Nearly debt free diary

jemreading · 1 July 2017 at 7:32PM

Hello,

I've been lurking and subscribing to a few threads over the past few months and finally plucked up the courage to start a diary!

As the title says ' nearly' debt free diary.. My current debt situation is below:
-£350 CC with 18.9% (interest free ended on 25th June 2017)
- £375 Argos Card (interest free until 25th August 2017)

It doesn't seem like much but I've shifted approximately £9,500 of debt between October 2015 - June 2017 and I'm struggling with the final bit! I have also tried to get another interest free card to shift my CC balance over but have been rejected.

I thought a diary might be a good thing as I find myself falling back into bad habits (looking at holidays and clothes I can't afford) and also using a lot of spare change throughout the week to buy small (but adds up) snacks!

I'm also getting married in October 2019 and plan to start saving for that come August 2017 (me and my OH have a savings plan, but it'll be sticking to it we find challenging!)

Jem

jemreading · 1 July 2017 at 9:52PM

I've got a spreadsheet system with my current outgoings on (which my OH helped me put together so it calculates my money, where it's going out and how much I'll be left with once it's gone - it's pretty cool!)

My salary goes in on the penultimate working day of the month, so the 29th June was payday, and here it is a follows:

Salary - £1336.66
Definite outgoings:
Bills (including: rent, CT, internet, water, netflix, spotify) = £350 (paid to OH who pays them off)
Food shopping (month bill) = £50 (my half - my OH contributes £50 too - new trial scheme this month, so may not be 100% accurate by the end of the month)
Electricity = £40 (this varies but I set aside £40 as it's never more than £80 between us)
Football Season ticket = £33.18
Mobile phone contract = £52.27 (additional charges this month as used O2 travel - usually £38)
Gym membership = £29.99

Debt repayments
A'Card = £200
CC = £274.88

Money into pots:
Savings= £100.00
Treats (clothing/beauty) = £30.00
Gifts(birthday/xmas) = £30.00[/s/] used already
Date night jar = £20.00
Travel = £50.00
Socials (drinks out/work socials) = £40.00

We are also going to re-view our wedding venue tomorrow where our first deposit is required. £500 is going on the CC (this was always the plan) and will be half paid off in next months salary. After this the CC will go back in an unknown location as I had to also pay a £50 deposit to the registrar but this was allocated debt payment which I already pay off from my June pay (OH will put CC away for me!)

jemreading · 2 July 2017 at 1:52PM

Things done today:
-Clothes washing
- Visit wedding venue and pay deposit (£500 - CC is now at £850 and OH now has hidden the card)
- Shopping spend £5.19

Spend for the day so far is: £505.19 with no more spends (fingers crossed! All my direct debits go out tomorrow and yesterday was a NSD! (Sunday's are usually a NSD)

jemreading · 3 July 2017 at 5:15PM

Today I have spent £2.50

I spent £1.00 on a breakfast yogurt (I usually have a box of cereal on my desk but I ran out on Friday and forgot to re-stock - will restock tomorrow at Ald! on the way to work)

At lunch I then spent 45p on a pint of milk for my cereal for the week and a packet of crisps

even though I already ate a pack of crisps with my home-brought lunch!!!

Going to have a visit with the wedding photographer tonight! Exciting stuff but no money is expected to exchange hands.

jemreading · 3 July 2017 at 10:10PM

This evening was a struggle. I've just come back from the wedding photographer (who we love) but his deposit is £500 and then the package we like is £,1,975 which is just too much.

I don't want to get into debt to pay for a wedding and we have plenty of time to save but I'm struggling with the idea of using my credit card to pay the deposit..

jemreading · 4 July 2017 at 6:32PM

Spoken to OH and wedding photographer. We can pay in three separate deposits of: £175, £175 and £150. My OH is going to cover this as I covered the Wedding Venue deposit.

Other spends today include:
£2.29 in Mr T to buy: 1 cereal and 1 croissants (Cereal will now last until August)
79p in the shop
£22.99 on a new dress (taken out the 'treat' budget)
£10 on a nice meal in with OH (taken out the 'date night' jar)

enthusiasticsaver · 4 July 2017 at 6:45PM

Don't get into debt for a wedding.

I struggle with the extortionate costs of photography for a wedding. My daughter and son in law had a photographer but just the basic package so photos just before the ceremony, family groups after and photos of the wedding breakfast and first dance of evening party. They refused the video package as it was more than £1k and my brother took some video footage but they pointed out they would probably only look at it a few times and had only just bought a house so wanted to save the money for that.

I think the crazy amounts people pay for a wedding are fine if affordable but presumably at some point you may want to buy a house or flat rather than pay rent and starting off married life with a load of credit card debt is not ideal. Well done on tackling your finances now though.

jemreading · 4 July 2017 at 7:16PM

Hi, enthuasiasticsaver, thank you for stopping by!

You are right. We only paid the deposit for the Wedding venue on the credit card but it is coming straight off in the next two months. We are in a really lucky position that come August Pay Day (30th August) we should be 100% debt free and can then make substantial savings every month!

We have also come to our senses and going for the very basic photography package which will save us £500! Our photographer has said we can upgrade anytime but me and OH don't want to do that right now.

I'm also fortunate that my parents are putting some money towards the wedding.

beanielou · 5 July 2017 at 7:36PM

Happy shiny new diary

jemreading · 5 July 2017 at 8:49PM

Hi beanielou, thanks for stopping by!

Yes, brand new. I thought it may help with the careless snack spending whilst I'm working during the week (it hasn't happened yet..)

Spends for today:
£1.50 (two packs of sweets from the market)

£3.00 on Mr T lunch deal (didn't prep the night before like normal)
£1 football (usually £3/£4 but my friend covered the majority of my costs as I covered for him for the past two Wednesdays)

Saves of the day:
£3 new £1 coins to put in my jar - I'm now up to £60 and only been saving since end of April. The goal is to save every new 12 sided £1 coin that comes my way. I'm aiming to use part for my OH birthday present (October) and part for my trip to Prague (November)

jemreading · 6 July 2017 at 8:16PM

Today was hot hot hot but I was in an air con office which was nice!

I met my sister for lunch today.
I paid for two milkshakes (cost me £6.98 and was paid with the money I have floating on my debit card - I always leave £50 on here just in case one of my direct debit goes out early)

My sister got me some lunch from Mr Greggos where she paid for my sandwich and drink for £2.00 I then had my lunch (pasta salad) for dinner instead!

I told you, currently struggling with spending during the week on snacks.

Nearly debt free diary

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