I've been a very bad girl...

And before your mind descends into smutville, let's be clear I'm talking about money, just money!

So everything was on track to pay off my debts by August, yes?

And then the following things happened:

• Lost my phone (again), and due to a higher excess this time it wasn't worth claiming so I spent £80 on a basic smartphone to get me by (I'm due an upgrade in a few months).
• My car needed work - that was about £100
• I neeeded new shoes for an interview and got a bit carried away whilst shopping (before I knew it I'd bought sleepwear, undies etc.)
• I visited my godmother a couple of hundred miles away, and had to pay for travel costs and then a bit of shopping (bought a lovely Cath Kidston handbag - that I do not regret as my current casual handbag is falling apart)
• I went to a christening and had to buy a card and present
• I've been on holiday from work, cue a night out and a couple of lunches/dinners out

The worst of it is, I put every single one of these transactions on a credit card!  This was an empty credit card with my bank I wasn't using since I had paid it off with a balance transfer.

I used a credit card as I've been incredibly low on hours in my 2nd job and therefore very skint indeed - last paycheck only £65 when I normally get £120-150.

However, now I have an almost £500 balance on this credit card from this month!  I'm starting to see perhaps how I managed to get into thousands of pounds of debt over the years...

I can't see it getting any better just yet either - this month I still have a wedding to go to and a gift to buy, I may potentially have another interview to get myself to, and in May I have a couple of birthdays to buy for and a car service!

And if I manage to break my current interview unlucky streak, I might actually get a new job where I'm trying to move to.  This would be great but would also be costly as I will need to get a deposit and first month's rent together, pay to transport my stuff or do several trips costing rather a lot in petrol...etc. etc.

For now I'm just going to focus on getting out of my original debt, and worry about this new figure later!

Cool, moi?

So apparently according to The Times today, I live in one of the top 30 coolest places to live in Britain. 

Perhaps I shouldn't be in such a hurry to leave?!

Well where I live definitely has its charms, and I will always love it, but sometimes you just need to strike out and flee the nest.  I did that for 9 years, and then I came back.  Returning was great to start with but now 5 years on with my life not having really progressed in that time I feel I'm stuck in a rut.  A rut where I know everyone and can't even pop to the supermarket without at least bumping into several familiar faces.  It was nice at first, but now I crave some anonymity, some new experiences and the chance to meet people I don't already know or whom I don't already share a bundle of acquaintances with.  It's time to liven things up a bit with a big change of scene.

Of course I will always come back and visit, because lots of my friends are here and my brother and his family, and I will miss the place itself.  And who knows, if I meet a nice man and settle down, I might even drag him back here!

First finished job application for my new city of preference submitted on Monday morning, fingers crossed I get an interview at least...  If not, at least I have a lot of stuff I can copy and paste and tweak for the next application, rather than having to write everything from scratch.

Flakiness is not an attractive quality

So my date flaked out on me.  Not really a surprise but what is with these guys?!

It was the fourth attempt at a date... now I know you're all wondering why I gave it so many tries... and well, 1 & 2 were first time around - after failed date attempt 2 I told him I was deleting his number for messing me around.  I then deleted his number.  He then got back in contact a few months later under the guise of 'I found this number in my phone and don't know who it is'... and then we were getting on well over text so I sort of forgave him flake outs 1 & 2. 

So this time around he flakes out at 3 (though it feels like 1 as we've started again) - he doesn't text for a couple of days before we're meant to go out, and not on the day itself either.  After 1 & 2 I don't even bother to contact him to ask if we're still on, as I'll only embarrass myself.  Attempt at date 3 doesn't happen.  Later he gives some flaky excuse (we hadn't pinned down a time so he didn't realise it was meant to be definite - but I thought we were going to flesh out the details on the day or day before).  Then he starts sounding keen again a few days later and says he really wants to meet - I ask him if he's sure, given past attempts, and he gives some vague reasons as to why they didn't happen.  Given that he sounds keen and wants to book a date, time and venue even well in advance this time, I decide I'll give him one more chance (attempt 4).

