Debt free by 30

pinkegokane

Hello!

I'm a lurker and long time reader coming into the light and realising that something must be done about my debt. I'm also a project person who likes a challenge. So I'm aiming to be debt free before 30 - excluding student loan.

A bit of background... I was like a model child with money pretty much until I went to uni. My parents still joke about how they used to dread taking me to Toys R Us with my birthday money because I'd spend hours trying to make the very most of it. I've also been brought up on a diet of make do and mend, enjoying the pleasures of charity and car boot shopping and finding a bargain.

Then in just 4 months it all went wrong. Deep in depression and homesickness in the first term of uni, I frittered away my overdraft and maintenance loan for the year, leaving me relying on my shiny new credit card to get by until the following September. Through a combination of ignorance and stupidity, I sort of thought it was free money, and the day when it would need to be paid back would be long in the future...

I ended up at uni for 5 years after changing my course mid way through. Grants and maintenance loans got me by, but gradually going above £0 on loan day became a rarer and rarer occurence. My debts were quietly growing as I tried to keep up with friends going to festivals and on nights out. Not hugely overspending, but definitely not going the right way either.

I propped myself up with part time low paid temping when I graduated. I made the mistake of opening a second overdraft on graduation as I was into my last tenner, which quickly got eaten up through learning to drive - as many of the graduate level jobs needed a full licence. At the time I was lucky enough to be living at home, but I still couldn't quite manage to put anything away or try and clear the debts. More and more I was borrowing from parents or my partner, and still the debts were there. Not growing much, but not going.

Fast forward to a year after graduating. I get a permanent job with career prospects and everything! It's in the third sector, so pays not through the roof, but it's a start. Downside - I need a car. New driver, under 25, long term finance plan, high fuel prices mean my monthly bills suddenly skyrocket. But I can finally start to pay things back, right?

Not quite. I saved £500 and moved out into a (horrible, freezing and miles from nowhere) house with my partner. We moved 6 months later (incurring all the usual deposit in advance and furniture upfront costs too). Into a very nice house which is quite ludicrously cheap for its condition and location.

Fast forward to now, 8 months on from then. It's September, I've just turned 26 and I'm utterly fed up with the situation. I've paid back my parents and partner, and I'm now in a position to start paying things back, and trying to cut down on my monthly outgoings. My debt-free journey starts today - and if I've calculated right, I should be free of all three by February 2016...

Here is my SOA:

Income
My monthly income: £1261
Partner's half of the bills: £451
Total: £1712

Expenditure
Rent.................................... 460
Council tax............................. 116
Electricity............................. 31.33
Gas..................................... 33.33
Water rates............................. 12
Mobile phone............................ 28.5
TV Licence.............................. 29
Internet Services & phone....................... 31
Groceries etc. ......................... 140
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 210
Road tax................................ 10.83
Car Insurance........................... 57
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 35
Car finance...............................165
Car parking............................. 5
Other travel............................ 5
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 8
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 10
Contents insurance...................... 11
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 6.5
Entertainment........................... 30
Current fees (min payments).................................£140
Total: 1624.49

Debts
CC - £2960
OD1 - £2550
OD2 - £2000
Total: £7470

Estimated DFD - February 2016

Initial plan
- Start snowballing the CC debt - pay £135 a month instead of minimum repayment of £75
- Switch from BT phone & bb to plusnet (saving £6/month)
- Plan weekly meals properly (we usually do this already but have let it slip a bit the past couple of months) - aiming to save £40 a month overall (£20/month on my expenditure)
- Keep an eye on groupon etc for haircut deals, aiming to reduce annual cost from £80 to £40 for a bi-annual cut
- Sell old copies of Lula magazine (one went for £56 on ebay the other day!) and old clothes on ebay - aiming to make £200
- Put renewed energy into surverys & cashback - aiming to make £50 in a year

Other suggestions would be welcome but most of all - wish me luck!

pinkegokane

Well I'm 2 days into the light and it's taken me aback how much I fritter away day to day..

It's a day before payday meaning I'm once again at the end of the main overdraft. I have the 30p in my purse to my name!

Not generally a good start either, as a quick delve into my account told me I was about to be charged my monthly od fees a day earlier - today - the day before payday. Not only that, but the bank have also tacked on the £25 informal overdraft cost from last month. So a quick trip to the bank to withdraw money from the cc to put into the main account. And I was trying to avoid all spending on that again

Well, I've taken some steps today to save where I would normally have spent - not quite a no spend day but definitely a spend less day.

- Took the (very slow and long) train for a work trip rather than driving. Saved £7 petrol and £5 parking I would have had to fork out (and claim back a month later) and better for the environment

- Avoided the convenience factor and made sandwiches for the past couple of days - saved around £7 on lunch

- Budgeted properly for next month, including putting some aside for the impending MOT in Nov (which, after last year's shocking £444 bill & the number of miles I do, I'm dreading) but also starting to credit the elec & gas meters in advance so the bills are the same in winter as they are in summer

- Emptied the cupboards and dug out the old Lula mags and a bunch of old vintage things to flog on ebay

Actually excited, in a perverse sort of way, to be so strict on myself instead of hedonistic. Maybe I'm secretly a masochist?

optimistic-mummy

good luck with your debt free journey xx have subscribed x

pinkegokane

Thanks optimistic-mummy!

