£100k Debt Free in 4 1/2 years - My Debt Diary

slowlyfading

Congrats!! :j :j

Swishter

Congratulations! :beer:

I am really delighted for you both! :j

Re you plans they sound great. But I don't see any transport costs, what about christmas and birthdays? Also I think £80 may be a bit ambitious for food when a baby is involved. Nappies etc can cost a lot. Maybe add a fund for the costs a new baby can incur, clothes etc as they grow quick, if you don't use it fantastic, more off your debt but its there if you need it.

Best of luck with your new life!

Swish
xx

ThankYouAndEnjoy!

Hello

Thanks for all your posts -

Swishter wrote:

Re you plans they sound great. But I don't see any transport costs, what about christmas and birthdays? Also I think £80 may be a bit ambitious for food when a baby is involved. Nappies etc can cost a lot. Maybe add a fund for the costs a new baby can incur, clothes etc as they grow quick, if you don't use it fantastic, more off your debt but its there if you need it.

Have minimal to zero transport cost, both girlfriend and I work with 15 mins of where we live so walk everywhere. Dont drive either so no obscene costs here!!

Christmas and birthdays are slightly different. I share the costs of mum and dad with my brother, but never know what to get them so its normally a last minute thing. Other people we use vouchers (boots etc) to purchase things so don't consider this as an expense. My girlfriend and I dont buy for each other; we put money into the flat (this year into charlie :j )

With reference to the Baby bits, we pre-purchased everythin we need for the next 4 months - His room is full of clothes and nappies. We had no knowledge of costs and didnt want to buy last minute, so we purchased little and often during the whole pregnancy.

ThankYouAndEnjoy!

Been a Fantastic week and more ways than 1

This week we have paid

1- £54.94 from the Argos Card
2- £100 into our Savings
3- Completely Paid Off OverDraft

We have approx £1k in the current account, however, over the next 2 weeks, this will be used to pay the mortgage and other household bills. I have a whole host of DVD's / Games etc sitting here ready for Ebay so hoping for £200 or so from these.

Have completed and sent the documents for Child Benefit / Tax Credits and CTF Voucher. Once received, will be opening a Bank Account for Charlie, adding another £46 in £2 coins (Little Charlie will be Debt Free b4 he's even got Debt at this rate!!) Does anyone have any experience with opening Bank Accounts for NewBorns, and which one is the best out there (In You Humble Opinion Of Course)

Total Debt has reduced by 2.88%; with the mortgage, loan and carpet payments due to take in the next 10 days, total debt will be less than £100k

tumbleweed261

Crikey, that's a heck of a first week - congratulations on your debt reduction, but far bigger congratulations on the birth of Charlie!! Sounds like you've got it all figured out, best of luck with sticking to your plan and don't forget to enjoy being parents

art_student

:T CONGRATULATIONS! Hope you are enjoying fatherhood!:T

Also

:T Nice work with the credit card and overdraft :T

Reading through your thread you seem to have thought it all out and made really good plans. I just wanted to ask why not put the money you are saving towards the debts until they are paid up?

:T Keep up the good work!

ThankYouAndEnjoy!

art_student wrote: »

Reading through your thread you seem to have thought it all out and made really good plans. I just wanted to ask why not put the money you are saving towards the debts until they are paid up?

Hello

Good Question -

All of our income goes onto servicing debts and household expenditure. We rarely have a positive balance in the current account as any spare pays debts. Its a case of if its there, it could be doing something more positive. We have an available overdraft of £10k so know that if we did need some money, its easily and readily available.

With Charlie now with us, we have decided to transfer a small sum each month into an account incase its needed. If its not required, it will either go to paying off debts, or we will pay it into Charlie's Bank Account (believe we are able to contribute £1200 per year), but we hopefully wont touch/decide where it is needed until our investment finshes (1 years time). The Savings Account is approx 4.5%, which is not great, but its instantly accessible as an Online Saver with LloydsTSB, which transfers direct into our current account.

ThankYouAndEnjoy!

Am immensly enjoying being a father

Smelly nappies; and trust me from 1-10, they are an 11 _pale_

Just phoned the Tax Credits Helpline. Apparently, we are entitled to

* £84 a month (approx) Tax Credits
* £68 a month (approx) in Child Benefit

So; my dilema now is what to do with these monies. I have been told that the nice people at the Tax Credits can reclaim their money, if they feel they have overpayed you. For this reason, and re previous posts, we are in a position financially where we do not necessarily need use of these funds. So, do i either

A - Pay both the above into our ISA until our fixed rate ends on mortgage and use monies for a larger overpayment than i originally planned?
B - Pay both the above into Charlie's Bank Account (yet to open) meaning he will have a sizeable amount saved when he grows older?
C - OverPay my Loan with LloydsTSB until cleared?
D - Something Else? - Sensible Suggestions Welcome

Re Option B - Could someone please advise what % rates are available to NewBorns - Are Special Deals, Freebies etc available. Im just looking for a Basic Bank Product.

ThankYouAndEnjoy! wrote:

2- Set up a £100 monthly payment, to be paid on the 21st of each month, into my savings account

Have decided to make £150 /month into ISA instead. This may change depending on what decision we make with Tax Credits / Child Benefit

AnW'sMum

Hi TYAE I am guessing you work for LTSB, their kid's account pays 5.00% AER at the mo and can be paid into via online banking which makes for an easier life just now! There are better payers but a lot require branch visits or are postal accounts which on a practical basis could rule them out.

There is nothing to stop you having more than 1 baby account ie a high payer for lump sums and a LTSB (or the one provided by the bank you are with) for ease.

Dithering_Dad

ThankYouAndEnjoy! wrote: »

Am immensly enjoying being a father
Smelly nappies; and trust me from 1-10, they are an 11 _pale_

Mate, you have no idea. If you think the smell is off the scale now, just wait until Charlie is on solids!! :lipsrseal

As far as the tax credits/child bens are concerned, we put ours into child bonus bonds to help pay for their uni educations (eldest is going to be either a doctor or a lawyer, the youngest is going to be the remaining option after the eldest makes her choice. I have spoken.)

I set those up ages ago before I decided to pay down my mortgage and I may as well let them run. I reckon that the best option is to pay off the mortgage now while they're still at school and then when they're at uni I'll have plenty of spare cash to subsidise them. I will be noting down every penny though and they will have to repay it in love when I'm elderly and a burden