All fine and in the two weeks between us booking the date and going on the date we're all texty texty.  He even texts a few days before to say how much he is looking forward to meeting me (he's off the internet).  Then a couple of days before we're due to meet up he goes a bit quiet.  I text him the day before and reference it in a text about something else and he doesn't reply.  We get to the day of the date (this Sunday) and he still hasn't texted.  We get to 11am (date is due to happen at 1pm and the table is booked).  I text him to check we're still on - no reply.  We get to 11.30am and I'm getting rather annoyed so I send him a rather pissy text (bearing in mind he KEEPS messing me around, it's about time I give him a piece of my mind) and say that given his track record if I don't hear back from him confirming we're still on to meet in the next half hour I'm going to call and cancel the restaurant as I don't want to mess them around and feel I should give them at least a little bit of notice.

No response.  I leave it a bit longer and then at about 12.15pm I ring and cancel the restaurant.  I don't text this guy again about it, just assume he's not coming.  More time passes.  I see later on that day that he has indeed seen my messages (we were texting via What's App and you can see when the person was last using the app) and send him a message saying that I don't know what his issue is, but that I'm deleting his number and don't want to hear from him again.  More silence.

Now I know my texts to him may sound a little schizo, but I'm normally very chilled with guys.  However, I feel there comes a point where they have to know they've pissed you off.  I wanted to say that he's rude and inconsiderate and that if that's the way he acts he'll never get a girlfriend.  But I didn't want to overdo it and look too bothered.  And besides, I'm annoyed at myself for being the muppet who gave some loser 4 chances!!!

At least for none of these failed dates did I actually go to the venue and sit there and wait and get visibly stood up.  At least trying to get confirmation before going avoids that...

To be honest right now I can't be bothered with dating anymore.  If this is the way men think it's ok to behave (and it's not just him of late), why should I bother?

I'm still trying to move to my new city of choice (sent off a job application this morning, fingers crossed) so maybe I'll leave the dating until I've moved and settled into my new life.

Anyway, one thing is clear, I need to stop trying to go on dates with losers!

Skint much?!

So here's the figures:

£0.41 left in my main bank account
£1.27 left in my secondary bank account (that my second job pay goes into)
£0.66 left in my wallet in cash

A grand total of £2.34 left until Friday!  Only Sunday today, eeeek!

I have some bits of money in savings, but really need to keep hold of them for more costly things coming up.

Think I'll have to allow myself at least a tenner from savings though to cover lunches this week... I'm rubbish at buying in supplies and getting up early enough to turn them into lunches to take with me.

I get paid from job 2 on Friday but am slightly panicked as I had to give up a shift last week to concentrate on work for job 1, and am going to only be paid a teeny bit, less than what I normally allow myself for my weekly budget!  Fun and games...

I have a date tomorrow but he's promised to pay (he owes me, having flaked out on me already twice), so hopefully that's not going to cost me anything... fingers crossed it might even be fun!

Epic fail

Ok, so my stay up all night tactic didn't even remotely work.  Instead I took myself off to bed for a nap to rest my computer glazed eyes, and then kept waking up every 10 minutes until dawn panicking that I really should get up and do more, but was too tired to.  Then spent the following day absolutely shattered.

Note to self - just catch up on work at the weekends, at a normal hour.

Back to financial things - I've spent both this week's and next week's budget already, not helped by going out for dinner last night... oooops

Will have to use little tidbits of money I've saved this month to tide me over, only problem is that I was planning to hang on to those for my car tax disc that's due in April.

Also found out my company is no longer going to pay for my professional membership, so need to find £85 to renew this in April to keep me in the game professionally... not quite sure where I'm going to get the funds from for that...

There's an easy and a hard way...

... and I've chosen the hard way.

I'm lagging behind on admin for my main job and seem to have built up some sort of resistant frame of mind, where although I know I need to do it, I just don't want to and can't be bothered.

Last weekend I just sat in front of my computer and couldn't bring myself to do anything, even though I knew it was important and would make me feel better in the long run.

I think it might be because I'm dissatified with my job and am looking to move away and start something new.

However, that's the worst time to take my eye off the ball, as I need a good reference!

Tried to work from home today as I had an unexpected admin day due to snow cancelling my normal work.  However, I still haven't got everything done I wanted to.

I've decided to play hardball with myself... I am not going to sleep tonight until it is ALL done (well the particularly pressing stuff).  I don't have another night this week where I'm free to work on it, so it has to be tonight.

Yes, tomorrow I'll be tired.  I have to be up earlier than usual, and I have to drive on snow (unless it all miraculously disappears overnight).  This sounds like a very bad plan but forcing myself is the only way I'll get it all done.  I have Red Bull in the fridge, I'll be ok.  My work is also less complicated than usual tomorrow so I can sort of cruise through, I hope!

I'll still have work left to do and hanging over me, but it'll be the less arduous tasks.

Better get going then...

A little bit of what you fancy...

Errrr, clearly, does not do you good!  That old age saying is clearly wrong, either that or my measurement of a 'bit' is rather larger than they intended...

I've been splurging rather a lot of money on food of late, and it's starting to show!  Spending lots of money seems to have equalled lots of unhealthy food, and that combined with not going to the gym of late as I've had so much work on, is starting to take its effect on my waistline :(

Let's put this in perspective just a little - I'm not a big girl, I'm actually very petite, so when I talk about a few extra pounds I still look normal to most people, but am just not so happy in myself.  Especially as today after work I tried on some clothes (and had had a big lunch so there was a food baby to contend with as well), and everything in my normal size was a big squeeze!

So what I'm getting at is that I think a food budget does actually help the waistline - when I'm careful with money regarding food I tend to plan ahead more rather than just buy on a whim, and that tends to lead to healthier, better planned out meals.

Talking of healthier, I've decided I must start getting 8 hours sleep, at least sometimes (I'm a diehard night owl).  So off to bed I toddle.  Night.

P.S. And must get my backside down the gym!

This isn't going to happen, but he thinks it is

For my friend Rem:

Still, if it doesn't work out on the man front, is this such a bad alternative?! Ha

Work work work

Oh Dolly P, I wish I could work 9 - 5, that would be a way to make a living.

However, the 'fun' never stops.  I'm trying to enjoy a nice lie in today but it's ruined by the horrible feeling that I'm running out of time to do admin for job 1.  I've got to go to job 2 tonight and then job 1 resumes tomorrow and I have so much to do before then!

I think once I'm out of debt I'm not only giving up job 2 but looking for a replacement career for job 1, as I'm sick of always having work hanging over me to do in my own time.  This week, for example, I am going to have to work all the evening hours possible that I'm not doing job 2 in order to be prepped and ready for things happening in job 1.

Every weekend I am torn between doing work, selling stuff on eBay to make money, tidying my abode (as I'm not naturally tidy enough to do it as I go along), and actually having a weekend and having some fun, or some chill out time.

I wonder if other people have these constant things nagging away at them... must work, must tidy, must sell some clutter?

I'm a natural born procrastinator, and having too much to do makes me want to do, well, nothing.

Kitty free to a good home...

My kitty had to go to the vet's today for her yearly vaccinations.  Whilst there I also paid for them to administer a 3 month worming treatment, and bought 3 months' worth of flea treatments... all that plus VAT equalled nearly £70, boo :(

I wonder how much I spend on being a cat owner sometimes... I must spend about £5 a week on food, my pet insurance is about £13 a month, and then there's the yearly jabs. 

Still, I think it's worth it for the company; when you live alone it's nice to have someone to greet you when you get home!

Here she is looking rather freaked out that she's in her basket about to see the vet:

New debt snowball - hoorah!

If you'd like to have a look at this it's under my debt overview tab (see above).

Nice short snowball left now :)

I'm paying off £523.12 a month, a random amount, granted, but that's because the loan I've just paid off had payments of £151.12 per month, and now I've paid that off I'm paying that extra £151.12 per month towards my other debts.

The debt snowball doesn't include my £100 overdraft, because it's indefinitely at 0% APR and with no usage fees so I'm not too bothered about it, and I'm not making any regular payments to it, so am not sure how it would fit into a snowball.

I blame the cat

74p cash left, and the new weekly cash budget starts tomorrow.

Sounds impressive to have money left over yes?  However, I spent £12.89 with a card on food (£3.70) and cat food (£7.19) and cleansing wipes (£2.00) earlier so not so much.  And did I really need doughnuts?!  Haha 

Getting back on track with this weekly budget malarky is proving harder than I thought.

Partly because when I'm in a store and see something I need (like cat food), I think to myself 'why not buy it now rather than have to do a separate trip tomorrow when my budget starts again?'  I only went in for an avocado for part of my lunch, but once there my eyes wandered...

Man 1 got in contact by the way - I asked him about Tuesday and he said he was wiped from work and didn't think it was definite anyway as we hadn't arranged the details (just which night we were meeting up). Hmmmm...

Man 2 texted me at 8pm last night saying he was just leaving the gym.  I told him we should do something another night (way too late to come back to me and expect me to go out suddenly - I hadn't gotten ready as didn't know if we were going out or not).

Still convinced they're all a bit rubbish.  Ah well.

Why oh why...

...are single men down my way so goddamn flakey??

So date with man 1 was meant to happen last night.  It didn't.  He didn't contact me at all yesterday to finalise arrangements.  I didn't contact him either.  Resounding silence since.

Why didn't I contact him you may well ask...  Well, I've done that before when men have been vague about finalising arrangements to go out and it only gives them all the power (which is a bit crap), and I genuinely think if they want to see you they will get their arses in gear.  Also, it can come across as needy, pushy etc. if I keep trying to set up arrangments when they they've gone quiet on me.

Date with man 2 is meant to be happening tonight.  I hadn't heard anything from him since Sunday.  Also, he was the one who wanted to go out, but wanted me to decide what we did, where we go etc.  I agreed I would think on it and let him know.  So man 2 I did text today, to find out if we're still on for tonight and to discuss plans.  So I text him to ask if he still wants to do something.  He replies at 5.30pm asking me if I've decided what we're going to do.  I text back a suggestion (a couple of drinks somewhere), cue silence for another hour.  Eventually I get a text back apologising that he's been at the gym...  So it's now 7.22pm and I've asked him if he still wants to do something tonight or if another night would be better, and silence again.

WTF?!  What is with these people?

Oh, and I was meant to have a date on Valentine's, with a guy who had already flaked out on me twice before... I thought I'd give him one last chance, but got silence from him in the 3 days running up to Valentine's, despite me sending him a couple of messages (one a response to his previous text, and a separate one wishing him Happy Birthday as it was his birthday a couple of days before we were due to go out).  So, with his track record I didn't bother to ask him on Valentine's if we were still doing something, and he never contacted me, and we've not been in contact since.

I. Just. Don't. Get. It.

I try to be proactive in trying to get dates arranged and it seems to put men off and the dates don't happen.  I sit back and wait for them to sort it and the dates don't happen.  These are men who asked me out, not the other way around!  There seems to be no way to win, other than to give up on all these losers!  However, it's not until this point that I can establish their loser-ness.

Fun and games. 

There is one silver lining though.  No money spent!  I've £4.20 left until Friday :)

Grrrr dating is expensive!

So I've just counted my remaining cash until Friday - £5.70.  But I'm meant to be on a date tonight and another tomorrow, yikes!

Clearly I'm going to have to dip into some other funds to tide me over.  Dating is never cheap is it?!  I know it might be different in some other countries where the guy is meant to pay, but in England and modern times that's just not how we roll.  Besides, who wants to feel indebted to their date and obliged to then kiss them, see them again etc?  Going halves keeps it much more simple.

Still, I wish it was cheaper.  I'm thinking if I only have one alcoholic drink I could get away with £20 in total for both dates, fingers crossed!  Otherwise, how is the skint singleton ever to meet someone?

Not really sure why I'm going really as they are both several years younger than me and unlikely to become long term, but I still think as a single girl it's good to go out and meet people.  Also, as people say, you have to give people a chance, and age is well, (to coin a cliché) just a number, I suppose.

Back on the wagon?