Payday today! Though trying to see it as billday. I suppose you could say I took my first steps towards debt-freedom - I paid £135 towards the credit card rather than the usual min payment of £75. Felt good!

Also have begun the switching to plusnet, which'll save us £15.04 a month.

Unfortunately the rest of the day was a big leak of money. My best friend had a baby earlier in the year and at the time I stupidly offered to host a baby shower. It's tomorrow, which means I spent £70 in the supermarket on party things and £20 on a present. Hm.

Aiming for Monday - Friday next week to be no spend days to make up for it!

pinkegokane

Well though it was a big load of money for yesterday's do, it was worth it to see my friend's face! We all bought the baby books that meant something to us as children so she's got lots of lovely bedtime story nights ahead

Even better, there was loads of grub leftover so me and the OH have lunch until at least Wednesday!

Have been looking at ways to save money on the weekly food shop and was reading lots about slow cooking to make tasty and cheap stuff during the day while we're both at work. Unfortunately we didn't have a slow cooker so I made up my mind to keep an eye out for one in charity shops etc. Today I went to one of the local car boots and guess what was there, for a fiver? Only a basically new slow cooker in amazing condition! Looks pretty old but I've just tested it and the light's working so yay! Cheap meals ahoy.

Have done the shopping for the week already so have food up to Saturday including lunch, so here's to 5 nsds from tomorrow til then....

[Deleted User]

Bringing lunch to work can be a great way of spending less - and especially in winter, soup is great. Invest in a good thermos (if there's no micro in the office), and make a pot of soup at the weekend -freezes great, is really cheap to make, tasty, healthy, and filling!

Also, sign up to the survey sites - you'll never make loads of cash but the vouchers can go towards new clothes, or bday and Xmas presents - look at the "up my income" board for more inspiration too.

Your mobile spends look quite high - take a look at GiffGaff for PAYG/SIM only bundles if/when you are out of contract. I've saved a fortune!

Good luck with becoming debt free!

snozberry

hi *waves*

Good luck with your journey and I have subscribed

pinkegokane

Hi Domino9, thanks for the tips! One of the things we're lacking is a freezer (aside from the tiny one in the fridge) so it does reduce the amount we can batch cook. But soup is a good idea as it won't go off as quick as a stew.

I had considered giffgaff when upgrade time came round in Aug... But this was before sensible thinking so I went ahead and got a new phone BUT I did knock them down to that price from 36/month while keeping my current mins etc ( which I use up!) plus 100 auto cashback so I see it as a birthday treat. Bonus is I've got a top phone which will still be fast in a couple of year's time so I can switch to gg then with less pain..!

Been doing surveys for a few years now but stopped doing them as I was hardly getting any through that I qualified for. However now I've moved out and have a car etc my eligibility seems to have gone up as I get offered loads now! In fact I'm 75p off a tenner on one site now which'll go straight into savings for the dreaded mot in Nov...

snozberry

Swagbucks is a good way to earn vouchers as, too is, shop and scan. Have you thought about mystery shopping? I do all three. I will never be a millionaire but I do love being about to treat myself guilt free.

[Deleted User]

Check free-cycle and gumtree for a free/cheap second hand freezer. We got one of those counter top ones from a friend when they moved on, and then when we moved in to a property with a freezer, we passed it on via gumtree (for free).

You might be lucky and get one there - keep an eye out!

It really did make things much easier for us

pinkegokane

Happy Wednesday!

Middle of the week is usually the biggest temptation time for me, especially when the night's are starting the draw in and the weather's rubbish. So easy just to reach for the takeaway menu... But not this week!

On Sunday we were invited round to my parents' house for dinner and came away with a leftover chicken and veg, which I made into soup which should last til the end of the week. Plus we've gone back to planning meals for the week and crucially, sticking to them, which has meant no after work supermarket trips and no tempting sweet treats.

Talking of sweet treats I was given a Herman cake mix a few weeks ago and I've been living off his 'children' ever since! I've given away a few to friends, family etc but I've now started to stockpile them and have 4 on the go at the moment. I'm planning on making a big batch for a sourdough loaf, plus another for a cake next week, and using the splits for weeks to come. There are loads of recipe variations so I don't think we'll be bored of him any time soon, and it means very cheap, homemade bread from now on!

Unfortunately the NSW plan has slightly fallen on its a**e this week though, as I've had a couple of work trips that I forgot to budget for. Things like travel and car parking, which I can and will claim back, but they do eat into the budget. I've tried to avoid them upfront by getting the train where I'd usually drive, but it's not always possible. Still I've saved plenty of petrol and carbon already so getting there... slowly.

Also looked into getting a 0% card but initial enquiries into Fluid seemed to suggest I'd not be accepted. So I did a bit of digging and signed up (via quidco) for experian for the credit report and lucky I did! I've had an outstanding finance agreement for our washing machine and fridge which we bought from comet in Dec last year, 6mths interest free. In a rare moment of financial clarity at the time I made sure me and OH put aside a set amount every month so we could pay it off just before the interest free period ended in July. And I paid it - or did I? Turns out not. I'd underpaid by £4 in July, and because I'd then cancelled the DD there was a late payment charge on it. A hasty call to Santander today and they wiped the late charge and I was able to pay off the balance. So a tiny victory and one I didn't know I'd even need to have, but it's a bit of credit I've paid off on time and in full. For once..! :j