Driving Down Debt

ThatKiss

Direct Debit paid out and balance of the target card is now £0, so that's the debt run up by refinancing my car paid off in 4 months. Quite chuffed with this!

Just need to tackle the indisciplined balance on the spending card to be completely debt free, and then it's on with home improvements!

Sarahwithlove

Well done on clearing another card that's great news 

ThatKiss

Quick mid-month update, Xmas shopping is complete, and my boss has offered to pay me for a handful of days unused holiday. Will have to see what that adds up to, but should go some way to clearing the balance on the spending card.

Looks like where I live in Scotland is about to move into tier 3 of our Covid restrictions which means likely no pub trips over the xmas period. Should mean a cheap festive period, but I'll have to stock up on beer to get me through! 

Sarahwithlove

That's good news about the paid holiday it will all help and at least you aren't just losing it which is what happens to us if we don't use it. 
We are still tier 2 and we're one of lowest areas but seems to be creeping up now that we have our own testing centre and don't have to drive to next town over. 

ThatKiss

I guess tiers have pretty much gone out the window now! As expected we moved up, but the whole of Scotland will now be in our Tier 4 for at least three weeks as of Boxing Day, which is essentially lockdown as was at the start of the year.

I had already suggested to my parents that I wouldn't be making the 2-hour trip for Xmas - they're of an age and health disposition where it's probably better not to take the risk anyway - but was leaving a final decision up to them. I'm working my side gig on Boxing Day so logistically it would have been difficult to make a worthwhile trip in any case, but I made the call on Saturday that I wouldn't be visiting - fortunately before Boris and Nicola made their announcements later in the day. In my mid-30s it'll be the first Xmas I've spent alone!

I see you've also cancelled Christmas @Sarahwithlove. A real shame.

I need to do a food shop for the next week - and decide what's going to be for Xmas dinner! I live alone so won't be going full turkey and trimmings, but I'll likely sneak in pigs in blankets and some stuffing - my favourite parts of the meal.

Payslip has come in but I'm not sure when the actual pay will follow - I suspect overnight tonight or tomorrow - but I can at least now budget for next month and see how big a dent I'll be putting in the spending card.

ThatKiss

Merry Xmas folks!

I'm enjoying a peaceful day with no stress, no complaints over anyone forgetting to cook the pigs in blankets, and nobody tripping over each other in the kitchen/setting the table etc. Strangely relaxing! I hope everyone else is making the best of however their day has ended up.

Paid off a third of what's built up on the spending card which is a bit of a relief. I could have paid more off but I'd promised myself that I would undertake something of a wardrobe refresh after Xmas so held back some of the additional holiday pay to go towards that along with Xmas money from my parents. My clothing tastes aren't very MSE but I don't think I've really bought anything beyond work clothes/shoes/pants and socks since the end of 2017, so a freshen up is definitely required, and the sales should help stretch the budget a bit!

ThatKiss

Managed to get the clothing refresh in well under budget so bought a few non-urgent, but required things for the bathroom and bedroom to make the most of the budget I'd allowed myself.

DD payment on the spends card came out at the end of last week and I threw an extra £25 at it from the bills account. Side gig is due to pay up at the end of this week so that'll be another £120 off. Plan to tackle the remaining balance on spends card is to pay the remaining 2/3rds over this month and next which should be accelerated by the side gig earnings.

ThatKiss

Payday later in the week and it looks like I'm going to have underspent the general spends by some margin, so expecting to be able to throw an extra £80-100 to the card. Payment from side gig has also been delayed due to some sort of accounting issue but should be with me by payday so will be a bumper amount transferred to the card at the end of this week!

On track to be entirely debt-free come Feb 28.

ThatKiss

ThatKiss said:

On track to be entirely debt-free come Feb 28.

Spoke too soon! Car 1 was in for MOT and service yesterday and needed some work I wasn't expecting and an advisory on tyres, so I had the unexpected work done yesterday and the tyres will be done at some point over the next couple of months (low mileage at the moment means they'll be fine in the meantime).

As I chose to run with a minimal emergency fund in, this will get tacked onto the spends card. It's interest-free so no harm, no foul, however it's now more likely than not that I'll carry a small balance into March. Not the end of the world, and doesn't prevent me chucking a heap of cash into building a proper emergency fund as of March's pay.

ThatKiss

Payday, and I've done what I call the monthly money shuffle, which also includes laying out an initial budget for February's pay, ie any quarterly/annual expenses upcoming. Mainly at the moment this helps with managing timescales on paying off the final card. As I suggested yesterday, it looks like I'm going to be a little short of paying off at the end of Feb, and will carry around £200 into March.

A pain, but not the end of the world.