Time to step up to the plate..

Stepuptotheplate · 13 February 2015 at 12:24AM

Hi all

This is my first post with this username.. I have RL friends who use MSE and I'm embarrassed for them to know how much debt we have. I've been following several DFDs for a while and have found them so inspiring that I thought having one of my own would keep me to the straight and narrow. Not counting the mortgage, I owe a shade over £26000 :eek: but I had my LBM just before Christmas and that's already an improvement. I've done a first draft of an SOA and I'll post that in a bit. I'm lucky that I earn a good wage, and have a business too, which generates a variable amount every month, so I tend not to rely on that income.

Today's money saving has included switching my gas and electricity for both our properties, (our house and an annex) which should save £1000 a year!! I've also applied for (& been accepted!) for a 0% card. I'm going to wait until I see what the credit limit is before I decide which card to pay off. I'd like to pay the most expensive one off, which is the sensible choice, but it might be enough to clear my lowest card altogether so we'll see.

I'd appreciate some company.. But for now I'm off to bed. More tomorrow! (And it's payday! :T)

debtfreeoneday · 13 February 2015 at 9:25AM

Well done for doing the first steps! It's a good idea to post your SOA for others to give tips or suggestions.. £26k may sound scary but you can clear it!

sophieo16 · 13 February 2015 at 9:54AM

Subscribed! i look forward to following your diary. from what you have said it seems like you are heading in the right direction already and have the tools to get you out of the debt. So good luck

stepuptothepl8 · 13 February 2015 at 7:19PM

Thanks so much both; you may notice my username has changed slightly

I came to logon this morning, and it's not recognising my new password for the '...plate' login. And when I tried to reset it just sends the info for my previous account

so I guess I shouldn't have used the same email a/c for both

So.. slight amendment to the username and off we go again!

Today was almost a NSD :money: but then I remembered that I hadn't bought OH and DD Valentine's cards, so off to Mr T I went. I was so chuffed with my savings last night on the gas/electricity that I told everyone at work that would listen!

The plan for the w/e is to see if I can sort out my mobile costs; I have an iphone 4s and am due an upgrade, so I might venture into the shop and see what deal I can haggle..

Pay day today for me from the main job. The business pays out (if there are any payments at all) at the end of the month. So I've done a quick shuffle and an OP to my most expensive CC. I'll do Tilly Tidies through the month to add to it; I like seeing round numbers when I look at the statement!

clearmydebts · 13 February 2015 at 7:36PM

Subscribed! You sound really determined. Fair play!

stepuptothepl8 · 13 February 2015 at 11:20PM

Thank you for the support, I really do appreciate it.

I've been playing around with the snowball calculator this evening (I know how to live on a Friday night, eh?!) and my DFD varies between May 2017 and Jan 2018, depending on how frugal I really want to be.. But then again, that doesn't take into account the 0% card I've just got :T so it could be less! My wages go up next month (by £50 :rotfl:) and I should get a bonus too, so that'll go on the most expensive CC. The summer is always the best time for the business (we rent out our annex as a holiday let) so anything I get from that I'm planning to overpay (once I take out a sum for Mr taxman, and the accountant, and utilities). I so want to be rid of the cards!!

Buffythedebtslayer · 14 February 2015 at 12:29AM

thank you for your post on my diary

you are very kind X

you do sound determined

Best way to be

have a fab weekend

XX

juicyjackieb · 14 February 2015 at 1:17AM

Best of luck to you! That snowball calculator date sounds pretty great! I'm subscribing :-)

stepuptothepl8 · 14 February 2015 at 1:29PM

Happy Valentine's day :smileyheart:

so, first attempt at the signature is below. I can't bring myself to put everything in there as that's too daunting, so the one below is the most expensive one. Small steps! I'm hoping to get to the phone shop today to see what I can do about my mobile bill (currently 45 a month :eek: and I'll pay the difference off that CC too.

We're off to our neighbours' tonight for dinner, and I'm cooking mains. They're veggies, so I'll be doing one meat lasagne and one veggie one. We're planning a quiz night for our village so this is a strategy meeting!

Doing my SOA has got me thinking - at the moment it says we have quite a lot left over every month*, and yet I'm counting the days till payday usually. Which means I probably waste a lot of money somewhere. So from now I'll be making sure I'm not. I've got a night out with the girls from work next week which could be quite messy, and not very MSE but I hardly ever go out so I'm not going to worry too much. I'll take out the cash, and leave the card at home. Apart from that, no big spends planned for the rest of the month.

*this is obviously a GOOD THING as I can overpay, but I do worry that I've missed something obvious from the SOA!

Sorry for the essay - it's good to (sort of) verbalise my plans..
x

juicyjackieb · 15 February 2015 at 4:42PM

I have started doing a new way to help budget myself, it does help I get paid weekly though, on a Friday.

Do my weekly food shop, 80% of my lunches will come out of that but I also withdraw £20 cash for my purse for adhoc spends... pop, crisps, any good bargains / reduced food etc. At the end of the week I will put anything left from my wages into my savings and any change in my purse into my money box on my desk before I finish for the week, even if its pennies. I will see where I am at the end of the year and maybe it can be used to buy my Christmas pressies? Who knows!

Its all part of my learning curve to reign in my spending and make myself hyper aware of how I spend. "Do I want it? Do I need it? Can I afford it? Can I get it cheaper elsewhere?"

I have managed to put aside around £140 in a month from my weekly salary, money I would have just peed away, just by being a little more mindful of what I am spending my cash on. Seriously I have no idea what I would have spent it on before... !!!! no doubt!

At least you are now in a better positions because you now know what you areas for improvement are.

stepuptothepl8 · 15 February 2015 at 6:00PM

stepuptothepl8 wrote: »

Apart from that, no big spends planned for the rest of the month.

Famous last words! We needed some replacement skirting boards for the holiday let, so went to B&Q. Spent £124 :eek::eek: but at least it's tax deductible I suppose

On the plus side, I've been paid for a couple of flower arrangements for a funeral that I did about 3 wks ago; we went to church this morning and they're still looking pretty good! I'll try and work out how to post a pic.

I've been speaking to OH about the snowball calculator, and how I'm determined to be DF in as short a time as possible (although see below!). He seems more interested now than he ever has before so we're going to go through his money later :T This is A Good Thing!

Oh and I've been to the phone shop. I'm on a much better deal, and have a shiny new phone. I'll sell my old one as soon as I've swapped everything over. I'm aware that I'm not being completely frugal, and I could be saving more than I am, but I figure that life is short, and as long as I'm saving money in most areas of life, I can afford to treat myself in others

Hope everyone is having a good w/e?

Time to step up to the plate..

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