The long haul supporters thread...

TEK_2 · 23 December 2009 at 6:55PM

Hi all!! Well the Xmas shopping done apart from a couple of little bits we are getting tomorrow,which should come to no more than a tenner! Worked out our debt today & we are well under £35k,I'm pinching myself to check I'm not dreaming,especially as we've bought 99% of Xmas presents & done the Xmas food shop! That said, we do have a few DD's going out on Tuesday,but then again I have 2 paydays with loads of overtime to come + OH's wages were very good this month:j!! So we are finally seeing a way forward all being well. Done an SOA & put down the amounts that we feel we need to budget for everything & it would be impossible at the moment to budget for everything on our basic wage, so this gives us an incentive to do as much overtime as possible & also meal plan & look at ways to stay under budget each month & that we can throw the maximum amount at our debts IYKWIM. Hope this doesn't sound confusing but also 'piggybanked' everything we need to budget for each month into the snowball calculator & multiplied it by 12, so every time we spend say on foodshopping, we subtract it from the food shopping section,hope this makes sense,haven't a clue how to use spreadsheets so find this is an easy way for us to keep track of every penny! If we can stay within our budget & do enough overtime we should be able to pay off £835 a month & our DFD should be Feb 2015!! Thanks for reading & if I don't get back on before have a great Xmas!!

poorbabe · 23 December 2009 at 11:48PM

Well, a very important event occurred earlier this evening. I (finally) cut up the 0% credit cards that I'd failed to clear by the end of the terms and I've embarrassingly used a few times. I cut them into very little pieces and am shortly to put them in the rubbish

:o

I'll have to stick to my budget even more from now on and I'm hoping my CT really does stay unchanged for next year and that my rent doesn't increase by more than the £30 a month I'm budgetting for.

It's been an interesting year, I was doing ok then I slid, sorted that out then slid some more. I tried to consolidate (for the umpteenth time) but was rejected and that turned out to be a blessing even though I'm panicking slightly. I have 19 months left on my personal loan, so all I need to do is keep making the payments on the cards then I'll have an extra £251 each month throw at them :T

I have to say I'm a little scared for the first time as I've always had a cc even as an emergency measure and now I'm totally reliant on my salary to cover everything which means deciding what I can obtain each month, based on need. I'm also encouraged that I have been gotten better at listing every thing I need to pay for monthly, but am aware that some things have temporarily fallen by the wayside.

I have no shame in admitting to friends/relatives/work colleagues that money is very tight and will be for some time. Cutting up the cards is a way to force me to sink then swim financially.

I'll make it and if it gets sticky then I'll deal with it and come in here to let off steam/tears/anger/doubt/good news.

It's scary but I know I can do it. I have plans that I need to fulfill with my own money and not somebody else's :j:j

chris81418 · 24 December 2009 at 1:38PM

Congrats poorbabe with taking the plunge! Like TEK I'm down for doing lots of overtime - a least we're all hard grafting in this together.

Congrats too to geranium72 with paying off £8k this year.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone and speak to you in the new year! :xmassign:

jonnyboy80 · 26 December 2009 at 8:23PM

Evening all! Haven't posted in ages but thought I would drop in to say keep up the good work peeps! Had a wobble in the summer debt busting wise but have since managed to clear my HSBC overdraft (£1350) that wasn't included in the sig and have paid another £2000 off my debts in total this year...well short of the £10k I wanted to hit in 2009 but went travelling in the summer which whilst been random, I don't regret doing. I hope that everyone has a great 2010 and can keep reducing those (horrible) totals!!

poorbabe · 27 December 2009 at 1:24PM

Following on from my earlier card-cutting post, I just had to stop by to report some good news: I'd received some vouchers from my bosses which totalled £200 :eek:, so I hit the John Lewis website (Clearance section) and ordered many of the small items I'd wanted for a long time but put off due to lack of funds :j:j I spent £99.80 but as JL don't give change on vouchers they owe me 20p which they will honour!:D

In_Search_Of_Me · 29 December 2009 at 11:48AM

Morning ll...hope post Christmas financial hangovers arent too bad. Have had a lovely Christmas and everyone loved their presents...got very excited and told them how ridicuolously cheap they were!! For the first time ever Christams is done with no o/d and money left in the bank!! Got some lovely pressies - M&S vouchers, john lewis plus an ant arm (which I love), lovely sauce spoon (wooden and v thin), ransom fridge magnets to name a few...hope you all had a lovely time and are ready for 2010 with renewed debt busting vigouer!

Keeping_Positive · 29 December 2009 at 12:21PM

Hello

Had a good christmas but unlike you lot I do have a bit of a financial hangover. I dont really regret it as I kinda knew what I was doing. Im more concerned that I cant seem to keep to my monthly budgets despite that fact they are quite generous so need to have a good think of how best to cope.

Its like trying to lose weight I know what I should and shouldnt do but so much damage can be casued in a small amount of time so really I need a pause before action button! I have avoided leaving the house so spent no money in the last few days. Freezers are full so minumum shopping required for a while so that should help.

In_Search_Of_Me · 29 December 2009 at 12:23PM

whats done is done so just move on and start afresh...:)

lucielle · 29 December 2009 at 5:08PM

Me to KP, I was in a kind of sod it mood. I know I will get there and have to face it in January.
L

poorbabe · 30 December 2009 at 12:45PM

Morning all. First day back at work and it's so quiet. Today and tomorrow are clearing out the rubbish/filing with music so it's not too painful being here

Some good news. I've been clearing/cleaning my flat these past few days and I Freecycled some items; one of which was a foot massager I'd not used in years. When the person arrived to collect I thought it might be a good idea to check that all the bits were included. Lo and behold I found 3 bank bags with 1ps and 2ps in them :T I was so shocked. I did offer a bag to the collector but he declined. I reckon it's only about £3, probably less but it will help pad out my 'play money' allowance for this week, which is currently at zero

KP have you allowed yourself what I call 'play money'? That's the money you have left for yourself after absolutely everything else is accounted for? Maybe if you have a big enough amount, any ad hoc spending will be ok and you remain within budget.

I can't say I'm completely successful with that but I'm still working on it :rotfl:

The long haul supporters thread...

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