Debt free by 40 -- 19 Months and counting

lhead123

Hi steph!

I have just read through your whole diary, and I must say you are an inspiration

I also use YNAB and love it! Although I wish I had found it earlier - OH is currently out of work and our second child arrived 7 weeks ago so it would have been nice to have money saved, but it is at least helping me keep track of benefits money and my maternity pay while OH does his training for a new job (he will be a coach driver and is training/revising for his theory tests at the moment before an intensive driving course) hopefully he will be earning again by july, but in the mean time I am sticking to what ynab tells me I have religiously.

I hope your cars don't turn out to be too expensive.

I have found your facebook page - you have inspired me to finally seek out a foot for my old singer sewing machine and get it working again so I can make some more sock monkeys ready for christmas presents (I am currently knitting scarves for adults so sock monkeys will go to my niece and nephews)

You have done so well paying off thousands so far, keep plodding on and you will soon be debt free

P.s. I live in poole, so not too far from you

StressedSteph

mfmaybe wrote: »

But the key about the car expenses is you've been planning for them for months :A.

I love how your signature looks. What really strikes me is that as well as fully paying off a couple of debts, everything has gone down by a noticeable chunk. I think once Next goes you will really start to see the snowball kick in.

Hi mfmaybe,


Yes I guess at least I do have some savings towards the car issues. Without those savings I would be totally sunk .


Hubbys van has gone in for its official MOT today. hubby very cleverly fixed some steering rack problem and it has its two new tyres on so should pass today hopefully. So hubby van issues total £174 inc MOT which is fantastic.


I will book the dreaded car in next week. Hubby thinks it needs 2 or maybe 3 new tyres, will cope with that as long as nothing mysterious shows up as a failure. Hubby also changed my brakes last weekend so they should be fine.


In an ideal world I would love abit left so I can put it towards paying for the 2 taxes that are due end of June but its unlikely I only have £322 left :eek:.


You are right though I really cant wait until NEXT is paid off. Will be great to have an extra £100-£200 to put against the Co-op debt which I think is my next target.


xxx

lhead123 wrote: »

Hi steph!

I have just read through your whole diary, and I must say you are an inspiration

I also use YNAB and love it! Although I wish I had found it earlier - OH is currently out of work and our second child arrived 7 weeks ago so it would have been nice to have money saved, but it is at least helping me keep track of benefits money and my maternity pay while OH does his training for a new job (he will be a coach driver and is training/revising for his theory tests at the moment before an intensive driving course) hopefully he will be earning again by july, but in the mean time I am sticking to what ynab tells me I have religiously.

I hope your cars don't turn out to be too expensive.

I have found your facebook page - you have inspired me to finally seek out a foot for my old singer sewing machine and get it working again so I can make some more sock monkeys ready for christmas presents (I am currently knitting scarves for adults so sock monkeys will go to my niece and nephews)

You have done so well paying off thousands so far, keep plodding on and you will soon be debt free

P.s. I live in poole, so not too far from you

Thanks for taking the time and patience to read my diary. Must have driven you crazy with my ups and downs.



Its great to hear from another YNAB'er. I must admit that it has saved my skin on more than a few times. It seems to really help me spot forthcoming issues that I can hopefully shuffle things about and pre-empt the disasters. Not totally atm but it will get easier as time goes by.


Like I am desperately trying to save for Christmas, Birthdays, Car tax, Heating oil etc. If I can manage to get enough in those pots then it will take away all the panicking we do at Christmas etc as to how on earth we will afford it. That in turn will hopefully prevent me ever turning back to Littlewoods Catalogue or credit cards :eek:.


It sounds like your hubby has a good plan for future works, so even though its a struggle now, hopefully he will have a good job soon.


Congratulations on your new baby :T, even more reason to stick by YNAB's principles etc.


Fab you live so close in Poole. My mother is in a care home in Poole so as and when I can afford the petrol we drive down to Poole to visit her. I try to keep the children happy with a visit to the beach afterwards. Such lovely beaches down there.


Thanks for your kind words about my Facebook page. I have been over-taken with a school PTA event last week and this week so I haven't had anytime for my craft work. Hope things will calm down next week and I can get back to it.


Great idea to be knitting and making sock monkeys for Christmas. BIG money saver. Thankfully we have long since stopped buying presents for Family at Christmas, we don't have much of a family anyway so it wasn't a hard one to get out of.