Just noticed I haven't posted at all in 2013 yet - bad Debt Girl!

Well, work 1 is keeping me extremely busy (aka taking over my life), so everything else seems to be taking a bit of a backseat at the moment :(

Anyway, some updates since my last post:

• Had a fantastic Christmas and New Year, despite being ill I still managed to go out and have a lot of fun socialising - though spent rather a lot on nights out, oooops
• Only New Year's resolution was to have more fun this year, although obviously this is still limited by my lack of cash...
• My job 2 is now officially 'at risk' (as you may remember I mentioned in an earlier post could happen) and my hours have been cut due to absorbing staff from other stores, so my pay has taken quite a beating :(
• Had a birthday last week and am now 31... the less said about that the better
• Back on internet dating - serious lack of hotties though.  Been asked out a few times in 'reality' over the last few weeks but not by anyone I'm interested in - same old story. 
• Considering a move to one of England's finest cities over the next few months - got to find a job first obviously, but feel I need some excitement in my life caused by a big change, and have friends and sort of honorary family living in the city I'm considering.

Think that's you pretty much caught up.  Apart from my BIG news:

A close family member decided to give me £3k for my birthday!  They know I am battling with getting my debt down and said they are really proud of me for getting so far (from £19.5k to around £6k) and wanted to give me a helping hand.  The note that came with it was so sweet, I burst into tears!  Still stunned at such a generous present...  Tried to turn it down as too much, but they wouldn't let me.

Used the money to pay off the remainder of my loan, and half my main credit card, which is fantastic news.

However, over January/February I had already managed to add to my debt by £285 and gone into using my £100 overdraft again (it is interest free though).  So technically I've managed to rack up almost another £400, eeek!  I think this is because although I carefully budgeted for Christmas, I used up all my savings going out over the holidays, which didn't leave me much to live off come January, hence the dipping into credit... ~slaps wrist~

I have recently transfered the £285 to a 0% card so shouldn't have to pay any interest on it at least.

Well now with the cash injection from my birthday making debt-free-ness much nearer and given my second job are cutting my hours, I've decided it's time to get back on the wagon by getting back on with my £30 a week budget.  I've not kept to it for several months now, which was just about ok when I had more money coming in, but now my hours have been cut I need to tighten my spending up again.  Also, now the debt free date is nearer I feel I have a little more motivation to keep on track.

I should be debt free around August now, if all goes according to plan.  Which of course, it may not, as life doesn't always go according to plan now does it?!

Right, now to update my figures below (woo) and to change my age in the about me section (boo)...

Lost my voice :(

My main job involves a lot of talking, and I'm naturally quite a chatterbox as well.  I had a cold at the weekend, and on Monday my voice started going, and yesterday I had to struggle through with nothing more than a raspy whisper.  Today I have had to cancel my normal work and work from home to rest my vocal chords as I don't want to do any long term damage.

Have lost my voice a few times when I've been ill, and it's so frustrating as I just can't function! 

Am hoping I'm better soon as I have various social engagements this week as it's the run up to Christmas...

At least working from home today gives me time to catch up on a load of admin I need to do - oh the joy!  Well, when I'm not blogging of course ;p

2013 - Wishing & Hoping

...that I don't get blown off course next year.  By the end of 2013 in theory I should be only a month away from being debt free (due in January 2014) but there are various things that could mess this schedule right up.  They are:

• Mileage claims for job 1 changing - they want to change my expenses base (and that of others too) to a central base I never go to, meaning that instead of having a personal mileage to my existing office (due to shut) of 1 mile each way, and being able to claim for every journey on top of that, I may have a personal mileage of about 30 miles each way.  If this happens it will totally screw me over as I regularly drive journeys around 25-28 miles, which will then come completely out of my pocket.  Add to that 4 years of no cost of living pay increase and it works out as a massive pay cut.  If this happens I would have to pay about £200 a month less on paying off my debts to cover the cost of petrol.  We're fighting this but it could well be imposed anyway.  :(

• Moving house - I mentioned earlier this year that my landlady (and friend) was thinking of selling, but this didn't happen in the end.  However, she is very stressed at work and seeking a new job that would be a demotion, meaning that she will have less money to cover the extra expense of her flat I live in (because of maintenance charges she has to top this up by about £200 a month).  What this means is that I would not only have the stress of moving (and trying to find somewhere that would take me with a cat), but also have to find deposit money for a new place (as she is my friend I never gave her a deposit), and also pay associated costs around hiring a van, etc.

