking them to freeze the interest payments
Or you can register for PAYPLAN and go through them
Getting the interest frozen is key to be able to snowball the debts quicker and obviously paying lower amounts allows you to quickly build up payments to do the snowballing...
Hello thevinternet! I was reading your diary and this bit in March made me feel so much better about my situation...........
Another good day today. New job went well, and OH got a payrise, so took me out to dinner to celebrate. It was absolutely lovely, and he's happier about money now, so in a way, the pressure is off me a bit more too. I know I shouldn't say that - it's not like I'm helping myself to his money though, it's just that if I do need to borrow the occasional fiver, I won't feel quite so bad about it.
Is that wrong I wonder? I don't like sponging off him, and I wish that I could tell him the truth about my debts, but I'd just feel so ashamed, and I'd be so worried that he would think less of me because of the size of mess I've gotten myself into.
He's a wonderful man though, and when these debts are a bit smaller, I will tell him.
......
That's EXACTLY how I feel about my OH. He's a lovely man but such a worrier and I don't feel he could handle the whole truth. I'm also very ashamed and think it's up to me to sort out. I have played down my debt. He knows I have a poor credit score though. He hates going even £50 overdrawn and pays of his credit card every month. Thankfully he's responsible for our mortgage and utilities (we'd be up sh*t creak if I were responsible!)
Anyway... if he buys me something, takes me out for a meal or gives me the odd fiver I do NOT feel guilty. It was his choice to be nice to me. He earns far more than I ever have, I look after our kids all day every day and make all the meals.
I had a lovely email from him at work today cos I was moaning about being credit checked for something and his reply was... 'Dont worry, as long as our house is full of love, everything will be OK' Isnt that luverly?!
Hi there everyone, and thanks for posting on my diary...it makes me feel special see?! lol
Thanks for the advice delboypass. I can see why people ring the CC companies to ask for the interest to be frozen, but I think I'm doing ok so far so I'm going to leave it for now thanks.
I know that I'd get things paid off a lot quicker if they did freeze it, but I'd be worried that they might start legal action against me if they knew I was struggling. I am doing a snowball and making overpayments on the highest interest ones first. I also feel as though I need to pay back every penny to prove something to myself - I have really taken control of my finances thanks to this board, and I don't want to make excuses for myself. I got myself into this mess, and come hell or highwater, I'm going to get myself out of it.
I can just about manage to pay my monthly loan and CC repayments at the moment, and I'm going to keep going on that track as it makes me feel great every time I see the debt go down a little bit. But if I get into trouble, I will take your advice.
Thanks for your kind words PinkLaydee. Glad to know that there's another sneaky sod just like me out there leading a secret double life!! Although it's hard not to be able to tell my OH, just like yours he would worry himself silly and probably go running to his (admittedly very rich) parents for help. But then what would I have learned?! Nothing. I need to do this my way, and the hard way!!
Your man sounds lovely by the way, very supportive, just like mine is. We are two lucky ladies indeed!
Not much to tell today - just a £2.50 spend to get to work and back, and I spent about another £2 tonight on a coke with the girls after work. It's nice to get to know my new workmates, they are a lovely lot, and of course the more friends you make in a place, the cheerier it is to work there. So I don't begrudge my £2 in the slightest!! Plus one of the girls bought me another drink and refused to let me buy her one in return...so sweet.
At work today it was so funny, I was doing a repetitive task which I was getting soooo bored with, and then I stopped and thought, 'Hang on a minute, the reason I'm here is because I'm £39,000 in debt.'. Trust me, that thought was enough of a boot up the backside to keep me going at double speed until the end of my shift!!
Oh, and my £10 Boots Pigsback voucher came today, so now I have £20 to spend in Boots! Going to go in early to town tomorrow and spend them on essentials and maybe one treat for myself (though not at the same Boots where I made the complaint, lol).
I have to try and forget money over the next few days and concentrate on college work as it's coming up to my exams. But I don't know about you guys, but I've become OBSESSED with bringing my debts down, and it's hard not to think about them, even for a few hours!! It's such an odd feeling to try not to think about it, kinda like going cold turkey or something!
I got paid today from my new job - it was soooo good to see my current account not frighteningly close to my overdraft limit for once! Of course that won't last, I've got loads of payments coming out in a couple of days but it was a good start for the summer, and makes all my hard work at the new place seem very worthwhile!