Do you have a diary?.


Will stop gabbling now and leave you in peace.
Have a good day xx

lhead123

Meant to a say, I read you saying you wanted to have about £6000 in savings - dont forget, savings of £6000 or more will affect tax credits, so it might be worth saving 5999...... but I dont know if they count money you have in your main account as well - could be worth looking into, but then again once you are debt free you will have spare money and might not need the tax credits....

No I dont have a diary, I keep thinking I should start one, but I dont know if I would keep it up....id5 be on every day or nearly every day for a few weeks and then you probably wouldnt see me for a couple of weeks lol....though if I had one im sure people would be checking in to see if everything was alright...I dont have that much debt - mostly a couple of thousands worth left over from my uni days 6 years ago that I've never paid off, but I love reading other peoples experiences of saving money as eventually we want to buy a house and new car etc..hmmm I will have a think...

Hope you have a lovely day, its not meant to be so hot today so woking in your polytunnel wont be like an oven!

L

maddiemay

Hi Steph
Not popped in to say hello for a little while, but I have been reading and cheering you along:D

I have had a grotty tum for a few days so just been plodding along, but the good thing is that I have not spent much, need to have a few NSD's to get back on track and am trying to use stuff from the freezer, which is choc full, but seem to have lost my meal planning mojo, I even had to buy cake to keep OH topped up as I had not felt like baking, Murphy's law that when I made a couple of large banana cakes and some healthy seed and nut fridge bites, my dear Ma presented OH with a fruit cake, so he is sorted for a week or so:D My problem is that I really like having full cupboards so need to keep up with the baking etc
Good luck for OH's truck MOT.

Hello to lhead from an ex-Dorset resident:)

MM
xx

SuperAllyB

lhead123 wrote: »

Meant to a say, I read you saying you wanted to have about £6000 in savings - dont forget, savings of £6000 or more will affect tax credits, so it might be worth saving 5999...... but I dont know if they count money you have in your main account as well - could be worth looking into, but then again once you are debt free you will have spare money and might not need the tax credits....

No I dont have a diary, I keep thinking I should start one, but I dont know if I would keep it up....id5 be on every day or nearly every day for a few weeks and then you probably wouldnt see me for a couple of weeks lol....though if I had one im sure people would be checking in to see if everything was alright...I dont have that much debt - mostly a couple of thousands worth left over from my uni days 6 years ago that I've never paid off, but I love reading other peoples experiences of saving money as eventually we want to buy a house and new car etc..hmmm I will have a think...

Hope you have a lovely day, its not meant to be so hot today so woking in your polytunnel wont be like an oven!

L

Perpetual lurker here. Tax credits have only ever asked me about interest - not total amount of savings.

Skint_but_Optimistic

Hi . Hope you don't mind another voice.... good luck with your savings. You've cleared tons of debt! I'll watch and learn x

StressedSteph

Morning all,


Thank for your replies. Especially about the savings / Tax credits potential issues, although unfortunately I think it will be a while before I have to worry about where to hide £6000.

Well on a good note hubby's van went through the MOT fine after those few bits of repairs and tyre changes.
So I can strike that off the worry list...

Now when the mechanic dropped hubby van back last night, he had a look at the tyres on my car and I need all four changing :eek:.
Cheapest I can find is £130 each. so we are talking £520 .

I already have £410 saved up, and hubby is getting an extra £200 wages this week which I was hoping to pay off onto NEXT but it will have to go towards the tyres now :mad:.

I am going to get those changed asap and then book the car into the garage for its MOT next week and hope to god nothing else is wrong with it .

Might hopefully get through this by the skin of our teeth, but then the emergency pots will be totally empty and will have to start building those up again asap.

I guess at least they were there, in the past I have not saved anything in preparation of the MOT's and just had disasters mopped up by credit cards

Skint_but_Optimistic

Tons of folks need tyres at the moment!! We just had 2 for our land rover. Very pricey. The emergency funds are definitely a big help. I must start saving for Christmas!

misstara

Great news about hubby's van, not so great about the car but as you say at least you have the money saved up for it. The emergency pots can be built up again, the main thing is that you were prepared and have not added to your debt

eco_farmer

quick thought as you were worried it might not pass the MOT would it not be better to get it checked over first before buying the tyres?(probably already done this )
eco