My Onging Quest To Become Debt Free

Determined_83

Hello everyone,
This will probably turn into an endless rambling of things that come into my mind, but I'll try to you explain all I can as I have been beavering away for over 4 years already, so thanks for the patience in advance.

My debt trouble started when I was 18, taking my mother's advice that a credit card was better than a debit card. (Anyone still remember those old bank books? Or was that only a building society thing?!)
Anyway, the ability to get money when the bank was closed sounded great! Fuel, food, drink..... it all went on the card!

Fast forward 12 years and that first card has developed from a £500 balance to £2.5k.... along with another 2 now with a total credit limit of £12'550.

It finally hit me 4 years ago what had happened, I was only just keeping afloat and was finally fed up.
So I cut back on everything, (I'd done it before, but made up with the plastic of course!) This time it was all work, all overtime, simple meals and sleep. The cigs were out the window but of course tobacco was, and still is, in..... not perfect but it goes further.

A few months later we found out our first son was on the way, spurred on more, after 12 months my debts were at £6k.
During this time I was looking at all the advice on MSE, swapping cards, looking for deals, and I even downsized my car which cleared an additional £3k from around my neck. :T (How I loved that car, but at least it went to a loving home with my Parents).

The reason I'm here now, feeling the need to share?
I've stalled, with our Son here some money has gone back on the cards and my other half learned to drive. The first car she had went after a year, so we got another and my cheap ULTRA RELIABLE banger got scrapped for a nice newer, (and presumably reliable) car.

With the OH passing her test insurance went mad, and it actually worked out cheaper to buy a car of her own, and I happily inherited the now older, 'but still nicer and newer, (and presumably reliable)' then my old old car............. if that makes sense? :rotfl:

So where are we today, and why am I still rambling?

Well, my nice car went pop, no idea whats wrong but there's oil everywhere! :mad: So now I'm lucky enough to be using my Dad's car..... the one I sold 4 years ago to clear some debt...... wonder if I should have kept it now?.......... (I'm currently looking into my rights on the matter with my current car, (but that is a separate story with me finding out the air con wasn't working about 4 months after I bought it.))
A little money has gone back on the cards and it has to stop...... I just found out what the OH has been doing with her finances too! :eek: So I'm trying to help with separate issues not tied to me.

We also have another new arrival on the way too expected in May.

So that's about it for today, if you made it this far then well done! :T
I have a complex spreadsheet I follow, updated almost daily.
My goals are more strict than ever, and while I won't talk much about the OH's finances I'll put an occasional update..... though to be fair her oweings are much less than mine at least

So where do I stand as of today -

Card 1 - £100 - to be cleared Pay Day
Card 2 - £3434.41
Card 3 - £5720.59
Car - £7438.33 - May 2017 - (Or approx. £6300 if settled early)
Sofa - £393.28 - May 2015 @0%
Total - £17068.31

Thanks again for making it this far.

I hope this is of some use or interest to you. For those who are just beginning to realize they are over spending to see what happens.
For those who are trying to become debt free I hope I will be able to share some of what I am doing with you.
And for everyone to see the highs and lows of my continued journey knowing we are not alone.

I will update again at the end of next month, and with some of the ideas I have been using to scrape together some savings this last few years.

Determined_83

Thankfully pay day has finally come, so thats the longest month of the year out the way now! So going through my stuff I decided to quickly put up some info on my spare change pot I have.

May main mistake in the past has always been spending on cards, so the change to cash this last couple of years has been interesting.
As a rule I try to use £10 a day, but a few times in the month it come to more.... but it does keep my spending down alot from what it used to be!

Anyway, at the end of every day I put everything less than a 50p in the pot. I do this as I find I feel I have more money left in my pocket to spend, rather than stashing it all.

I do keep ALL my £2 coins, these work out quite well over the year.
Also I keep all £1 coins dated 1983, 1988, 2010, (and soon 2014 with the new nipper on the way! ) As a note, some coins are less common than otheres, interestingly when I started saving '83 coins I presumed there 'wouldn't be that many'.... as it happens that was the first year they were minted! On the other scale '88 coins are rare for me to find, but for whatever reason the flow of coins seems to vary month to month.

I was running my savings pot April - March, as this worked out well with taxing and MOTing the car, as I have now started the Sealed Pot Challenge 2014 I decided to empty my cange jar a bit early, as I've already taxed the car with it anyway and the SPC runs December to November.

So my total saving for myself have worked out at £258 for 2013... throw into that the £25 I saved in 2010 £'s and that comes to £283.... made up spare change!
Once you get used to doing this, you don't realise how little you feel the difference in you're pocket every day, as many of my friends won't even TRY because it sounds scary, but for me it has almost become an addiction!
If we throw in the fact I've opened my jar 2 months early, I believe £300 would have been achieved for this year.

On top of this I have also started rounding up my pennies when I spend on the old debit card, then transfering them into my little instant access saver account. I have no Idea how much I saved over the 3 months I started doing it, around about an additional £10 a month I think?! I will keep better track this year, because the pennies REALLY seem to be adding up for me :j

If you've not done a pot already, I'd say at least give it a go, find what level of change you find comfortable 'potting', maybe just the coppers? 5p's and under?.... if you manage it and like it, try to increase it.
The hard part is not dipping without good reason, a few tinnies might not be the best reason, but that decision I'll leave to you. :undecided

I best go, time for house work now me thinks :eek:

Determined_83

So February has gone a little wrong, hence no post!

