Driving Down Debt

welshspendthrift

Well done keep going! One less debt by end of November is great.I want to get my spare clothes on eBay so I can pay off a bit extra this month 😀 

ThatKiss

Hmm, didn't get paid from my side-gig this month so that will be held over to next month - it'll still contribute towards paying off the target card by the end of November. Pay day next week will bring the remaining balance down towards, if not below, the £1000 mark so still on track.

ThatKiss

Spoke too soon - side gig paid today - I was sure it was due last Friday! Transferred to card, and that means the balance will definitely dip below £1000 next week.

ThatKiss

Payday comes round again and having done the regular monthly manual payments, the credit card has dipped below the £1k mark. With side gig earnings and a minimum payment DD to come off before next payday, this will be paid off at the end of November, which is as planned but still pretty good going.

I should have some free cash for the wardrobe refresh I desperately need just in time for the January sales! 

Sarahwithlove

Well done you have done fab with this. Whats the plans for saving up for all the house improvements? Do you have a savings account you could do a standing order too? Stops the temptation of spending it on other stuff then. 

ThatKiss

Hey @Sarahwithlove, thanks for the comment! Yes, I've a savings account that I'll be directing spare cash into once the credit card is paid off, initially to build an emergency fund but ultimately to save towards the home improvements as well. It's separate from my main bank accounts so pretty much out of sight, out of mind.

The timing of having the card paid off is probably useful as I'll be reviewing my budgets over the Xmas/New Year period in any case - I'll likely relax my general spending a little bit, but the vast majority of spare cash will go into savings and once I have a decent amount saved up, I'll see what improvements are to be prioritised.

ThatKiss

I've a bonus payment coming in thanks to a refund for a cancelled event. Ultimately this will end up in savings as I've already budgeted for the card to be paid off at the end of the month, but for motivation purposes I'll probably put it to the card when it comes in, and re-allocate to savings when I get paid

Every little helps, as they say!

Sarahwithlove

That's great like you say every little bit helps it get paid off a bit quicker. 

ThatKiss

Payday on Friday so the target card will be paid off then, other than the £25 minimum payment that will be taken by direct debit next week. I'm tempted to just pay the full balance on Friday, but I can foresee the £25 being taken anyway so there's no need to complicate matters!

I've been doing a bit of a shuffle this month and have taken on a new monthly expense harking back to the title of this thread - in that I've got myself a lockup for the classic car I've had shunted away in a friend's garage for ages. My improved finances mean it's time to make it more accessible and start to figure out what's needed to recommission it. I won't immediately be doing anything with it, but may start to buy up the necessary parts alongside my planned home improvements in 2021.

On the downside, I've built up a small balance on my interest-free spending card which has come out of starting to get ahead of ahead of myself min terms of buying things for the flat. Nothing drastic, but I've nipped that in the bud and will get it paid off next month.

That said, I transferred less to my spending account this month and am on course to have more left over at month end than in previous months - go figure!

ThatKiss

This month's pay came in 15 mins ago and the money shuffle is already done!

The working from home tax rebate was applied this month so a little extra to play with this month, though I've held that back to top up Xmas spends if necessary.

There was some cash left in my spending account so I topped that up to the budgeted amount and used the surplus to make an additional payment to the spends card I mentioned in my last post. The card I was due to pay off this month now has just the direct debit amount to go so will be clear next week.

Something I did last month was add the due dates to my budget spreadsheet - I knew when this was for most payments but a couple have now popped into the middle of the month so it's good to know when these are. I've updated my spreadsheet for this month and will be good to see things marked as paid as the month progresses - it might help with the mid-month void where nothing is coming off the debt, just to see that there is financial movement.