Saturday, 10 May 2008

May Update but what happened to April?

April was a crazy month, mostly because of major changers in my job and for a few weeks there I didn't really know what was going to happen or even how much longer I was going to have the job. Since then things at work have stabilised, which is great news for my budget and even better for my savings as I am off on holiday in a weeks time and feel I still have some breathing space financially. The holiday is two weeks in Turkey with friends and has been paid for by them (yes I am very spoilt!), all I need is spending money.
I have put aside what I need to make all my monthly payments for May and have enough to cover the start of June also. But will not be able to make a snowball payment this month on my chosen account.
1. I have cleared my overdraft with my flexiloan account and plan to keep the debit card but cancel my overdraft facility. Then the plan is to build up a credit balance on the current account which is attached to the card as a sort of emergency account. I have my tax account as a sort of parachute for emergency also, so should be well covered between the two.
This plan sounds great on paper but as I don't have any extra income and am not able to get a second job or anything like that, I will have to achieve all this within current budget. Without my overdraft I will not be able to spend money I don't have so, I will have to keep within my budget and as I will be back from my holiday, I will hopefully be able to curb my spending habit.
2. Clearing my bank loans by September is still on track, in March I think I said August and it maybe that I can do it by then too.
3. Once the loans are cleared then it is just the credit cards to clear and juggle also, as the interest free period on my Barclay card runs out in October. I should be able to clear the rest within ten months if I am really, really good.
I am planning a very short trip to Africa in November/December which I have yet to really work out cost for. I want to keep cost to a minimum so am not planning to go on safari or anything like that. This is really just a taster trip and I am hoping (G-D willing) to make some more trips there in the future.

1. Clear overdraft (as at 01/05/08) £ 285.58 Done
2. Clear loans (as at 01/05/080 £2696.98 To do by 30/09/08
3. Update Budget to clear credit cards (as at 01/05/08) £8282.42 To do by 30/09/08

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sounds really great - that the overdraft is gone and a free holiday to boot!! Enjoy!