With the car needing fixed it was all about juggling money, and robbing Peter to pay whoever needed it..... great fun! :mad:

Luckily MBNA offered me a transfer deal.... (Only the first one in 10years mind you! lol)
So that has involved me running up £1'000 on there to make a buffer for April, and I'm pleased to say I've not touched it! :T

The car ended up costing less to fix than I thought, £270 with an MOT which was all clear..... Now to use the rest I saved to get my tooth fixed! Can't remember if I ranted about that breaking in a previous post or not.... but no doubt that'll cost a fortune as well??.... So all going well that money will be back with MBNA by the end of April.

I have also made a move from rollies to the vaporizers.... seems ok so far, and a bit cheaper, unless I keep using the peanut butter flavour too much, it's like scoffing a hand full of peanuts every time! :rotfl:

I have also started to work out how much my minimum payments on my credit cards would be each month if they were maxed out, to pay off as extra from the ammount they are actually asking every month.
My thought is that instead of paying it onto the cards, (which could be the more sensible option) I will pay it off at the end of every month as a part payment towards my car. This could be as much as £100 a month in total which is an exciting thought, and I will post when I find out how easy the process was to do.

My decision is based on looking at snowballing, where you roll money used from 1 bill onto another when paid off.
There are 3 ways to do this,
1) Pay off the debt with the highest interest first,
2) Pay off the debt with the highest balance first,
3) Pay off debts starting with the smallest balance first.

Snowballing calculators can be found with a simple search, and with various options to snowball as I mentioned and explanations for each. From memory the order I put them in is pretty much seen as 'The way it should be done'. Which does make sense.

After doing my own digging about I was going to go with the smallest debt first method, however I might just start with the largest instead this time.

Without trying to be a bore..... after looking into it, I decided that it depends how you look at the time taken and the interest saved scale.
I might put a post up about what I think at some point when I have a little more time, but again it is personal choice, and trying to find a place to start.

Well thats it for today, although I have just been back to edit as I decided it seemed a little too snappy, hectic house today!

Hope you all have a good couple of days.

GunWharf

Well done on giving up rollies, i have been on the Vape's for 6 months and not smoked a fag!

Enjoyed reading your posts. Snowballing is interesting and a good way to go. When the Cards debt is paid off-cut up that card!
Good luck

Determined_83

Hi, It's been a little while, but I came back at least.

So I think end of February was when I was here last.....March and April was a pain!

The broken tooth...... yea, we all like a filling don't we...? Or is that just me! Anyway, the broken tooth was fairly straight forward, as in absolutely goosed!
"Ahh yes, I see..... hmmmm, that'll have to come out I'm afraid it's beyond repair, but I think you guessed that already?"
Me: "Oh, I knew it felt serious..."
"Yes, we also have......" followed by a lot of words I have no idea about but fully understanding it will involve one thing...... £'s... about £300 it turns out so not a bad day .......

Until 2 weeks ago...... a few days of pain, then finally a puffy feeling face......... which continued to grow... ABSCESS! Arghhh! Not nice, but worth £70 to have out I guess! (If you have never had an abscess and needed it removed right there and then, I can tell you now it pinched.... well, in respect of a pinch it was a big pinch! I might opt for the next appointment and risk a re-infection next time! But apparently I done really well, so that must be good).

So the £1'000 buffer came in handy...... especially a week later for my booked appointment, leaving me £170 lighter (I got my money's worth scaring the dentist after he sprayed the air on the side of my face that wasn't numb! :rotfl:). £760 left in buffer..... ...

Car wheel was looking flat, so went and inflated it. Double checked before leaving the forecourt and it was 2psi less, and then I seen the little wires poking out...... so I went to the tyre place and asked for a cheap tyre..... so another £60 lighter now.

Decided to pay £300 off MBNA, fingers crossed for me that I've had my fair share of problems now!

So to sum up, rubbish couple of months eating into my proud money juggle!
But I can announce that our second little nipper will be here on 6/5/14. So I doubt I'll be updating before then as the big day looms, but if you have any name suggestions for the little bundle of joy we have coming please let me know, we might use them yet!

Determined_83

So, everything good always gets set back.
I've had my bin stolen, so that's another £30 to find, (really don't want to dip into my penny jars!)
The windscreen of the car is coming away a bit, but the local screen fitter said he'll do it for £50 as a repeat customer! :A
Throw into that a few other odds and ends and I'm almost back to where I started :mad:.

As luck would have it, my parents have said they can help out a bit.
The killer on the cards is always the interest, and I just found out the trouble they were in! But the retirement pot was healthy and cleared their finances out with a bit to spare and the good grace to help me (Thanks to you both even though you won't read this!)

I must stress it's not a free ride! Money obviously needs to be returned, but at least it will be easier, (and a bit extra thrown in!)

The plan is still being worked out and will be tight but doable. It will be a 5 year plan it seems.
In exchange the Focus will go to my Dad, who has now decided he would like a car again. With a few other debts gone that will make the minimum they are happy to get.

So to sum up, a very lucky person with GREAT parents :A.
The sums will be added to my Signature to keep track of progress, but with family to consider the stakes on respect are much bigger now!