Overdraft Free for the first time in 10 years

FireWyrm

Today is the 3rd March. All my bills came out on the 1st of the month and I am £375 IN CREDIT with the bank. I have budgeted my food shopping (separate account) as well as all running expenses for the month.

I have cupboards groaning with food, enough to last the month and both cars have at least some petrol in them.

The main thing?

I'M OUT OF MY £1500 OVERDRAFT THAT I'VE BEEN LIVING IN FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS...yes folks, that isnt an exaggeration, I literally havnt been in the black in a DECADE.

My biggest tip....have a separate account for running money and do not touch the bills account. I started this is December and now, by payday February, I'm out...finally. There is further to go, I still owe £10K to various places, but I have made the first real step and it feels wonderful.

wiseupfast

Congratulations!:beer:

That must feel AMAZING!

:T

pogg000

:T:T:T:TWell done:T:T:T:T



Good luck for the next target!

beth3735

:j Really pleased for you I got out of my overdraft 1st before other creditors and just shifting that overdraft was a huge weight off my shoulders!

Good luck for the next goal! :T

g.lewarne

Im so happy for you!

Evidently you were in (almost) the same situation as me! I shall use you as my inspiration and set myself a date of July to get rid of the bloody overdraft

It must be wonderful for you right now, knowing that "your" money isnt going to be eaten up by bank charges...its now YOUR money!!!!!!!


Well done mate

bt1

Amazing well done!! I shifted mine onto a 0% card, felt good not being in it every month! Will feel better once the card is paid off

FireWyrm

g.lewarne wrote: »

Im so happy for you!

Evidently you were in (almost) the same situation as me! I shall use you as my inspiration and set myself a date of July to get rid of the bloody overdraft

It must be wonderful for you right now, knowing that "your" money isnt going to be eaten up by bank charges...its now YOUR money!!!!!!!


Well done mate

Well, it was more down to laziness to be honest. I didnt get charged bank charges as such because the overdraft was so old. Essentially, I get charged around £15 a month in interest but not a daily amount like Halifax for instance. It was more the fact that I had never been truly in the black before. I'm so used to seeing the 'D' next to the total column that I had forgotten what it looked like without. In fact I frightened myself the other week when reading the statement because there were strange entries. It took me a minute to figure out I was looking at the Credit column which is usually depressingly empty rather than the Debit.

I have had a feeling for a few months that the Bank was intending to cut me off sooner or later so it has always been my ambition to get rid of it finally, but somehow, no matter how much I tried, I couldnt quite seem to shift it. I guess it's a bit like that Christmas weight you put on...no matter your New Year resolution, you just never quite seem to get rid of it.

For those wondering, I officially started my DFW journey last year but it really took all of last year and then December to get a grip finally. As I say, the best thing I did was to separate the bills from the running expenses. I have various pots set up which are now receiving SO's each month so next year will see the end of the monthly insurances (paid up front), the yearly scramble to get the cars MOT'd & taxed (budgetted), Christmas (saved for after a very successful 2012 effort) etc. A switch to a new energy provider has yielded a small but welcome saving along with some basic loyalty points and a kick up the bum from me to myself got the storage box cleared and closed (saving £78 per month) along with cancellation of the dental 'insurance' (£725 a year - replaced with a SO of £50 into a saving account for treatment as and when).

So far, my emergency fund stands at £104 and is comprised of 'excess' savings from the running account - basically, each month I zero the account and start with a fresh injection of money. Anything left over gets shunted onto the emergency fund.

The next goal is to pay off the 0% credit card which is holding about £1500 of debt before it runs out of time in August. This frees up another £60 a month to go somewhere...I havnt decided yet.

It feels like Im finally getting somewhere.

Shovel_Lad

Well done :T

Good luck with your next goal

kittiej

Hey well done FirWyrm! :T

I'm still thinking positive thoughts for you - your hard work is paying off, congratulations.

32b3in2013

Thats really good news. Well done :money:

sheilds

Well done FW.
As someone who struggles to get out of theirs (laziness is definitely a factor!!) you have officially inspired me and I am going to go for it this time...giving myself 6 months.

Thanks

S.