Debt free by 40 -- 19 Months and counting

Puzzcat

Hi Steph,
Sorry I am in camp B as well.
Puzz.x

Moneywhizz

Hi Steph. You know yourself which plan makes more sense and it will lift off so much pressure. After all what's a few more months and you never know what might come along in the meantime to speed things up. The only problem might be that you relax too much and let things slip a bit? Do you think that's likely? The only way to make sure that doesn't happen of course is to stick to your budget and everything spare goes into your emergency pot.

I think getting your mortgage on to a direct debit with santander should be a priority for you, think of the cashback you are missing out on every month!

And you definitely need a buffer because of your husbands self employment.

It will soon be stress free Steph's diary. Xx

maddiemay

Hi Steph, for me it has to be Plan B too.

It is the only sensible option and you will not be a failure if you revise your DF date.

Ecofarmer has pretty much word for word said what I would have.

As others have said June 2016 need not be the DF date if you can stay concentrated and watch the outgoings, also you may very well be able to earn more in 2015 early 2016 than you did in 2014, you have more strings to your bow now than then and who knows what opportunities will arise in that time

You mentioned how Dave Ramsey says things should be done, Elaine at Mortgage Free in Free (known on these boards as Memory Girl) helps people in real life and "virtually" sort out their debt problems and her number 1 rule is that one builds first of all a baby emergency fund of say £500 and then a serious emergency fund (my words not hers - a sort of when the **** hits the fan fund) here is the link to her action plan.

If you go back and read some of the diaries by people who are now where you want to be, you will see that at some time or another they have all had to revisit and revise according to changed circumstances, it is a strength and not a weakness.

You will get there, I know it and life could be a lot less stressful whilst you are on the journey.
Take care xx
MM

misstara

Hi Steph
Plan B definitely for all the reasons the previous posters have said. Think it would have a big impact on your mental health

StressedSteph

You are all so right and thank you for being so honest with me.

I have to admit that I hold onto a very frayed rope with my mental health sometimes and I am a constant worrier by nature. Not having an emergency fund or savings pots or the mortgage sorted is definitely something that plays on loop in my brain most days.

I think you hit the nail on the head MaddieMay when you said that by choosing Plan B I am not to see it as a failure. I think subconsciously I feel that if the debt isn't gone by the time i am 40 (this July) or very close to that then I will have failed!!!.

Trouble is I may well be in a psychiatric ward by then with all the worry :rotfl:

Moneywhizz you are right that I also feel that I may relax too much if I slightly take my eye off the "Must be debt free asap" mind set.

Ok I think I will get hubby through his operation. I am already saving up for that, putting any spare pennies away. He has his consultation at the hospital on Monday. Hopefully he may get some idea how long the waiting list is which will help me plan abit better.

So I am basically going to plough any spare cash and my spa earnings etc into a spare bank account, that will all go towards hubbys recovery time off. Last time he only took 1 week off, but i wanted to save enough for two weeks just in case. If he only ends up using 1 week then I will have some spare cash to roll over.

Like Ecofarmer and others of you have said, getting the mortgage sorted and the 1k emergency fund saved doesn't have to mean that's the whole year busted. Hopefully by early Summer that will be dealt with and then any of my extra earnings can go back to debt busting. Doubt I will finish by the end of this year, but I think I will only have about 3k rolling into 2016 which isn't a large amount to kill off.

Gosh this whole debt busting journey is such an ever evolving experience. i can see now how when i have consolidated my debts in the past people have said that I won't change my spendy ways because i haven't felt the repayment pain. they are so correct because this journey is a real struggle.

Off to re-arrange my signature to reflect my new plans.

Thank you so much everyone, I have learnt there is no point just singling out one issue (debt) I also have to make sure all the other issues are sorted as well even if that slows down my progress.

xxxxx

tootallulah

Hi Steph I agree with all an emergency fund will help. Also your most difficult part of the year is likely to be up to Easter and you will be able to re-think the rest of the year then, still very early in the year. This will give you a good run to try and pay off everything by December. Looking at last year you got a head of steam up as the weather got better and you had more opportunities to scrimp your budget etc.

SuperAllyB

Looking at it from a slightly different angle, in June 2016 you'll still be 40!

abba1772

If you don't use the £1k emergency fund at the end of the year you could always plough it into your debts xx

StressedSteph

tootallulah wrote: »

Hi Steph I agree with all an emergency fund will help. Also your most difficult part of the year is likely to be up to Easter and you will be able to re-think the rest of the year then, still very early in the year. This will give you a good run to try and pay off everything by December. Looking at last year you got a head of steam up as the weather got better and you had more opportunities to scrimp your budget etc.

Hi Tootallulah

I do remember that extra money kepts appearing last summer which I ploughed into the debt, not sure quite how it happened or if it will happen again but like you said, it is still only January, the year is young .

Thanks hun, hope all is well in your world this weekend xx

SuperAllyB wrote: »

Looking at it from a slightly different angle, in June 2016 you'll still be 40!

Aaaah SuperAlly, I love your thinking and you are so right, I will STILL be 40 :T:T:T:T

abba1772 wrote: »

If you don't use the £1k emergency fund at the end of the year you could always plough it into your debts xx

Hi abba

Yes if my Snowball goes through the year with a steady £650 per month then at least i will only have around 3k left to kill in 2016 which does'nt seem like much in the scheme of things. xxx

xxx

Archer0710

I'm a huge lurker on your thread but have I lurked long enough to say the £1000 is a really good idea, I have got my fund together finally this month and it really does make a huge difference to your "head state"

I am a massive worrier about money and the thought of things going wrong made me feel quite ill constantly so this money tucked safely away from DH's itchy fingers has made me relax no end as I know if the worst happens we have it sorted

You definitely won't regret it.