New 2014 Diary & New Found Motivation

dearlouise

Hope your week has been debt busting.

MrsSmith2013

GULP! Only 37 days left to blitz the student loan!! I really need to get my butt in gear and get this gone.

I've been away for a weekend break with DH, it was planned ages ago so it was sort of budgeted for loosely. Now we are back from that, I have no more trips of any sort planned until May, although I anticipate the easter break requiring some funds, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. The main thing is the student loan at the moment.

Was hoping to try for a NSD today, but I might need to buy lunch at work, will see what is lurking in my desk. I left the house in a rush this morning because I overslept so not the best start.

Todays list will be:

* Try and not spend (much) at work
* Get washing sorted out when I get home
* Sort out lunch for tomorrow when I get home instead of leaving it til tomorrow morning!!
* Find some items to list for sale (5 things)

Think thats all for now, ooh - off to update my signature, because I had planned to do that on the 1st of each month.

Mrs S x

MrsSmith2013

Hi Diaryland...

Hope everyone is doing fine and still busting the debts!! I'm on day 67 of 100 and still not made any huge repayments, but hoping that my plan of clearing the student loan with my March pay on day 103 will be enough to blitz it!

I decided earlier in the week to bite the bullet and work out my debt free date with the minimum payments we are making plus a bit extra each month (so that we can still afford to life a little bit, buy shoes for the kids, clothes, clubs etc)..... so I've just done it and my debt free date will be (drumrole......)

25th December 2015

I had roughly worked out in my head, it would take 2 years, but after yet another spreadsheet I have worked it out at December next year. As 25th is payday for me, it will be Christmas day and to be honest, I can't think of a better Christmas present!!

Its given me a massive boost of motivation because if I really get my butt in gear and get a move on with this, I could be debt free before then.

So the main task this weekend is to get a big clear out of house stuff, and get things listed for sale so that I can start on a good footing. I'll leave my figures in the spreadsheet for my projected figures, and then I will add a column with actual so I can keep myself on the right track.

Excited at the thought of Debt Freedom... even though it is 22 months away, but when I think of it like that, 22 paydays isn't that long!!

Will have a catch up with everyones diaries over the weekend and see what you've all been up to.

Nothing like a boost of motivation to kick start your weekend....

Mrs S x

MrsSmith2013

EEeeeeek! 30 Days to go!! Its going to all happen at the last minute I think but hey ho, thats just how it is!!

I've been extremely happy this weekend at the thought of being debt free next year. I'm hoping that I will be able to pull the debt free date forward a month or two, but at the moment, I'm happy with 22 months.

Hope everyone has a good week, I will check back in later in the week to catch up with everyone.

Mrs S x

OrangeFairy

Hi Mrs S

Next year would be fab. I have confidence you can easily shave some months off of that

I hope all is well with you?

Did you do anything nice on your weekend away?

OF x

MrsSmith2013

Hi OF! Next year would indeed be fab... I am excited at the thought of being debt free and trying to think of all sorts of ways to shave some time off the initial DFD. I've worked out if I make my minimum payments, plus the £300 extra per month I've allocated, I should be under £10k by 31st Dec this year... that would be amazing, so thats what I'm aiming for. I keep going into my snowballing spreadsheet to have a play around!

Our weekend away was great, really chilled and nice to be just the two of us. We went to a show, had a lovely meal in our hotel, and a bit of window shopping, and just relaxed!!

Not much planned for this weekend, I'm going to try and see what else I can find to flog. I've done wardrobe clear outs but have given the kids things to friends who can use them, I don't think I'd have made much more than £10/£15 and its probably more hassle to meet people with them etc, so have done my good deed!

Will have a toy sort out and see what else I can find, hope everyone else has a MSE weekend!

Mrs S x

MrsSmith2013

Morning Diaryland,

Just having a quick update although I don't have a lot to report. I have been thinking about my next 1 Debt vs 100 Days challange as I am approaching the end of this one, and I think it will be 2 odd accounts I have for old loans. One is Egg and is about 600 and the other is Northern Rock which is about 700. The NR loan started off at a whopping £10k back in 2004, so to be rid if this one will be great. I think I should do the 1300 well within the 100 days, so thats going to be my next challenge.

While playing around with my spreadsheets, I noticed I will go from the figure being £20,XXX to £19,XXX - I love it when it drops a number like that, from 20 to 19.... its the little MSE things!!

Off to work now, hope everyone has a good day,
Mrs S x

debtfreeoneday

I love the little MSE things as well!!

MrsSmith2013

Good Morning MSE'rs!

Debtfreeoneday, its the little things that make a big difference!

So today I have arrived at work early to an email from Next saying my latest statement is available. I had an account from when I was about 18, which over the last few years has had a credit limit of £0.00 due to my terrible credit score. Today when I log in, my credit limit is back to the whopping £3,600 that it was before my financial demise.... this must mean that my credit score is improving!! (I hope!)

Now the old me, would have seen that as an opportunity to test it out and order a load of stuff, but the new me has just clicked "Log Off" with a very satisfied feeling! I don't need anything anyway, but its GREAT to know that my financial situation must be improving.

I will leave the account as it is, and if I do ever want to buy anything from Next I will just treat the account as a cash account as I have had to do in the past. Ie, pay for things when I order them. I have also found that when I look at things in Next, I end up saying, "I bet I could get that cheaper in Tesco or Matalan"... the MSE effect I guess!

I'm not going to sign up to experian or anything like that to check my actual credit score, but I know I'm not behind in paying anything, and it looks like the determination to be debt free is having a good affect.

The ultimate goal is to be able to get a joint mortgage on our next house with DH, and for me this is a big step in the right direction!

Oooh I'm rambling because I'm happy!!

Mrs S x

New_me_2014

Hi Mrs S,

Wow becoming debt free on Christmas Day would be absolutely amazing!
Also well done you for not spending on your Next account just because you can. :money:

Have you looked a noodle to see your credit rating? It's free, I usually log in once every few months to see how mine is looking.