Debt Free before 55

DFF

My 55 birthday is 3 January 2017 and I want to be out of debt by then. The snowball calculator says my Debt Free Day will be 7 December 2016

About me I'm happily single living in a 1 bedroom flat in Sheffield and due to a health condition work for 32 hours a week.

I got into debt by a mixture of boiler repairs, illness and unwise habits and spending choices. It is now time to change.

According to the budget calculator I should have £400:eek: a month to pay off my debts. From tomorrow 9 June I will be keeping a spending diary to see where this money is spent.

I will also join MSE No Spend Day challenge for June with the aim of 8 NSDs this month.

I've found that the less sleep I have the more unwise choices I make.
So 1st Habit change is to work towards getting to bed by 11pm at the moment it varies from 12-1am.


DFF

Rafal35

Well done ,I am starting from Today and have about £4000 in debt,1 year of loan left and 700 on overdraft,hope I will repay it before my wife birthday 03.03.15.Good luck:beer:

killerpeaty

Good luck to you guys! I'm sure you'll do brilliantly!

beanielou

Shiny new diary.
Keep posting

DFF

I've completed my spending diary and there are 2 areas where my spending needs to be changed. These are: buying food for midday meals at work and grocery shopping.

Even though I don't work in a shop my employer's building is situated in a shopping complex. I have easy access to a hotel and fast food restaurants,a supermarket, it's garage which is opposite work and a local butchers both of whom sell food. Last month my lowest daily spend on meals was£5.59 and highest £9.99. Therefore, from Monday I'm going to make packed lunches.

Groceries this is a large area of uncontrolled spending. I thought that I went to the supermarket once a month for a big shop and twice a month to top up fresh foods. No I don't! Every time I go I do a big shop and always buy paper back books. This results in me having a lot of books that I can't sell and a lot of food that I throw away.

World Cup- Work's sweepstake amounts area £25 for the winner and £15 for the looser in the final. I was lucky and drew Argentina, so am guaranteed at least £15 tomorrow. This will be put towards a pre planned trip to York with a friend on 19 July.

I've decided to record my accounts and spending the old fashioned way on paper. I've found that I remember what I've spent when I write it down. During decluttering, I've found my old hardback account book, into which I am writing my spending and a small colourful diary into which I am put monies spent on the move and will reconcile them daily.

GOALS FOR JULY/AUGUST
From 19 July to take 3 meals to work and buy 2 meals per week
From 4 August take 4 meals to work and buy 1 meal per week
STOP before buying book, write down author and title and get from library
Daily (except Sunday)reconcile spending from diary and current account in account book.

DFF

DFF

I've completed my spending diary and there are 2 areas where my spending needs to be changed. These are: buying food for midday meals at work and grocery shopping.

Even though I don't work in a shop my employer's building is situated in a shopping complex. I have easy access to a hotel and fast food restaurants,a supermarket, it's garage which is opposite work and a local butchers both of whom sell food. Last month my lowest daily spend on meals was£5.59 and highest £9.99. Therefore, from Monday I'm going to make packed lunches.

Groceries - this is a large area of uncontrolled spending. I thought that I went to the supermarket once a month for a big shop and twice a month to top up fresh foods. No I don't! Every time I go I do a big shop and always buy paper back books. This results in me having a lot of books that I can't sell and a lot of food that I throw away.

World Cup- Work's sweepstake amounts area £25 for the winner and £15 for the looser in the final. I was lucky and drew Argentina, so am guaranteed at least £15 tomorrow. This will be put towards a pre planned trip to York with a friend on 19 July.

I've decided to record my accounts and spending the old fashioned way on paper. I've found that I remember what I've spent when I write it down. During decluttering, I've found my old hardback account book, into which I am writing my spending and a small colourful diary into which I am put monies spent on the move and will reconcile them daily.

GOALS
From 19 July to take 3 meals to work and buy 2 meals per week
From 4 August take 4 meals to work and buy 1 meal per week
STOP before buying book, write down author and title and get from library

Daily (except Sunday)reconcile spending from diary and current account in account book.

DFF

beanielou

You could even try to take lunch 4 times a week & have a wee lunch treat once a week?

mum2one

sounds like some good plans in the making, - i know its spending money but have you considered a kindle, and downloading the freebooks, - although theres an outlay it should pay for itself over a few months of not buying books. xx

DFF

I'm back again and I've had good and bad financial news in September.

GOOD
At the end of September I had an unexpected bonus from work. I used this to pay off my Halifax Credit Card.
Substantially reduced my Contents Insurance

At the end of September my contents insurance was due for renewal and I had the renewal letter in front of me when Mum rang for a chat. It turned out she'd just renewed insurance on her house. She told me how much she was paying per year on a 3 bed roomed house, which was less than I was paying on a one bed roomed flat:eek: and a lot less than the renewal quote. I checked with her insurance provider and found that for the same cover it would cost me almost 1/2 less than my current payment. So I changed to them and was able to pay the cost in one go.:money:

BAD
I live in a ex Council leasehold flat and received a reminder letter for non payment of Major Painting works. I checked through my accounts and found that I had not received this invoice with my previous Service Charge invoice. The work had been done painting the communal hall way including stairs. I rang the council and I was able to pay it off over the phone. This bill came out of the rest of my bonus.

FOOD
I've just done an inventory of my food supplies. Several surprises are that I have 5 (YES 5) :eek:small tins of Mushy Peas and 4 large tins of potatoes. I live on my own so why did I buy so much? Yet no tins of Tuna which I use a lot.


DFF

DFF

Due to unforeseen circumstances I will be debt free by 56 not 55
I've looked at my credit card repayment schedule and I will be able to repay just before their 0% deals end. I've increased my payments to one credit card already and in May I will increase it again. This means that I will be out of Credit Card Debt by February 2016. Then I can concentrate on paying my Mum back by using the same amount that was paid to the credit card debt.

Good
1/ Joining No Spend Days challenge (NSDs) and on target for my 10 NSDs this month.
2/ Having e-savings accounts linked to my current account and putting away a set amount each month for Birthday and Christmas presents, Health (includes dentist) and holidays has been working well for the last year and I will keep doing this.

Bad
1/ Buying and wasting too much food
2/ Bedtime routine gone to pot after Christmas

Other

In October my employer announced a voluntary redundancy scheme, using calculators provided I applied for the scheme. At the end of February I will get the correct figures on which I can make a decision. Since October various financial questions have come to mind which I can't answer until I have the correct figures


DFF

DFF

Hi

I have 4 0% deals ending at different times with MBNA credit card. I' m writing dates and amounts in diary so i've got a record of them in one place. February's salary will pay off Deal 1.


STATEMENT PRODUCED ON 16th OF MONTH

DEAL 1 £314.74 ENDS 15 MAY 2015
DEAL 2 £1768.00 ENDS 15 SEPT 2015
DEAL 3 £1376.89 ENDS 16 NOV 2015
DEAL 4 £1508.00 ENDS 15 FEB 2016

TOTAL OWING £4966.63

I've started using YNAB as a budgeting, I was bought a membership as a present years ago.

This time I've watched 3 webnairs produced by them. One an introduction to YNAB, 2nd how to record credit card debit and 3rd how to record savings. These I found very useful.

I've created a budget for February but realised I've forgot a few one off payments. For example a small change in my will as one of my beneficiaries has now turned 18, will cost me £66.00 which I need to incorporate in the budget. I've been tracking my spending and as this is the 1st time I've set a budget for ages, this 1st month is more a guesstimate.

DFF