Stop the regret. Here is to the future

middleclassbutpoor · 18 June 2017 at 6:28PM

My first post after lurking and reading many other peoples diaries, so here goes....

Married with 2 dd's aged 3 and 7. Both of us work and are in what I would consider reasonably paid jobs (which may be well paid to some but not to others).

We currently sit at approx £48k in debt, excluding the mortgage. Our total debt including the mortgage sits at approx 2 times our gross income.

I have started the journey, had the lightbulb moment and entered all my debts in to the snowball calculator. Looks as though this is likely to be a 2.5 year journey but possibly 2 with some good luck behind us if we get a similar non-guaranteed annual bonus to what we received this year.

Having our youngest starting school this September is going to massively help by putting £800 back in our pockets each month.

Starting with the smallest debt which happens to also be the highest interest rate with Next. That will be paid off this month with approx £230 on that.

We have also transferred the 2nd highest interest paying debt from our tesco credit card to a barclaycard which had space on it to get a 0% offer for 9months. We have set up a fixed amount on this which is above the min payment.

Full overpayment capability will not start until September but doing what we can now.

As a reminder to myself when I update and look back on this.. Why am I doing this?

- To be able to promote a debt free life to my children
- To be able to pay for a holiday of a lifetime for my 2 children in 3-4 years time where we can go to Disneyland as a family and not be worried about what it has cost.
- To be able to not worry about one of us losing our jobs and it meaning we are in the deep brown smelly stuff.

We have wills, life cover, private health cover, critical illness etc but yet I keep kicking myself for getting in to debt.

I never think about what happens if I find myself needing any of the things we have put in place to protect our family.

However it worries me now more than ever that we are one job loss/redundancy away from our worlds potentially becoming a nightmare.

Having removed my credit card from paypal, amazon, asda etc, Im now working on the basis that any overpayment made to my debts wont just offset my additional spending.

Anyway here is to the future of being debt free.

Aaleigha · 18 June 2017 at 7:46PM

well done for posting its more than I have done

my debt is so minimal to some peoples

will subscribe and follow your journey

another_casualty · 18 June 2017 at 8:53PM

Great start to a diary. You seem very responsible and focused .
Some things just cannot be helped financially, and life in general .
Wishing you all the best in your aims

clearmydebts · 18 June 2017 at 9:07PM

Wishing you the very best of luck. You sound really determined!

jelly_head · 18 June 2017 at 9:11PM

Hi middleclass
I am in the same boat as yourself so I am going to follow your diary very closely and make my own at the same time. Hopefully we can become debt free and spur each other on to do so.
I think the hardest part is writing it all down so well done so far.

middleclassbutpoor · 18 June 2017 at 9:42PM

Thanks all.

I think it does help when you write it down.

If one thing I have learnt on here is that even the best plan doesn't always pan out how you planned. However I think that as long as you keep moving with it the you are winning.

I have also just started running doing the C25K program and one thing that has resonated with me is that by breaking down your goal into smaller chunks, it doesn't seem so big a challenge.

Unfortunately my journey for this goal will be longer than 8 weeks however maybe I should consider looking at my journey in smaller periods. 2.5 years = 130 weeks = 10 x 13 week periods.

One to ponder over the next couple of days and review my snowball calc and commit by writing here...

Watch this space.

glass_half_full · 19 June 2017 at 9:40AM

Hi there,
Good luck! You goals will help you stay focused.
All the best.
:T

middleclassbutpoor · 24 June 2017 at 10:37AM

Well, just a quick update.. Paid off the next card as planned following pay day... So just waiting for that to show so we can close down the card.

The next debt to focus on is my Barclaycard which has 13.5k on it... I have removed the card from all my online accounts and removed any regular payments that were coming from it.

The Minimum payment is around £300 for this. I want this down to 11k if possible before end of September so thats a target of 2.5k over 3 pay days (plus interest).

Remaining focused..

beanielou · 26 June 2017 at 6:39PM

Great start

Chandelier. · 27 June 2017 at 11:02AM

Keep going

! It's great you've paid off your next card. Now to focus on the next one. You're goal by sounds impressive, but when there's a will there's a way.

Use this diary as well as others to keep yourself focused. Baby steps each time along the way.

middleclassbutpoor · 1 July 2017 at 6:43PM

Thanks all for the encouragement so far!

As I mentioned earlier I started running and even when I was at school, I hated it. 6 weeks ago, I had to run for 60 seconds and walk for 90 seconds and that was tough.

This morning, 6 weeks later, I have run for 20 mins solid and today I did a PB for 5k in a little over 32mins. Really shows if you follow a structured plan which is sensible you reach your goals. running is really giving me some time where I don't have to think about anything - it's great!

This week has presented some other things to think about - other than running and becoming debt free.

I have been advised that my end of year bonus may be altering this year which if signed off could offer a bigger pot with a max paying probably double what I got this year. The chances of double happening though is not likely but potentially a realistic 33% increase. Wohoo!

In addition to this, I have also been approached by a competitor who feel I may be a good fit for them. I am really torn on this one. I absolutely love my job, have a good number of years with them which would would give me a fairly decent payout should redundancy ever happen and am in a position where I basically look after myself with very little interference from elsewhere. My role allows me to work from home.

The role I have been approached for would increase salary by 30% and offer an annual bonus of potentially 6 x my current potential giving me a realistic 50-70% increase in income overall. This is a massive financial difference and I could pay off not just my debts but potentially my mortgage within 3-4 years if I was successful. This role would include more travel and working from an office in the city closest to me which is about 35miles away.

So why am I torn...? I think the only reason I am considering it is because I often wonder whether working for the same employer works against you these days and I want to progress more where I am but the opportunities are not there at the moment. I do wonder whether I am in my comfort zone?

The fact is that if I didn't have my non-mortgage debt, I would probably be in a position where I could easily have a fantastic lifestyle without the need to have a job that requires me to travel loads. It really does put a question on how much I value the freedom of my job and whether my desire to earn more is to try and provide that lifestyle whilst carrying the debt...

Anyway, I guess it's one for me to reflect upon and consider whether taking the slow and steady approach will continue to work for me, or whether I should consider pushing myself and going out of my comfort zone into a company/job which I may not like as much as my current one...

Regardless, the plan remains the same - get debt free, enjoy the journey and continue with the plan.

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend.

Stop the regret. Here is to the future

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