Wanting to be debt free BEFORE retirement!

Cialilerin

I am still a camping convert but think that is because I have young children and a huge tent. I found it relaxing as the older kids really helped with the little ones and there was no pressure to spend money we didn't have! I loved the sense of community as we only go to family sites, but have to say we do always pay the little extra and get sites with fabulous toilet/shower blocks. Have to admit, I use it as an excuse to not straighten my hair and let it dry naturally and I don't feel pressured to wear loads of make-up. Can't say it's back to nature, cos always have electrical hook up and bring tv etc, but would definetly recommend it for young families. Anyway, on bright side PA - dig that tent out and sell, they certainly do fetch a good price on ebay! but you're right, wait till the weather improves!:)

elsie52

Hi PA.

Hope you are okay and still debt busting.

I duly returned my dress and the money is on its way back into my account. :A We also had our yearly review on our DMP today and increased our monthly payment, :T only by £35 a month, but at least its an increase, and may make us closer to our debt free date, which is March 2012.

I am in the sealed pot challenge, but not much going in there on a daily basis at the moment, we have got quite an expensive February, and I can see me going over budget. :eek::eek: Ah well, such is life.!! :beer:

planning_ahead_2

Debt diary day 13

Hi everyone

Well, I missed posting on diary day 12 - but I had nothing at all to post about apart from the £1 to the 365 challenge:o

The debt busting did continue though and I discovered the wonders of a local pound shop yesterday. Had been in before but not really bothered much. I bought most of my cleaning stuff from there - and it's brand names as well:j - so I am really pleased. I do think I will have to watch out though because when supermarkets have BOGOF offers then things could be cheaper at the supermarket - but I will just keep my eyes peeled from now on;)

I also bought (from the £ shop again) some seed tray thingies:rotfl: and seeds and I intend to grow my own plants for using in my own home-made hanging baskets (always bought them ready made in the past from garden centres:o). I have the baskets from previous years, and hopefully this will mean that I can create several baskets for about a fiver (have to buy compost yet). Of course, this could all be a total disaster because I am not known for being very green-fingered. Still - it has got me thinking about growing some veg in the garden;)

I am still checking online banking, snowball and spending diary like a manic person:rotfl: So no change 13 days into my new life as a DFW then:T

Elsie - good news about the DMP review and the refund for the dress. February is an expensive month for us with family birthdays. I am just now putting my thinking cap on to think of gifts outside of the box.

maman

Hello planning_ahead, I'm enjoying your diary, keep it up:T:T:T

I've just been reading today's newsletter and the 5 books for £12 at Red House Books looks excellent value and their books are really super. I've emailed a link to DD2 as I thought they would make good presents for birthday parties. I wondered whether you and elsie52, had any youngsters to buy for in February?

planning_ahead_2

Debt diary day 14

Wow – two weeks in. Doesn’t time drag when you want to settle your debts! Seriously the last two weeks has whizzed by, but I want the next 911 days to whizz by just as fast. Talk about wishing my life away – but this is a very positive wish.

Okay – diary updates. What have I done……………………

I transferred my £1 for the 365 challenge and am up to date with that - £28 in a savings account:j

I also looked at my snowball (again:o) and decided it would be nice to round the figures down to the nearest £5 – just to make things easy. So I made several online transfers from my bank account and that resulted in an extra £33 off my debt today. I’ve decided that whenever I make payments I will always pay the odd pounds/pence to make sure I leave a nice round balance down to the nearest £5. It makes counting the debt balance easier and it leaves me with a nice feeling that those little extra bits are making a difference. Unfortunately I can’t round the whole debt as I can’t make extra payments to the Northern Rock loan – hey ho, there’s always something to thwart me;)

As I was looking at my snowball I moved the screen all the way to the right (when you look at the breakdown of planned monthly payments) – WOW we are currently paying almost £600 per month purely in interest payments:eek: That is seriously bad. I mean I have always known that the interest payments are there, I have just never added it up. Do you know that assuming my after tax income is approximately £12.53 per hour then I have to work about 47.88 hours per month just to cover the interest payments. I work full time (37 hours per week) and so I am working 1.3 weeks per month just to meet the interest payments on our debt. I have now seriously depressed myself. I have never broken down how much our debt really costs in my working time before and it is truly disheartening to look at it like that. A wake up call yes, but disheartening all the same:( And to think I haven't even got to thinking about mortgage interest yet (mind you that is at a very low % rate at the moment, but even so on £126k it's going to add up and the rumblings are that hikes are likely to occur in the not too distant future:eek:)

On a positive note I sold a couple of bits on ebay today – nothing huge and the total is less than £20 after fees, but it is more to throw at the bills. I have a few more bits to put on during this week – it’s amazing what you find in cupboards/wardrobes and forgot you ever had.

