Taking charge of my debts!

Money_Rollercoaster · 4 March 2017 at 3:42PM

I have to agree that it's a much happier place knowing where you are with your balances and expenditure. One pet peeve of mine is when the bank adds credit interest to my savings, because sometimes I scratch my head as to where that extra 1p came from.

Bobarella · 4 March 2017 at 3:56PM

Hello there

I have heard this phrase gazelle intensity before and wondered exactly what it means? I get the general gist but is there some secret to it?

Bob

Treadingonplaymobil · 4 March 2017 at 3:58PM

I always think of gazelles as being rather more airy fairy than intense!

copperman05 · 4 March 2017 at 4:40PM

Gazelle Intensity is about motivation. The gazelle when running from the cheetah is running for its life, its running with all its might, all its effort. Dave loves his biblical answers and this ones a pretty good one, watch the video here I love it when he shouts RUN!You GOTTA RUUUNNNNNN, makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!

angelpye · 5 March 2017 at 8:52AM

I watched a few of his videos last night and found his passion interesting but the ones I saw were very religious and I am not. Thanks for sharing though. Might look a bit more at his steps etc. the emergency fund before debts is an interesting concept. Food for thought for sure.

copperman05 · 5 March 2017 at 10:47AM

Yes the (mini) emergency fund before debts is to stop you from inuring more debt whilst your trying to pay your existing debt off, it makes sense as it adds a buffer should the unexpected happen, your car breaks down or you need a new boiler, etc. I also sets a positive mindset of saving £1000.
Yes he has strong religious undertones, I guess this is what motivates a lot of people in America, like you I'm not religious at all but I think the advice is still useful and relevant.

copperman05 · 5 March 2017 at 11:31AM

Funny how the more I'm getting into a frugal mindset the deeper into saving money I seem to be pushing myself. Which is good.
Initially I was setting (small) budgets for work food, socialising, eating out, etc. Now they have all gone. I've paired back my spending to the absolute bare minimum. Essentially once all my fixed bills are paid I allow myself a budget for groceries and food, but that's it. I do keep some aside for other items, but I'm not budgeting for those things above. My idea being that if I budget for it, I'll spend it, this way I keep a small emergency fund for unexpected items or occasional treat, but the less I use this fund, the more I have left over for paying debts/saving (I'm not saving at the moment btw).

At least that's the theory...

copperman05 · 5 March 2017 at 11:39AM

Is it too early to be thinking of investing?

I've been thinking what will happen after I've paid off this debt? Can one really turn it around? From being a frivolous spender to a careful investor? I don't have a mortgage, so I rent. Having an extra pot of money at retirement seems like a good idea, I already have a pension fund through work but the more the merrier.
Is living a frugal life now a good investment for the future?

BettyBones · 5 March 2017 at 2:09PM

Are we related? Your story and thoughts totally echo mine! My debt was around £22k at one point and once I had my LBM I found Dave Ramsey and started running like that Gazelle. 18 months later and I'm still running! :rotfl: I didn't have a financed car to get rid of but I did move out of my expensive pad in the city to a tiny little shack in the middle of nowhere in order to lower my rent and council tax etc and stop the endless 'just popping to the shops' routine. Now I can't even purchase a pint of milk without having to get in the car and do a 5 mile round trip to get it! :rotfl:

It took me a while to get all my outgoings (internet, utilities, insurances etc) down to the bare minimum and I ditched everything I could live without (tv, gym membership etc) and then, once the bills were paid, pretty much everything was allocated to debt repayment except a small amount for food, petrol and entertainment.. So, just as your are finding, 'fun' these days is things that are either cheap or free. Like a trip to the cinema on a Whacky Wednesday (£3), a walk on the beach (free) or a spot of volunteering at a sporting event or festival etc (free day out with free lunch included :j )

As for what will happen once this debt free journey is over.... I've been thinking about this a lot lately. One of the debts I got rid of last September had been costing me £130 a month but as everything else was ticking over quite nicely on 0% interest, and I was keen to get the saving/investing part of this journey underway, I started dumping £50 a month into a stocks and shares ISA (as an additional retirement savings vehicle) and upped my workplace pension contributions by another £50 a month. I've also just started setting up different savings accounts for different things (motoring, holiday, xmas etc) but I don't want to continue living so frugally after I'm debt free and saving every spare penny for retirement etc to the point where I'm not actually living my life now. I haven't minded being frugal and running like a Gazelle for the last 18 months to get rid of this debt but I don't really want to be Gazelle-like when it comes to saving/investing for the future so I'm not really sure how to go about it. I'd be interested to hear what your saving/investment plans and timescales etc are for when you're debt free. Have you given any thought to it yet? Or are you leaving it until after you're debt free? I aim to get a fully funded (6 month) emergency fund in place to begin with but not really sure what to do after that

Apologies for the long post... your posts make me think too much!... damn you...

:rotfl:

copperman05 · 5 March 2017 at 4:43PM

Perhaps we are...

My outgoings are pretty much at bare minimum, since getting rid of the car its freed up a lot of cash, and now the new frugal mindset has freed up more. I need to lower my mobile from £50 a month to sim only once the contract runs out in August, other than that there isnt much else to loose. I dont have many bills as its included in my rent, just internet, mobile and my rent, then debts of course.

I think you need to strike a balance, I too wouldn't want to be so frugal that life was limited. Having said that I certainly don't want to get back to my old habits and having nothing to show for my money.
Once all my debts are paid I plan to set up some sort of investment plan, still a bit intensive, I only have 16 years left in this job and I want to add more for retirement, so I'm guessing about 50% of salary, which is a lot, but could double income at retirement age. I probably wouldn't save for specific things like holidays, I'd just take a payment holiday from the investments one month and use that. At least that's the plan at the moment.

Taking charge of my debts!

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