Slowly But Surely

TheTortoise

Hello all!

After reading quite a few debt free diaries I have decided to start one myself as a way of keeping on track! I have just sorted out all my figures, and worked out that assuming income and outgoings remain the same for the next few years my debt free date will be.....(drumroll please.........)

August 2013! :beer:

I've written this down in detail but here is a rough summary of how I'm going to do it (boring to read but useful to write...makes it more real).

Pay off one credit card with pay from October & November 2011

Then tackle overdraft - roughly £500 a month, reducing the limit as I go down each month to remove TEMPTATION This takes me to April 2012. Now I can stop paying for my account and stop paying interest which saves an extra £25 a month.

Then tackle the 2nd credit card using all the money I was putting into the overdraft (plus the minimum that I have been paying). Have given myself between 7 and 9 months to clear this one depending on finances at the time - if I'm very strict (and nothing has changed) I can pay it off in 7. Paying it off in 9 will be easy peasy. This takes me to at the latest Januray 2013.

Then I can save all the money that has been paying off the credit card. After 5 months I will have a lump sum to clear my car finance, taking me to approx May 2013.

In August 2013 my bank loan finishes, and NO MORE DEBT!!!:rotfl::T:D
(Hopefully EVER).

After this, if I keep all my general spending exctly the same I may be able to save between £600-£800 a month. This is crazy crazy crazy to think about...

I am so relieved to have found MSE at this early stage in my life / career, before things got any worse. I've never sat down and calculated the exact figure I owed at the worst, and I don't think I will. It's all about the future! When I think about how quickly the time will pass (if its anything like it is now) my debt free day will soon be here! Even if things change and it takes me a little bit longer at least I know it is in sight and achievable.

My LBM is a blessing. Do you know what? I also kind of feel the debt in itself is a small blessing - I don't think I will ever go there again. Thanks to the debt and the financial makeover I've been going through over the past 6 months i have a totally realistic and respect for money and the effort I put in to earn it. I no longer want to waste it away! I think this will stay with me for the rest of my life. I wouldn't be in this mindset if I didn't have the debt (not that I'm suggesting that debt is a good thing, just that good attitudes can grow from it).

I keep telling myself now that the date can come quicker the more MSE I am.

So...

My diary will consist of small things like debt free days, everyday savings, selling where I can, putting any windfalls into the debt and making sure that unexpected costs or blips are dealt with and not ignored.

Today has been a no spend day!

Thanks to everyone who writes a diary - they keep me motivated and I'm sure they do the same for others!

The Tortoise

savingholmes

Hi TT - hope you have lots of fun along the way to debt freedom

heatherykins

Best of luck for your journey to debt-free living :beer:

crapwithcash82

Hello! :wave:

Just wanted to say hello and welcome, I do love a plan and will keep checking back on your diary to see how your plan is coming along!

Good Luck with your journey!

CwC x

Lemon_Tree

hi, a lovely new diary to start reading
about your o/draft, one thing that took me a little while to think of but which saved me £5 per month was to move all DD's /SO's that i could back towards the end of the month wherever possible this meant i was in my Od for much less time. It may not be applicable to your situation but it really helped me

well done for your NSD and for paying off your first debt!

TheTortoise

Thanks Lemon Tree I will look into that! And thanks for all the replies...how motivating!

I have quite a lot of stuff for carboot - perhaps I will do one this Sunday if the weather is nice?

Am planning my spending for tomorrow - £5 for a class I attend, plus possibly a drink on the way (I will go non alcoholic!) Total £6. The rest of the week is potentially No Spend. Not sure about the weekend yet, but I do have a 'fun budget' so I'm ok to spend a bit here and there!

What is everyone else planning spend wise for this week?

crapwithcash82

Hi Again TT

I'm thinking that I will go to the local car boot sale this Sunday too, I've got loads of stuff and no space to keep it, so it has to go! Its supposed to be a nice week weatherwise, so it might be a good weekend to do it to get a good turn out.

I don't plan to spend any more this week appart from childcare, as OH has done the food shopping, and I got nappies for DS today so hopefully it will be a week of NSDs!

Lemon_Tree

i'm on my holibobs this week, and tomorrow is my wedding anniversary so..... we're back from a weekend away this morning, tomorrow we're looking for houses (free), seeing the estate agent (cost of parking), i need to get an anniversary card (minimal), paying for hospital parking (small fortune) and hopefully going out for a meal with some gift money. we're also hoping to use our national trust membership later this week for a day out or two. Just basically trying to get everything slotted into our week off but trying not to spend any money whilst actually doing more than just sitting at home and watching tv.

TheTortoise

Ok so my £6 anticipated daily spend turned into £10.90 (due to an unexpected trip to the big shop beginning with T, and also a pint rather than a soft drink) meaning I've cleared out my purse (grrr) which also means I have to take more money out of the cash point the next time I need money.

Hmmmm am actually thinking about putting my cash card in a sealed envelope in my purse with a big note on saying DO YOU NEED WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO BUY??? There is no reason why I need cash until Friday...so why do I feel the need to take it out? I think I would feel lost without having a tenner in my purse but not sure why if I don't need anything?

I'm aiming for a no spend Wednesday and Thursday apart from a tank of fuel.

Lemon_Tree

good idea about the envelope. I soon learnt to live with little more than a quid or two in my purse. I very rarely see real money these days to be honest but then at least i can't waste it.

TheTortoise

This NSD thing is DIFFICULT! I spent £4.80, however only the pizza was unecessary - I bought fruit and yoghurts for my packed lunch (which will stop me from buying lunch for the rest of this week). Pizza for tea. The chocolate raisins I consider an absolute necessity to get me through the mountain of work I have to do tonight. Also spent £40 on fuel which was planned.

Is anyone else a procrastinator? If I had done this work when I first got it I could be relaxing now, but instead I am sitting at a desk and panicking (although still browsing MSE rather than actually working!) Tsk.

Need to refocus on the no spending - this is going to be the way to up my monthly payments. All the big payments are budgeted for, but it would be good to overpay herever possible, and food money is the one place I can cut back.

TT