…i need a desk tidy
Thursday 15th May, 2008 - STILL £9,485.54 in debt…..
It takes a human being two years to turn from a dribbling, incompetent baby to a bawling, incompetent toddler; it took me two years to “study” for my A-levels; and it took Take That two years to go from spreading jam on their bums for attention to releasing their first UK number one single.
But two years isn’t very long when you’ve got nearly £10,000 of debt to pay off. I’ve been happily plodding away for the last fortnight, Ebaying things here and there, musing about maybe switching lights off when I’m not in the room, blah, blah, blah… But nothing is really happening.
If I’m going to manage this, I will need to pay at least £400 towards my credit card bills every month. I currently pay £200 but, if I’m honest, I often re-spend some or all of that balance. My Barclaycard is the only one that I don’t re-spend, because I’ve blocked it. Or I thought I had…
As you might remember, last week I was furious with Barclaycard. Having called them in January to block my card and decrease my interest rate, I was told last week that neither of these things had been done.
While they couldn’t now decrease my rate (rage, fume, etc), they would block my card and send out another one. “No - don’t send another one. I just want to block it so I can’t use it”, I said. “No problem”, they said.
Yesterday, I received a text message from Barclaycard: “Your new card is on its way.” Why, thank you very much, Barclaycard. Thanks for both keeping your promises and listening to your customers’ wishes. I love you almost as much as I love the idea of being locked in an Austrian basement for 24 years. With Jeremy Kyle.
I’ve always been told that it’s best to block your card, as cutting it up doesn’t necessarily mean it can’t be used and, even if it goes in the bin, it can get into the wrong hands. Or, even worse, I could give into temptation and start using it again.
But the card issuers don’t exactly make it easy to be sensible with your money. I’m giving up – when it arrives, I’ll just cut it up and eat it. Or force-feed it to anyone who works for Barclaycard.
Sorry – I digress. The fact is, I’ve got to start doubling my card payments. I’ve also got to stop maxing out all my cards every month.
This month, with my Ebaying success, I’m on course to pay £330 towards my debt, but this isn’t enough. I’m going to use Martin Lewis’s website to work out my budget for the next two years, and bite the bullet: those shopping sprees will have to stop. When will I learn that it’s not my money to spend?