• Redundancy in job 2 - both our nearest stores have recently shut and I fear we may not be too far behind.  They have shut though because either their leases were due for renewal, or they were regularly making a loss.  Our store doesn't make losses, and I don't think our lease is up for renewal soon so fingers crossed...  If I lost this job I would have to cut back on debt payments in order to be able to eat, as my job 1 wage only covers bills and debt payments.

Fingers crossed for a good year 2013 then!  2011 and 2012 were bleak for many reasons; I'm hoping I'm owed a little luck! :)

Lessons learnt

I mentioned in my last post that with the arrival of my new shiny, I now have a lot of credit available. I've just totted this up (including overdrafts) and I could, if I so desired, go on a spending spree up to £18,150!! Obviously, I won't. Ha

It is a relief though to have come so far from a few years ago when my credit file wasn't great (from a couple of late payments on credit cards), so that I couldn't get the example APRs or even be approved for some credit cards. I remember in early 2010, being turned down for consolidation loans. Best thing that ever happened though. I have learnt that credit cards are not the baddies, it is how you use them that counts. Over the last few years my credit score has been improving, and if I had taken out a loan I would have been locked into a set amount of (sizeable) interest to pay. By not having taken a loan, as my credit rating has improved, I've been able to use 0% deals to my advantage, and for the whole of the last year I've paid zero interest on my credit cards. Small balance transfer fees are nothing in comparison to the interest I would have paid.

The other good thing about having been turned down for a consolidation loan is that I have had to learn to manage my money better and get to grips with best ways out of debt etc. I have consolidated before, and not learnt any lessons. In fact, I was looking through some old bank statements yesterday and to my horror spotted that almost straight after taking a consolidation loan in 2008 (the one I'm still paying off) I was back spending on the credit cards. 

Looking back through those old bank statements shows me how much I've progressed with my mentality towards money - looking at them now I can see just how ridiculously extravagant I was.  £60+ here and there on supermarket shops (for 1 person!) really is far too much - I never spend more than about £10-15 a time on food shops now. 

This is how I'm now using credit cards:

• My new shiny to pay off credit card 2 as the 0% was ending and I hadn't paid it off (slapped wrist)
• My now empty old credit card 2 (going to hang onto for now as a potential option in case I need a card for further balance transfers)
• Credit card 1 - at 0% until May 2013, which I used to consolidate all my credit card debt onto, and have been paying off monthly ever since
• Cashback credit card - I earn 3% on all purchases and use this only for petrol, to save me having to find money upfront for travel expenses for work.  I pay it off in full every month when I get paid my expenses back.

My new shiny has a 3 month window for balance transfers with only a 1% fee (yipee) so I think I will transfer my credit card 1 balance early in February onto that card as this'll give me 13 months at 0%, just enough to have it all paid off in time.

Pay day already?!

Wow, I really must have reigned it in this month, without even trying!  I just looked at my calendar and realised I get paid from my second job tomorrow (get paid fortnightly), and I still have over £100 in my second job earnings bank account!  That's taken me a bit by surprise!  I'm normally trying to hang in there, desperate for pay day to come around. 

Good timing I guess as I have only bought a fraction of the Christmas presents I have to buy...  Amazon's telling me I have 5 days left, better step on it then!

New shiny card

Ooooh just after writing my last post my mail was dropped through my door - my new credit card which I did a balance transfer onto from my credit card 2 has just arrived :)

F*** me, they've given me a credit limit of £4900!  Add that to the £8200 credit limit on my main card that I'm using to pay off debts and the £3000 credit limit on my credit card I've just transfered the balance from, and that's access to a hell of a lot of credit!

Thank goodness I'm not so easily tempted these days... ;)