Debt Busting Chick!

Debt Busting Chick!: 2013-11-03

9 Nov 2013

My 1st financial setback, only because I didn't prepare for it.

£7 Challenge


Well I've made it to the end of the week. It started so well with the £7 challenge. You can view our progress here on Mortgage Free Journey's blog. Here is what I had to eat this week to save money.


Monday: I had Sunday dinner for lunch, and pizza for dinner. £0


Tuesday: I had pizza for lunch and pasta bake for dinner. £0


Wednesday: I had pasta bake for lunch and prawns and rice for dinner. £0


Thursday: I had prawns and rice for lunch and pizza for dinner. £0


Friday: I had pizza for lunch and pasta for dinner. £0


Saturday: I'll be having eggs and bagels for lunch and chicken and rice for dinner. £2


Sunday: I'll have bagels and eggs for lunch and go to nans for dinner. £0


Total spend £2 for the bagels and eggs. Not bad, as this week would usually cost me about £25. That's a £23 saving for me to throw into my Dirty Debt.



*1st Financial Hurdle Alert*

Whilst I was busy crunching numbers with my IPad on my Budgeting App, which Ive blogged about here. I got excited that I was on track to save an additional £380. Now I realise that its not much considering how much debt I have but to me this was still progress, and enough to put a huge smile on my face.

That's when it happened. I put some music on because I was in such a cheerful mood (Rudimental-Waiting all night). Took my jeans off to put on my comfy PJ's, and threw my jeans on my bed. Then I  heard it. CRACK!!! I looked over to my bed where I had left my IPhone and IPad and my heart just sank. I thought, which ever one it was that I had broken, I would still be upset about. So I went over to inspect them both. I went over to my phone and found that it still had a pulse but my iPad was not so lucky. It currently has a huge crack (thanks to my carelessness) that has split in several directions going right across my screen.

This is a financial set back because I already know a cracked screen is going to be expensive to repair. So I'm off to the apple store to find out what the damage will be to my pocket. This is exactly why I should have an emergency fund, because when things like this crop up in life. I'll be better prepared with emergency funds to handle them without hindering my progress to financial freedom. 

So now I'm not so sure I'll have £380 for my debts after all but we'll see. I'm not giving up all hope just yet! 

Next step for me is to build up an emergency fund for life's little unexpected emergencies. The best way to protect yourself and your savings. If you don't have one, and you're trying to clear debt, stop everything and do this first!

Anyone had any set backs recently? I'd love to hear how you've dealt with them in the comments section...

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6 Nov 2013

Surrounding yourself with fabulous like-minded people...

Over the past few days I've realised that my journey has started to become an easier and far happier one. I thought about what had changed and the only thing that had, was the fabulous like-minded friends I've recently made.


Meet my twitter buddies....

@MortgageFreeJny
@LemonadeBudget
@LovelyisLacey
@mammybear84
@fab_at_44
@claire_mansell

They all have helped to spur me on and have some amazing debt busting ideas to help curb the spending. I find that talking to them actually makes me even more excited about living frugally, and I find myself looking for more ways to slash my spending habits. Every day I learn something new because of them and I cannot wait to update them with my progress. Follow my debt busting buddies for excellent tips and ways to help you save more.


@MortgageFreeJny had the brilliant idea of starting the infamous £7 challenge. I'm glad she did because without it I don't think I'd be saving the extra £18 that would otherwise have been spent on food shopping this week. So far i've spent zilch, and now have more money to plunge into my Dirty Debt to clear it faster. I advise you to all get involved, not only do you save money but its actually fun and comes with heaps of support. Check out our progress here at Mortgage Free Journey.


They say the key to your success is to talk to and surround yourself with like-minded people, and if you're anything like me or on a similar journey I'd love to hear what works for you. 


I also know of a few more challenges coming in the pipeline to help us keep spending habits to an absolute minimum. Stay tuned for more info...

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3 Nov 2013

Say NO to falsies...Goodbye Rihanna nails, I can do my own!

I'm 'clawing' back my money from those talented nail technicians. Goodbye Rihanna nails! My Debt Busting ways are growing stronger by the minute.

I took a step back this weekend and thought about all the cut backs I could make in my budget to free up extra cash to plough into my Dirty Debt, and just as I was about to put my coat on to go and get my nails done, I stopped.


I asked myself this question "Do I really need to get my nails done?" The answer was a resounding 'NO' but not before I tried in my head to come up with many reasons why I should get them done. The bottom line was that I didn't need it, I simply wanted it.


If you want what you already have then you make it easier to keep your purse shut leaving more money to pay debt with. This really helped me and gave me the courage to pick up the phone and cancel my nail appointment. I even soaked my nails in nail polish remover and took them off myself. I made a saving of £10, which it would have cost me if I let them remove the nails.



Before my new frugal lifestyle, I splashed out on a few gelly nail paints from Barry M and this was one of the colours that I really fell in love with. So I decided to take the time to paint my nails myself. The worse part was waiting for them to dry.

While I waited I thought about how much money I'd wasted on getting in-fills in the nail salon. That's £16 bi-weekly, £32 per month AND I've been getting them done for the past 8yrs. Erm... So that's £384 per year, times 8yrs and thats more than £3000 I've spent on my nails.


Ergh! Money down the loo I'd say.


Can you cut back by doing your nails yourself? If you can, you too could have an extra £30 to pay towards your debts each month. Maybe it's not the nail salon for you, it could be the hairdressers or the beauty salon. Have a think about the things you pay others to do for you that you could try to do yourself to free up money that you could use to save for your first home or to clear your debts.

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