Wanting to be debt free BEFORE retirement!

Jubilee76

Hi

Just wanted to say well done on posting your SOA and starting a diary. First steps to being debt free. I am also trying to get debt free by mid 2012 so I've subscribed to your diary to keep me motivated :cheesy:

I know what you mean about checking your dfd all the time-I am always on these boards readng how well everyone is doing that I forget to list on ebay etc :rotfl:

It is so motivating here that I have already started to see some results. I am also doing the £365 in 365 and like you also transferring online. I take it out of my allocated spending money so I withdraw less for my budget.


Another challenge that really motivates me is the 1 debt in 100 days. Little extras I get on the free bingo and scratchcards all go towards this so really helps to see the figures going down.

Jubilee x

planning_ahead_2

Hi Jubiliee76

Thanks for subscribing to my diary... another reason for me to work hard and succeed.:beer:

I'm off to find your diary in a mo and subscribe. I am busy reading many of the existing (and excellent) DFWers diaries...very slowly mind you:o but I must admit that I am pleased to find some other newcomers so that we can support each other, especially at the beginning of our journeys to becoming debt free.

A good day so far, from the list I said I was going to do I have already achieved the following

1) list at least three items on ebay - managed to list 6 items...so far:T
2) do some batch cooking - made a big pot of chicken and sweetcorn soup and froze it into individual portions for lunches:T
3) do the ironing I didn't do yesterday - not a single piece of ironing left to do:T
4) try to spend a whole 24 hours without looking at my snowball - Failed miserably:rotfl:

Snowmoredebt

Hi
Well done on the ebay listings, thats a horrible task! And you asked if the debt busting and number crunching was addictive ummm yes lol
I agree with Jubilee have a look at some of the challenges, if you are planning on selling on ebay there is an ebay challenge somewhere.

GOOD LUCK will be cheering you along all the way

planning_ahead_2

Debt diary day 4 (well one minute into day 4:o)

Couldn't wait to update the figures. The DDs come out of the bank today so I get to strike out some of those 'orrible numbers and make them just that little bit smaller:j How sad am I £427 off the total now.

Also, whilst working out the money for the coming month, I realised that there are no payments due for council tax and water rates for the next two months:j However, DH's car is due for MOT mid February - but it should sail through as it was only serviced in December and they said everything was fine. Same garage has serviced and MOT'd it since we had it (now 9 years old and we got it when it was just 1 - but it has been well serviced and maintained and we don't see the point in changing it until we are debt free).

Anyway, back to my point - no council tax/water rates means that I [STRIKE]should be able to [/STRIKE] WILL pay more off the debt in Feb and March:T

On another note, educating DH into this DFW malarky is a bit harder than I thought it would - he is being good, but doesn't yet think it as important and all consuming as I do:rotfl: He worked hard around the house today sorting bits out for me and this evening he walked to the off licence and came back with 1 can of lager:eek: He doesn't really drink much, but if he ever goes to the off licence he would come back with a pack of four lagers and put them in the fridge and work his way through them over a week or so. So perhaps he is 'getting the point' after all;)

On a more depressing note - I have been trying to work out what our mortgage COULD go up to if the interest rates go up (make that when they go up). At the moment we are tracking 1% above the base rate so when it does change we will have to work that much harder to ensure that we are debt free by the time the London Olympics 2012 start. We will get the annual mortgage statement very shortly so I will be able to work it out once I know what we really owe (think it is slightly less than I quoted in SOA).

I have joined the Olympic challenge thread to help motivate me so must remember to post over there that some debt has come off the total.

planning_ahead_2

I've also transferred my £1.00 for the £365 in 365 days challenge.

I have been reading all the challenge threads, but think I could get over ambitious / overwhelmed by jumping in too many too fast - so for now I am sticking with just the two

£365 in 365 days
and
Olympic Countdown aka clear those debts by July 2012

planning_ahead_2

Debt diary day 4 update

Evening everyone

Had a great NSD today - even DH managed not to spend anything at all. He was on a course and lunch was provided so that's even better (day 2 of the course tomorrow means another day when he doesn't have to provide his own lunch:j).

