Almost Gone

Just when I had cleared all my cards I have to put my travel expenses onto it, all £1,146.92. Still I am glad I have confirmed my trip home and can now give dates of arrival to my friends and family instead of just vague statements of "the end of December" or "just after Christmas".

But I have a balance on my credit card again which I need to clear - I also have a new balance on my Flexiloan account which also needs clearing. And I haven't even started on my tax bill yet!

I use to read other peoples blogs and when they would add to their debt just as they were clearing it, I used to think "nooooo, you're almost there". But stuff happens, like life - so it is my turn to add to the balance. Still as I have said before, this is all new debt - as I have cleared just over £20k of debt.

My current spending plan is still in place and will not be changed until there is nothing left to pay.

Closest Thing To Closure

Okay, this is partly a date thing - it is the seventh of the eighth of the ninth today - surely a reason in it's self to make an entry on your blog?
The other reason to make this posting is that I have just closed my Halifax credit card, having been put through to their "special" closure department. I think all banks have them, as this is the second one I have dealt with of late. And they really tried hard to keep my business - offering me interest free payment transfers for the life of the balance and also a reduction on the interest charged on the credit card, etc. But I stood firm and said no thanks - as the balance on my only remaining card will be paid off by the end of the month.
"Why do I want to close my account?" I told them I was down sizing my finances, then I was told that I was "a very good customer and they didn't like to lose good customers". Gee, if I'm such a good customer why do you charge me such high interest rates, especially when the base rate is so low.
Anyway I am down to one card now - I am keeping it open for the time being as I have two direct credit's coming off it each month and am too lazy at the moment to sort out moving the direct debts to my bank account. I have one bank account which has all my other direct payments and standing orders. So really I should sort that out.
In December I want to go home for a visit and have been told in no uncertern terms by my travel agent, that I must book now or miss out getting a seat altogether. The other other piece of not so good news was that the ticket was going to set me back about £1,300 (gulp). I should have been making my plans at the beginning of the year apparently and I could have saved myself a few hundred pounds. I usually only pay about £750-£850 but with some new "C02" related taxes on long distance flights (thank you Mr Brown!) the prices are really taking a hike. So I am waiting for a call from my travel agent to see if she can find me any seats in the last week of December. I will have to just grin and bear the price I guess. Once my tax is paid off my air fare will be the next bill to clear. It's never ending isn't it!
My Mums is going to kill me, as I have been telling her for months that when I come over I will be staying for about six months or so, and now I am going to have to break it to her that I am only planning to stay for two. Not looking forward to that phone call.
Can't wait till that last £722 is cleared off my account - not quite debt free but boy! I will feel debt free - it's funny but now that I am so close to my goal I sort of feel like I did when I started my blog. Is that just me?

Wagers Day

Okay - I am a little ahead of myself, I have paid in my paycheck along with some extra income from the last few weeks, onto my last credit card (with my snowballing debt). The cheque will not clear until Friday, as I didn't get to the bank till after 3pm. Never mind!

I have also transfer the last £82.18 from my Emergency Account to clear the card but that will not be taken from the account until Wednesday. Don't ask me why.

So come Friday I will be making a phone call to cancel that credit card for good!

I still have a balance of £722 on my only remaining card which I will clear by the end of the month. (I'm still debating what to do with that one - keep it or cancel it?)

Once that is all paid I will be left with only my tax bill to pay.

Lets hope these guys would be proud of what I have achieved!

No Spending Week

Well it is the end of my No Spending Week which I have completed with very little problem. My usual £5 a day spending plan was budgeted for and so I paid the monies for the week onto my final credit card. A little step closer to my closing that last credit card.

I did have to ration my chewing gum, as I hadn't thought about getting more until last Monday afternoon when the challenge had already started and I was down to almost half a bag (I like the value pack bags). Can any one tell me why they pack chewing gum in odd amounts? The value pack had 39 pieces and I think the plastic container has about 59 pieces.

So when is your No Spend Week? You know you want to.....go on.......

End of July Update

Well I have added my tax bill, which is now due, to my debt balance which brings it back to just over the balance I had a the start of June. Gosh it seems like a big step backwards. Still on the positive side I have paid £1,429.19 off my last credit card, better than I had planned and really once that is paid off I will feel I have clear my debit. Okay I will still have debt but it will be all relating to 2009 and not debt I have been carrying around for the last decade. And of cause I want to clear it also.
Anyway this month my budget was divided up as follows:

9.6% Expenses

85.1% debt

5.3% Spending

Next month I plan to clear my last credit card, cancel it and then to start clearing my tax bill which I will probably transfer to my Flexi account. (Yes, the account I should have cancelled but am glad now that I didn't) I will wait until I start getting calls from the Revenue it's self before I do so. Hopefully I may have paid it off before that happens.