I even made a £5 overpayment on a CC bill for this month, it's only a tiny amount of what I owe of course, but sticking to my snowball payments makes me so happy, I feel as though I'm taking another step up a large mountain.
The bad....I did splurge on buying lunch today, instead of taking lunch to work with me....naughty naughty! But then again, it was only £3.84 or something, and I got paid more this month than I thought I was going to be. Hopefully this will be the first month in ages that I don't get charged by the bank for going over my OD limit. Once I've paid the CCs and loans off, I will be ecstatic when I can be in credit with them again...but it's a very cheap overdraft (the interest is minimal), so I'll have to keep using it for a while yet.
No other financial news really - can't believe that another month is over but there we are. I'm off to put a £1 coin into my holiday fund jar. Night night! xx
A no-spend day today as I've got a cold, so didn't go into college. No work however, so it was a no-earn day too!!
Tomorrow I go under the 39k mark for the first time....very excited!!:j I know that it's still a ridiculous amount of money for someone my age to owe, but when I first started on this board I owed £40,777, and I finally feel as though I've made a dent in it. The funny thing is, although I've obviously been a lot more careful, I haven't been living like a nun and I still feel as though I've had a good standard of living - I've just been earning more cash and not spending on anything silly for once!! (ie taxis, packaged sandwiches everyday etc, the usual stuff I spent on a couple of years ago!)
So a big thankyou to everyone on here who's helped me get this far with wonderful tips, tricks and general boot-up-the-bumminess!!
As for my other aims for April, well I've paid £100 off my Lloyds TSB credit card at least, which was one of them. The others I'm afraid to say I haven't managed this month, but I am nearing the end of term at college and I've been working my socks off. No real excuse I know, but I'm determined to acheive them next month, when things will get a lot easier for me in terms of college work.
Speaking of which, I must get back to an essay I'm working on....no rest for the wicked!! :rolleyes: Night xxx
Replies
I complained to Boots last week as one of their staff was rude to me, and I got sent a £10 gift card today and an apology in the post. So thanks for being so lovely, Boots Customer Service Team! It always feels good when a complaint gets taken seriously, and as a bonus, I can add that £10 to my target of £5 a day of course.
Also I took a packed lunch into work, and made the OH one as well. So I only spent £2.80 today on a train ticket to work and back. And I get paid from one job tomorrow, and from the other on Monday!
Yay non-spendy me!
Although I do have £100 to find for a monthly CC payment this week. :rolleyes:
Stayed in today, no work or college, so a no-spend day. Also transferred £50 from a high interest CC onto one with a BT offer of 6% for the life of the balance. Unfortunately, it has a very low limit on it, so I'm stuck just transferring a few bits and pieces onto it when I can. But at least it's something, and may bring my DFD forward by a few hours! lol
Incidentally, I updated my snowball calculator yesterday, and now my DFD is December 2015. It's still far too far away for my liking, but much better than the original figure of May 2016. Ideally I'd like to have the lot cleared by about 2014 but I know that there's only so much I can do at a time.
Played free bingo tonight but no win sadly. I saw that some lucky sod won 88 k on there tonight, I wish that had been me - I'd have the whole debt cleared in one go AND a load to stick in my pension...then buy a cheap car and take a holiday with the rest!!
Oh well, back to reality with a bump! Going to stick a film on now and sort through my college notes for tomorrow.
Peace and love,
V xxx
Or you can register for PAYPLAN and go through them
Getting the interest frozen is key to be able to snowball the debts quicker and obviously paying lower amounts allows you to quickly build up payments to do the snowballing...
Obvioulsy credit rating hit though...!
Another good day today. New job went well, and OH got a payrise, so took me out to dinner to celebrate. It was absolutely lovely, and he's happier about money now, so in a way, the pressure is off me a bit more too. I know I shouldn't say that - it's not like I'm helping myself to his money though, it's just that if I do need to borrow the occasional fiver, I won't feel quite so bad about it.
Is that wrong I wonder? I don't like sponging off him, and I wish that I could tell him the truth about my debts, but I'd just feel so ashamed, and I'd be so worried that he would think less of me because of the size of mess I've gotten myself into.
He's a wonderful man though, and when these debts are a bit smaller, I will tell him.
......
