Wanting to be debt free BEFORE retirement!

Cialilerin

You inspired me - went out and bought some seeds - just got to plant them now!

planning_ahead_2

Debt diary - day 89

Oh my - where do the days go;)

No updates on reducing the debt totals til the end of the week, but I just realised I haven't updated my diary for a few days. So much for my brag when I started that I would write in my diary every day:o

I bought a new electric food mixer yesterday - £4.18 value mixer in Sainsburys. I have a super dooper Kenwood Chef with loads of attachments....it never comes out of the cupboard expect to make basic victoria sponge mix so I decided value mixer will do the job and Kenwood is going on ebay later today:rotfl:

Veggie seedlings are coming up nicely:D...strawberry plants bushing out beautifully:D, rhubarb plant growing well:D, potato plants....doing nothing yet:(:rotfl:

Hanging baskets are all made up and looking good (grown from seed and not bought in plant trays from garden centre or diy shop).

Overall I am very pleased with my greenfingered moneysaving efforts so far...but do appreciate that there is some way to go before I can reap the rewards of my efforts. It is very satisfying to see those little seedlings grow and know that not only have I done this, but I am going to save us money through the summer months on fruit and veggies.

On another note, I suddenly realised that I haven't felt this positive and motivated about life in general for a long, long time. Thinking about it I always knew the debt burden was weighing me down, but never realised how much. The debt and burden is still there, but it's been confronted and is being dealt with - sometimes slower than I would like but hey....it's going down;)

Cialilerin

Have you thought about growing a few more seeds or planting a couple of hanging baskets and doing a car boot sale. You'll probably need more than just plants - but would be great if you were planning to do a car boot anyway! Just thinking that when I've been to car boots in past, the plants have always sold well!

planning_ahead_2

Cialilerin wrote: »

Have you thought about growing a few more seeds or planting a couple of hanging baskets and doing a car boot sale. You'll probably need more than just plants - but would be great if you were planning to do a car boot anyway! Just thinking that when I've been to car boots in past, the plants have always sold well!

Excellent idea - not sure I have the space to grow more than we are at the moment - but will definitely look into it...thanks:beer:

planning_ahead_2

Debt diary - day 92

£1,241 off my debt total today :j:j:j:j:j

New totals for me are

Original debt: £47,728
Paid to date: £6,068
Total outstanding now: £41,660
Percentage paid: 12.71%

:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j

I love mid month salary payments:rotfl: They cheer me up just when I am starting to flag and think we are getting nowhere fast.

I have updated my snowball to reflect this and the good news is that I am now looking at a debt free date of end June 2012 - so close...yet sooooo far:(;) I am hoping to keep a tight rein on the budgets and pay of another £100 before the end of the month, but I am leaving it in the bank 'just in case' but believe me it is going to have to be a major 'just in case' emergency to make me use it and not pay it off the debts:D

I can almost feel that sub £40k debt coming up fast...I have never been so excited at the thought of owing just under £40k - how sad does that make me:rotfl:

Herewego

Well done thats fantastic, i know how you feel im heading for sub £45k and cant wait for it to come.
Not sad at all just amazing keep up the good work it will soon come down

Cialilerin

:T:TWell done, you are fantastic:T:T

maman

planning_ahead wrote: »

I can almost feel that sub £40k debt coming up fast...I have never been so excited at the thought of owing just under £40k - how sad does that make me:rotfl:

Not sad at all, you're cracking it, keep focussed you'll get there!:T

dentonemma

Well done, I bet you are counting the weeks till you are below £40K.

planning_ahead_2

Debt diary - day 98

Hubby came home tonight with the news that his department are looking at downsizing and redundancies within the next year:( This is so annoying as he only recently went through a department reshuffle or whatever they called it and was advised at the beginning of the year that his job was safe. However, they are now looking at merging with a neighbouring area to provide shared services to save even more money.

Not good news, but he's still in employment at the moment and so we will just keep plodding along as we are and throwing as much as we can at the debts. I am not going to let this get us down (yet;)) and will deal with it when and IF it happens (because they are only 'looking' at this possibility of merging).

I am back to feeling desperate for the end of the month so that I can pay chunks off the debts. I have checked all our accounts online at least once each today and they still say the same balances as they did the first time I checked this morning:o Obsessive compulsive disorder methinks:rotfl:

I sat and had a good chat with DH this evening about the debts and pushing every spare penny to clear them - he thought we were....but as I explained a pizza delivery over the weekend doesn't exactly mean we are pushing every penny at the debts...more like giving it to the pizza company especially as we had pizza in the freezer:mad: He says he understands and will be pro-active in supporting me to clear the debts. Let's see how long the promise lasts this time:D

I decided I need to sit with him and show him how tight money is each month because I am paying so much of the debts. I showed him my spreadsheet of what is paid from my salary and what is paid from his and there is little room for manoeuvre as the saying goes. I then showed him the snowball and I hope the numbers frightened him - he knows the total but seeing it in black and white like that will hopefully make him think about silly expenditure a bit more.

Anyway, I hope he is now fully onboard with my DFW journey - but seriously have my doubts:rotfl:

I am finally back on my diet....I also started that about 98 days ago:o and seriously lost the plot with it. I weigh more now than I did then and wish I could have been as focussed on weight loss as I have been on debt busting...still I am on the case now:D When I am debt free I am going to have a spending spree (on a debit card of course:D) and buy loads of skinny clothes:rotfl:She wanders off to daydream of a skinny debt free life :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: