Let The Battle Commence

Like many others my big downfall is grocery shopping. Two growing young men to feed and I find myself totally disorganised on the shopping front. One week I menu plan, organise a home delivery, no impulse buys all sorted. Other weeks - like now - there is a long weekend approaching and we are down to nearly nothing, which means I will pop into local supermarket on my way home from work and spend £30 - on what ?

May and June will be tight, with utilities bills and car servicing. But having done a budgeting spreadsheet for the next year, this is going to be my final lean patch, by the beginning of July I'm going to be 75%out of the overdraft. August and September look decidedly less red and more pink :) I know I need to start an EF, but every penny is claimed until early Autumn.

So the only way to ensure I get this right is too stay on top of the grocery budget. Do a week in advance and stay that way.

I see plenty of menu ideas on the web, I am a real foodie- so lets get it on !

Red Doesn't Suit Me

Thank you for the welcome fellow PF'ers :)

The trouble with this in the red business is that it can invade your whole life. I have to tell myself it doesn't define me. I'm not walking around with a big red 'In Debt' sign slapped across my forehead. Sometimes it feels like it. Stops me doing things.

When this is all done, and present calculations indicate just under 4 years, I'm looking forward to being able to just be. There is a real sense of freedom about being debt free, but it's so long since I've had that feeling it's going to be amazing when I get there !

So what other gruesome debts do I have to tell you about. I have one card that interest rate is...37% ! Have had this card for over 10 years and I owe £8,111.56. This is the card that really got me in to trouble. Started off as 0% balance transfer offer some time last century. Slowly but surely everything increased, interest rate, credit limit and of course the balance.  At one point I owed a massive £10k on it. This is my focus.

So I need some progress bars, because I'm going to smother this card, every spare penny I have is going to be thrown at it. This card needs a witty nickname...

Off to find some gadgets....

Ugly Debt

So I have this loan. I've had this loan since January 2008. In 9 months I will be free from it's clutches. It is my largest debt repayment each month. When I took it out it was just at the beginning of the well documented credit crunch. Our financial status was okay. Not rolling in it, but fair to say we weren't struggling.

Yes it was a consolidation loan, I know the pitfalls of them...now. So 39 months later with a total change in financial reponsibilities I know I'm hanging on by a thread til this loan ends. I owe £2,709.99 on it.

No chance of paying it off any quicker, just got to hold on tight until it's over. No I'm not wishing my life way, babies will conceived and born in those 9 months ! But what I will do is learn to stick to a budget, make do and mend, snowflake away at my other debts until January 2012. And then I will be £301.11 better off a month and be able to beat the rest of the ugly debt away.

So that's the plan, it's the little things that make the big things happen, 100 pennies in a pound. I'm going to get there.

A Girl In The Red

A bit about me. A few years ago I had a blog. I loved my blog. It was just me bumbling on about the stuff that life throws at you, and how you try and throw it back sometimes !  It's gone now because that was a different life. Something sad happened within my family. I'm just coming out of the aftermath, grief is a hard experience but one that has to be endured if you are ever going to get better.

I don't want to get all morbid and miserable on here because this blog is about moving forward so let's catch up a bit...

So why RedGirl ? Because I am totally up to my eyeballs in the ugliness of debt. Last blog was a little bit about my financial situation, but now things have changed, sadly for the worse money wise. There is no wonderful Back Button in life, you can't rewind and replay to change the outcome.  So it's time to tackle this head on.

I'm always easily inspired, but quickly distracted. My motivation is like the tide, sadly it runs out as quickly as it runs in. I'm full of ideas but I'm fickle, jump from one chaotic plan to another, lots of sideways steps. I know about snowballing, menu planning, card tarting, defaults, credit reports and budgeting. Just got to get off my bum and do them !

This blog is the way to stay focused, I know it works. I've lurked on many PF blogs. Smiled, nodded and totally understood.

I will get myself a ticker, a savings fund goal, a DFD calendar, all those things because they all help to push me a little further.

Here goes....