The lbs diet is going ok as well….not as fast as the £s diet but slow but sure is the best way with weight loss (my excuse and I am sticking to it). I am getting weighed at a local WW club at the end of the week and so that will be the weight I will post on the wibbly bums challenge.

Have a great debt busting day everyone:beer:

planning_ahead_2

maman wrote: »

Hello planning_ahead, I'm enjoying your diary, keep it up:T:T:T

I've just been reading today's newsletter and the 5 books for £12 at Red House Books looks excellent value and their books are really super. I've emailed a link to DD2 as I thought they would make good presents for birthday parties. I wondered whether you and elsie52, had any youngsters to buy for in February?

Thanks for tip for the Red House books :beer:- off to have a look now. February is ALL adult birthdays/anniversaries but although I won't buy anything from Red House now I will bookmark it in a birthday ideas folder on my Bookmarks menu.

I am collecting links to pages with ideas or value gifts or lots that can be split amongst more than one person (such as the Red House books). I am putting the links in a bookmark folder on my firefox toolbar. I'm not buying anything in advance as the money is better off my debts at the moment and I am only buying as and when each occasion arises and limiting the spend per person to ensure I stay within my budget.

Glad you are enjoying my diary by the way;)

Cialilerin

planning_ahead wrote: »

Debt diary day 14

And to think I haven't even got to thinking about mortgage interest yet (mind you that is at a very low % rate at the moment, but even so on £126k it's going to add up and the rumblings are that hikes are likely to occur in the not too distant future:eek:)

Are we the only people that don't celebrate that it's the end of the recession cos we know it'll mean higher mortgage payments

planning_ahead_2

I've been reading other threads and especially the make £10 a day challenge and decided that for the last two weeks I have 'cruised' on my efforts to become debt free. Don't get me wrong - I am throwing every spare penny at it that we have, but wonder could we be doing more :question: could we be generating additional income to clear those debts much faster :question:

Neither of us has any access to overtime or anything like that. Family commitments would make taking on a second job difficult and to be honest whilst we can keep our heads above water and make inroads into the debt then I don't want to take on second jobs. If things changed and we needed extra money just to meet our commitments then I would not hesitate...but not at the moment.

The thought of 'creating' additional income of approximately £300 per month is, to be honest, overwhelming at the moment. Breaking it down and saying £10 a day doesn't sound so bad, but to sustain that level of extra income is out of this world.

I am not joining another challenge because at the moment I think I have jumped in with both feet and whole heart into enough so that I don't drown in challenges. However, I am going to set a mini challenge to myself to see if I can 'create' an additional income of £100 in February. That's just under £3.60 per day to aim for - still a lot overall in my eyes, but I will start with this total and see how I get on.

First off is to ebay everything and anything I can find.

Second is to read all the threads on this subject and find out what others do. I have read up on match betting - but I do know this is not for me. I don't understand it and at the moment it's not an option. Maybe one day but not just yet.

planning_ahead_2

Oh - just read the forums are closed overnight tonight. How on earth am I going to cope without my lifeline:rotfl:

planning_ahead_2

Debt diary day 15

Well it's payday:j - only a small amount comes off the debt today though (£90) as most of the DDs hit our account on 1st or 2nd of each month - so next week should see some bigger numbers coming off the debts:T:T

In one of my current manic obsession moments with my Snowball I have calculated that if I can find £100 extra per month to throw at the debts then we could be debt free by 16 July 2012 - just 899 days from today:T

To achieve this I need to be sure that I can sustain that extra £100 pm towards our debts - so we've reviewed our SOA and we are making some adjustments

1. We've cancelled our contract with British Gas for boiler maintenance (actually decided to do that last week anyway) as we have a relation who is gas safe registered and will do it for us. The boiler is only just over two years old and so shouldn't require any major parts/labour costs in the coming year. We are continuing with drains insurance cover though as that can be an expensive headache if they going wrong outside our property. SAVING PER MONTH £12
2. Groceries being cut to £180 pm - there are just the two of us (with visits and regular stays from grandchildren) and we believe we can achieve this with some planning and care. SAVING PER MONTH £220
3. Clothing - make do with what we have. We have far too many clothes and shoes/boots already. I am leaving £5 pm in this budget just for socks/underwear etc but hopefully we won't need to use it. SAVING PER MONTH £20

So without too much effort I have (technically) found an extra £252 pm to throw at our debts. If we can do that then we could be debt free in 808 days (April 2012). That would be absolutely amazing - but I don't want to run before I can walk and set targets that are too tight because I think that may lead to failure. However, I do feel comfortable in stating that we achieve easily achieve an extra £100 pm from now and therefore our debt free date is July 2012:j:j

Right - off to list more stuff on Ebay because every penny counts now;)