The final countdown... and a newbie in the DFSD house!

debtfreesomeday

The eagle eyed amongst you may notice a slight change in signature - just me trying to remind myself how well we've done and to keep motivated!

Now, I'm debating whether we should just clear the credit card with some of the post ML savings or should we just let it run and pay it off in dribs and drabs? It would mean we wouldn't have as much to 'draw from' once I'm back at work, but it would also mean no more credit card payments and monthly interest as the card is now cut up. Will go off and do some sums...

debtfreesomeday

It's done. After a quick pros and cons discussion, we've just paid off the credit card. That means there's only £1180.83 in the maternity leave account but we don't need to find money to pay the credit card every month now and won't be charged interest. It does mean, if our savings plan doesn't alter, that we will be £45 down a month on available money to draw out of the savings from November, leavings us with £165 a month instead of £210, so I guess my new challenge is to find the extra £45 a month!

From now on, any money leftover at the end of the month will be going into that account as well as money earned through quidco etc. Good news is that I now have at least an extra £322 heading there already within the next month, instead of disappearing on credit card repayments - £270 from the mobile phone cashback, £35 earned today from selling a household item and another £17 from Quidco.
I'm feeling so much more positive now. I can even cut £1k off the new signature already...

debtfreesomeday

old signature...

Total debt at LBM: 10/2008: £35K+
Total debt as of: 1/2011: approx £16K
Current CC balance: £1111.17
Maternity Leave Savings: £2312.46
Loan: 36 34 monthly payments left until we are debt free!
Sealed Pot 2011 Member no. 1095

yukkibear

How much interest are you going to be charged on the CC against the interest gained on the savings? It may be worth you paying off the credit card.

debtfreesomeday

Hi YB - interest on card was around 15% I think - it was only ever opened for the 0% but didn't quite end up that way , savings interest was pretty rubbish as was just sat in an e-saver account.
However, I've now paid the CC off from the savings and really do feel like a weight has been lifted.

In a slightly weird sort of way, I'm looking forward to the challenge of topping our savings up as much as we can now with any little extra we can make or earn.

The card is in lots of pieces in the bin, the account will be closed as will the new one I've just applied for. No credit card for us, if an emergency arises we'll deal with it there and then!

debtfreesomeday

I just picked up the £35 I received from selling something today - was held in the main office at work for me - but then got stung for £15 worth of collections for 2 people leaving and 1 other baby collection so only have £20 left out of it! I don't mind as I would've given to these anyway, but it all seems to come at once! At least I had the cash in hand rather than having to withdraw the money from the bank though.

So, that's £15 less going into the savings but £20 is better than nothing.

debtfreesomeday

Right, plan for tonight:

• Continue to tackle washing mountain - aim to get two loads done and dried.
• Strip bed in guest room and add to washing mountain...
• Peel & cook potatoes and greens to go with slow cooker casserole
• Hoover downstairs (upstairs can wait...:o)
• Cancel so-called 'free for a month' mobile phone insurance/gadget helpline thing that came with new phone contract.
• Clean hall floor
• Pick hubby up from work (mustn't forget this one! :rotfl:).

yukkibear

It all adds up quickly when you get into the stride of it, and think of the time you'll have whilst your waiting for the little bambino to arrive

debtfreesomeday

You're right YB, and I'm feeling very excited about the prospect of watching the savings mount up!

dreamdreamer

It is a terribly hard juggle with children and working. We've been having the exact same "discussions" that you are as we're now "actively trying" (how one inactively tries I've never been sure!). I'd love to have 9, or even better, 12 months off, and although my maternity policy is more than generous and allows you to "spread" the pay evenly over whatever period you have off, we're still going to struggle with 9 months as it'd drop our incomings by £400 a month for 9 months. We don't have a £400 surplus every month at the moment which suggests we just can't afford it.

The juggle for us is that if I go back to work (I'll be going back full time as we can't afford part-time and I do genuinely love my job) it's on 12 hour shifts. Work is flexible with the shifts I work, but they have to be 12 hours because of the in and outs of the job. OH works 8am-5pm mon-fri and I would be 7am-7pm or 7pm-7am. That means putting a 6mth old baby in daycare (which is cheap as OH is in the military and they have a lot of subsidised on-camp childcare) for 9hrs a day! :eek:

It really makes me wonder how people on low wage jobs with poor maternity packages are ever expected to make ends meet when they have children and associated maternity leave and then childcare costs. It's just not viable! No wonder we have such a benefit culture.

Try not to panic too much though, you've come so far debt-busting that you must have picked up some amazingly good habits along the way, no matter how tight it gets those habits will stay with you and help you no end. And if you have to increase the debt slightly in the short term until the loan is paid, so be it. YOU know you'll never go back to racking up 35k of debt again, and that's the main thing. :T

Dreamer x