Reducing Debt - being accountable and taking responsibility

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  • Well done on an amazing turnaround in such a short amount of time. Brilliant to start the month with a positive balance

    Thankyou! Feels so good to see money in my account, although I've now paid a good chunk of that to CCs this morning so it's a little lower than last night!
  • Orange_Ena wrote: »
    Wow, your done brilliantly to get rid of that overdraft so quickly :T Best thing I did was get rid of mine and start living in the black.

    Good luck with your goals, I'm sure you'll achieve them as you're so focused. Great to read :)

    Thanks so much. Yes, there is something special about not being overdrawn and knowing the money in my account, even if it is just £2.50 is mine!
  • DrSpendLittle
    DrSpendLittle Posts: 698
    Debt-free and Proud!
    Forumite
    edited 11 September 2017 at 4:27PM
    Its the day after payday which must mean it's payment day! My lovely healthy bank balance has dwindled a wee bit this morning. :eek: I think there's about £680 in there. A bit disconcerting since I've been looking at a lovely fat balance since my paycheck went in there yesterday! But, it's all gone to the right place.

    An overview of my CC payments this month:
    B4rclaycard: Paid £297 leaving a balance of £8827.13. Yay! Finally below £9k!!
    JL Partnership Card: Paid £642.33 leaving a balance of £0. We had used this card to buy the hasty and unplanned kitchen purchase.
    BoS CC: Paid £254 leaving a balance of £999.73. Yay! Finally below £1k
    Total CC Payments inc. my part of the unplanned kitchen purchase: £993.33
    Total CC Payments exc. my part of the unplanned kitchen purchase: £863.34

    An overview of my saving transfers this month:
    Presents: £50 producing a balance of £51
    Car maintenance: £50 producing a balance of £51
    Emergency Fund: £3.04 + £10.42 (from a end of month sweep up of under spends from my ynab categories) £50 (usual monthly transfer) £30.67 (from my august salary adjustment) producing a balance of £122.66
    Total saved: £194.13

    I've created an account in ynab called purse and I've withdrawn £10 from the hole in the wall to deal with misc. cash spends. I also have £13.47 in my ynab misc. expenses category. I'm hoping this will cover any small random purchases throughout the month such as movie rentals etc.

    Right, best get back to work. I'm working at home today so hoping to have a NSD.

    I really need to catch up on my diary reading. I hope to post an update of where I am at and who've I've been inspired by thus far at some point over the weekend.

    Will update with car payment and thus total debt payments when it goes out on the 4th.

    Happy payment day everyone!

    DSL :j
  • DrSpendLittle
    DrSpendLittle Posts: 698
    Debt-free and Proud!
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    edited 11 September 2017 at 4:29PM
    It's nearly the weekend!

    Had a NSD today and packed DF off to MILs for the weekend. Must not spend all weekend lazing about reading MSE diaries and watching Dave Ramsey clips on zoutube.

    Got a letter today from our new elec/gas supplier (dual fuel) who will start taking a monthly direct debit out of my account around mid sept. :mad: This screws up my September budget so I've had to 'borrow' some money back from my emergency fund to cover the shortfall until I know where we are at with existing monthly direct debits for our two existing suppliers. I've already given DF my part of those monthly bills (they come out of his account) so hopefully I can get that dosh back plus any overpayment balances (a possibility since its the end of summer!) and repay my EF soon. Nonetheless, this is precisely what an EF is for and I'm delighted that it has been put to use in a positive way for the first time! Just wasn't expecting to have to dip into it so soon. Rookie error.

    Used some advantage points to order some toiletries from Bo0ts online and will collect tomorrow when I head out to do a small food shop. It's nice to put these to good use when trying to have frugal months.

    Going to defrost the freezer this weekend - it currently looks like something from Antarctica and we need more space to freeze leftovers and soups. Hope I don't break it as I tend to let DF do these sorts of jobs around the house.

    I think my laptop will need replacing within the next 12 months. It overheats and switches itself off. Not good. It's about 4.5 years old so I guess it is to be expected but still, it annoys me how quickly obsolete these things become. Now, the old me would have probably already ordered a new one via JL using 0% interest credit and repaid over a year!! The new me will limp it along as much as possible and see where it gets me. Ideally, I'd like to buy a new one next September, after I've cleared my debts in July and spent two months saving up. But, we also hope to have moved house by then, so I need to be careful with over committing to spends before our moving plans are confirmed. I might see if work will pay for a new laptop, but it's a long shot.

    Right, it's late and there is a chance I will be up all night if I don't log off now!

    DSL :j
  • DrSpendLittle
    DrSpendLittle Posts: 698
    Debt-free and Proud!
    Forumite
    edited 11 September 2017 at 4:29PM
    Doh. I forgot to mention it and I'll forget to do it if i don't write it down here...

    Need to look at changing broadband, car insurance, buildings insurance and contents insurance this weeeked. We can definitely save some pennies on these as we haven't switched in a while. But I need to be mindful that we are looking to move in the next 9 months so don't want to sign up for things we may need to end early.

    I still need to look into getting breakdown cover and mortgage protection insurance. I'm undecided on the latter as we both get really good sick pay at work and I know that DF can cover living costs if I wasn't working. I'd also have to change it when we move in the next 9-12 months and get a much bigger mortgage, so I might just hold off for now.
  • Have been reading your diary recently and just wanted to say you are turning things around really quickly and seem to have taken to budgeting really well. As you can see having (and sticking to) a budget is the way out of debt and into you controlling your money rather than the other way round. It is so liberating to be debt free and able to choose what you want to do with your money.
    As far as mortgage protection goes, there seems little point in starting it now if you will be starting a new mortgage soonish. Even then, you should really look into the terms carefully. So many insurances don't actually do what you want and if you already have good sickness cover with your work,that may well be enough.
    Have subscribed and am looking forward to following your journey.
  • Moneywhizz wrote: »
    Have been reading your diary recently and just wanted to say you are turning things around really quickly and seem to have taken to budgeting really well. As you can see having (and sticking to) a budget is the way out of debt and into you controlling your money rather than the other way round. It is so liberating to be debt free and able to choose what you want to do with your money.
    As far as mortgage protection goes, there seems little point in starting it now if you will be starting a new mortgage soonish. Even then, you should really look into the terms carefully. So many insurances don't actually do what you want and if you already have good sickness cover with your work,that may well be enough.
    Have subscribed and am looking forward to following your journey.

    Thanks for dropping by Moneywhiz and thanks for subscribing! This will be my first whole month of setting and sticking to a budget. I'm hoping I can stick to it and there may well be some lessons learned along the way where I have cut back too much. I'm excited but also feel a bit nervous! Doing well so far, three days in :rotfl:

    Agree on the mortgage protection front - will wait until I move but I'll make sure the terms suit my needs. I have the same with contents insurance - making sure all the individual items are covered in home and out of home. It's all very complicated!

    Look forward to checking out your journey :j
  • DrSpendLittle
    DrSpendLittle Posts: 698
    Debt-free and Proud!
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    edited 11 September 2017 at 4:31PM
    Can't believe it's Sunday again.

    Just sat listening to the radio and having a break from pottering around in the kitchen.

    DF has been away so I've had a quiet weekend doing some jobs about the house and getting some food shopping in. Had a movie night last night, with homemade popcorn and Aldi Pepsi - rock and roll! :rotfl:

    Old wine in new bottles!
    I'm a few weeks into the whole budgeting thing now and I'm definitely noticing the friction between my new MSE behaviours and my old spending habits. Just today, I was in Aldi getting some veg for the week (soups, roast etc) and noticed myself looking at picking jars. I nearly bought them as I thought I would make some chutney this autumn for Xmas pressies. The old self would have bought them, straight up, but the new me decided I should hold off until I've a firm plan in place and get them when I need them rather than when I see them. I can also reuse jars I will run out of soon, so probably didn't need them anyway! Same with food - I nearly bought a few random things and decided no, I haven't done a full meal plan yet so I can always go back and pick things up I need later.

    Weekend Jobs
    This weekend I defrosted the freezer and tided up the house. I also handwashed my car - again, something I would have spent £6 on at a car wash even though I have all the cleaning products at home. Need to get some tar remover though, my little car looks like it has a bad case of tar pox!

    Weekend Spends
    Filled my little car up with petrol on Saturday as the word on the street is that petrol prices will rise about 4p per litre this week as a result of the Texan hurricane. Only other spends this weekend beyond food was a bread bag from a cooks shop in my local town. As I walked around the cook shop I could sense myself looking at things like sistema Tupperware and odd bits of kitchen equipment and thinking 'oooh, that would be nice, I should get it'. Definitely those old spending habits coming to the fore again. I am a bit of a Tupperware addict and found it very difficult walking past all the sistema things that are currently in my Aldi :rotfl:

    What next?
    Going to read a few more diaries later but first I wlll make soup for lunches this week and maybe something for the snack tin (I've noticed I like to snack when I work at home) and we have everything in for either. Might watch another movie tonight - have a few things on my nexflix list so will see what DF wants to do when he shows his face.

    Must stop writing huge essays every few days and do some smaller posts :rotfl:

    DSL :j
  • DrSpendLittle
    DrSpendLittle Posts: 698
    Debt-free and Proud!
    Forumite
    edited 3 September 2017 at 2:40PM
    Totally forgot about the overdraft fees I got charged this month for July's overdraft and didn't have them in my ynab budget :mad:

    It turns out my bank charge in a slightly delayed way. Maybe they all do? For some strange reason, I had assumed that since I wasn't overdrawn in August, I'd have no charges in September. Doh. But when I rang the bank on saturday, they clarified their charging schedule and confirmed they were for mid July to mid August. Bonus is that I got 28p interest too. It's the small wins that count :rotfl:

    The charges were only £7.80 but I still needed to borrow that from my swimming category to cover things in ynab. I've an item on eB4y ending tomorrow that will generate enough to cover the charges so I can put the £7.80 back in my swimming category then.

    Still, a good lesson for those who finally get round to leaving your overdraft - don't forget to budget for fees in the following month!

    DSL :j
  • Booo to overrated fees, yay to resisting Tupperware- I love the stuff.

    Just a note re:the bread bag, make sure your bread is completely cold and, no moisture on it before you put it in the bag, otherwise it doesn't last long and the bag is ruined (yup! Been there, done that!)
    Outstanding mortgage: £23,181 (December 19)
    MFW 2020 Challenge Member #10 0/£2318
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