For August my goals are as follows:

Clear my last Halifax credit card £1085.18 (+interest)

Pay towards my Tax bill £1,133.23

Keep to my £5 a day spending plan

All Things Are Possible!

I have taken the challenge of having a "no spend week" and will put my weekly spending money towards clearing my Halifax Credit card. A card I should be able to clear by next month.
My extra work is only going to fetch me an extra £450 and not the £700 I had hoped for but still - something is better than nothing.
I have £2.08 in my purse from last week which I will add to my emergency fund. My little red purse has been put away for the week as I don't need it.

Anyone else game for a "No Spend Week"?

Go on....... Go on.......

Little Update

Had a great week last week with my £5 a day and ended it with just over £15 in my purse. Down to half my total weekly spending allowance of £30.

No More Spending is going on a No Spending Week but as I have already been out spending a little today I would like to have a go at a no spend week next week. Last year I did do a lot of no spend days which was okay but sometimes I found that I would then spend more on another day.

Do you find that sometimes it takes forever for payments to arrive on credit card accounts?

I am still waiting for last weeks payment to be credited to my Halifax card account and will be making another payment on Thursday/Friday (depending when my pay cheque clears). Luckily Halifax allow you to make as many payments as you like, unlike some cards, which is news to me.

Planned snowball payment for the month - £1,200 (so far have paid £558).

I Ought to Know

I should hang my head in shame as I have clocked up over £700 on my only active credit card.
That's the bad news, it's aways good to get that out first and the good news is well the insurance company has sent me a large cheque relating back to the holiday I had in Turkey back in May. It is however £200 less than what I was expecting and less a further £75 excess fee.
Also, during my little break helping friends move house I spent £50 having my hair done, £100 dinning out and £150 in a gift for the new house. In total £300 was added to my credit card - breaking my don't add to my debt balance rule.
Truth be known I had spent £70 a week earlier on clothes, as I was fed up with what I had in my wardrobe and also I had been trying to find jeans at charities shops but I couldn't find any thing I liked or that fit me. Always the problem when your shopping in charity shops.
Last weekend I spent £45 on a cardigan from Oasis and some beauty products for £32 - I had just had my last catch up lunch met with a really good friend who is moving to NYC at the end of the month. So I was feeling a little down, hence the little shopping spree.
Needless to say I have now cut up the card so I will not be popping down to Richmond anytime soon with it.
So all in all that is £722 added to my debt total and at the end of this month I have a whopping £1,927 of Taxes due for the last tax year. Not good when I am so close to my goal of clearing my debt in August. Still I am hopeful that the extra income I hope to earn in the next few weeks will cover it and more!
Should I beat myself up about this? I should, I ought to know by now.
I have decide to cancel all my cards (not just chop them up and keep the account open) and just keep my debt card. Well I can't do to much damage with that, as I don't have an overdraft and you can't spend what you don't have.

So Go I

I haven't been giving myself goals of late, which was brought home to me when reading DebtHater latest post. In fact re reading my first January post the only real goal I had was to get debt free this year - sort of stating the obvious really. I have been encouraged in the past by other blogger's to make some plans and goals for the future and that is something I just never feel comfortable about. I have no idea why? Some kind of mental block or something maybe. My own personal, weird little blind spot.

Time to step out and make some goals for the rest of this year!

Goal 1. Clear my debt my August 2009

Goal 2. Clear my Tax by October 2009

Goal 3. Complete my EMF Account by October 2009

Goal 4. Start a regular payment towards my building fund

In November/December I am planning to go home for a visit so will need to save up for my airfares and spending monies. For this I will need a minimum of at least £1k and most probably more, depending how long I'm away. Sorting out internal transport costs for trips around the country will be a good idea now, as I could get some good prices if I book early.

Four goals and some research to get on with, I will be off....

July Update

I did even better than planned for June and found an extra £150.13 to get my end of month balance down to £2,514.37. I also paid off my second to last credit card in June but as yet have not closed the account, I have destroyed the card and haven't used the account since about last year. So one credit card to go and I would have cleared the £20,056.05 that I started blogging about in June 2007. My DFD should be August 2009 - it would have taken 2 years and 2 months to achieve but oh the joy of getting rid of that big black shadow over my pay cheque.
On the last day of July my next tax payment will come due but as this is not old debt I will list it as a new debt to clear. Once that is all sorted - I will really have to move on to planning what happens next.
This month I plan to pay £1,200 off my credit card which will bring my balance down to £1,300 this should then be totally cleared by August. But I may well be able to clear even more as I have some extra work lined up for the latter part of this month. The details haven't been worked out so I will have to wait and see.