Thinking Of The Future - TOTF

TOTF

So here is a shiny new diary which is exactly what it says on the tin.....me/us thinking of the future!

It's me/us rather than us, as its generally down to me to manage/sort/control the finances. Which is probably a good thing!

2011 is fast approaching and im determined to make sure we are ready for it before it arrives. We have spent most of this year battling debt and getting control of our finances again...which im proud to say we have done. We have gone from being a couple of hundred pounds short a month to now being over £700 left after minimum payments and living expenses have gone.

We are very much looking forward to Christmas for the first time ever. We intend to enjoy it as a reward for our achievements this year, but after its gone its time to buckle down again and concentrate on the future.

As a whole we have debt of £157,232.34 - this figure is made up of a mortgage, loans and credit cards. The mortgage we have is approx£108663.41, which leaves just under 50k on loans and credit cards!!!!

So here is to preparing and entering 2011. Please feel free to join me/us on our year ahead!

TOTF. :beer:

Todays Positive Step:- I have downloaded EagerLearners money saving/tracker spreadsheet to consider as a replacement to ours.

copperjar

Looking forward to reading your diary and seeing your progress. Sounds like you've made a great start already :T

Good luck!

rictus123

Good luck, keep at this diary and you cant go far wrong!!

kdenty

Hello fello newbie. I've been here a while but I'm new to posting my own diary. I think we have both taken a good step today.

I like the way you explain me/us. I'm in that kind of situation too.

Best of luck with getting debt free.

Little_bit_dizzy

Good luck with the plans & the diary - I shall read with interest. Here's to 2011 :beer:

Herewego

Good luck with your plans for 2011, I shall be following with interest as our debt is similar to yours although mortgage is a bit more

TOTF

Thank you for the messages people :j

Well day two of this journey and I have just completed a spending forecast through until the end of April 2011. Have included all minimum money going in and all outgoings....and am pleased to say the potential bank account looks quite healthy. For the first time ever.

Today's positive steps:-
- spending forecast as mentioned above.
- overpaid minimum payment on first "target" cc.
- put money into each of our individual ISA accounts.

TOTF :beer:

twinmum07

Wow - you are having a very productive few days

TOTF

So here I am still plodding on and continuing preparation for the new year.
Just a quick post for me tonight as I am dying to get to bed!

Today's positive steps:-
- Paid extra £20 off the first cc to be targeted - CC1.
- Spent some time playing with the snowball calulator on whats the cost. Got two dates from it, one which said DFD (exc mortgage) Oct 2014 - this is based on min payments only. The second date based on what we will be able to afford after christmas which would give us a potential DFD of December 2012!!

Obviously we are going to knuckle down and aim for the December 2012 option!!

Hope everyone is feeling positive.

Back tomorrow.
:beer:

TOTF

So it seems a couple of weeks have passed since I last posted. With Christmas looming I have not had much time to consider debt busting.

But now that my shopping is almost complete I am back on the debt busting wagon...choo choo!!

I have been lurking on the up your income boards and am really excited about the £11,000 in 2011 thread......so much so that I have already started. I have no idea how I'm going to do it but im going to give it a jolly good bash. I am on a rather average wage and so it would feel fab to increase my contribution to the household. I have already made a start....so just need to keep it going now. Am going to put the money into a separate account so that it doesn't just evaporate into our other monies. I will either build it up until next December, or I will use it to pay off big chunks of individual debts.

Any way....off to do some more lurking / possibly introduce myself over there.

:-) :beer:

TOTF

So another two weeks have flown by and christmas is now over. So now time to completely focus on the debt busting / saving.

I have chopped down our first target CC to £99.00 so that should be gone fairly soon.

I have got £147.58 in my 11k in 2011 pot.

I also have money in the rainy day pot and money in individual ISA's too.

So im feeling positive as we stride into 2011.

Our debt (not including the mortgage is large) but as a household we can afford it....I now just want it gone sooner than later so that I can then focus on how soon the mortgage can be gone!!

Hope there are still people following me on this one. I promise to report in more regularly as the new year comes in.
:beer: