Tondella's (epic) debt-free journey

Tondella

Hello there!

I've been a member of this board for nearly a year now and started my debt free journey last November. Briefly, OH and I got engaged and decided to tackle our credit card debts with the aim of being debt free for when we want to have children.

After a big flurry of activity in the first few months as we set budgets, transferred our credit card debts to lower rates, got rid of unneeded expenditure and knuckled down to repayments I became a bit of a lurker. Things were busy at work so i had little time to come online, and everything was ticking away.

However, I've just installed free Orange broadband and so now i can log on from home! I've been meaning to pick things up on the repayments front as I think that now i am settled into my current budget it might be time to trim off a few edges. Plus, with the wedding next month, we have about £3k of payments to make over the next six weeks, which will bring my debt total up again. At the moment my debt free date is March 2008, however next Summer I will be moving out of London to live with OH at his next posting. I'm not sure that i will be able to find a job at the same salary so it's important that i make the most of this time to pay off as much as poss.

I'm going to post my SOA, and I know what you are going to say about the rather generous clothing and miscellaneous spending allowances ... but here goes!

take home pay £1641
outgoings
rent: £450

BT phone: £22 - the account is in credit cos i barely make phonecalls, but this is the minimum DD amount they allow

Orange £25 (£20 monthly plus £5 of charges at the moment, a combination of the end of my free text offer plus the odd daytime call - i upgrade this month and am looking for a £20 package that gives texts and anytime calls, and i need to go back to being more disciplined about my calling habits)

TV licence - £10.99
Water - £15.82
Elec/gas - £27.50 (recently switched, think this might be overpayment but need to wait for first couple of bills)

council tax - £33.00 (yay, westminster!)
student loan - £57.11 (about £500 left to pay)
total £641.42

allowances
food: £35 per week
entertainment: £20 per week
gym: £45 per month (i normally payg at 4.50 per session, but on the run up to the wedding have joined so i have no excuse to not exercise)
travel allowance: £40 (for train journeys home and the odd tube journey, not always used as I cycle into work every day)

here are the ones you will have a go at me for!
clothing: £80 per month
beauty products and any gifts: £60 per month

This leaves me with £500 per month towards the credit cards, £564 in a four week month. I won't post OH's budget here for simplicity, however he contributes £904 per month to repayments, rising to £1154 next month as he has just sold his motorbike.

Our minimum repayments are currently £575, so we are overpaying around £800 per month.

My goals for August:
to get the most out of my food allowance. This is something i haven't yet got to grips with, I used to shop at the local veg market, however I can only go on saturdays, and got out of the habit after spending a few weekends away from London. I don't have a freezer, and i have three small shelves for food storage + fridge. So I haven't been able to take advantage of bluk bought meat etc. However I could do more meal planning and my shopping list could be better planned.
- shop at the market more regularly
- menu plan
- try out some value recipes

ebay some more stuff
collected especially from home on my last trip up there.

to plan at the start of the month for major expenditures so I can adjust my regular spending accordingly. Example, this month i have my hen party and a christening.

to keep a strict spending diary and follow the mantra: do i need it? do i already have it? can i find it cheaper somewhere else? for everything i buy!

to open a nationwide account to take advantage of the good exchange rate when we go on honeymoon.

my brother has offered to pay me for some writing, although we haven't yet agreed on the amount, so i need to get that done too.

All earned money will go onto debts

themaccas

Hi Tondella, it seems that you have made great inroads into your debt, when are you getting married? Is there anyway you and OH could move in together before next summer and therefore reduce your bills?

James240

great to see u back Tondella :j and fantastic progress on ur debts :beer:

scottishspendaholic

Hi Tondella,

Well done on starting your diary - I'm finding mine really good fun and a great inspiration.

Don't worry about justifying everything to us - IMHO if you are paying that amount off your debts then you would go stir crazy if you didn't have a little something for entertainment/clothes every month.

For the food challenge, check out the Old Style board for tips and also maybe join in the DFW Grocery Challenge? Here is the thread:- http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=229933 - you can join any time with any amount - just set yourself a challenge.

My reasons for wanting to become debt free (or as near as d*mmit!) are the same as yours. We are engaged but no wedding plans yet - we just can't afford it. However my main reason for hoping to become debt free is because I want to have babies and be able to take some time out from work, if possible.

Why not see if you can make some extra money out of your writing? Bag yourself a copy of The Writer's and Artist's Yearbook 2006 from the library (sorry if this is the industry you work in or this is a really obvious suggestion) to see if you can use your skills to earn to odd couple of hundred squid here and there by writing articles and letters for newspapers and magazines.

I'll be keeping in touch with your story. Good luck!

scottishspendaholic x

Macduff_3

Like you said - clothing and other bits is way too much. Just think - if you made the most of your existing wardrobe, you could pay everything off loads faster!

Tondella

Thanks for the positive responses guys! I'm really overwhelmed. Just thought i would answer some questions.

We're getting married in seven weeks (yikes). Unfortunately there is no chance of us moving in together until next Summer as I work in London and he in Portsmouth (he's military like your OH). However I have told my boss that i will be leaving next Summer to coincide with OH's next posting. OH lives in mess at the moment, and we are considering a married quarter when we do move, which will help us out massively.

Jamesie! so good to see you posting here, how are you?

Thanks for the words of support SSS, I do feel bad when i see others scraping by to meet minimum repayments and I'm spending their food budget on clothes. I do try to buy investment pieces which will last a long time (by which i mean M&S black trousers, not Armani suits!). Problem is I sold so many of my clothes on ebay (not that i was wearing them alot) and now the wardrobe is bare!

as for the writing, it's just some simple essays that he needs to go on the web, I don't think anyone else but him would pay me for them!! But thanks for the compliment.

Ooh, I've just made another goal - to read the tightwad's gazette, I've just ordered it at the local library. Can't wait to see what all the fuss is about.

Tondella

Macduff wrote:

Like you said - clothing and other bits is way too much. Just think - if you made the most of your existing wardrobe, you could pay everything off loads faster!

of course you're right Macduff, £80 per month is the equivalent to a £1k payrise. It is something that is on my mind. I do love to be well dressed (by that i mean, to have something well fitted and pretty, I'm not a big labels person). Part of it may be that, because i didn't run up the debts myself, I'm psychologically loathe to forsake my treats. I'm not going to commit the clothing and beauty allowance to the repayments at the moment, however I will make it a goal over the coming months to try and only spend when i have to, and put any leftover allowance onto the debts, rather than spending up to the limits each month.

bikerqueen

BT will do a whole of balance direct debit, which, if you're not spending any money, will be less than 22 pounds. I know, cause I have one after getting fed up of them having 60 pounds of my money sitting in their accounts!

nellis10

WTG Tondella!! Good luck with the forthcoming wedding and living in MQ!!! I gre up in them as a kid...great-times...ooo all those men in uniform.....mmmmm...oops I digress!! Keep up the good work!:T

Tondella

bikerqueen wrote:

BT will do a whole of balance direct debit, which, if you're not spending any money, will be less than 22 pounds. I know, cause I have one after getting fed up of them having 60 pounds of my money sitting in their accounts!

Thanks, that's a great piece of advice, especially since i expect it to go down even more now that i have free internet access (previously payg)

Cantdance_2

Tondella wrote:

Thanks, that's a great piece of advice, especially since i expect it to go down even more now that i have free internet access (previously payg)

My BT payment is about £11 a month which comes out by direct debit... that's just line rental and one or two calls.

Not sure why others can't do the same?!

James