Debt free by 40 -- 19 Months and counting

Determined_diva

I have decided that I am going to set myself a challenge to be debt free by 40. That is currently 19 months away.
That works out at around £1000 per month that I need to plough into debts.

On my spreadsheet it says that we SHOULD have around £850 per month after all the regular household bills, food, petrol etc to pay against debts. This £850 sounds a lot of money, but believe me, I never see it, and it currently gets paid against debts and also frittered away on my impulse buys online. (This has GOT to stop!)

I have also started up a small craft business from home and with being super frugal and also building my new little business, I am hoping to be able to supplement household money to make this £1000 per month payments.

Its going to be tough, but if I don't try, I feel I am going to be in debt FOREVER. I have been half heartedly trying for the last two years and gotten nowhere.

Hi Stressed Steph

I feel like I am reading my own diary!

I am in just under £11k of debt at 33.5 years of age. I too have done it half heartenfly past 2 years and feel if I dont make the change this year then I will be in debt forever!

I too am supposed to have an extra £900 each month (£650 from main job and £250 from 2nd job) but I never ever see it??!!

so i have set up a standing order to take my largest debt from £50 payments a month to £700 (all then from main job) and try and overpay where I can from the 2nd job.Once I realise where the balance of my cash is frittering away to, I plan to tighten the belt and throw the £250 from 2nd job that way also.

Good luck with your journey - i am off to subscribe now :-)
DDx

StressedSteph

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

Oh no did you schedule the mid month payment with them? If so I would call them up and see if that £48 can be waivered. Sometimes one dept doesn't talk to the other if that's the case. If it's not pre-arranged I still think that's a lot of money to charge someone without a warning letter first

x

Back in November I had a final payment request of three months Council Tax (Nov, Dec & January). I rang them up and said that I could afford to pay November and December but not yet January.
The woman I spoke to said that it was fine and to just pay the last £190 in January. Trouble is I just thought ANYTIME in January when it was probably meant to be the 1st.
I might try my luck on Monday and see if I can pay it straight away and get the summons removed. Not sure if they are able to do that now, I might be a fixed thing from the courts.


Live and learn I suppose

StressedSteph

Determined_diva wrote: »

Hi Stressed Steph

I feel like I am reading my own diary!

I am in just under £11k of debt at 33.5 years of age. I too have done it half heartenfly past 2 years and feel if I dont make the change this year then I will be in debt forever!

I too am supposed to have an extra £900 each month (£650 from main job and £250 from 2nd job) but I never ever see it??!!

so i have set up a standing order to take my largest debt from £50 payments a month to £700 (all then from main job) and try and overpay where I can from the 2nd job.Once I realise where the balance of my cash is frittering away to, I plan to tighten the belt and throw the £250 from 2nd job that way also.

Good luck with your journey - i am off to subscribe now :-)
DDx

Thanks for joining me on my journey. Do you have a diary up and running? If so let me know and I will subscribe.


What I really need to sort out is budgeting for the car, birthdays, Christmas & emergencies. I think until I do this, I will keep failing at my debt busting, because I can't stand huge set backs like Christmas or Bad MOT failures.


Good luck with your budgeting , I like you NPNG thing in your signature xx

debtfreewannabe321

it's worth a try. Especially as she didn't specify the first! But you might be right it could be hard to overturn the charge if it's come from the courts. I don't really know how these things work. Good luck with it xx

StressedSteph

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

Morning Steph, hope you finish the crafty bits in time for delivery. Have you looked into getting a new bank account yet so as to treat your current one as a debt?

As for car tax I take £25 out of my bank on payday and put it in a cash tin in an envelope marked "car tax don't touch" Perhaps after paying it this month you could do this each month? Divide whatever the bill is by 6 or 12 (depending on how long your new disc will run for) and put it away each month. It's a lot to find in one go :eek:

Sun is shining here too I hope it lasts! x

Hi,


I am holding off on moving bank accounts as I have just requested a "Summary of Charges" from B#rclays as I am going to try to claim back my bank charges under the Financial Hardship category. Have read that sometimes they refuse to pay out, but as a good will gesture they stop all charges on the bank account. Think this is worth a try, so had better not annoy them by taking my business away until this is sorted.


If they refuse to help AT ALL, then I will definitely move banks and class the OD as another debt to slowly pay off.


xxx

StressedSteph

Whilst replying to Determined Diva this afternoon I think I finally sorted out in my thick head why we keep failing at this debt busting malarkey.