That's EXACTLY how I feel about my OH. He's a lovely man but such a worrier and I don't feel he could handle the whole truth. I'm also very ashamed and think it's up to me to sort out. I have played down my debt. He knows I have a poor credit score though. He hates going even £50 overdrawn and pays of his credit card every month. Thankfully he's responsible for our mortgage and utilities (we'd be up sh*t creak if I were responsible!)
Anyway... if he buys me something, takes me out for a meal or gives me the odd fiver I do NOT feel guilty. It was his choice to be nice to me. He earns far more than I ever have, I look after our kids all day every day and make all the meals.
I had a lovely email from him at work today cos I was moaning about being credit checked for something and his reply was... 'Dont worry, as long as our house is full of love, everything will be OK' Isnt that luverly?!
Thanks for the advice delboypass. I can see why people ring the CC companies to ask for the interest to be frozen, but I think I'm doing ok so far so I'm going to leave it for now thanks.
I know that I'd get things paid off a lot quicker if they did freeze it, but I'd be worried that they might start legal action against me if they knew I was struggling. I am doing a snowball and making overpayments on the highest interest ones first. I also feel as though I need to pay back every penny to prove something to myself - I have really taken control of my finances thanks to this board, and I don't want to make excuses for myself. I got myself into this mess, and come hell or highwater, I'm going to get myself out of it.
I can just about manage to pay my monthly loan and CC repayments at the moment, and I'm going to keep going on that track as it makes me feel great every time I see the debt go down a little bit. But if I get into trouble, I will take your advice.
Thanks for your kind words PinkLaydee. Glad to know that there's another sneaky sod just like me out there leading a secret double life!! Although it's hard not to be able to tell my OH, just like yours he would worry himself silly and probably go running to his (admittedly very rich) parents for help. But then what would I have learned?! Nothing. I need to do this my way, and the hard way!!
Your man sounds lovely by the way, very supportive, just like mine is. We are two lucky ladies indeed!
V xxx
At work today it was so funny, I was doing a repetitive task which I was getting soooo bored with, and then I stopped and thought, 'Hang on a minute, the reason I'm here is because I'm £39,000 in debt.'. Trust me, that thought was enough of a boot up the backside to keep me going at double speed until the end of my shift!!
Oh, and my £10 Boots Pigsback voucher came today, so now I have £20 to spend in Boots! Going to go in early to town tomorrow and spend them on essentials and maybe one treat for myself (though not at the same Boots where I made the complaint, lol).
I have to try and forget money over the next few days and concentrate on college work as it's coming up to my exams. But I don't know about you guys, but I've become OBSESSED with bringing my debts down, and it's hard not to think about them, even for a few hours!! It's such an odd feeling to try not to think about it, kinda like going cold turkey or something!
I even made a £5 overpayment on a CC bill for this month, it's only a tiny amount of what I owe of course, but sticking to my snowball payments makes me so happy, I feel as though I'm taking another step up a large mountain.
The bad....I did splurge on buying lunch today, instead of taking lunch to work with me....naughty naughty! But then again, it was only £3.84 or something, and I got paid more this month than I thought I was going to be. Hopefully this will be the first month in ages that I don't get charged by the bank for going over my OD limit. Once I've paid the CCs and loans off, I will be ecstatic when I can be in credit with them again...but it's a very cheap overdraft (the interest is minimal), so I'll have to keep using it for a while yet.
No other financial news really - can't believe that another month is over but there we are. I'm off to put a £1 coin into my holiday fund jar. Night night! xx
Tomorrow I go under the 39k mark for the first time....very excited!!:j I know that it's still a ridiculous amount of money for someone my age to owe, but when I first started on this board I owed £40,777, and I finally feel as though I've made a dent in it. The funny thing is, although I've obviously been a lot more careful, I haven't been living like a nun and I still feel as though I've had a good standard of living - I've just been earning more cash and not spending on anything silly for once!! (ie taxis, packaged sandwiches everyday etc, the usual stuff I spent on a couple of years ago!)
So a big thankyou to everyone on here who's helped me get this far with wonderful tips, tricks and general boot-up-the-bumminess!!
As for my other aims for April, well I've paid £100 off my Lloyds TSB credit card at least, which was one of them. The others I'm afraid to say I haven't managed this month, but I am nearing the end of term at college and I've been working my socks off. No real excuse I know, but I'm determined to acheive them next month, when things will get a lot easier for me in terms of college work.
Speaking of which, I must get back to an essay I'm working on....no rest for the wicked!! :rolleyes: Night xxx