DS phoned this afternoon and has transferred £100 to my bank account - he has owed us this for ages but we said he was only to pay it back when he had the money - so that was a lovely surprise and I can pay that straight off one of the debts when it goes it (should be within 2 hours as it was a faster payment online:j). Will update my figures as soon as I can (keep checking but its not there yet:o)

Having joined two fab challenges and deciding not to join any more at the moment - I very quickly succumbed and joined another:o However the new challenge is to lose lbs and not £s:rotfl:. So I think I can sneak that one on the end.

I found a fab link on one of the other diaries (inmydreams diary) for things you would not expect to sell on ebay - amazing what things sell and this has made me seriously rethink my charity/freecycle boxes:rotfl: I haven't, as yet, listed anything from those boxes on ebay but will put the boxes back in the loft until the next free listing day - that way if they don't sell it hasn't cost me anything (wish I had found the thread BEFORE yesterday:rolleyes:). Anyway what I have done is photograph the items quickly so that I can prepare the listings in advance and just upload the html to ebay on free listing day.

Cialilerin

Well done - you are sooo motivated. Got home from work tonight at just gone 8, so all I've done is make some toast for tea and watch Eastenders while questioning dd's about their day! Absolutely exhausted, but you've inspired me to check all my accounts tomorrow and see what's what! Working late tomorrow as well so will have to try and get early night!

planning_ahead_2

planning_ahead wrote: »

Got £100 unexpectedly from DS (he owed it but I didn't expect to get it;)) and so paid that off Very and added £9.50 to round down the debt to £200.

Also paid £12.50 off Choice today.

So today's total from me is £122

Edit: Paid another £151 off Barclaycard No. 2 - so total today & yesterday is £122 + £151 = £273:j:j:j:j:j:j:j

Posted the above on the Olympic challenge thread - don't want to 'double post' but really do want my diary to reflect every part of journey to being debt free so that when I look back in several months time I know what I did - if I only post on challenge threads then I am going to lose those bits of the history of journey.

Hope this makes some sort of double dutch sense to others:rotfl:

planning_ahead_2

Debt diary day 5

Morning everyone

I am guessing today is going to be a fairly 'flat' DFW day for me - no payments to come off the debts.

However, I am hoping to have another NSD so that's positive. I am also eagerly awaiting delivery of my energy monitor - a new toy to play with:j

On the positive side, things I have done so far today towards a debt free lifestyle

• taken a portion of my homemade chicken and sweetcorn soup out of the freezer for lunch
• hung up the laundry to dry on an airer (got it down from the loft:D) rather than use the tumble dryer for any of it
• only filled the kettle enough for one cup of tea (and didn't get distracted before making the tea and have to boil it again).

Before joining this forum I would have bought lunch, stuffed the tumble dryer full of laundry and filled the kettle needlessly full (and boiled it a couple of times before actually making a cup of tea). I know it's not a lot and it makes no immediate impact but I feel positive about the future and positive about being more in control of the forthcoming bills.

I know I haven't made much of a dent - well not much more than would have been made anyway with my regular payments, but I am loving the fact that I started this journey with debts of over £48k and I can now say I have debts of over £47k - still a lot of debt but I feel in control and happier.

I haven't yet found the courage to talk to anyone about our debts, apart from DH and on this forum. I can't imagine a time when I do feel comfortable enough to discuss them with anyone (even family), but hey - who knows what the future will bring.

I sat and wondered this morning what we all would have done if we hadn't found this forum - and does Martin realise the impact he has had on so many lives. I think I have known for a long long time that our debt was spiralling out of control but I wouldn't have a) known where to start and b) had the courage to attempt to sort it without resorting to consolidation (again:o) without the amazing guidance and support form this site.

Anyway - only 1047 days till we are debt free (but not mortgage free:o) but I can definitely see the light at the end of my tunnel already:T

Have a great day everyone:T

sunday_girl

hi, just wanted to pop in and say i have been reading your diary with interest and good luck! can't write much as my toddler has taken half the keys off my laptop so it is difficult to type atm:rolleyes: