Life on a sticky wicket in 5XL underpants

fatrab · 21 March 2018 at 9:15PM

Brilliant move clearing that card. That'll motivate you! Are you closing the accounts as you clear them or saving them in case you need to use any balance transfer offers further down the line?

LegBeforeWicket · 21 March 2018 at 10:39PM

fatrab wrote: »

Brilliant move clearing that card. That'll motivate you! Are you closing the accounts as you clear them or saving them in case you need to use any balance transfer offers further down the line?

Thankyou!

That's a good question and one which I'm open to suggestions for the right answer. My gut feeling is to keep it open for that very reason but to cut the card up and keep it in the safe so I don't spend on it. I've got a reasonable amount of time left for each 0% deal but keeping it open as a potential option just in case seems sensible.

enthusiasticsaver · 22 March 2018 at 12:07AM

Well done on clearing the first credit card. I missed the bit about your working capital so ignore my post about the emergency fund. Getting the switching bonus is another good move.

When does the CC2 deal expire?

fatrab · 22 March 2018 at 8:32AM

Personally I'd close the account, but if they're likely to offer you another 0% deal which might come in useful in the future I would consider keeping the account open but completely destroy the card (or at least scrub off the security number on the back and chop the chip) then you can't just use the card willy nilly.

Or you could wait until you clear CC2 then close CC1, when you clear CC3 then close CC2 and so on?

One-step-at-a-time · 22 March 2018 at 10:44AM

Butting in for a moment - I still have three credit cards, but only one of them physically exists - the other two are just numbers in a spreadsheet for BT ping-pong purposes. This has been incredibly useful over the past few months as offers have come up that I wasn't expecting to see.

enthusiasticsaver · 22 March 2018 at 11:17AM

As I recall most of your cards deals finish in 2019 or 2020. My feeling is that 6 cards are too much and are looked on unfavourably by lenders if you need a mortgage or car loan in the future but if you know you will need a balance transfer then keeping a spare one open in case it offers a deal makes it worthwhile keeping it. I think you will need the long card number so I would not cut it up but just put it somewhere safe. If you are reasonably confident you can clear all the cards before the deals expire then close them as you go. Ideally you would have 2 empty cards at the end when you are debt free. Close the rest. Make one of them the one you have had the longest.

LegBeforeWicket · 22 March 2018 at 2:43PM

Afternoon everyone,

First of all, I've decided that keeping an emegency fund is a good idea. I know that money is money and that keeping it in a different place from my 'work' accounts doesn't stop it being accessible, but I think it's a good idea for my mindset. Removing £500 from the float is going to make very little difference to my earnings but it might just make a difference to my future if it helps me change my thinking. I'd like to build this up to £1000 and I'm going to think hard about how I will do this without diisrupting my plans.

Thanks everyone including One-step-at-a-time (butting in is always welcome) for the advice about CC1. I think I'm going to keep it open but cut it up (but with the long number still available) and, as fatrab suggests, with the security number scrubbed off. It is the card I've had the longest so I'd probably want to keep it once I am debt free and it has a decent limit which might come in useful for a transfer.
CC1 and CC2 had/have 2019 deal expiry dates and CCs 3, 4, 5, and 6 are in 2020 (I'm happy to list them if it helps) so I hope not to have to perform a transfer, but keeping CC1 just in case seems wise at the moment, but I will review in the future. The card has come out my wallet already and something I've just done is to wipe my stored details at places I would use it with, such as Amazon, thus removing temptation.

LBW

enthusiasticsaver · 22 March 2018 at 2:46PM

If you have had CC1 the longest then yes it makes sense for that to be one of the ones you keep. I agree with your thinking re emergency fund.

LegBeforeWicket · 27 March 2018 at 7:43PM

Evening all,

It's going to be a brief one tonight but it was important that I pushed myself to post something. I'm finding that putting a few words down on here to be both motivating and cathartic, and I don't want to lose the bit of momentum I have.

The past few days have been really tough for me. I've been thoroughly down about a few things and I've been ruminating on the past quite a lot. I don't sleep well generally but it's been terrible while I've been beating myself up. I'm not depressed, but at the same time I do wonder if I should find someone to talk to.

However, it's not all bad and there are some positives. I haven't spent beyond my budget nor been tempted to buy something I 'deserve' to help 'cheer me up'. Food wise, while I've been eating up the remaining less nutritionally dense foods as per my plan, I haven't been out to buy foods to binge eat. In other words, I'm in control.
Additionally, I received an email from ebay for £1 listings fees so I've listed a couple of items. Hopefully these will raise about £50 in total. I've also switched one of my CC direct debits over to the bank account I recently switched to, meaning that I should get a £3 reward every month. It's not much but over the remaining lifetime of my debt it will add up.

LBW

fatrab · 27 March 2018 at 9:18PM

All these little things really do add up. I noticed a huge difference when I switched over to Lidl for my weekly shopping. I'm eating better for less money. It's quite a bizarre concept to begin with, you need to eat what they sell, not what you want. The little 3 quid savings or earnings here and there, they matter. More than you realise.

You're sticking to your budget and you've got a plan. So you can stop beating yourself up on that front matey! You're heading in the right direction. When I started my diary I didn't have a clue what my plan was going to be. I didn't even know if I'd make It past the first week on here. The plan probably hasn't fully evolved yet either, and neither will yours have at this early stage.

I find the hardest part is the bit in between events. Like the days leading up to payday, or the days immediately after I've made a change to something or made a payment. I call it coasting. Just coasting along waiting for payday again or for something to happen.

What you "deserve" is to get things back on track, and that will also be the thing that "cheers you up" 1000 times more than buying anything ever will.

I'd be the biggest hypocrite on the planet if I told you to go and speak to someone about how you feel, as I used to bottle everything up and wouldn't speak to anybody about anything. But sometimes just getting it off your chest to a total stranger does help. I've been there.

As the old cliche goes, "You can't change the past, but you sure as hell don't need to let it ruin the future."

Life on a sticky wicket in 5XL underpants

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