LBM in 2003.. What have I been doing since??!

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

It will be so exciting when you clear the card - we will all be raising a glass to celebrate no doubt :T

Mojo does tend to wane occasionally - once the debts has gone and you're on the next leg of your journey, I'm sure it will return, if not before then

Tilly x

GunWharf

I have read your Diary this evening brizzledfw. Very good and thanks for motivating me!

brizzledfw

Thanks Mrs T..you're right, as ever

GunWharf..such a Portsmouth related name you have! Thanks for popping by! :wave: we like to hear from newcomers as well as old friends! very touched by your comment..thanks. Not so sure about motivational..but through the support and goodwill of the people on here it's amazing what we can all achieve that helps us hit our goals. I need to check the scraps of papers from back then but I think we were £25k or so in debt last April/May...so we have pulled ourselves together for sure. Liquidated lots of pots, got a lodger, no other childcare, worked more hours, EBayed, reined in the holidays, very few new work clothes, recorded every spend, I mean everything...meal planned, said 'no ' to ourselves and the kids, wrote religiously in this diary to help keep up the motivation. ( I do recommend the discipline of holding yourself to account via a diary on here ) ...but hey, we have also had a great time and spent some cash, but 'budgeted' cash along the way.


OH downstairs working on the summer holiday. Not sure what it will be yet, except that it will be in a pot before we go! No way am I holidaying thinking that I will still be paying it off in September!!

Hope everyone has had a good start to the week. After tomorrow it's almost the weekend!!;)

grannyx2

Looking good Brizzle

Granny x

Ladybird.

Wow wow WOW you have made such incredible progress, puts my last year to shame!!!! :T:T:T:T

Congratulations, absolutely bloody brilliant!!! :D:D

brizzledfw

Hi ladybird!!! How are you?? It's been ages since you popped round for a cuppa :coffee: I'll put the kettle on and you pull up a chair!

Today has been busy with work (no change there!), parents stuff but now am relaxing returning a favour..babysitting for a mum as she looked after mine a few weeks ago..good to return the favour and hardly a hardship! Nice to help out really. Done the TTs and kept the heating off. More eggs from the chooks which is always nice and we have stuck to our £30 for groceries! But then had to buy milk and cheese..oh well. It keeps us focussed.

So small achievements..and roll on 31st March!!

So, in summary where am I heading after DFdom beckons?

- have tackled first draft of budget and would hope to try and put aside £6k in the mortgage OP account by end of 2014 so that we have a buffer when rates rise.

- holidays and anticipated expenses eg. window will be paid for out of pots.
Our lodger money now goes into this pot.

- I will cut up and close accounts for all cards save an emergency one, one that's good for foreign trips (and so only get used for that) and a separate work expenses card.

- after the £6k then I will put savings (lump sum every month?) into an ISA so hopefully gains more than in the OP mortgage (but maybe these sums should go against the mortgage..haven't decided yet).

So not a huge load of goals but something to be getting on with

Hugs to everyone, tomorrow's Friday! Whoop!

Brizz

AlexLK

Really sounds as if you've got things well and truly sorted.

Thought I may as well ask this to somebody who has actually managed to become debt free in anticipation for if Mrs. K. ever jumps on board again (or if she really does end up getting us in more trouble and has no choice); do you record exact spending and income figures for absolutely everything? If so, how do you then record this?

brizzledfw

Hi Alex

Yes we do...everything and anything. If you have an iPhone/ apple product we use a product called Moneywhizz. Used to use Xpensit..but now it's MW. Does you graphs, forecasts everything. It's linked so either one of us can put in the details, it also allows you to assess different accounts in one view so perhaps if you had individual accounts as well as a joint account you could still view the data from each, simultaneously.

IMO tracking everything you spend...for good and bad, and without recriminations..is the first step towards control and with control you can be Debtfree

In later news our WM was fixed for free and OH cooked an amazing meal..think I need him at home, more often

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

It's getting SO close :T:T:T

Tilly x

AlexLK

Brizzled: Thank you. Mrs. K. has an iPhone and is good with spreadsheets and the like. Unfortunately, I am a heathen so far as the technology revolution is concerned and Mrs. K. has no desire to bother with anything considered to be money saving at the moment.

Having spent my way through a total of about £350,000 on stupid, non-essential things in the past 15 or so years, I have the issue that I could be debt free next week if I wanted to be but need to learn how not to get back into debt along the way as I'll run out of things to sell if I end up in debt again.