I think I am so organised with my spreadsheet including petrol and food etc, but I NEVER have ever factored in Car expenses, Boiler breakdowns, Birthdays, Christmas or EVEN entertainment. I think this is why we constantly fail, because I refuse to try to add this into the budget, as soon as the inevitable un-budgeted thing arrives I am thrown into a spin, the bank balance goes mad and then Direct debits get bounced and BINGO I am right back where I started, thinking "what is the point in even trying".


So I am off to do the impossible - I am going to try to factor how much I need per week for all of these misc extras and fit them into the budget. I have a nasty feeling that I am going to have to reduce the amount I am paying off on the debts to be able to do this, but think in the long run, my Snowball calculation will be more accurate. Eeek I might not be debt free by 40 .


Off to have a look. xx

MissE001

StressedSteph wrote: »

Whilst replying to Determined Diva this afternoon I think I finally sorted out in my thick head why we keep failing at this debt busting malarkey.


I think I am so organised with my spreadsheet including petrol and food etc, but I NEVER have ever factored in Car expenses, Boiler breakdowns, Birthdays, Christmas or EVEN entertainment. I think this is why we constantly fail, because I refuse to try to add this into the budget, as soon as the inevitable un-budgeted thing arrives I am thrown into a spin, the bank balance goes mad and then Direct debits get bounced and BINGO I am right back where I started, thinking "what is the point in even trying".


So I am off to do the impossible - I am going to try to factor how much I need per week for all of these misc extras and fit them into the budget. I have a nasty feeling that I am going to have to reduce the amount I am paying off on the debts to be able to do this, but think in the long run, my Snowball calculation will be more accurate. Eeek I might not be debt free by 40 .


Off to have a look. xx

I've been reading your diary this afternoon Steph and think what you've just said hits the nail on the head!! For budgets to work, they need to include all that extra spending. We know when birthdays and Christmas are, we know when our car tax and MOT are due so in theory it should be "easy" to put something away each month to cover them.....easier said than done though. I started doing this last year and it's so good to be able to pay the car tax and insurances and presents out of savings. Well. they're not really savings because they're accounted for but you know what I mean

Have you seen this article and the budget planner? (Hope it works). Good luck :money:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Budget-planning

shinner

Hi i would still get a new account set up. I tried to claim under hardship rules they point blank said no. They said i was not in hardship as i could withdraw cash (payed fuel and dinner money with this) also said as i could afford Mc donalds £2.19 (happy meal for DD on way home from hospital) i clearly wasn't in hardship.
My advice would go ahead with hardship claim open new account NO overdraft and pay them back a token payment until you get everything else organised. Good luck.
I hate council tax also if you can pay this on website pay what it should of been then phone on Monday. They may then be able to remove the costs I know partner had managed this once, he explained it would send him in financial crisis.
Good luck on the budgeting I really need to get into spreadsheets and budgets.

StressedSteph

shinner wrote: »

Hi i would still get a new account set up. I tried to claim under hardship rules they point blank said no. They said i was not in hardship as i could withdraw cash (payed fuel and dinner money with this) also said as i could afford Mc donalds £2.19 (happy meal for DD on way home from hospital) i clearly wasn't in hardship.
My advice would go ahead with hardship claim open new account NO overdraft and pay them back a token payment until you get everything else organised. Good luck.
I hate council tax also if you can pay this on website pay what it should of been then phone on Monday. They may then be able to remove the costs I know partner had managed this once, he explained it would send him in financial crisis.
Good luck on the budgeting I really need to get into spreadsheets and budgets.

Hi Shinner,


Thanks for taking the time to reply. The only thing that scares me a little is B#rclays insisting that the total amount be paid back immediately as our wages are not going in anymore. Will they be like a normal company that as long as you are paying back an amount per month then they will be ok?.
I am really worried I will open a can of worm by making my account inactive with that overdraft still sat there.
What happened when you did it???

StressedSteph

Well, I took the plunge and applied for a S#ntander 123 account.


As we have a S#ntander mortgage it seemed to make great sense. On the form I said I didn't want an Overdraft, but was abit worried about how it automatically will request B#rclays to shut down my account, which it obviously won't be able to do as the OD will still be there. Not sure what will happen.

Also abit unsure if we will be accepted as been abit late paying the mortgage recently so it may be a flat out NO.

Oh well worth a try.
Really liking the idea of moving away from the B#rclays OD now. It will feel a lot nicer to manage an account will REAL money, not overdraft money. And I am sure I will soon clear the B#rclays OD as I will have between £150-£300 worth of saved bank charges to throw at it.


Feeling quite optimistic about it. Just got to get a bank to accept us now.