pickle me's diary

pickle_me

After a relatively restrained January I had a bad case of payday fever last week and feel as though I've already spent all of my 'spare' money for February May not be the case but I've been a bit too spend-happy over the last few days. Birthday presents (younger daughter, nephew), family trip to the cinema yesterday (£30 :eek: ) and a takeaway last night ... It was our first paid activity with the kids for a few weeks, and our first takeaway since new year's eve, but still ... time to rein it in.

This time of year isn't helping. It's so grey and gloomy. I've just been through my big things-to-ebay pile but I can't seem to get my ebay mojo back. A friend has asked if I want to do another NCT sale with her - we've done well in the past so I'm definitely keen. I need to get some more money coming in.

pickle_me

This was January's signature:

January 2015: £0 :j / £1640 / £2860 Total £4500

Oh my goodness, we owe less than £4k. I have to keep looking at our starting figures to remind myself just how bad things were when we started. It seems unbelievable now.

My husband is getting a bonus from work this month (in recognition of the fact that he's been covering for a sick colleague - in addition to doing his own work - since September) and he's already calculating the difference he can make to the debt with the extra money. He's a changed man :T

Credit card offers addressed to both of us are coming through the door thick and fast (and naturally are being shredded!)

I used to think about the debt all the time. I'd lie in bed at night before I went to sleep doing sums in my head and looking ahead to the day when we'd owe £10k, £8k, £5k. Now I barely think about the debt at all; instead I'm doing sums to work out how quickly we can pay off the mortgage

pickle_me

It's been a nice quiet Saturday - the last few weekends have been busy so it's been nice just chilling out at home. I've spent some time reading back through my DFW diary, and also looking at the MFW board. Feeling rather envious of those already on their MFW journeys, especially those who are years into it and making steady inroads into their mortgages. It's not been a short hop getting rid of our debt but it's nothing compared to the time it's going to take to pay off the mortgage ... but it will be worth it.

I was reading the money section of the paper today and reading an article about pensions - they completely and utterly bewilder me. I have two defunct pensions from previous employers, plus a dormant personal pension (dormant for so long I'm no longer allowed to make regular payments into it, although I can pay occasional lump sums - I've never understood this).

Once I'm no longer in need of childcare vouchers (from July this year) I'm going to opt for salary sacrifice into a new pension; and in the next couple of years I'll have a new work pension as well, as my employer will be legally required to provide one (not currently a requirement as it's such a small company) *head explodes* At some point I'm going to have to see a financial advisor about all this as I have no clue what to do for the best.

NHS_worker_bee

You've made so much progress with your debt busting - your signature is inspiring me to keep on track. Well done you!

pickle_me

Thank you B. You're doing fantastically well! You've almost halved your debt in under a year. Do you think you'll be debt free by the end of the year?

I spent too much money in February Funny how even this close to being debt-free you can feel fed up with it all and get a big attack of the f*ck-its. But this months credit card payments will clear CC2 once and for all - I can't wait

NHS_worker_bee

Yes I'm definitely still on track to be debt free by the end of the year, thank you for your encouragement!

Wow - soon you can say good riddance to CC2 and then you'll only have one CC to go - keep up the good work in March

pickle_me

Nearly a month since I last posted! Better save last month's signature for posterity:

February 2015: £0 :j / £999.99 / £2565.54 Total £3565.55

Well, CC2 is no more. We have just one credit card with an outstanding balance now and our total debt is £2.5k. This time a year ago it was probably around £12k.

I hardly think about the debt at all now - we're so close to the end. Just three payments to go. I do think about how much we've learned and how much we've changed. Hard as it was at the start I'm so grateful for the education it's given us. Very grateful for this place, too, and glad I started a diary.

And gosh it's nice to have the prospect of a decent bit of spending money ahead

Magsnoodle

WOWSERS!!!!!

There is nothing more to say....

Come on - imagine where your money coming in will be going in July? You've said three more payments so I assume that is April, May and June but I may have miscalculated and it may be earlier.

CONGRATULATIONS xxxxx

pickle_me

Thanks Mags! Yes, our last payment will be made at the start of June. From August we'll be putting into long-term savings the same amount we've been paying off the debt, around £850 per month, so in a sense we won't have any more money to play with on a day-to-day basis - but the satisfaction of being debtfree and the security of having proper savings behind us.

No savings in July though - at my husband's request - he wanted to have one month of spending whatever disposable income we have on whatever we want. So that's maybe a new games console for him, I want a set of swings for the kids, and a new dishwasher please as ours hasn't worked in years!

And then onto our new life as mortgage-free wannabes ...

pickle_me

I've rather lost momentum with this diary But not with debt-busting. March's signature:

March 2015: £0 :j / £0 :j / £2515.54 Total £2515.54

It really is incredibly hard to believe we once owed so much money.

I went shopping yesterday, a proper full-on shopping trip, with money in my bank account to spend. I realised that I now find it almost impossible to buy, or consider buying, anything that isn't reduced or on sale. In clothes shops I head straight for the sale racks. Even then I'm very very good at talking myself out of buying things. It's not a bad problem to have but I really would like some new clothes. I guess I'll get over it in time :rotfl: